Media mix with the idol-based star system is a significant strategy that has evolved in the Japanese film industry. Kadokawa Haruki, a Japanese entrepreneur and filmmaker, pioneered a commercial-driven approach to filmmaking by merging film, publishing, and music into a unified marketable model. He also applied an idol-driven approach, where idols were designed as transmedia commodities rather than just film stars. Kadokawa thus pioneered and introduced the media mix strategy with the idol-based star system in Japanese cinema, which moved away from traditional storytelling to marketable filmmaking, revolutionising film production and marketing in the 1970s to 1980s. These strategies remain highly influential today and have shaped the entire entertainment landscape, where cross-media expansion and idol-based branding have become the foundation of modern media industries.
Kadokawa emerged at a moment of crisis. As the traditional studio system collapsed in the 1970s, such as Daiei going bankrupt, Nikkatsu surviving through Roman Porno, Kadokawa proposed a new commercial vision. Films would be launched alongside bestselling novels, pop soundtracks, magazines, and television advertising. Each medium existed to promote the others. Cinema became the centrepiece of a larger consumer experience.
Crucially, Kadokawa understood that stars were the most powerful connectors across media. His idols, such as Hiroko Yakushimaru and Tomoyo Harada, were not just actresses but carefully managed transmedia figures. They sang theme songs, appeared in commercials, featured in photobooks, and circulated endlessly across magazines and television. Films like School in the Crosshairs (1981) Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981) and The Little Girl Who Conquered Time (1983) wrapped youthful idols in fantasy-driven narratives that avoided social realism in favour of escapism. These films were optimistic, glossy, and borderless introducing the idea of franchising.
Today’s Japanese entertainment industry runs almost entirely on media mix logic. Anime franchises such as Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen expand seamlessly from manga to television, cinema, games, merchandise, and theme-park collaborations. Characters function like idols: stable, recognisable, scandal-proof commercial assets. Even voice actors now perform as multi-platform celebrities, blurring the line between fictional and real stardom.
Recently, idol stars in a drama, sings its theme song, promotes it on variety television, appears on magazine covers, and sells concert tickets, all while reinforcing the group’s brand. The success of Hana Yori Dango (2005–2008) illustrates this perfectly. Adapted from a manga with an existing fanbase, the drama starred Arashi’s Jun Matsumoto and turned its theme songs into chart-topping hits. The franchise expanded across television, cinema, music, and international remakes, proving how tightly integrated stardom and storytelling had become.
Even recent projects like Grand Maison Paris (2024), starring former SMAP icon Takuya Kimura, show how the system adapts. Linked to a television series, branded as a long-term project, and promoted through collaborations with the Michelin Guide, the film demonstrates how media mix now extends into global branding and lifestyle culture.
From virtual idols to streaming-era franchises, Japan continues to refine a model where cinema is only one part of a much larger machine. Kadokawa may have started the revolution by turning films into commodities and idols into platforms. Decades later, his vision still defines how Japanese cinema is produced, marketed, and consumed, endlessly circulating worlds of images, music, and stars.