Crunchyroll Announces Manga App and Speaks on Anime's Success at CES 2025

[@Rizzmonkey69-f1s]

Cronchyroll needs to get a president that understands what the fans want and what actually makes some animes so popular with a wide margin of their fan base

[@YellinInMyEar]

There needs to be an adult based streaming platform for anime/manga then.

[@furynotes]

Better said then done. Apparently.

[@unquiche]

Yeah, that’s pretty much HiDive. They run mostly uncensored versions of everything

[@ruknot4648]

H heaven?

[@unquiche]

@@ruknot4648 Japan and it’s reluctant woke helpers in the US are both playing whack-a-mole with all of the illegal hen sites. The solution being proposed, I believe, is for a legitimate paid site for adult oriented anime programming, where there is no risk of being whacked. And I think it would be great if they combined regular ecchi titles and full on H in the same protected adult-oriented service.

[@Ryuu44]

The platform itself is adult based. 18+ shows with content not suitable for children. The fact that the C suit thinks it's for kids, but in the same time shows them all this 18+ stuff only makes them worse

[@sundragon7703]

Sounds like the typical corporate organization trope, the view from above is different from the view from below. In other words, upper management does not understand what they are in charge of.

[@jmw1982blue]

For low hanging fruit to show how much adults will pay, imagine if someone actually did a faithful and quality adaptation of Berserk. They'd have to get shields to ward off the damage of money being thrown at them. It still seems obvious and confusing how people in charge of anime (outside of Japan) don't understand or even watch anime.

[@hibikigamervlogs2982]

Anime is not meant for kids because Crunchyroll stupidity and I’m not a fan of Crunchyroll they will never learn anything at all

[@unquiche]

“Puiniru wa Muchina President” just add some borax and glue…

[@TwoPixelsAhead]

Ah yes, I used to care a lot about complex characters and a deep story when I was 10 and I was watching anything animated on TV.

[@markwatson8714]

The point he's trying to get across is that the kids are still getting in to anime which means there's presumably a future for a service like Crunchyroll. Which differentiates them from say Netflix, who's younger customer base has all but disappeared and left it primarily relying on Gen X and Millennials (two market segments which, quite obviously, aren't likely to grow any time soon). It's likely where the new manga service et al are coming from - I'm guessing they're opting to double down on being *the* specialist anime service as a response to Netflix having overtaken them in anime revenue a couple of weeks ago.

[@jeebay5188]

As a Gen X anime fan (yes we exist), I use my entertainment funds on physical media. Yes it’s more expensive and I have less and less room to store it but… I can watch what I want and when I want. Some of my library is kid friendly such as some Gibli films and series like Future Boy Conan. I can also watch ecchi, ultra violent OAV’s from the 80’s-90’s, Shonan Battle, Seinan… you get the point. Sure I don’t get to watch the new and shiny that comes out every season so I do miss out on shows that I might want to watch unless there’s a physical release, but that’s okay. I do catch stuff I don’t own on Tubi, Retro Crush, KZbin and other legal sites but wouldn’t bat an eye if someone needed to sail the 7 seas.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

"insert how do you do fellow kids" meme.

[@nerdmaster6976]

"Anime is for kids." High-school DXD enters the chat

[@tee-p6f]

we need an app that has every publisher of manga available. not just things from jump and jump plus

[@gcisamhaga8605]

Depending on the market that Crunchyroll is in, I can see why they specify Gen Z and Alpha. In South Africa, they’re probably correct that most of the market is Gen Z. I’m 40 years old, and I’m a minority in South Africa as an anime viewer.

[@phlannelboxingday6198]

I'm 25 from S.A and you're right.

[@moominsean]

Gen Alpha is still watching Bluey and Cocomelon.

[@Jaimechristopher]

The Gen Alpha Has Officially Ended This Year And The Decline Popularity Of Gen Alpha Content In Early 2030’s

[@nicolastorresgiraldo7240]

I wanted to ask, will you ever do like a collection tour of your room? I´ve always wondered what sort of manga and figures you have!

[@bookshelfxd]

You know when Purini says Gen Alpha, he means older Gen Alpha like 10-15 years old. I would hope he doesn't mean 5 year olds, but it is clear his target demographic is 10-28 year olds. However, I do agree that he should at least acknowledge that people above the age of 30 will still watch anime

[@jz-meister5343]

It blows my mind that there are people leading Crunchyroll who seem to think that anime is mostly for kids…. Absolutely wild. Yes - I am sure there are children who LOVE anime. After all, I was once a child who watched a ton of anime (even if I didn’t know what “anime” was at the time). But….. I am an adult now, and I still love anime. I thought we had all worked to prove the whole “cartoons are just for kids” point of view is foolish and wrong, but maybe Crunchyroll has yet to get that message. It would be so easy, too. They just have to say that their platform is for all viewers - children AND adults. But… for some reason, that is too hard for them to say. Also - I remember trying to use their prior manga app…. The keyword there is “trying”. By the time I got around to it, the app was atrocious, practically unusable. Hopefully their new manga app will be better :)

[@Kozmo-Kamuy]

Doctor Stone nah there is a war deaths fanservice

[@Ryuu44]

I'd have to see their age statistics before complaining. Unfortunately we were a minority in our generation. I'd bet this platforms have well over 50% (probably around 60 - 80) viewers from genA/genZ. It's normal for a company to focus on their major target groups.

