Sony Launches Crunchyroll Storyworks To Adapt Stories Across Formats
The division's mandate to feed greenlight-ready projects to HAYATE, Crunchyroll's joint venture with Aniplex, puts adaptation development inside the same corporate structure that already controls streaming, merchandise, events and manga for the market Sony has consolidated since its 2021 Crunchyroll acquisition.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, Deadline Anime.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has formed Crunchyroll Storyworks, a new division of its Crunchyroll anime subsidiary, to be led by Tohru Iokibe, a 25-year Sony veteran. Announced during the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum at North Javits Center on the eve of New York Comic Con, Storyworks will adapt global stories into anime and Japanese anime into live action, working with Japanese creators on the original creative vision.
Storyworks will sit inside Crunchyroll's content group and work with Japanese creators to center the original creative vision, whether a property is being turned into anime or into live action. The unit's output is aimed at HAYATE, Crunchyroll's joint venture with Aniplex, as greenlight-ready projects. Iokibe reports to Crunchyroll Chief Content Officer Asa Suehira, and he arrived from leading IP initiatives linking SPE and PlayStation Productions. Sony Pictures closed its $1.2 billion Crunchyroll acquisition in 2021 and combined it with Funimation. Crunchyroll's streaming service surpassed 21 million subscribers earlier this year.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.