HAYATE Anime Production Venture Makes First Studio Acquisition in Lay-duce

Not long after announcing the nominees and jury for the forthcoming installment of the Anime Awards, Aniplex and Crunchyroll’s joint production venture in HAYATE has made its first major move, by acquiring animation studio Lay-duce, the animation studio behind the newly nominated Clevatess anime.

HAYATE is an anime production company jointly established by Aniplex and Crunchyroll last year. The aim is to develop works that appeal to the ever-expanding number of anime fans around the world, and to distribute them on a near-exclusive basis on Crunchyroll.

Lay-duce is an anime production studio founded in 2013 by Noritomo Yonechi, and has been involved in the production of many works planned by Aniplex, such as “Ultramarine Fanfare” and “The Adventures of Magi”. In recent years, “Clevatess: The King of Beasts, the Hero of Babies and Corpses” (nominated for Best New Series at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards).

With Lay-duce’s animation production track record, becoming a subsidiary and conducting further business collaboration will enable HAYATE to proceed with animation production on a more stable foundation. In addition, the two companies will cooperate with Lay-duce so that its employees and its creators can fully demonstrate their sensibilities and abilities while continuing to work on their projects, already in progress.