Crunchyroll announces first slate of original animated shows
1Reported today on The Verge
For the full article visit: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/25/21150846/crunchyroll-originals-animated-shows-anime-webtoon-studios
Reported today in The Verge.
Crunchyroll announces first slate of original animated shows
Crunchyroll is releasing its own lineup of original animated shows. The programming slate, dubbed Crunchyroll Originals, runs the gamut from family-friendly action series to dark supernatural investigations. Of the eight shows announced as part of 2020's Crunchyroll Originals, half are co-produced shows with Japanese animation studios like Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell) and MAPPA (Yuri!! on Ice).
The move mirrors the strategies of bigger, broader appeal services like Netflix and Disney Plus for more original programs. By releasing exclusive content, companies are no longer reliant on others to produce or license shows. Initially Crunchyroll, and its anime streaming competitors like Funimation, Amazon, and Netflix, would license from Japanese production companies to acquire shows for streaming on their service. That eventually pivoted into helping to co-produce the shows with Japanese companies for anime like Carole & Tuesday or A Place Further Than the Universe. This allows them to not only lock down the streaming rights for the show, but to help shows get made that would appeal to their audiences.
Crunchyroll is the first anime streaming service to have its own internal animation studio. The company announced Crunchyroll Studios in August 2018 as Ellation Studios (Crunchyroll's parent company, which is in turn owned by Warner Bros.), with locations in both Burbank, California and Tokyo, Japan.
The full list of programming is below, with the first four being animated by Crunchyroll Studios:
FreakAngels - Based on the comic series by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield that follows twelve psychic 23-year-olds as they attempt to rebuild society in a post-apocalyptic London.
High