Line Friends
Line Friends (stylized as LINE FRIENDS) are featured characters, invented by South Korean designer Kang Byeong Mok, based on the stickers from diverse applications of the South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation and the Japanese messaging app Line.
History
In January 2015, in order to further enhance the character brand value, the independent business LINE FRIENDS International Cartoon Image Brand Company was established, which is a subsidiary of NAVER.
LINE FRIENDS has so far launched various cooperative products with international brands around the world in more than 5,000 character products, animations, games, cafes, restaurants, theme parks and other fields, and has launched various cooperative products in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Chengdu and Nanjing.
In addition to the 11 popular characters that LINE stickers currently have, LINE FRIENDS' latest project "FRIENDS CREATORS" has jointly launched a new series of cartoon images with Korean idol group BTS and Chinese idol Wang Yuan.
Currently, there are four series of cartoon characters: BT21, ROY6, WDZY and TRUZ.
The brand has currently managed by its subsidiary Line Friends Corporation since 2015.
Characters
Brown and Friends
The original Line characters were created by South Korean designer Kang Byeongmok, also known as "Mogi" in 2011.
BT21
BT21 is the first presentation from FRIENDS CREATORS, a project formed to create new characters for the Line Friends series.
Popular South Korean boy group BTS was the first artist of this project, and the main theme of the project is to show the connection between BTS and Line Friends in terms of popularity in the world. It comprises eight special characters designed by BTS, with seven characters representing individual BTS members and one character representing their fans, "Army".
The character designs were based on original ideas and sketches by the group's members. Videos of BTS designing BT21 were uploaded to the official BT21 channel on YouTube.
The name "BT21" is a combination of the group's name BTS and the 21st century. Member Suga commented that the name should represent both BTS and the 21st century, so they would live for the next 100 years.
BT21 was officially launched by Line Friends in October 2017.
In 2023, IPX Corporation had the rights to BT21, while Line Friends had less than before. Owned the rights to BT21, while Line Friends has some rights.
ROY6
ROY6 is a character brand created by Chinese Millennial idol Roy Wang, in collaboration with the global character brand, Line Friends.
China's first and world's second FRIENDS CREATORS project, Roy Wang participated in every step, starting from initial sketches and storytelling to product planning. Videos of Roy Wang designing ROY6 are uploaded on the ROY6 YouTube Channel.
ROY6 was officially released by Line Friends in November 2018.
ChiChi
Blackpink member Jisoo designed the new character named ChiChi, in collaboration with Nexon's kart racing game KartRider Rush+ and Line Friends.
ChiChi is a rabbit character based on Jisoo's nickname "Tuttle Rabbit Kim," which is well-known by fans.
Anime
Two anime series, LINE OFFLINE and LINE TOWN, were produced in 2013, picturing the Line Friends as employees for the fictional Line Corporation.
LINE Offline
Line Offline is an animated series created by Shogakukan Productions, based on salaryman characters working at "Line Corporation". All 114 episodes last about three minutes. The series was aired from January 8, 2013, to October 1, 2013.
The episodes of Line Offline are not connected. The idea behind the series is to represent the ordinary life of company employees (in this case Line's employees, hence the name "Line Offline"), in which every small problem could lead to awkward and hilarious situations that require some effort to restore the status quo.
Most characters from Line Offline are part of Line's universe (the characters who are shown in the animated series are also Line Friends, and can be seen by users in Line Messaging App and used as emoticons).
Episodes
LINE Town
Episodes
Theme songs
LINE Rangers
Line Rangers is an animated miniseries created to tie in with the Line Rangers mobile game, which featured the Line Friends characters.
It originally premiered as shorts on the Line Global YouTube Channel in 2015. It was aired as a miniseries on Cartoon Network Korea in July 2018.
An English dubbed version went up on Amazon Prime in North America on July 20, 2018. A Japanese dub which is broadcast on TV Tokyo.
Brown & Friends
On December 12, 2019, Netflix collaborated with Line Friends to create an original animated series based on the characters from Brown & Friends.
All the episodes from the first season, including 3 special episodes based on seasonal occasions, such as Halloween and Christmas, released on December 29, 2022.
Unnamed anime television series
On May 15, 2023, it was announced that the fourth generation of the LINE Creators Support Program would inspire an anime television series adaptation that would premiere on CBC TV in 2024.
Products
- Friends (smart speaker) – with Brown and Sally as the speaker's appearance
- LINE FRIENDS x Sailor (fountain pens) – Sailor Pens produces fountain pens of Brown and Sally in their Pro Gear Slim size with 14K gold nib choices of EF, F, MF, M, and B. The pens are exclusive to the North American market and were announced in July 2022.
Physical stores
Apart from its online store, physical stores have been opened in:
The popularity of Line Friends in China surged in 2016. During that one year, six physical storefronts were opened. At one time, there were as many as twelve of them in different cities in China. As their segment of the market became increasingly crowded, however, Line Friends began to phase out its physical presence in China by closing down shops. As of May 2021, only the Chengdu and Nanjing stores remained open.
Collaborations
On November 21, 2019, it was announced on the official Brawl Stars YouTube channel that Brawl Stars would collaborate with Line Friends, adding new skins based on Line Friends characters.