During the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum in New York, Sony Pictures Entertainment officially unveiled the creation of Crunchyroll Storyworks. Spearheaded by Sony's Tohru Iokibe, the newly formed division focuses on bridging international storytelling with Japanese creative talent, executing multi-format adaptations that span both original anime productions and live-action cinematic projects.
The strategic foundation of Storyworks is closely aligned with HAYATE Inc., the joint anime production venture established by Aniplex and Crunchyroll. Led by Chairman and CEO Masanori Miyake alongside President and COO Leo Watanabe, HAYATE handles the heavy lifting of planning, developing, and producing content tailored for global distribution on the streaming platform. Following HAYATE's full acquisition of animation studio Lay-duce earlier this year, the production pipeline is well-positioned to scale up output under the new Sony umbrella.
The establishment of Storyworks highlights Sony's continued consolidation of its anime ecosystem. Since completing the landmark acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T, Sony Group corporations have steadily integrated streaming infrastructure, production ventures, and home video distribution under unified leadership, signaling a long-term commitment to owning the complete pipeline of modern franchise creation.