[@neko_3851]

Gen Z's oldest people are already 27 my friend and most of Gen Alpha are teens now. Kind of obvious Sony would target those demographics.

[@Ryuu44]

@@neko_3851 yup

[@StrongRiverFlats-yk3rf]

I've been a Crunchyroll subscriber since 2009. The platform was always buggy and when they finally reached 1 million subscribers, they took the money and used it to launch another platform instead of using the funds to beef up the quality and that platform soon failed. They finally, finally began adding ratings for the titles so people would know if it was age appropriate like Funimation (which always had the adult titles) but then Sony got rid of the comments section under each episode, which for me, was as entertaining (sometime more) as the episode itself. It also gave one a sense of community. The comments were the one thing that differentiated Crunchyroll from every other platform. And that is the clearest indication that Sony bought a company without actually understanding what made that company successful in the first place. In my opinion, they should have kept Funimation as the platform for adult titles and let Crunchy exist for the kiddie titles.

[@madison7021]

Been watching anime since the late 80’s and 90’s. Everything from Voltron to Dragonball Z and Cowboy Bebop. Back before anime was main stream. I think there’s probably more of us out there in that demographic than they would give us credit for. We just don’t talk about it as much because it wasn’t cool to like anime back then.

[@martin_emrich]

Self-appointed „first Millenial ever“ here… Those „Gen …“ things are always a bit vague, but Wikipedia assigns 1990-2010 to Gen Z, all old enough for all but the most ecchi shows in the CR catalog. And the 12yo „Gen Alpha“ today might be a happy customer in next Fiscal Year… ;) So I interpret it more as „mainly, but not only for kids“. But I see the danger of some cultural cleansing and w*kewashing to appease more restrictive (but paying) parents, especially for the US market (and I have the feeling that the EMEA, including German market relevant for me, just may eat what drops from that table) Enjoyed the old Manga app until the end, and will give the new one a try when it becomes available in my region.

[@hellstorm2343]

Physical Media and Manga is better

[@Nguyen-Frogboy]

They should have just added millennial & gen Z are our audience and hopefully gen alpha and beyond one day. Easy fix where is the editors? 😂

[@amarioncraig836]

They gonna shut up when they see the 1980s animes

[@thatwackycardgame5655]

Will you be watching “Flower and Ashura” from Studio Bind? First episode came out today and it was very good. I wasnt expecting to like it so much. Loved the voice acting

[@EthelbertCoyote]

Crunchyroll has the Intel problem, having someone who does not understand the love of the fandom customer that makes them buy your product you will fail. If you don't think "user first" you will not notice when your product stumbles. They NEED badly management that don't just understand media, but know and love the artform AND are great business people.

[@arielshligman2146]

even shonen jump's targets audience is 10 to 18 that's mostly teen

[@neko_3851]

99% of the major manga magazines target demographic are teens and young adults, the exact ages that Sony is targeting since majority of Gen Z are either teens or young adult (some are already 27) and Gen Alpha are getting into their teens now.

[@donaldcollins753]

Thanks again for the News Update, can’t wait to see a review for the app 😅

[@colingznetworkplus4618]

Let’s hope they don’t become a monopoly

[@martin_emrich]

On a show-by-show basis, they are already a monopoly. Most shows are exclusive to only one service. Depending on the country, to get everything, you would need subscriptions for most of Crunchyroll, Hidive, ADN, Akiba Pass, Netflix and Amazon Prime. That market is IMHO (literally) as broken as the „Hollywood“ streaming market, where each us studio has their Service (Netflix, Prime, Disney+, HBO, Apple TV +, CBS+, Paramount+). A new anti-monopoly law for the 21st century would need to require split between conent/IP holder and content delivery. Then there would be true competition based on quality, not on „we are the only one holding the show you want to watch hostage“.

[@YellinInMyEar]

almost there, aren't they?

