Bandai Visual announced on Monday that it has acquired the Actas animation studio. Bandai Visual made a complete acquisition of Actas ' stock last Friday, September 1, and Actas is now a subsidiary of Bandai Visual . Actas board members named Bandai Visual producer Jun Yukawa as acting director of Actas in a board meeting last Friday.

Bandai Visual stated in the announcement that the acquisition was for the purpose of cultivating the Girls & Panzer intellectual property, and for the creation of other intellectual property.

Actas is perhaps best known for its animation and production work on the Girls & Panzer television anime, OVAs, and film. The franchise is also getting the Girls & Panzer Saishūshō (Girls & Panzer: The Final Chapter) anime project, which will be a six-part theatrical event anime. The first anime will premiere in theaters on December 9.

Former Tatsunoko Production and Ashi Productions (later Production Reed ) producers Hiroshi Katō and Jūtarō Ōba founded the company after leaving Ashi Productions in 1998. Following Kato's death in 2009, Shunpei Maruyama was named the new company president. The studio also had a subsidiary animation studio named Karaku , but Actas merged it with the main company in July.

Actas also worked on such anime as eX-Driver , Long Riders! , Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars , Mayo elle Otokonoko , Mazinkaiser SKL , Moetan , Tales of Phantasia , and Kotetsushin Jeeg . Most recently, Actas is collaborating with Studio 3Hz to animate the currently airing Princess Principal anime.

Source: Netlab (Kikka) via Yaraon!