TeamTO Launches Anime-Inspired Production Division TeamTOKO
- Mar 2
- 2 min read
After more than two decades as a leading force in European animation, TeamTO today announced the launch of TeamTOKO Animation, a dedicated anime-inspired production division focused on original animated series and feature films, alongside select high-end service work.
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 by Mercedes Milligan
The studio also unveiled a refreshed brand identity.
Together, these initiatives mark a significant new chapter for TeamTO, reflecting its creative evolution following a year of post-acquisition stabilization under RIVA Studios and signaling its expanding global ambitions.
TeamTOKO is a creator-led production division dedicated to original 2D and 3D projects rooted in anime-inspired storytelling, developed through close collaboration between European and Japanese talent. The division operates as an integrated yet distinct creative unit within TeamTO, expanding the studio’s creative scope while its established slate of premium 3D CGI projects continues in parallel.
“Anime was our gateway into animation. It’s where our love for the medium truly began. It revealed to us the emotional depth and boundless imagination that animation can hold,” said Tara Sibel, Co-Founder of RIVA Studios. “As TeamTO enters this next chapter, embracing that influence feels both natural and deeply personal. With TeamTOKO, we are honoring TeamTO’s legacy while opening the door to bold new storytelling — carrying it forward with renewed imagination, ambition, and heart.”
TeamTO first hinted at this creative direction at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival with the announcement of Shadow Soccer (26 x 22’), a shōnen series directed by French filmmaker Slimane Aniss. That momentum continued with the selection of the original animated feature film Akira’s Flying Wheelchair (90’) at the 2026 edition of Cartoon Movie in Bordeaux, developed in collaboration with French, Italian and Japanese talent.
Written, directed and produced by RIVA Studios Co-Founder Marco Balsamo, Akira’s Flying Wheelchair centers on a former child track prodigy who is paralyzed in a fateful accident. When a wacky but brilliant inventor shows up and builds him a flying wheelchair, the duo embark on an unexpected, life-affirming adventure when they crash land in a mystical forest which holds a tragic sequence.
“TeamTOKO marks the beginning of a new era for the studio, rooted in our lifelong love of anime as both a visual language and a storytelling tradition,” said Olivier Plazas, Art Director of TeamTO. “By embedding this expertise at the heart of the studio, we can push stylization, composition, and emotion in bolder, more cinematic ways, while maintaining the level of craftsmanship that defines TeamTO.”
Alongside the launch of TeamTOKO, TeamTO has introduced a refreshed visual identity anchored by the tobiuo, the Japanese word for flying fish, and the inspiration behind the “TO” in TeamTO. A symbol of movement, transition, and creative freedom, the flying fish reflects the studio’s ability to move fluidly between cultures and storytelling traditions, honoring its long- standing admiration for Japanese animation while remaining firmly rooted in its European identity.
TeamTOKO debuts with its own complementary logo and visual identity, signaling a focused creative direction defined by cross-cultural exchange, authorship, and artistic ambition.
