The popular Webtoon Mercenary Enrollment, also known as Teenage Mercenary, is officially getting an anime adaptation. Originally created by writer YC and artist rakhyun, the webtoon has been serialized on LINE Manga since April 2021 in Japan, gaining huge popularity worldwide.
As of May 2025, it has amassed over 1.86 billion views globally, and has been translated into 10 different languages. In Japan, it topped the LINE Manga Annual Rankings for both 2023 and 2024, demonstrating its widespread appeal. It has over 240 million views jsut on WEBTOON’s English site, which describes the story:
At the age of eight, Ijin Yu lost his parents in a plane crash and became stranded in a foreign land, forced to become a child mercenary in order to stay alive. He returns home ten years later to be reunited with his family in Korea, where food and shelter are plenty and everything seems peaceful. But Ijin will soon learn that life as a teenager is a whole other feat of survival. With only one year of high school left, Ijin must master new tactics to maneuver his way around the schoolhouse battleground. Can he survive a year of high school? Or rather, will the school be able to survive him?
Following the announcement of the Mercenary Enrollment / Teenage Mercenary anime, YC, the original creator, commented:
“I still vividly remember how nervous I was when we first started planning Mercenary Enrollment and when the series began, wondering how readers would respond. The fact that Mercenary Enrollment has made it to an anime adaptation is all thanks to the fans who supported us. I want to share this joy with all of you.”
Illustrator rakhyun also commented:
“When the Mercenary Enrollment series began, I never imagined it would be loved by so many people. I’m truly moved and full of gratitude to be able to meet fans around the world through this new form—animation.”
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Source: Comic Natalie
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