New Study Reveals Crunchyroll’s Hold on Anime Crowd

With Comic-Con International kicking off this week, ’tis the season for fandoms of all sorts to descend upon the San Diego Convention Center for the Olympics of Pop Culture. Going down from Thursday, July 24, until Sunday, July 27, this annual event is a hotbed of “What’s Hot” and nothing is packing more heat these days than anime. If you’re a newbie like me, who keeps hearing about Solo Leveling from the florist’s son and Attack on Titan from one of the trainers at the gym, this is both fascinating and a bit intimidating.

Because, really, what is anime and how does one get into it? And why do I feel the need to binge like hundreds of episodes of things called Chainsaw Man or Demon Slayer?

Crunchyroll

Firstly, it turns out that anime is not a genre, it’s a medium. One that primarily adapts Manga graphic-novel series in a unique visual style that employs fewer animation frames and highly distinctive, usually hand-drawn renderings. And no, it didn’t start with Pokémon.

The first reported anime film has been traced back to 1907, with the medium really exploding in the U.S. with the 1963 debut of Astro Boy. By the ’80s, anime was informing video-game designs, and in 2003, Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away became the first hand-drawn, Japanese anime and non-English-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards. Even if you haven’t seen the film, you’ve definitely seen slightly unsettling-slash-morose images and collectibles based on the story.

Throughout its rise from niche to now a 37 billion-dollar industry, anime has blown the roof off of entertainment, especially among Gen Z. In addition to Manga and video games, there are myriad toys, figurines, clothing lines, home-decor items, and even food products based on anime IPs. And so many backpacks. Earlier this month, Los Angeles hosted the massively attended Anime Expo, where Hulu showcased its expanding library of titles and Netflix scored huge with both its live-action take on the popular One Piece and the recent anime-musical hit, KPop Demon Hunters. And don’t even get me started on the amount of time and money being spent on securing Pop Mart and Miniso blind boxes borne of anime.

But if we’re being honest, the place for any newcomer to start is Crunchyroll. The specialized streaming platform owned by Sony (also available on Prime Video!) has been the leading provider of all-things anime since its launch in 2017. In fact, a recent global study by the National Research Group revealed that 54% of 29,000 respondents strongly agreed “that Crunchyroll is an essential part of the anime ecosystem.”

And it’s no wonder. The site (which carries the original anime version of One Piece) is a treasure trove that mercifully curates its sprawling collection of titles not just by New, Popular, and Release Date. The Categories section is broken down to innumerable subjects, from Action, Adventure and Comedy to Slice of Life, Sports and Supernatural. There is legitimately something for everyone and a lot of on-screen info to help you navigate what is what. Pro tip: Don’t be ashamed to watch with subtitles.

So if you’re looking for new content to consume (and consume you, because these shows get so addictive!), there’s a trio of titles currently keeping Crunchyroll subscribers busy that are super wild. Binge at your own risk!

Gachiakuta: In a floating city where the rich discard their waste — and people — Rudo is framed for murder and thrown into the Pit, where a hellscape of mutated garbage beasts dwell. To survive, he must wield a new power and join the rogue Cleaners. Rudo doesn’t just aim to battle monsters, but the corrupt who cast him into Hell.

They had us as “mutated garbage beasts.”

Nyaight of the Living Cat: Run! In [the future], the world is dominated by cats. A virus that turns anyone who touches a cat into a cat has spread into a worldwide nyandemic. Anytime cats rub against a human, they turn the person into a cat. Can humanity fight their urge to pet cats to survive in a cat-ridden world?

This one is a post-apocalyptic comedy and as cute as it is creepy.

Kaiju No. 8: Thanks to Isao Shinomiya, Kafka Hibino avoids being turned into a weapon. As new recruits head to their posts, Kafka meets Gen Narumi, the strongest man in the Defense Force and leader of the First Division. Kafka embraces the power of Kaiju No. 8 to force Gen to recognize his strength. Meanwhile, Kaiju No. 9 lurks in the shadows as the greatest threat the Defense Force has faced awaits.

Now in its second season, this is like Pacific Rim with smarter characters.

Get a free 7-day trial at Crunchyroll.com.