Back in September, when Iwakaze Capital took over as majority owner of GDH K.K., the parent company of the Gonzo animation studio as well as the GONZO Rosso gaming division, the new controlling company announced that three of GDH's leaders would be leaving effective October 1, 2008. Shinichiro Ishikawa, the chief executive officer, director/chief financial officer Fumiaki Goto, and executive vice president/chief operating officer Yasushi Uchida were all slated for departure.

Now the company has told the Anime News Network that all three of these officers will remain after all, but take new positions. Ishikawa will become a vice president, Goto will remain as a director, and Uchida will now be an executive director.

Meanwhile, at a Board of Directors' meeting held on Monday, November 10, it was also decided that GDH would be restructured, gathering its four internal studios into one division, reducing staff to save managerial expenses, and consolidating to reduce rent and other operating costs. The company hopes to save up to US $2.5 million this way.

Furthermore, as part of this restructuring and cost savings, GDH/Gonzo will winnow down its anime production for next fiscal year from eight titles to four. There has been no announcement yet, however, about which series will be continued. The company is already producing the television series Linebarrels of Iron and Rosario + Vampire Capu2, and has plans to run the Afro Samurai: Resurrection movie in the U.S. in January.

In other GDH-related news, the online game developer, GONZO Rosso, seems to be going strong. In a press release of November 10, it announced the forging of a business alliance with Moli Publish, a subsidiary of the Chinese company Moli Group Limited, which develops and operates MMORPGs (or, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).

The license agreement, entered into on September 18, 2008, involves the plan for GONZO Rosso to license to Moli the publishing rights to The Tower of DRUAGA - the Recovery of BABYLIM, world wide except in Japan, as well as the publishing rights to PANDORA SAGA in North America. In return, Moli will license Goldsky Digital, itself a subsidiary of GONZO Rosso, the Japanese publishing rights for its game, King of Pirate Online. As the press release says, "By exploiting one another's international distribution channels, GONZO Rosso and Moli aim to expand their respective service areas and user bases. The two companies also plan to collaborate strategically on future MMORPG development."

So a lot of changes are underway in the GDH K.K. family of companies.