[@shanthegamer21]

They’re likely. 💀

[@derautisadrianos7050]

@@YellinInMyEar and they will get hit with the law of the USA mainly anti monoply and anti trust laws

[@animefanboss9297]

@@shanthegamer21which is a JOKE this is nonsense anime isn’t for kids it makes me so mad dude 😂

[@TheHouseAlwaysWins20]

When is this anime boom going crash like it did in 2008 so these parasitic corporations can lose interest ?

[@AidenKor-Game]

I'm a fan of Bookwalker for light novels. I do hope Crunchy does a good job getting back into Manga though.

[@Mecks089]

This just tells me that there will be less and less adult or mature anime coming to crunchyroll, which could be a good thing. The worse crunchyroll becomes the better and quicker it shuts down.

[@milansamasama9021]

M 23 and I love anime not all anime there are for kids I can't even let my younger ones watch some anime I use to watch on my phone Rather I will put them something like SpongeBob or spidy

[@auralunaprettycure]

But that said… what other platform can I watch kickass magical girl fist fighting Pretty Cure on? Theres no streaming service that has Precure except these people… being Meguca is suffering

[@KelShu]

So for their new manga app, are they going to keep it accurate to the source material, and make sure not to shoehorn in their own sociopolitical messaging?

[@mesasone2280]

I think part of the reason they want that younger audience is that they are more impressionable and much more likely to put up with their BS.

[@LeonTheSaint44]

Pfft kids cant watch anime they cant sit still gotta be doing something constantly

[@theowlotaku1]

Don't let this make you forget... SOLO LEVELING SEASON 2!!!!!!

[@HaartieeTRUE]

No, he's not THAT wrong. There are gen alpha teens already. Gen alpha starts at 2010 and [ENDS] at 2025

[@dreamsalongthepath7377]

I think the oldest Gen Alpha kids are like 13 right now, so its not *as* bad as your saying. Still though….

[@neko_3851]

Oldest Gen Alpha is 15, oldest Gen Z is 27.

[@Lost_In_LA]

Unless anime goes full woke or becomes American style kids’ cartoons, I’ll probably watch anime until I die.

[@cronoluminara6911]

Yeah they don’t realize that the age group they are going for don’t have money to buy just give the actual people paying what they want this is why it’s so hard to get people into anime now they think it’s for kids but I’m 40 and been watching for along time

[@ajgonzales2111]

As far as im concerned if they gotta push this and say its kid friendly so investors are happy because kids is a lucrative market. Then, on the app an adult can put child restrictions, its fine. I wish sony would do this for playstation and i can have some more uncensored games. Just me...

[@Kmilo875]

I'm pretty sure there are lots of millennials with a Crunchyroll subscription right now, including me

[@wigenite]

maybe benefit of the doubt and it was just a bad way to say that anime is here to stay because the younger audience will continue to watch when they get older?

[@charlestrudel8308]

well, considering the same sony kinda did all the same kind of games during the ps4 except whatever their japan studios were doing. (thats also why its stupid that microsoft decided to stop releasing exclusive to their platform to actually compete on the ecosystem side of things, they are about to get at least 3 times more variety than sony in the last 12 years... but they will just end up giving it all to sony anyway.)

[@hibikigamervlogs2982]

I don’t really like Crunchyroll try to make anime for kids because it’s dumb and stupid because they are alienating anime it’s disgusting

[@hibikigamervlogs2982]

Crunchyroll is a failure

[@gregorydeacur3622]

Hey bro, long-time listener, occasional commenter here. I truly don't understand why you're objecting to what he said. He says gen z and gen Alpha... That includes, as you clearly said, people up to age 27. That is a very good share of the market for anime and manga right there. Honestly, just look at the age of the characters in most anime. High school, high school, high school... Sure, we're going to say it's not for kids, but high schoolers are 9 aged 14 to 17. (Is it 15 to 17 in Japan??) The age of the main characters in this show is generally, I repeat, generally, a good indication of the Target demographic. Said Target demographic clearly falls into the Gen z category. So why do we keep going on about this? What else could he have said? Gen z but not gen Alpha, even though gen Alpha according to Google includes people up to 14? Tons of 14-year-olds would watch mostly anything on crunchyroll. Yes, I know, there's a good number of people older than that. Watching anime to, myself and included. Yes, upper management generally makes me cringe when they talk about anime. But here it seems like people are just nitpicking for nothing. What he said in this case was technically correct.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

you're missing the point. Anime began making fans in the west since gen Xs were exposed to Saturday morning shows. So it is a lot broader than the demon slayer demographic

[@IndividualTour1]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly when I first watched the clip he posted on Twitter. It comes off like an 'old man yells at clouds' moment, all because people over the age of 27 aren't being included. Shocker that kids, teens, and young adults with ample free time consume more anime than older folk with jobs and other commitments... It just makes sense business-wise to target those growing demographics that engage more with the medium. Hell, a lot of older fans first got into anime when they were kids/teens, watching Dragon Ball, One Piece, or whatever else on the living room TV weekly; exactly the same thing is happening here with Gen Alpha with things like Demon Slayer, for example. Crunchyroll definitely deserves to be called out for it's questionable decisions and business practices, but I fail to see the outrage here personally. Someone please fill me in if I've misinterpreted something.

