Animation unit hit by AI-driven ad losses revives its old gag comic as TikTok anime

Japanese creative unit Kanikani Works has brought back Kaitei Aruaru, a seafloor gag comic first released as an iPhone app in 2011, as short vertical anime on TikTok, KAI-YOU reports. Episode 14 came out on 1 October.

The unit says its main income, ad videos, fell after generative AI spread from 2025, so it is testing whether the old IP can pay. Art, animation and writing are done by hand; AI helps with coding, research and marketing.

Its goal is about 30,000 TikTok followers by the end of 2026. On 1 October it had 30.