Bangaluru, India – August 18, 2025 – Toonsutra, India’s #1 comic app with over 1 million monthly active users, today announced the beta release of “Cinematic Mode,” a first-of-its-kind immersive comic reading experience that transforms traditional webcomics into dynamic, multimedia narratives. This groundbreaking feature represents nothing less than the evolution of an entire medium, transforming how millions of mobile audiences in the country will experience visual narratives.

For the first time in comic and webtoon history, readers can experience their favorite stories as they were meant to be consumed – as living, breathing immersive entertainment experiences that combine the artistry of traditional comics with the immersive power of cinema. Cinematic Mode doesn’t just digitize comics; it revolutionizes the very DNA of these visual stories for a new short-form mobile audience.

“We’re witnessing the birth of Comics 2.0,” said Vishal Anand, Co-Founder & CEO of Toonsutra. “Just as the jump from print to digital transformed how we read comics, Cinematic Mode is the next evolutionary leap. We’ve cracked the code on something the industry has been dreaming about for years – making comics truly come alive. This isn’t just a new feature; it’s the future of how stories will be told and experienced. A blueprint that can define the next generation of entertainment.”
Redefining Digital Storytelling
 
Cinematic Mode provides a revolutionary “lean-back” reading experience where the comic reads itself to you. With seamless auto-scroll functionality guiding readers through panels, combined with synchronized animation, music, and narration, audiences can sit back and enjoy a hands-free storytelling experience that flows like a personalized movie.

“Cinematic Mode represents our vision of honoring the incredible artistry and storytelling of comic creators while pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in digital entertainment,” added Sharad Devarajan,
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman. “With Cinematic Mode, we’re not just putting up comics on an app – we’re architecting the future of how the world’s largest youth market in India will experience a new form of audio-visual, short-form stories.”

This innovative feature sits on top of Toonsutra’s multimodal AI framework that understands the context of comic panels and characters to generate contextually relevant animation, background music, and speech that adapts to the tone of each character and narrative moment. Leveraging Google’s most advanced AI models, this creates the world’s first truly multimodal comic experience. Comic panels come alive using Google’s latest Veo 3 image-to-video technology, transforming static illustrations into fluid animations, while Gemini 2.5 Pro powers realistic character speech with authentic Indian-language dialogue. Dynamic background music generated by Lyria 2 adapts in real-time to narrative beats, creating a personalized cinematic journey that enhances emotional depth for each reader.

Leading India’s Content Revolution

With India’s massive 700+ million mobile youth market hungry for next-generation entertainment experiences, Cinematic Mode positions Toonsutra at the forefront of a global content revolution.

As passionate advocates for comic creators and fans, Toonsutra has developed Cinematic Mode with approved publishing partners to maintain the artistic integrity of original works while enhancing the reading experience. Initial Cinematic Mode stories available on the platform showcase the technology’s ability to breathe new life into beloved narratives without compromising their creative vision.

Featuring partnerships with major global publishers and delivering 3,300+ titles with 500,000+ episodes, Toonsutra continues to set the standard for premium digital comic experiences. Cinematic Mode cements the company’s position as the definitive leader in next-generation entertainment technology.

This innovation arrives as the global webtoon market explodes toward $60 billion by 2030, with Toonsutra pioneering the technologies that will define the industry’s future.

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 ~ Fukunaga, An Anime Industry Legend Previously Built the World’s Leading Anime Platform through Funimation which later acquired Crunchyroll. The Global Webtoon Market is Expected to Grow to $60 Billion by 2030 ~

 Mumbai: July 26, 2024 – Toonsutra, India’s homegrown webtoon comic app, announced today that industry legend, Gen Fukunaga has joined the Company as an investor and Advisory Board member.

Fukunaga brings decades of experience in anime, pop-culture and streaming platforms, having previously founded Funimation which was sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment and acquired Crunchyroll to become the world’s leading anime digital platform, and one of the most successful streaming platforms globally. Goldman Sachs last year estimated Crunchyroll will account for 36% of all profit in the Sony Pictures Entertainment segment, encompassing the conglomerate’s film and TV content businesses, by 2028.       

Toonsutra has quickly established itself as the #1 comic app in India in both the Apple and Android stores with over a million downloads of the app already. The Company is founded by veteran media entrepreneurs, Sharad Devarajan and Vishal Anand who bring decades of Indian startup and media experience.

The excitement for the global webtoon market continues to grow with the recent US$2.7 Billion IPO by Naver’s Webtoon Entertainment last month, the medium and fandom around these new storytelling comic platforms is finding new audiences and territories. The global webtoon market is projected to reach a staggering $60 Billion by 2030, making it one of the highest growing new categories for media and content.

Commenting on Toonsutra, Fukunaga said, “The webtoon market is experiencing explosive growth globally, reminiscent of the anime boom we saw with Funimation. Toonsutra’s innovative approach to bringing world-class content to Indian audiences, combined with their deep understanding of local preferences, positions them perfectly to capitalize on this trend.

I’m excited to bring my experience in building global fan communities to help Toonsutra become the definitive platform for digital comics and pop culture in India.”

Vishal Anand, Toonsutra’s CEO added, “Gen Fukunaga’s decision to join Toonsutra as an investor and advisor is a testament to the immense potential of the Indian digital content market. His unparalleled experience in scaling anime and manga platforms will be invaluable as we continue to expand our offerings and enhance our user experience. With Gen’s guidance, we’re not just aiming to be India’s top webtoon app – we’re building a comprehensive ecosystem for digital storytelling that will reshape how Indian youth consume and interact with content.”

“Gen’s amazing experience in helping build one of the world’s most successful fandom platforms is invaluable to us as we pioneer the webtoon revolution for India. Toonsutra’s mission is to bring together a community of passionate fandom and pop-culture, catering to the largest youth market in the world – India’s 700 million+ mobile youth market,” added, Sharad Devarajan, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Toonsutra.

Toonsutra is the only premium webtoon comics app in the region dedicated to catering to Indian audiences with Hindi, Tamil and Telegu language content offerings. The Company has locked up exclusive partnership deals with some of the biggest global publishers and creators to bring over 550+ titles and 250,000 episodes of content into local Indian languages – the largest offering of premium, high-quality, webtoon comic content ever assembled for this market.

 Toonsutra is backed by a leading group of investors including the Sony Innovation Fund; Maiora Capital, Kun Gao (Co-Founder, Crunchyroll); Jeremy Liew (partner, Lightspeed); Kevin Lin (Co-Founder, Twitch); Patrick Lee (Co-Founder, Rotten Tomatoes); Holly Lui (Co-Founder, Kabam); Benjamin Grubbs (Co-Founder, CreatorPlus); Steve Chung (fmr. CEO of Americas, CJENM); and others.

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