Sony Pictures Entertainment has officially unveiled Crunchyroll Storyworks, a new division dedicated to expanding the reach of anime through cross-media adaptations. Announced at the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum in New York, the initiative is spearheaded by Tohru Iokibe. The division’s primary mandate is to facilitate the development of live-action projects derived from anime, while simultaneously adapting global narratives into the anime format in partnership with Japanese creators.
This new structure is designed to feed directly into the production pipeline of HAYATE Inc., the collaborative venture formed by Aniplex and Crunchyroll in March 2025. Based in Tokyo and led by Masanori Miyake and Leo Watanabe, HAYATE Inc. focuses on the planning and production of original anime content for the Crunchyroll streaming platform. The venture has already begun consolidating its production capabilities, most notably through its acquisition of the animation studio Lay-duce earlier this year.
The launch of Storyworks marks another step in the deepening integration between Sony’s various entertainment arms. Since the 2021 acquisition of Crunchyroll, the platform has evolved from a standalone streaming service into a central hub for Sony’s broader anime strategy, which now encompasses production, distribution, and now, dedicated development for multi-format intellectual property. With the studio infrastructure of Lay-duce now under the HAYATE umbrella, the company is positioned to exert greater control over its production pipeline from the initial pitch to the final stream.
