Naver Webtoon Confirms Anime Adaptation of ‘The Remarried Empress,’ 15 Titles Set for Global Markets

K-Webtoons step up global animation streaming push

Naver Webtoon’s global intellectual property expansion has entered a new phase. Three megahits — ‘The Remarried Empress,’ ‘The Boxer’ and ‘Teenage Mercenary’ — each with billions of views worldwide, are being reborn as global animated series.

Line Digital Frontier (LDF), the Japanese subsidiary of Webtoon Entertainment, Naver Webtoon’s parent company, officially announced Aug. 8 local time that it had signed a partnership with prominent Japanese animation studio HAYATE and global animation streaming platform Crunchyroll to co-produce animated adaptations of webtoons.

The alliance goes beyond a simple rights sale, with the three companies working closely together from the planning and development stages. HAYATE will oversee the overall development and production of the animated series, while Crunchyroll, which has more than 100 million paid subscribers worldwide, will exclusively stream the completed works in major regions including North America. The companies plan to roll out projects sequentially based on about 15 webtoon titles with strong potential for anime adaptations.

The partnership was unveiled during a showcase at New York Comic Con, a pop culture festival held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, drawing intense attention from fans around the world. The event marked the first announcement of anime adaptations of ‘The Remarried Empress’ and ‘The Boxer.’ The companies also released the latest teaser videos and character designs for the three titles, including ‘Teenage Mercenary,’ whose adaptation had already been confirmed, prompting an enthusiastic response.

Based on a web novel, ‘The Remarried Empress’ is an undisputed flagship title, having surpassed 3 billion cumulative views worldwide. It has built a large fan base with its compelling story and striking artwork, while a major television drama based on the same title is also actively in production.

‘Teenage Mercenary,’ a modern fantasy action series, and ‘The Boxer,’ which opened new ground for sports webtoons, are also massive global hits, with 2.84 billion and 1.06 billion cumulative views, respectively. The anime adaptation projects are expected to attract not only existing webtoon readers but also animation fans worldwide, further elevating the standing of K-content.