Crunchyroll, HAYATE Inc., and LINE Digital Frontier have announced a major partnership to produce anime adaptations of approximately 15 webtoons. Crunchyroll will exclusively stream the resulting titles in select territories.
What Is HAYATE Inc.?
HAYATE Inc. was established in March 2025 and is headquartered in Tokyo. Masanori Miyake of Aniplex serves as Chairman and CEO, while Leo Watanabe holds the role of President and COO. The company’s staff is drawn from both Aniplex and Crunchyroll, with a core focus on planning, developing, and producing anime content for Crunchyroll’s global streaming platform.
In April, HAYATE acquired all shares of anime studio Lay-duce, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. The company is also overseeing production of the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima: Legends (Ghost of Tsushima: Kuroudo Kitan) anime series.
LINE Digital Frontier’s Webtoon Ambitions
In February 2025, LINE Digital Frontier CEO Shin-bae Kim announced plans to produce 20 animated webtoon adaptations within the year — a dramatic expansion of the company’s webtoon IP business. LINE Digital Frontier operates LINE Manga, the Japanese subsidiary of Naver Webtoon.
LINE Manga has been ramping up webtoon adaptations aggressively since 2024, producing 12 that year alone — a sharp rise from just one in 2022 and two in 2023. The numbers underscore the growing momentum behind webtoon-to-anime pipeline strategies in the Japanese market.
A Landmark Partnership
The three-way collaboration signals a clear industry shift toward webtoon IP as a major source of anime content. Fans worldwide, including in Thailand, will be able to watch the resulting titles on Crunchyroll in supported regions.
(แชร์แล้วไปกดรับที่หน้าภารกิจ · วันละ 1 lần)
