The Boxer anime has no release date. Crunchyroll confirmed the TV series at its New York Comic Con showcase on October 8, 2026, showed a trailer, named a Japanese voice cast and two studios, and said only that it "will stream on Crunchyroll in the future." That's the whole timeline for now.
Reviewing
The Boxer
JH (Jeong Ji-hun) · Naver Webtoon
If you were hoping for a season, the trailer won't help. It ends on a card reading "Anime Series Coming Soon," with no month and no year.
The Boxer anime: what Crunchyroll announced
The announcement came out of the Crunchyroll News report from the showcase, and Anime News Network filled in who's behind it. Here's the dry version.
| The Boxer anime | |
|---|---|
| Format | TV series |
| Streaming | Crunchyroll |
| Release date | Not announced |
| Directors | Takehiro Kubota, Kang Won-yeong |
| Series composition and scripts | Toshiya Ono |
| Character design | Masahiro Suwa |
| Animation | breccia (Japan), STUDIO JEMI (Korea) |
| Production | HAYATE (Aniplex and Crunchyroll's venture) |
| Creative producer | BLUE RIGHTS |
The staff list is the encouraging part. Kubota directed the My Happy Marriage anime. Ono wrote for 86 and The Promised Neverland, and Suwa designed characters for The Rising of the Shield Hero. Kang worked as a key animator and main animator on the recent Cardfight!! Vanguard series. The open question is breccia: Anime News Network describes it as a new studio founded by Muneki Ogasawara, a founding member of Kinema Citrus. That means no finished show to judge it by yet.
The cast: who voices Yu, K, Ryu and J
Four Japanese voice actors were named, and Crunchyroll paired each with a role fans will know:
- Yu: Koki Uchiyama (Gen in Kaiju No. 8)
- K: Tomokazu Seki (Panda in Jujutsu Kaisen)
- Ryu: Kensho Ono
- J: Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Mitsuki in Wind Breaker)
No English dub has been announced.
Screenshot: The Boxer special promo trailer, Crunchyroll.
The Boxer anime trailer
The trailer runs a little under three minutes on Crunchyroll's YouTube channel. It's mostly mood: a glowing green butterfly that keeps drifting through fights, title words like "INTUITION" slammed over the frame, and the line every reader will recognize, "Is it fun?"
The Boxer special promo trailer, from Crunchyroll's YouTube channel.
One detail worth knowing before you judge the animation: the end credits split the staff. There's a "PV STAFF" card, with Kang directing the promo video, and a separate "TV ANIMATION STAFF" card for the series itself. What you're watching is a promo cut, not footage from a finished episode.
Screenshot: The Boxer special promo trailer, Crunchyroll.
When could it air? Our read
This part is analysis, not news. The same Crunchyroll panel announced two more webtoon adaptations, Teenage Mercenary and The Remarried Empress, and both got a 2027 window. The Boxer got none. Add a studio that's just been founded and a trailer credited to its own promo staff, and we wouldn't plan around a 2027 premiere. If a window comes, it will most likely come with a second trailer; we'll update this page then.
What the anime is adapting
The source is JH's webtoon, 더 복서 (Deo Bokseo), which began on Naver Webtoon in December 2019 and is finished: 133 chapters on AniList, 30 of them extras. Anime News Network puts it at more than 1.06 billion views worldwide and notes a World Webtoon Awards win in 2024. In English, WEBTOON has the complete series (the website shows the first seven episodes, the rest are in the app) and Ize Press prints it.
Screenshot: The Boxer special promo trailer, Crunchyroll.
The story isn't really about winning fights. Coach K finds a teenager standing still while bullies beat him, sees a talent nobody else does, and the boy's only question is whether hitting people is any fun. One r/manhwa reader put the appeal well: "every challenger is basically a mc in another story, each with their own unique strength (hard work, luck, cheating, talent etc.)" That's the thing the anime has to get right, more than any single punch. The same thread also warns that the ending splits people; one reply calls it "really unsatisfactory."
Our Take
Read the webtoon now. It's complete, it's on WEBTOON in English, and nothing about this announcement suggests a premiere soon enough to be worth waiting for. Our The Boxer review has the full verdict, and the The Boxer reading guide covers where the main story ends and the extras begin. When you finish, the manhwa like The Boxer list picks up from there.
The staff is the reason to be optimistic. The Boxer is a fight story that's really about character, and a My Happy Marriage director paired with an 86 writer looks, on paper, like the right crew for that.
FAQ
Is The Boxer getting an anime?
Yes. Crunchyroll announced a TV anime of JH's webtoon at its New York Comic Con showcase on October 8, 2026, with a trailer and a Japanese voice cast. It will stream on Crunchyroll.
When is The Boxer anime coming out?
There's no date. Crunchyroll's announcement said a release date was not announced, and the trailer ends on Anime Series Coming Soon without a season or year.
How we checked this: on October 22, 2026 we read Crunchyroll's announcement and Anime News Network's report, watched the full trailer and checked its credit cards frame by frame, and checked the AniList entries for the anime and the webtoon and the English WEBTOON page. Last reviewed: October 22, 2026.
References
- The Boxer Anime Adaptation Announced (Crunchyroll News): staff, cast, streaming, no release date
- JH's The Boxer Webtoon Gets TV Anime (Anime News Network): studios, HAYATE, co-producers, views
- The Boxer anime on AniList and the webtoon on AniList
- The Boxer on WEBTOON: official English release
Related Reading
- Manhwa With Anime Adaptations in 2026: every confirmed webtoon anime, with studios and dates, including the other NYCC announcements.
- Teenage Mercenary Hiatus: the webtoon is paused while its anime, announced the same night as this one, is set for 2027.
- Best Sports Manhwa: if The Boxer got you into fight stories, these are the ones to read next.
- The Boxer Character Guide: who K, Yu, Ryu and J are before you meet them in the anime.
