Ryuu Launches First Vertical Anime Streaming Platform, Signing Indie Artists with 1B+ Total Views
Skwigly
Image: Ryuu
Ryuu, the first vertical animation streaming platform, just announced its launch alongside a growing roster of internet-born creators whose combined online following exceeds one billion views. Ryuu develops, funds, and publishes independent original premium anime series natively in 9:16 vertical format, built from the ground up for mobile, and is now open for early access preorders ahead of its Summer 2026 premiere.
A new category in an exploding short-format era
Anime was born on a screen you sat in front of. Ryuu is producing it for the screen you carry everywhere.
While legacy studios debate whether vertical is a viable format and streaming giants retrofit existing content for vertical display, Ryuu is doing something neither has dared: producing full-fledged, premium-quality original anime series in vertical format from the very first frame. No cropping. No compromise. No AI. Cinema-quality storytelling designed for 9:16.
Contrarian bet: backing indie anime creators before anyone else
Ryuu was founded by Aga Palka, a lifelong anime fan who watched Shaman King at age five and never stopped believing that animation could change the world and that the creators capable of doing so deserved better than the industry currently offers them.
The next Masashi Kishimoto or Eiichirō Oda might be in their twenties right now, anonymously posting on TikTok from a small town you’ve never heard of. We’re here to make sure they get to publish their Naruto or One Piece even when the rest of the industry is thinking about AI slop instead of artistry. Ryuu exists to back legendary indie creators when no one else does.
-Aga Palka, Founder & Producer at Ryuu
Palka serves as producer on Ryuu’s flagship series, Granite Waves. Her conviction is clear: as entertainment executives race to replace creatives with machines, she’s making the contrarian bet funding internet-born creators whose originality and cultural fluency drive massive organic resonance on vertical video platforms. A kind of engagement no algorithm can manufacture.
Aga Palka (Image: Ryuu)
The Roster: Internet-Born and Legendary
Ryuu’s launch roster spans continents and platforms: animators and creators who built massive audiences online and are now, for the first time, backed by a studio that treats them as the architects and directors of original franchises, not contractors.
Six creators are announced at launch, with more than ten additional signings to be revealed throughout 2026:
- Tezeze – anonymous creator and director, whose Granite Waves teasers reached over 100 million views; creator of Granite Waves
- Alindraws – creator of Sonnenlied, reached 50M views across social media platforms, prev. collaborating with Daft Punk fanzine as an illustrator
- Shar – Filipino YouTuber-animator, YouTube Golden Button holder with over 1 million subscribers and 150M views; creator of Little Wizard, Big Journey
- No Sam – creator of Infinit, artists whose sculptures, paintings and illustrations were previously featured in exhibition in CICA미술관, Korean art gallery
- Prin – creator of Moth to Flame, popular artist and animator with over half a million fans online, spread from Japan to United States
- SpacearTEAst – series title to be announced, original comics authors and artist with major presence in Central Europe
While every author is compensated for their work on the title, they also receive lifelong royalties for their series. Ryuu’s human-first philosophy goes even further. In a direct stand against the rise of AI-generated content and the layoffs surrounding it, the platform gives the entire production crew, including animators, voice actors, editors, and designers, a revenue share in the stories they help bring to life. No exceptions.
Ryuu’s approach reflects a broader entertainment shift toward human-first production models, including widely covered examples such as Taylor Swift’s tour-crew bonuses and Dropout’s talent-centered approach to independent entertainment.
The Voice Cast: from Debuts to Legends
Ryuu’s commitment to quality and creating opportunities extends to its voice cast, bridging the gap between industry legends and aspiring talents. Through open online auditions that drew over ten thousand entries from both professionals and passionate newcomers, the platform has created a unique stage for fresh voices to break into the industry. As a result, Ryuu’s series feature an exciting mix of promising debutants working alongside some of the most recognized names in English-language anime. More announcements are expected as additional series are revealed.
Image: Ryuu
Announced voice talent includes:
- Sarah Natochenny – multiple Webby and Voice Arts award-winner, best known as the voice of Ash Ketchum across the entire Pokémon franchise, Anime Awards nominee for Best English Performance; voices Elya in Granite Waves
- Jenny Yokobori – known for Yoimiya in Genshin Impact, Kuromi in Hello Kitty and Friends, and roles in The Simpsons, Fortnite, and Ghost of Tsushima
- Katie Wetch – known for roles across Crunchyroll’s anime catalog including among others Mio Tsuchiya in Wind Breaker
First flagship series: Granite Waves
Before a single episode aired, Granite Waves had already accumulated over 100 million views on its teasers and 1 million followers online, with over 10,000 fans auditioning for voice acting roles. Pilot Part 1 has since reached almost 6 million views.
Granite Waves is a dark science fantasy thriller-heist animated series by anonymous creator and director Tezeze, set at the edge of the map where reality leaks. After a mission going tragically wrong, scientist Elya is stranded in a town haunted by spirits hungry for life itself while in another dimension, Zima and Ing attempt a high-stakes heist in the Forbidden Places. The series draws from the visual atmosphere of Central Asia and Slavic Central-Eastern Europe and is produced natively in vertical format for Ryuu. Pilot Part 1 is available now.
Sarah Natochenny voices Elya, the series lead – a 25-year-old mad scientist navigating a second chance at life in a town haunted by spirits hungry for the living. The world draws from the grit and visual atmosphere of Central Asia and Slavic Central-Eastern Europe, with characters originating from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland or Finland, moving decisively beyond familiar Western fantasy tropes.
It’s very difficult to calculate how long it took to create the world of Granite Waves – it’s something that happens naturally and grows with you. It’s just that one moment you discover that you’re carrying a huge pocket world with you, a story and characters, and it all came about by itself, not on purpose. Even now, when I think about some world elements or plot lines, I do it naturally – a scene is being constructed in my head, and then I just watch the actions taking place. From the outside, my process often looks like I’ve been staring at a wall for five hours in a row.
I would say that the issue of preserving the “soul” of a story is quite acute now when it comes to large-scale projects. Corporations are remaking and fracturing the original concepts for purely commercial purposes. This hurts both the authors and the audience.
That is why I am very glad that our paths have crossed with Ryuu: this is a studio that really pays attention to the initial ideas, the “soul of the project”, and really trusts its authors. And trusting an author is important, because then they will share their skills and energy with a vengeance, and the project will shine.
-Tezeze, Author, Showrunner & Director, Granite Waves
The platform: built for mobile, built to last
Ryuu is not a repurposed streaming service. It is a production studio and platform built simultaneously, so that the format and the content evolve together. Every series on Ryuu is produced natively in 9:16 vertical format, released in weekly episodes of two to three minutes, and exclusive to the platform.
At launch, Ryuu delivers an exclusive slate of original series following a consistent weekly release schedule. Community engagement is the heart of the platform, driven by a live chat feature that allows creators to interact directly with fans in real-time during premieres.
The content library is positioned for rapid scaling; new original titles will debut monthly throughout 2026, with a strategic roadmap to increase frequency to multiple series launches per month in 2027. To ensure global accessibility, Ryuu offers localized pricing across regions, with comprehensive translations available from day one.
The app is currently available in early access. Preorder holders receive early platform access ahead of the Summer 2026 general launch, including access to early episodes and behind the scenes content, Granite Waves merch, as well as in-app rewards like skins and icons. A Legendary tier includes original series merchandise produced in collaboration with creators.
Preorders are open now at ryuu.com. General platform premiere is scheduled for Summer 2026.
Pilot Part 1 of Granite Waves is available to watch now: