The anime fever is heating up, and Sony-owned service Crunchyroll will continue to fan the flames. Available starting 11 October, its new free, ad-supported 24-hour anime channel is launching first on LG Channels, Roku Channel, and Vizio WatchFree+, before joining Amazon’s Freevee on 17 October.
The offering is a joint collaboration between Crunchyroll and Game Show Network (GSN), which also falls under Sony Pictures Entertainment. It will feature an English-dubbed lineup of less recent titles at launch, including Horimiya, Ranking of Kings, Moriarty the Patriot, Psycho-Pass, Arifureta, Sugar Apple Fairy Tail, To Your Eternity, and Code Geass. Don’t expect new and premium anime content — that’s reserved for Crunchyroll’s subscription and ad-supported streaming platforms.
“[The Crunchyroll channel is] a gateway to the world of anime where we will guide viewers to discover new worlds, new stories and new characters,” said Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini. “Thanks to our distribution partners at launch, millions of fans have easy access to the medium that is taking the world by storm.”
Moving forward, the company has plans to introduce other promotional, genre-based, and themed programming blocks for viewers to “sample the wide range of anime being created from Japan.”
While owned by Sony, Crunchyroll is operated independently. After merging with rival streamer Funimation last year, it has touted more than 10 million paying subscribers. The hope is this move will increase audience reach and continue to grow its ranks, and only time can tell if it’s set for success.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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