Feb 26, 2020

Crunchyroll Announces First Group of Original Programs

At last year's Annecy Film Festival, Netflix hosted an event showcasing its upcoming original anime, with the slogan, "Thanks to Netflix, anime will be shared with the world."

The slogan was, "Thanks to Netflix, anime will be shared with the world.

No wonder Crunchyroll raised eyebrows. The oldest and largest of the streaming platforms dedicated to anime, Crunchyroll has a library of over 1,000 licensed titles and viewers in over 200 countries.

In recent years, however, Crunchyroll and other anime streamers have faced concerted efforts by mainstream platforms to pull subscribers away; Netflix has been particularly eager to enter the anime market, acquiring classics such as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and Studio Ghibli's library of While acquiring titles, it has also commissioned a large amount of its own content. This week, the company announced a development partnership with six Japanese creators.

And this is Crunchyroll's answer. Crunchyroll has announced the first of its "eight series of Crunchyroll Originals, including adventure, fantasy, romance, and historical fiction."

Having co-produced programming since 2015, the slate will take the reins and commission its own shows. Original content will provide an incentive for anime fans to subscribe, while at the same time making the platform less subject to the whims of licensing. [Well-known Japanese studios such as Mappa for "In This Corner of the World" and Production I.G for "Ghost in the Shell" are responsible for the animation production. The rest are produced in-house at Crunchyroll Studios in Burbank and Tokyo. Crunchyroll, a subsidiary of Warner Media, launched its production division in 2018, making it the first animation streaming service to do so.

The first series, "In/Spectre," is already available for streaming, with seven others expected to be available later this year. According to the company, the films were selected "leveraging over a decade of ratings data and Crunchyroll's deep connection to the anime community. [Since its launch in 2006, Crunchyroll has been at the forefront of anime fandom and has been a driving force in promoting this beloved genre around the world. In keeping with this tradition, we are very pleased to announce the first of Crunchyroll's original productions. These works blend Eastern and Western ideas, both traditional and innovative, within the anime genre. We hope that this content will not only delight our existing fans, but also inspire new ones to fall in love with this wonderful art form.

The full productions, along with the official synopsis:

For more information, please visit the Crunchyroll Originals website. For more information on each platform's anime strategy, see our Ultimate Guide to Anime Streaming.