JH’s The Boxer manhwa webtoon series is receiving a TV anime adaptation and has unveiled a trailer confirming its voice cast and staff. A premiere date for the series has not been announced as of the time of writing.
Crunchyroll also debuted an English-subtitled trailer during its showcase panel at New York Comic Con 2026 and will stream the anime.
Takehiro Kubota (My Happy Marriage Season 1 director) and KANG Wonyeong are directing the anime series, with Masahiro Suwa (The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 1-5) as character designer, and Toshiya Ono (86 EIGHTY-SIX, Shadows House) as series composer and scriptwriter. BLUE RIGHTS is credited as a “creative producer,” while breccia and Studio JEMI are handling the animation production.
Meanwhile, the main voice cast will star:
- • Koki Uchiyama as Yu
- • Toshiyuki Toyonaga as J
- • Tomokazu Seki as K
- • Kensho Ono as Ryu
The manhwa was digitally serialized in Korean on the Naver Webtoon platform from December 2019 to June 2022. It was released in English digitally on the Line Webtoon platform and in print by Ize Press. Thirteen volumes were published in South Korea as of September 2025.
Crunchyroll describes the synopsis of The Boxer as:
A talent bestowed upon a monster. Is it a blessing—or a curse? K, a legendary boxing trainer who has produced numerous world champions, is searching for his “final disciple.” Then he encounters Yu, a boy in a back alley who simply stands there, taking punch after punch. The boy shows neither anger nor fighting spirit, yet K sees in him something beyond genius: a talent of unfathomable potential.
Under K’s guidance, Yu steps into the boxing ring. With an overwhelming strength that can only be described as monstrous, he begins his ascent toward the pinnacle of the boxing world. Standing in his way are champions who stake their pride on skills honed to perfection, and fighters who have overcome the limits of talent through sheer effort. Each carries a dream they refuse to surrender and a reason to keep fighting. Their clashes with the monster shake even the foundations of the lives they have built.
And what does Yu himself seek at the end of his fists? The life of one “monster” intertwines with the lives of those who fight him. Beyond talent and hard work, glory and defeat, a story begins—one that asks what it truly means to be strong.
In a joint press release with companies HAYATE and WEBTOON Entertainment subsidiary LINE Digital Frontier Corporation, Crunchyroll announced that it had established an anime co-production partnership with both companies.
The partnership was announced during Crunchyroll’s showcase panel at New York Comic Con 2026. It will focus on “adapting a slate of WEBTOON series titles into anime,” with the three companies cooperating on the “development stage on potential anime adaptations of around 15 select titles.” The press release states that HAYATE will lead the development and production in collaboration with LINE Digital Frontier and Crunchyroll itself. The latter will then “exclusively stream the resulting anime in select territories.”
Sources: HAYATE YouTube Channel, Crunchyroll YouTube Channel, press release