[@Kozmo-Kamuy]

Bruh I now people order that watch anime because everything else outside of games has gone to crap

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

The age of the characters has got nothing to do with the age of the audience, the vast majority of characters in Seinen manga are 14-20.

[@gregorydeacur3622]

@@walawala-fo7ds Yes, that's true but many people who were watching anime 20 years ago as 10-year-olds are no longer watching anime... Or, more importantly, they aren't watching nearly as much of it in their thirties as are the 10, 12, 15, 22-year-olds of today. So it still makes sense for this guy to mention gen z first when talking about the demographics that are consuming anime.

[@armsman5322]

To be fair - age 27 isn't 'for kids' and even in the mainstream market "18-35" is the main focus group for most advertisers; so yeah, IDK if it's that far off the mark or that they just cater to kids. They made a deal with Kadokawa who made and still makes stuff like High School DXD and the upcoming Jr. High version; so I don't know if they are all that clueless. Also, it's clear they are tracking who's watching what as they just sent me an e-mail with the number of hours I watched as well as the Genres that watching encompassed. So yeah, they know who their current sub base is and what said sub base is watching. Yeah, I hope they don't dial back on Ecchi; but given the way the winds blowing in the U.S. (a big part of their market), they are probably getting ready to appease certain elements to keep from getting further regulated/banned in the U.S. Yes Crunchyroll does have adult content, but they have a lot more stuff listed at 12 - 16 too. Time will tell.

[@furynotes]

Well here's the problem. Anime is technically treated as a genre. Can't tell ya. How many time I hear the argument anime is better then superheroes. I'm like uh... I thought anime is anime animation created in japan. Though the term anime is considered a style at this point. More debates incoming involving Avatar the last air bender. I remember the term japanimation. The next problem is the demographic easiest to sell to are kids. Are we going to 4kids days or cartoon network with a hint of adult swim. We don't even have that anymore. Arguably the stuff that you show are targeted at mostly young adults really. Harry Potter, hunger games. The shounen is roughly around there right. I mostly stay away from shounen. The promise of adult anime. Yeah. Uh ghost in shell stand alone complex. A distributor still has to sell the product. I mean it doesn't really help Gkids is a name for a distributor. There is french stuff sold by them too. Arrow video, Vinegar Syndrome, Scream factory. Allot of 80s and 90s stuff aimed at adults and some outliers. I Know for a long time. Producers where trying to sell to the America. Like adv. Went down in 2008 or manga entertainment. At least in america. We got allot. More than other countries. Uk gets some too. To be frank its japans fault too. The producer middleman wanted it to happen. Maybe the term anime is the problem. But then again. Unless its a boutique label. Which gkids is a weird one. Adult and family. Kinda like what Crunchyroll is. Its not other distributors aimed at adults like vinegar syndrome exclusively. I mean if we are going to complain about crunchyroll. We should complain about gkids too. Right? I mean like Disney..+ or Netflix. Paramount+ anybody. Yeah yeah. Lets complain about that too.

[@ericbunker6242]

Guess I'm a 64 year old kid. A more adult channel could be nice. H dive comes closest...

[@TBoneTony]

Seriously, keep Anime away from that CES. Don't let normies ruin the medium.

[@animefanboss9297]

EXACTLY

[@mrxcs]

Kids don't have credit card. That's a dumb route.

[@milansamasama9021]

Wtf Crunchyroll

[@animefanboss9297]

Anime shouldn’t never been mainstream big joke 😂

[@nakerusa]

😵‍💫 an out of touch C-level? That never happens!

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

The president of the company obviously hasn’t watched an anime in his life, thinking they’re all for kids is just ridiculous. But expecting a CEO or president to actually be a fan of anime might be asking too much, they’re going to hire people who have managed other companies. And the vast majority of people watching anime are over 10, my nephews are 10, 8 & 4, none of them watch anime, they just play Roblox haha. I’ve tried to get the 10 year old interested in it, I gave him Demon Slayer & One Piece to read, I started him on One Piece & he read 3 volumes but then I changed my mind because it’s so long and gave him Demon Slayer which he finished & liked. Now I have to figure out what to give him next that will keep him interested.

[@neko_3851]

Oldest Gen Z is 27, oldest Gen Alpha is 15.

[@goldengamer-b2z]

Well there still anime for kids it just there not on Crunchyroll

[@hibikigamervlogs2982]

Crunchyroll is dead