That webtoons are taking a huge slice of the animation industry is no surprise, but the recent announcement promises to accelerate the trend. Crunchyroll, producer HAYATE, and LINE Digital Frontier have formalized a strategic alliance to coproduce nearly fifteen anime adaptations based on some of the most read digital stories on the platform.

This collaboration is not a last-minute distribution deal, as the three companies will work together from the initial development phase of each project. Among the first confirmed adaptations in this package are the anticipated versions of The Boxer, The Divorced Empress, and Teenage Mercenary, titles that have already made waves in the community.

The technical lead of this ambitious initiative will be HAYATE, a Tokyo-based company founded in March 2025 with direct backing from major figures in the industry. Headed by Masanori Miyake (executive president of Aniplex) and Leo Watanabe in operational management, the company brings together creatives from both Aniplex and Crunchyroll. In addition to taking on this adaptation package, HAYATE has already acquired the entire studio Lay-duce and driven the animated production of Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, showing they have the resources and intent to dominate the market.

For digital distribution, LINE Digital Frontier operates the LINE Manga platform in Japan as a subsidiary of Naver Webtoon. The company has drastically accelerated its production pace in recent years, moving from launching just one or two adaptations annually between 2022 and 2023 to driving twelve projects in 2024 and aiming to animate twenty titles in 2025.

This alliance aims to ensure that the most popular digital works receive the budget and technical quality needed to compete directly with traditional adaptations on Japanese television.

Which of the webtoons you read would you like to see adapted into anime under this alliance?