Crunchyroll and Aniplex's Hayate Acquires Anime Studio Lay-duce

HAYATE Inc., the joint venture between Aniplex and Crunchyroll, has acquired all shares of anime studio Lay-duce, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. The deal marks HAYATE's first capital participation in an anime production studio and signals a deepening of the vertical integration between streaming platforms and the studios that supply them.

Who Is HAYATE

Founded in March 2025 and headquartered in Tokyo, HAYATE focuses specifically on planning, developing, and producing anime content for Crunchyroll's global streaming platform. President and COO Leo Watanabe leads the venture. Both Aniplex, the powerhouse behind franchises like Demon Slayer and the Fate series, and Crunchyroll, the world's largest dedicated anime streaming service, sit under the Sony Group umbrella, making HAYATE an extension of Sony's broader anime pipeline strategy.

The company stated that through the acquisition and closer collaboration with Lay-duce, it will be able to pursue anime projects "in a more stable and sustainable manner" while creating conditions where employees and creators can "fully realize their creativity and capabilities."

Lay-duce's Track Record

Noritomo Yonai, a former producer at Studio Bones, founded Lay-duce in 2013. The studio has built a varied portfolio over the past decade, producing series including O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, Fate/Grand Order -First Order-, Rising Impact, and Heroines Run the Show. Upcoming projects on Lay-duce's slate include Uchi no Ototodomo ga Sumimasen and Clevatess Season 2.

While Lay-duce has never been among the industry's largest studios by headcount, its consistent output and Yonai's production experience at Bones gave it a reputation for reliable execution across genres, from romantic comedy to fantasy action.

What the Acquisition Means for Anime Production

The deal fits a broader pattern in the anime industry where streaming platforms and their parent companies are acquiring or investing in production studios to secure content pipelines. Sony's anime strategy already runs through Aniplex's commissioning relationships with studios like ufotable and A-1 Pictures. Adding a wholly owned studio through HAYATE gives the company more direct control over scheduling, quality, and intellectual property.

For Lay-duce's staff, the acquisition promises more financial stability and access to larger production budgets. For Crunchyroll subscribers, it means a dedicated production partner whose output will likely appear exclusively or first on the platform.

Yonai will continue serving as Lay-duce's representative director, maintaining creative continuity as the studio transitions into its new ownership structure.