Two media giants have announced teaming up before, but one of their first moves is the opposite of what many of us expected.
Back in July 2019, Crunchyroll and VIZ Media announced a partnership. VIZ Media would handle distributing select anime on home video and also offer them for digital purchase (electronic sell-through). No titles were announced, but they would be offered in the United States as well as Canada. It was a deal that made a lot of sense: VIZ Media’s home video offerings are distributed by WarnerMedia, who owns Crunchyroll. In September, Crunchyroll became a majority investor in the European version of VIZ Media.
So the two are connected in several ways. But as fans crossed their fingers hoping their favorite Crunchyroll anime would soon be available to purchase digitally or on Blu-ray, there hadn’t been any updates on this partnership.
Until now. But while the previous news was about VIZ Media selling Crunchyroll titles, the December 2019 announcement was about Crunchyroll streaming VIZ Media licenses. This time, though, a list of titles was included from the outset and were quickly added.
- Accel World
- Accel World Infinite Burst
- Death Note
- Hikaru no Go
- Inuyasha
- Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
- Inuyasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass
- Inuyasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
- Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on Mystic Island
- K Season 1
- K: Missing Kings
- K: Seven Stories
- Naruto Shippuden: The Movie – Blood Prison
- Naruto Shippuden: The Movie – The Lost Tower
- Naruto Shippuden: The Movie – Will of Fire
- Naruto the Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon
- Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel
- Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
- One-Punch Man Season 1
- Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
- Sailor Moon R: The Movie
- The Last: Naruto the Movie
- Vampire Knight
- Vampire Knight: Guilty
All include dub and sub versions for US and Canadian viewers with the exception of One-Punch Man Season 1 and K: Seven Stories, which are subtitled only. The first season of One-Punch Man is also available in Latin America.
While this list includes some major titles, over half are anime movies. That’s nice since anime movies are not always available to stream along with their television counterparts. But it also is not quite as big of a boost to Crunchyroll’s catalog in terms of numbers, especially for Canadians who don’t have access to VIZ Media’s library on Hulu. For titles like Sailor Moon, yeah, it’s probably a safe assumption that the other two movies — and perhaps the original anime series — will end up on Crunchyroll. Anime like The Prince of Tennis would be a good fit on Crunchyroll considering its sequel is already available on Crunchyroll. But it could be tomorrow, or it could be a year or two. Who knows.
But hopefully if VIZ Media is putting anime on Crunchyroll, fans will soon hear about Crunchyroll offerings through VIZ Media. We all know it takes time to make the discs, preview art, formatted for different platforms, etc., but it would be nice to at least have some idea of what is coming soon.
But it’s Canadians who I think are the big winners here. VIZ Media anime have often been difficult to stream for our neighbors up north. Even though the company has gotten better about this, I’m sure Canadian anime fans are happy to see VIZ Media anime on a platform they likely already use. Plus, it’s a service that doesn’t require a membership.
Regardless, we can also see WarnerMedia, which is owned by AT&T, slowly tying all their business strings together. As more of their partnerships and subsidiaries become intertwined, maybe Crunchyroll will wish to become at least a minority partner in VIZ Media. Or maybe this will lead to more intermingling, like some of VIZ Media’s free simulpubs being available on Crunchyroll Manga. I don’t know what the future will bring, but as we enter a new decade, I doubt this will be the last time I mention something between these two media giants.