Sony's Crunchyroll Storyworks Wants Anime for Everyone

Crunchyroll Storyworks, the new division Sony Pictures Entertainment announced this month, wants to change who makes anime and where it goes next. The unit was revealed at the inaugural Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum in New York with a two-way mission: adapt global stories and folklore into anime, and turn existing anime into live-action films and television series, according to Sony Pictures. If it works, the division could become the most important new pipeline in anime, deciding which stories from around the world get the anime treatment and which beloved series get the live-action remake treatment next.

The announcement arrived at a gathering that drew more than 90 entertainment companies to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, including heavyweights like MAPPA, Toho, Shueisha, and Aniplex, alongside filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro and James Gunn. The forum, held just before New York Comic Con, was framed around the theme of designing the future of anime. Crunchyroll Storyworks was the event's headline structural move: not a single project announcement, but a permanent division built to develop and package projects for the long term.

What Crunchyroll Storyworks Will Actually Do

Crunchyroll Storyworks will not animate anything itself. Instead, it will operate inside Crunchyroll's content group as a development unit, scouting stories from around the world and packaging them as greenlight-ready projects for HAYATE, the anime production venture Crunchyroll runs with Aniplex, as reported by Anime News Network. HAYATE, founded in March 2025 and based in Tokyo, then coordinates actual production with Japanese studios. The setup gives the new division a direct line from a folktale told anywhere on earth to a finished anime on Crunchyroll's platform.

The division's second job may be the bolder one. Crunchyroll Storyworks will also develop live-action adaptations of anime properties for film and series, partnering closely with Japanese creators to preserve the original creative vision, according to Sony Pictures. No specific titles or creative teams have been announced yet, so fans will be watching closely for the first projects to emerge from the unit. The company has said nothing about timelines, which suggests the first adaptations are still early in development.

Running the new division is Tohru Iokibe, a Sony veteran of 25 years who most recently led IP acceleration initiatives connecting Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions. He will report to Crunchyroll chief content officer Asa Suehira, placing Storyworks near the center of the company's creative decision-making. SPE chairman and chief executive Ravi Ahuja framed the division as a stewardship play, saying anime has "a responsibility to protect and amplify what makes it special" while keeping creators' visions central, as reported by Sony Pictures.

The One Piece Bet: Why Live-Action Anime Is Hot Again

The live-action half of Crunchyroll Storyworks arrives at a moment when Hollywood has finally learned how to adapt anime. Netflix's One Piece series proved that a faithful, big-budget live-action anime adaptation can win over skeptics and newcomers alike, and Sony clearly wants a piece of that momentum. The flop history is long and instructive: the 2017 Death Note film and the widely panned Dragon Ball Evolution showed what happens when adaptations discard the source material's spirit. Storyworks' pitch is that keeping Japanese creators at the center of every project is the way to avoid repeating those failures.

There is already a working blueprint. Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini has previously pointed to Solo Leveling, the Korean web novel adapted with Aniplex and Japanese studio A-1 Pictures, as the model for adapting non-Japanese stories through Japanese production, according to Animehunch. Crunchyroll Storyworks extends that logic from Korean webtoons to folklore and stories from everywhere else. The message to skeptics is explicit: source material can come from anywhere, but the anime itself must remain connected to Japanese creators and studios.

What This Means for Fans

For anime fans, the practical question is what actually reaches screens. On the anime side, the division promises a broader pipeline of stories: global folklore, legends, and international IP entering the anime system through Japanese studios, developed from the start for a worldwide audience. If Crunchyroll Storyworks delivers on its mission, the next few years could bring anime adaptations of stories fans have never seen animated before, drawn from traditions far outside Japan's usual source material.

On the live-action side, fans should expect more anime properties making the jump to film and television, with Sony Pictures' resources behind them. The stakes are real for anyone burned by past adaptations, but the division's structure is designed to answer that anxiety directly. As chief content officer Asa Suehira put it, the unit is meant to build a bridge between Japan and storytellers around the world, creating new possibilities for creators and new ways for fans to experience the stories they love, as reported by Sony Pictures.

GenZ NewZ has also covered James Gunn's appearance at the same forum, where Hollywood and anime industry heavyweights gathered in New York. For more coverage of the medium's biggest moves, see the Anime & Animation topic page.