In an effort to develop webtoon based mostly IP, CEO Kim Shinbae introduced that the corporate is planning to adapt 20 webtoons into anime this 12 months.
He made this assertion on Feb 13 throughout a press convention on the firm’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.
He emphasised that LINE Manga’s imaginative and prescient extends past being a webtoon platform, because it seeks to create a “webtoon kingdom” that generates income throughout a number of sectors, together with animation, dramas, and movies.
“In Japan, we’re specializing in increasing webtoons into dramas, motion pictures, and animations as a part of our IP enterprise,” Kim acknowledged. “We goal to construct an impartial and unequalled worth chain.“
This 12 months’s mission builds on LINE Manga’s rising success in webtoon variations.
In 2023, the corporate produced 12 webtoons into dramas and animations, a major improve from only one adaptation in 2022 and two in 2021.
Among the many upcoming variations is the Japanese webtoon Clavatess: The King Of Satan Beasts, which shall be launched as an anime this July. Different well-liked titles, resembling Darkish Moon: The Blood Altar, and Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, are additionally set for anime variations.
Kim defined that the strategic deal with anime variations is pushed by the worldwide enchantment of Japanese animation.
“In Japan, TV animations and theatrical anime variations acquire consideration within the U.S. as properly,” he famous, underscoring the potential for these variations to drive long-term income development. “We’re the one firm that not solely gives webtoon content material companies in Japan but in addition expands the IP into different companies resembling video variations, establishing a world IP worth chain.“
As a part of its technique, LINE Digital Frontier not too long ago invested in shares of the Japanese webtoon manufacturing studio Quantity 9. Kim famous that the variety of webtoon manufacturing studios in Japan is rising, and the corporate intends to actively push for co-productions and collaborations.
With main U.S. tech firms resembling Amazon and Apple coming into the webtoon market, Kim acknowledged their curiosity as a pure development. Slightly than seeing them as opponents, he expressed optimism about rising the trade collectively.
“We need to develop the market collectively and set up webtoons as a mainstream leisure format,” he acknowledged.
LINE Manga has already achieved notable success with its webtoons. 4 titles—three Korean and one Japanese—have surpassed a month-to-month transaction quantity of 100 million yen.
The CEO expressed confidence that this 100-million-yen membership would proceed to develop, additional solidifying LINE Manga’s place within the digital comics and anime adaptation trade.
Supply: Hankyung
