Jerome Mazandarani leaves Manga Entertainment, sets up Animatsu

We've been aware of some behind-the-scenes changes revolving around Anchor Bay-owned distributor Manga Entertainment for a little while now, but the full extent of this upheaval is now starting to become clear.

Indeed, we've now heard news, provided by multiple sources, that director of marketing and acquisitions Jerome Mazandarani has left the company, taking with him product manager Andrew Hewson.

The news, which has been relayed via Mazandarani's private Instagram account, has stated that both individuals have moved on to set up their own company, Animatsu. More details on this venture will be revealed in due course, but Animatsu Entertainment Limited was registered as a company in London on September 11th 2014.

These aren't the only high-profile departures from the distributor, so what does the future hold for Manga Entertainment in the UK? Only time will tell, but it seems like 2015 could be a year of major changes for the UK anime market.

EDIT: Jerome Mazandarani has now updated his LinkedIn profile, explaining his role as the COO of Animatsu Entertainment:

Animatsu Entertainment Ltd is a brand new force in the UK and European content acquisition, publishing and production business with a keen eye on fan-focused entertainment brands across anime, videogames, YouTube and social media.

In addition, we want to offer our expertise in community building and grass-roots driven marketing activity particularly on Britain and Europe's fan convention floor. I successfully established MangaUK as one of the most popular fan brands in the UK by making MangaUK a destination retailer at the MCM Comic Con events around the UK as well as via Twitter and Facebook. I believe that Comic Con presence and activity is essential to any entertainment brand seeking audience approval and its own dedicated community of fans. We want to help these brands to achieve this while generating amazing ROI on their comic con experience.