Netflix Orders Animated Series Based On Characters From A Japanese Messaging App

Netflix will turn a cast of characters made popular by Japanese messaging app into an original animated series.

The streamer is working with Line Friends, the character brand that started as Brown & Friends stickers on the Line messaging service, to create the non-verbal, computer-animated series.

Los Angeles-based Kickstart Entertainment is a co-producer on the show, which will allow audiences of all ages to follow the lives of Brown, Cony, Sally, Moon and James.

Aram Yacoubian, director of original animation at Netflix, said: “The band of adorable Brown & Friends characters has been a part of many fans’ daily lives since they created as stickers on Line mobile messengers, and now we’re excited to develop the expanded world for screens of all kinds.”

Line has 164 million active users worldwide and is owned by South Korean internet firm Naver Corporation. It is similar to Whatsapp and China’s WeChat.