"Anime Production Taking 3 Years Reduced to 3 Months" -- Stella& Releases 'Mithril,' an OS for Short Anime Production Using IP from Manga, Light Novels, and Webtoons

Japan established the manga format globally, and South Korea redefined it for the digital age with webtoons. Currently, interest in content like manga, light novels, and webtoons is growing worldwide, with active production underway. The next format to gain attention is short animation. As technology to adapt content IP into short animations is in demand, Stella& has announced its solution.

Mithril is an AI-based production OS that can reconstruct stories for video and produce short animations ranging from 15-30 second trailers to 60-180 second short animations by inputting web novels or manga. It handles the entire production process, from story adaptation, camera direction, scene composition, to quality verification, all within a single system.

Developed over a year by the company's affiliated research institute, Mithril is designed so that AI handles improvements in production speed and cost reduction, while specialized staff manage the final quality. Unlike general AI video generation tools, its key feature is utilizing existing original IP as core input data, rather than starting from prompts.

Furthermore, Stella& has completed Proofs of Concept (PoCs) with major Japanese platform and entertainment companies and is proceeding with a joint short animation project using IP from an idol group with a global fandom. The short animations produced by Stella& are currently in the stage of concluding distribution agreements with multiple global platforms, moving beyond the technical verification phase into the operation of an actual distribution pipeline.

Stella& CEO Kang So-yeon stated, "Through Mithril, we aim to build a media mix ecosystem for content IP." Stella& plans to expand Mithril's services to the North American market, using the Japanese market as a foothold.