LINE Manga Operator Plans 10 Billion Yen Push Into Japan-Origin Originals
A platform operator tying a three-year budget to Japan-origin titles and simultaneous worldwide release treats translation and distribution cost as a barrier to be paid down, not a natural limit on how far Japanese manga travels.
Reporting from 1 source: Magmix.
LINE Digital Frontier will invest roughly 10 billion yen over three years in original content originating in Japan, president Kei Mori said at a Tokyo presentation on October 22, 2026. The plan covers in-house production, co-production with studios and publishers, and support for individual creators. Global expansion includes the Global Drop simultaneous distribution project and a 2027 launch for WEBTOON CANVAS in Japan.
The money is split three ways: in-house originals, co-production with studios and publishers, and grants of support to individual creators. On the production side, Mori described assigning dedicated editors to talent found through submissions, then building works through division of labor, including collaboration with game-industry scriptwriters.
Kim Yong-soo, president of parent company WEBTOON Entertainment and a representative director of LINE Digital Frontier, set two limits on AI at the Q&A: models will not be trained on or store the works, and AI translation is left to each creator's choice. He also said short-term recovery of the 10 billion yen is not the goal.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.