Sony Pictures Entertainment launched Crunchyroll Storyworks, a new division to develop anime and live-action adaptations alongside Japanese creators. Chairman and CEO Ravi Ahuja announced it Wednesday at Sony’s inaugural Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum.
The division sits inside Crunchyroll’s content group and will turn global stories into anime and adapt Japanese anime into live action.
What Crunchyroll Storyworks Will Develop
Tohru Iokibe leads Crunchyroll Storyworks and reports to Crunchyroll chief content officer Asa Suehira. Iokibe previously oversaw IP acceleration initiatives connecting Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions.
The unit brings together creative partners across Crunchyroll, Aniplex, Japan’s creative community and Sony Pictures, including the studio behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
It will expand the pipeline of greenlight-ready projects for HAYATE, Crunchyroll’s joint venture with Aniplex.
What It Means For Fans And Crunchyroll Titles
For fans, the launch signals that Sony wants a steadier, more deliberate process for turning beloved anime series into live-action film or television, rather than one-off attempts. Iokibe said in a statement that “the best adaptations begin with respect for the original work,” framing the division’s approach around staying close to source material rather than reworking it loosely for Western audiences.
Suehira echoed that idea, saying Storyworks will “build a creative bridge between Japan and storytellers around the world” while protecting what makes those stories distinctive. For viewers who have watched past anime adaptations stray from their source material, that stated priority on creator involvement may matter more than the announcement itself.
The division’s focus on Japanese creative partnership also applies in reverse. Original global stories adapted into anime format give non-Japanese writers and properties a path into the anime pipeline, widening what kinds of stories can carry the label.
Context Within Sony’s Anime Strategy
Ahuja framed the launch as a response to anime’s growth as what he called “a global cultural force.” He said in his statement that the format has been “shaped over decades by the creators, studios and publishers who have nurtured and developed its distinctive storytelling,” and that Sony has “a responsibility to protect and amplify what makes it special while always keeping creators’ visions at the center.”
That framing lines up with how Sony has built out its Crunchyroll operation, pairing it with Aniplex through HAYATE to generate projects already close to production-ready. Crunchyroll Storyworks adds a development arm aimed specifically at adaptation work, rather than original production alone, positioning Sony to pull from both Western IP and its own anime library.
What’s Next
Sony has not named specific titles that Crunchyroll Storyworks has greenlit or is currently developing, and the company has not detailed a budget or timeline for when the division’s first projects will reach audiences. The announcement came out of Sony’s inaugural Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum, held Oct. 7, 2026.
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