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Crunchyroll and Sumitomo create anime investment joint venture

Crunchyroll and Sumitomo create anime investment joint venture

Written by A. H. on 22 Oct 2015



We live in a time - a bubble if you will - where western anime distributors of various stripes are becoming interested in investing directly into new anime productions over and above their usual method of licensing shows for simulcast or home video release.

We've recently seen FUNimation Entertainment joining the production committee of a forthcoming series, while Animatsu Entertainment have also shown an interest in playing a part in bringing new projects to fruition in liasion with Japan - now, streaming service Crunchyroll are getting in on the act too.

More precisely, Crunchyroll have just announced a partnership with trading company Sumitomo, with a view towards creating a new company that will involve itself with investing directly in new anime productions that they can then make available on Crunchyroll's service. It's an interesting prospect that we'll be keeping tabs on, but for now here's the full press release:

Crunchyroll, Inc., the leading global destination and platform for Japanese content, and Sumitomo Corporation, one of Japan's major integrated trading and investment business enterprises, today announced a new joint venture to produce animation for the international market.

At the core of this strategic partnership is a joint venture for investing in new anime productions, which will be distributed by Crunchyroll to a global audience. Currently, Crunchyroll distributes anime immediately following Japan TV broadcast in seven languages to a global base of over 700,000 paying subscribers and 10 million viewers monthly.

Mr. Iehisa Nakamura, Corporate Officer, General Manager, of Media Division in Sumitomo Corporation says, “Crunchyroll is a leading company in the field of streaming video and is well known among anime fans overseas, with whom they have built trust and a strong bond. With this partnership, the voice of worldwide anime fans can reach anime production studios directly through the Crunchyroll platform, which I believe will produce fascinating anime for a worldwide audience as a result. We would like to contribute to the development of the anime industry by creating new anime for worldwide Japanese anime fans with Crunchyroll."

Kun Gao, Co-Founder and CEO of Crunchyroll, says, “Sumitomo is a leader in media and lifestyle businesses. Through their operating expertise in J:COM, the largest cable business in Japan, to their investment in entertainment and movies,  and their recent successes in retail and ecommerce in South East Asia, they have demonstrated a global perspective in media distribution and ecommerce. We are very excited about our partnership with Sumitomo to create new anime for fans worldwide.”

You can find the press release on the Sumitomo Corporation web site.


A. H.

Author: A. H.


A. hasn't written a profile yet. That's ruddy mysterious...

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