Crunchyroll and HAYATE plan anime adaptations for around 15 webtoons

HAYATE, LINE Digital Frontier and Crunchyroll have announced a partnership to develop potential anime adaptations of around 15 selected webtoons. The framework begins at the development stage, places HAYATE in charge of production and gives Crunchyroll exclusive streaming rights in selected territories. The wording matters: the companies describe potential projects, not 15 series that are already greenlit with guaranteed releases.

The first titles tied to the plan are The Remarried Empress, The Boxer and Teenage Mercenary. They are not all at the same stage. The first two received formal adaptation announcements during New York Comic Con, while Teenage Mercenary, already known as an anime project, received new production details and promotional material. Most of the roughly 15-title slate remains undisclosed.

Three projects show how the framework may operate

The Remarried Empress is scheduled for 2027. Tetsuya Yanagisawa will direct the series at TROYCA, with Akiko Inoue overseeing series composition and scripts, Jun Nakai designing the characters and Yuki Fukasawa composing the music. Yoko Hikasa, Ryohei Kimura, Tomoaki Maeno and Reina Ueda are among the confirmed lead voice actors.

The Boxer, based on JH's manhwa, is in production but does not have a release date. Takehiro Kubota and KANG Wonyeong will co-direct, while breccia and STUDIO JEMI handle the animation. The announced cast includes Koki Uchiyama, Kensho Ono, Tomokazu Seki and Toshiyuki Toyonaga.

Teenage Mercenary is planned for 2027. Its latest presentation confirmed Manabu Ono as director and series composer, Koji Haneda as character designer, Hiroyuki Sawano as composer and J.C.STAFF as the animation studio. Those differences show that the partnership gathers projects at multiple stages rather than announcing a single, uniform production wave.

A more direct route from digital comics to streaming

The structure combines three roles that are often separated. LINE Digital Frontier operates digital-comics services and provides access to stories already tested with readers. HAYATE coordinates development and production. Crunchyroll contributes distribution and knowledge of international audiences. From an editorial perspective, the arrangement points to an attempt to turn popularity in reading apps into a continuing pipeline of streaming adaptations.

HAYATE was formed by Aniplex and Crunchyroll and acquired animation studio Lay-duce in 2026. The new agreement expands that structure: beyond producing shows, HAYATE can now receive an organized selection of properties from the WEBTOON ecosystem. However, there is no confirmation that Lay-duce will work on the three named projects or on any of the undisclosed titles.

What remains unanswered

The companies have not released the full slate, selection criteria, budgets, production schedules or every territory covered by exclusivity. They also have not explained how each original author and artist will participate in the adaptation process. HAYATE and Crunchyroll say they intend to preserve the spirit of the source works, but that is a stated company commitment that can only be assessed once the shows reach audiences.

For now, the confirmed development is a pipeline covering around 15 candidates, with three works identified. The most significant consequence is not an immediate flood of releases, but a more direct chain linking webtoons, Japanese anime production and international distribution.