‘Dragon Ball Z’ Rep Yasuo Matsuo, Jun Matsuo and Frankie Seratch Launch IP Bay to Bring Japanese Authors to Western Screens (EXCLUSIVE)

Yasuo Matsuo has launched IP Bay, a new global studio dedicated to adapting Japanese literary properties for Western screens. The company is making its market debut at the Cannes Film Market, where Japan is the 2026 Country of Honor.

Matsuo will serve as chair. He is the founder of Cloverway, a U.S.-based licensing agency that spent more than 15 years as Toei Animation’s North American representative, introducing “Dragon Ball Z,” “Sailor Moon” and “Saint Seiya” to U.S. and Latin American markets.

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His son Jun Matsuo joins as IP Bay as CEO, responsible for publisher engagement, title curation, business and legal operations, and serving as the primary link between IP Bay and Japan’s major publishing houses. Frankie Seratch, a New York-based film producer, co-founded the company and leads its U.S. operations from New York and Los Angeles.

IP Bay is structured with operating teams embedded on both sides of the Pacific. Its Japan-based staff works directly with the country’s publishers and their authors, while its Hollywood team handles packaging, financing and production partnerships. Projects in development span the genres of romance, drama, horror, action and fantasy. As a Japan-incorporated entity, IP Bay also opens up Japan’s 50% production cash rebate to its Hollywood partners. The studio’s Japan operations count Sakamoto Shinji among their supporters; he serves as a registered cabinet officer within the Cool Japan Public-Private Platform, the cabinet office body overseeing Japan’s national content export strategy.

“When I founded Cloverway in 1991, very few people in the West understood what Japanese animation could become, and very few in Hollywood understood what it meant to work with a Japanese author. In 35 years of this work, I have never seen a moment like this one,” said Yasuo Matsuo. “Our content industry now exports more than our semiconductor industry, and our government has designated content a basic industry. But the work itself is still built on relationships, on trust between an author and the people carrying their stories to the world. That relationship cannot be transferred. It must be earned. The question of succession has been on my mind for years, and the answer is the team we are launching today.”

Jun Matsuo said: “I grew up watching ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and ‘Sailor Moon,’ knowing my father was the person bringing them to the world. I also grew up watching what went wrong in this industry. For too long, the message Hollywood sent Japanese publishers was: trust us, we are professionals, let the author step back. The result was adaptations that betrayed the property, broke the fans’ hearts, and damaged the publishers’ faith in working internationally. IP Bay is built to make that right. We put the author at the center of every decision, and we are present in both countries so that nothing gets lost in translation, in negotiation, or in production. Hollywood has finally moved to where Japan has always been. ‘One Piece,’ ‘Demon Slayer,’ ‘Chainsaw Man’ and ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ are proof. Our job is to make sure the next wave of adaptations is faithful enough that the original fans bring the new fans with them.”

Seratch’s most recent executive producing credit is the horror feature “Recluse,” directed by Henry Chaisson, which heads to the 2026 Tribeca Festival for its world premiere, with worldwide sales handled at Cannes by Blue Finch.

Seratch said: “We’re launching IP Bay at Cannes because Japan is the Country of Honor. From ‘One Piece’ on Netflix to ‘Demon Slayer’ breaking records globally, Japanese stories are having their moment. IP Bay isn’t a bridge to Japan, it’s a harbor. These stories carry a worldview audiences are hungry for right now, and our job is to protect it in every adaptation. We’re inviting the producers, financiers and filmmakers ready to come aboard with us and carry these worthy stories to the world. The partners we are eager to meet on this voyage are fans of the work, with respect for the author and the audience at the front of every decision.”

Matsuo added: “The next generation is here. Jun and Frankie are taking responsibility for this work, building on what we started at Cloverway. I cannot imagine a team I would trust more to carry it forward, with the authors at the center where they belong.”

Incorporated in Japan, the studio maintains offices in Hyogo, Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles.