The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2026
Kodansha builds a girl's fantasy world from papercraft of 100 manga titles
Kodansha's branded film LIGHT HOLE makes the act of reading the story — live action plus hand-made papercraft from over 100 manga — and wins a Cannes Bronze.
Kodansha Ltd.
What it had to solve
Japan's leading publisher wanted to express its purpose, 'Inspire Impossible Stories', in an era dominated by digital content. Its third branded film was chosen through a global contest open to directors from Japan and overseas, and aimed to place the characters and worlds of Kodansha's works front and center.
How it works
Since 2021, Kodansha — the Japanese publisher behind AKIRA, Attack on Titan and Ghost in the Shell — has expressed its brand purpose 'Inspire Impossible Stories' through films rather than logo ads. LIGHT HOLE, released in 2026, is the third in that series and the first whose director was chosen through an open global contest.
Independent filmmaker Toru Katori won the commission from over 150 entries with a simple premise: film what reading feels like. A girl opens a book; a hole of light opens above the page; and she is drawn into worlds built entirely from hand-made papercraft versions of Kodansha's manga. More than 100 works appear, from AKIRA and Attack on Titan to Blue Period, and the film's paper materials echo the physical books and manuscripts the publisher sells.
The film mixes live action with stop-motion papercraft, with animation direction by Takuro Oishi and production by GEEK PICTURES. Kodansha described the result as a cinematic experience that had never been seen before — a world where a girl's fantasies run free, with popular manga artists appearing inside it. Each viewing rewards attention because the paper world carries the texture of the archive itself.
The work won a Bronze Lion in the Film Craft – Animation category at Cannes Lions 2026. Its message was deliberately bigger than any single franchise: Kodansha wanted audiences to feel the unique value of holding a physical book and becoming immersed in a story — presenting the company not simply as a publisher, but as a creator of stories.
Why it lands
- Papercraft is the message: the film is literally made of the printed pages and manuscripts the publisher sells, so the medium argues for the product.
- It films reading itself — immersion, not a title — which any reader recognizes and no single manga could have conveyed.
- Bringing 100+ works into one story made the depth of the archive the spectacle, without turning the film into a trailer.
- The global director contest and hands-on collaboration mirrored how Kodansha works with book creators, so the process itself was on-brand.
What it did
Rather than promoting a single title, the film visualises the physical-book experience itself — holding paper, turning pages, falling into a story. It won a Bronze Lion in the Film Craft – Animation category at Cannes Lions 2026, becoming the third film in Kodansha's branded series about what a publisher does.
What you can take
To sell a publisher in a digital age, don't showcase the catalogue: stage the moment a reader falls into a story — the medium itself becomes the message.
Since then
LIGHT HOLE became the flagship of Kodansha's third year of branded storytelling, collecting a Cannes Lions 2026 Bronze in Film Craft Animation and spreading the film globally through YouTube. For an industry anxious about digital disruption, it offered a counter-argument made of paper: the physical book — and the act of reading — as a portal, not a relic.
Sources
- Watch: Handmade Papercraft Animated Short 'Light Hole' from Japan
- Cannes Lions 2026 Award Announcement — Kodansha Branded Film LIGHT HOLE Wins Bronze in the Film Craft Lions – Animation Category
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