• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 30, 2008

Japanese advertising conglomerate Dentsu, which has been seeking to increase its U.S. footprint, will move into the domestic market with its TV production operations. The company said it is launching a unit to develop Japanese-style animation here.

Branded as DCI Los Angeles, the group will seek to capitalize on the increasing popularity of what's called anime in the U.S. DCI will distribute and license the programming, as well as produce it.

Yuma Sakata, senior vice president for DCI-LA, said the company will look to bring together programming expertise in the U.S. with top-notch anime talent from Japan.

"Working with Western partners in pre-production and then production teams in Japan for animation, we can create content that will appeal to a wider audience," he said.

The company said it is searching for production companies in the U.S. and Europe to join with DCI.

In addition to its dominant ad presence in Japan, Dentsu is also a leading program producer. It was unclear whether it planned to use DCI programming as a platform for its clients in the U.S.; in Japan, the company entered production as an outgrowth of its media-buying operations.

Dentsu said its animation targets both children 6 to 12 and young males 17 to 25. The latter--at least a growing niche--has embraced anime on Adult Swim and via DVDs.

Dentsu said one of DCI's first initiatives is the release of the successful anime series "Deltora Quest" outside Asia; it is looking for distribution outlets. "Deltora" is based on a book series from Scholastic and produced by a studio where Dentsu is an investor.