Noritaka Kawaguchi

Noritaka Kawaguchi is the executive behind the Tokyo anime film studio CoMix Wave Films. In 2007 he carried out a management buyout of the merchandising division of the older CoMix Wave Inc., which had been formed in 1998 with backing from Itochu Corporation and ASATSU, and that division became the independent studio CoMix Wave Films, known for the films of the director Makoto Shinkai. He ran the studio as president, and in 2017 Nikkei Business interviewed him in that role about the ten years leading up to the film Kimi no Na wa (Your Name). On 28 May 2024 he became representative director and chairman, while Tomohiro Tokunaga, who had been the studio's head of production, became its second president. Kawaguchi is listed among the studio's major shareholders, and on 15 October 2024 Toho acquired part of the company's shares from him.