Hitotsubashi Group

The Hitotsubashi Group (一ツ橋グループ) is a family-owned publishing vertical keiretsu in Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The conglomerate is composed of Shogakukan, Shueisha, Hakusensha, and related publishing companies. The name of the group is derived from the location of its major members' headquarters in the Hitotsubashi area of Tokyo. The group companies are mostly run by the Ōga family.

It was started when Shogakukan, which was focused mainly on educational magazines and other related publishing at the time, decided to spin off a company (Shueisha) to produce entertainment magazines. Eventually, Shogakukan moved into the entertainment business as well, and became a rival of Shueisha, and the group was formed to help each one grow. The headquarters buildings for Shogakukan and Shueisha are right next to each other.

Shogakukan
Shogakukan Inc. (株式会社小学館) is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, DVDs, and other media in Japan that was founded in 1922.

Shogakukan is the publisher of several manga publications, such as CoroCoro Comic and Weekly Shōnen Sunday. CoroCoro Comic published several manga from the Mega Man franchise. Battle Story Rockman.EXE was serialized in Shogaku Ninensei (小学二年生), Shogaku Sannensei (小学三年生), and Shogaku Yonensei (小学四年生), publications for elementary school children.

ShoPro
Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd. (株式会社小学館集英社プロダクション), ShoPro for short, is a Japanese production company, a subsidiary of the Hitotsubashi Group. Prior to 2008, it was known as Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd. (株式会社小学館プロダクション). ShoPro produced the MegaMan NT Warrior and Mega Man Star Force anime series alongside TV Tokyo.

Viz Media
VIZ Media LLC is an American manga and anime distribution and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form VIZ Media LLC. Viz Media licensed the MegaMan NT Warrior and Mega Man Star Force anime series in North America, and is the publisher of the MegaMan NT Warrior manga.