Crunchyroll - Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer)
Crunchyroll is an American producer, retailer, and publishing company focusing on anime, comics, and drama online. Crunchyroll was created in 2006 by a group of students from the University of California, Berkeley. After gaining popularity they grew the media significantly to a point where they provided material to 50 million registered users worldwide and have become an American manufacturer, retailer and licensing company devoted to the anime, manga, and drama industry. Crunchyroll has branches in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Chiatinau.
They are a prominent anime company that links millions of users to the streaming services they offer. A free version of the service is available, though it comes with certain restrictions. Users with a subscription cannot watch the newest episodes or watch them above 480p. Advertisements are also played throughout the episodes. A paid subscription is available that allows viewers to watch the most recent episodes available ad-free and in a full 1080p. Crunchyroll brings content directly to the audience from pioneering media producers that effectively translate into multiple languages. The app can be used on computers, tablets, mobile devices, set-top boxes and more. Crunchyroll used to be owned by Ellation, but was purchased along with its parent company by Otter Media, a subsidiary of AT&T and it's WarnerMedia Entertainment division. Since 2017, they have been holding an annual anime awards ceremony called the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
History
The company was founded in 2006 by a community of students from the University of California, Berkeley. It started as a for-profit downloading and streaming platform that specialized in hosting video content from East Asia. They announced a deal with TV Tokyo to broadcast Naruto Shippuden episodes on January 8, 2009. In 2010, they revealed that they had acquired the distribution rights for Makoto Shinkai's 5 centimeters per second, making it their first approved DVD release. In addition to anime, Crunchyroll began digitally distributing manga series such as Attack on Titan and Fairy Tail through their Crunchyroll Manga service on October 30th, 2013.
Crunchyroll started delivering anime via download on Steam, a digital distributor for video games and other media, on March 30, 2017. Otter Media acquired Crunchyroll's remaining shares from TV Tokyo in January 2018. AT&T purchased the majority of Otter Media the same year in August, making Crunchyroll a member of WarnerMedia. On March 4, 2019, as a part of a reorganization within the company, Otter Media would be put under Warner Bros, making Crunchyroll corporate sisters to the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim in the United States. Crunchyroll would later partner with Viz Media on July 3, 2019 and allow them to sell selected authorized titles on home video in the USA. In September later that year, Crunchyroll became a major investor of Viz Media Europe, eventually leading to Crunchyroll becoming major owners of the company in December 2019.
Crunchyroll Expo
In February 2017, with funding from Left Field Media, they founded and hosted their own expo called the Crunchyroll Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California. Several special guests were invited, including Butch Hartman, Shun Horie, Hiromi Igarashi, Yoshitaka Amano, Kore Yamazaki, Johnny Weir, and Keiichi Sigsawa. From 2018 on, the Expo was held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and featured even more popular guests, including famous members of the anime and manga industry like staff from Studio Trigger, manga artist Junji Ito, and many voice actors and actresses.
Popular Anime on Crunchyroll
Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) - Based on the adventure, dark fantasy, and martial arts manga by Koyoharu Gotoge, which is currently being serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and debuted in Volume 11 of 2016. The anime adaption of Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) is an award-winning series that aired from April 6 to September 28, 2019. Demon Slayer runs for 26 episodes and is licensed by Aniplex of America. Announced in Weekly Shonen Jump's 27th issue and is adapted by Ufotable, the series has won several awards including "Best TV anime." On October 13th, 2019, the English dub debuted on the Toonami block of Cartoon Network/Adult Swim.
Sword Art Online - Originally a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The anime takes place in the near future and centers on the protagonists Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they journey in different MMORPG environments in virtual reality.
Black Clover - A manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. It has been serialized since February 16th, 2015 in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine and is compiled into 23 volumes. The Black Clover anime series’ first season was directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, and produced by Studio Pierrot and began airing on October 3, 2017.
One Piece - An anime that began airing in 1999. The plot follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a pirate whose body turned into rubber after eating a Devil Fruit as a child. With his band of pirates dubbed the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy sails the Grand Line in pursuit of the greatest wealth in the world known as the "One Piece" to become the next Pirate King.