PIXTA Inc. has relaunched Anipops as a global short-form anime streaming platform, along with establishing a new anime studio that uses AI technology in its production process. The revamped service officially launched on August 12, 2026 with five original anime series.
Anipops originally launched in March 2026 as an AI anime submission platform where individual creators could upload and share their work. PIXTA says it has now restructured the service into a paid streaming platform centered on original series produced by its newly established in-house studio. The existing creator submission and viewing functions are being moved to Anipops Creators.
The company says its new studio is powered by “cutting-edge AI technology,” and that the production process from planning and screenwriting through animation is completed in-house. PIXTA plans to continue creating original anime through the studio while also exploring future collaborations with existing IP and other content.
The five launch titles are:
- The Detective Club
- The Curse-Breaking Bride
- Morks
- Bells Of The ONI
- Burned Out by My Corporate Job, I Moved to the Country—Now My Stray Cat Streams Are Going Viral
The Detective Club
Kawase Tan, a self-proclaimed great detective, and Usagi Hikaru, a quiet girl who loves games — two people with opposite personalities and opposite approaches to deduction — take on a locked-room murder in the old school building and a murder threat sent to a popular streamer. Flashy paranormal phenomena, edited videos, secrets hidden behind smiles: when Hikaru’s sharp powers of observation align with Tan’s straightforward drive to act, the truth buried under lies begins to surface. A school detective anime full of breezy banter, genuine mystery, and the kindness to save someone who’s been hurt.
The Curse-Breaking Bride
Sun Rong, an orphan with amber eyes, is suddenly brought into the imperial court as the “curse-breaking bride” meant to save a prince trapped in endless sleep. There she witnesses countless pale blue chains binding the prince — a bizarre sight that, strangely, only she can see. The prince’s mysterious sleep, the legend of a dynasty that fell thirty years ago, and a secret hidden in Sun Rong’s own birth: on the stage of an intrigue-filled court, the girl’s fate and the nation’s past gradually intertwine. A story steeped in mystery and wonder.
Morks
Mysterious creatures known as “Morks” begin appearing across Japan. Yura, a kind-hearted girl, encounters a wolf-type Mork that doesn’t attack humans. Having formed a bond with Yura, the wolf fights a life-or-death battle against a ferocious queen ant-type Mork to protect her. A monster battle fantasy depicting the bond between humans and Morks.
Bells Of The ONI
Three companions travel the land hunting oni: a swordsman, a girl who rings a bell, and a boy with a big appetite. In one town, a young boy asks them for help, and the trio heads to an abandoned mine where his father disappeared. Facing the oni lurking within, their bonds and resolve are put to the test in this samurai action period drama.
Burned Out by My Corporate Job, I Moved to the Country—Now My Stray Cat Streams Are Going Viral
After quitting his soul-crushing job, the protagonist flees to a small town in Hokkaido. There, he meets Shiro, a fluffy white stray cat, and Koharu, a kind-hearted high school girl who encourages him to start streaming his laid-back new life. Even though he’s just filming naps and farm work, massive donations start pouring in from around the world?! It turns out Shiro — a cat who wins over even the harshest critics — is secretly a legendary guardian beast! A zero-stress, fully-happy countryside streaming life begins!
PIXTA Inc. was founded in 2005 and operates PIXTA, Japan’s largest stock content marketplace, where professional and amateur contributors sell photos, illustrations, video, and music. In recent years the company has expanded into supplying image and video data as AI training material for companies and academic institutions, alongside annotation services. Contributors are included in that licensing by default and must opt out through their account settings.
Separately, PIXTA stopped accepting AI-generated submissions to the stock library on May 22, 2026. In a separate interview with anime corner, PIXTA President and CEO Daisuke Komata said that the decision reflected a rapid buildup of AI-generated content making it harder to match buyers with what they were looking for, along with growing buyer demand for work creators had photographed or made themselves, and said it was not intended to reject creative work made with AI.
Komata also said that Anipops uses several external generative AI services but declined to identify them, and he said that it does not train its own models or use content from the PIXTA library in Anipops productions. Episodes move from scripts and rough visual direction into generative AI-assisted video production before undergoing human review and corrections. He confirmed that the voices are produced using external generative AI services.
The company currently does not plan to publish individual staff credits such as writers or directors, or explicitly label titles as AI-generated unless required by applicable laws or regulations. The full interview with PIXTA’s Daisuke Komata addresses its production pipeline, training-data questions, creator attribution, generated voices, copyright, industry concerns, and its response to criticism surrounding generative AI.
Anipops is aimed at an international audience and supports subtitles for its Japanese productions. A number of episodes from each series can be watched for free. After that, viewers can either pay per episode or watch advertisements to continue for free. Weekly and monthly subscriptions provide unlimited viewing of eligible titles. Pricing is set at $0.50 per episode, $6.99 per week, or $19.99 per month.
Looking ahead, PIXTA says it is particularly interested in the growing vertical short-drama market and expects short-form animation to become a larger part of that sector. The company plans to use its AI-assisted production infrastructure to expand Anipops’ original lineup and pursue collaborations involving existing IP.
Numerous companies previously commented on AI use in regular productions. Aniplex president Shu Nishimoto said the company will take a cautious approach toward artificial intelligence, saying that they would be open to AI use if beneficial to creators. Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini also talked about their stance, saying that the creators can use whatever technology they want, but that they don’t intend to use AI in its own creative processes of subtitling or dubbing.
Source: Press Release, Anipops Official Website, Daisuke Komata Interview by anime corner
Featured image generated using AI, provided by Anipops
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