Singapore-based RisingJoy has signed an international distribution pact with Japan’s NTT DOCOMO Studio covering the company’s vertical content, including its anime slate. Announced on 26 October 2026, the deal is structured as non-exclusive and title-by-title, with separate terms agreed for each release.
The vertical anime gap
RisingJoy is making a specific bet: the most successful vertical series today are live action, while vertical anime remains a thin category. Co-founder and CEO Cassandra Yang said the company reads that “as an opportunity rather than a limitation.”
The audience data behind the bet is not about reach. RisingJoy says anime viewers are narrower for now, but more loyal, more engaged and more attached to characters. In a format where repeat viewing and fandom drive value, that attachment is the foundation for franchises.
30 titles by Q1 2027
Alongside the distribution deal, RisingJoy committed to producing 30 vertical anime titles under the RJOY Originals banner by the end of the first quarter of 2027. Six titles have already been completed and delivered:
- Addicted to the Dark Boss
- Hide My Secret in the Moonlight
- In the Devil’s Hand
- Last Order from the Revenge Club
- Locked Away I Became Unbreakable
- Modern Cinderella Behind the Lies
Four more titles are expected by the end of 2026. RisingJoy said AI production tools were used on the titles “to reach a scale and cadence that conventional animation cannot support at short-form budgets.”
That AI-assisted pipeline is the operational story. Short-form vertical budgets often cannot absorb conventional animation timelines, so a 30-title commitment is also a test of whether machine-assisted production can keep a mobile-first anime slate refreshed.
For NTT DOCOMO Studio, the agreement offers a global licensing route for its vertical anime without surrendering exclusivity. Because each title is negotiated separately, the Japanese studio can test demand market by market and platform by platform, while RisingJoy builds its RJOY Originals slate alongside the licensed catalogue.
How buyers can use this
The non-exclusive, title-by-title structure lowers the cost of testing vertical anime. A streaming platform or content buyer can license one delivered title, measure retention and character affinity, and expand only if the data supports it. There is no bundled slate commitment.
Media planners should ask for loyalty metrics, not just completion rates, when these titles are pitched. RisingJoy’s positioning is clear: this is a strategic category built on a smaller but stickier audience, not an experiment in wholesale reach. Watch the six completed titles as a low-commitment sample before the pipeline fills toward 2027.
Source: Deadline
