Crunchyroll Events Celebrates The Best and Brightest in Anime
Events are a powerful way for Crunchyroll to bring fans a range of interactive activations, all to celebrate the best and brightest in Japanese animation. Before we look ahead to our San Diego Comic-Con activities coming up later this week, let’s first take a look back at Anime Expo, which featured a wide slate of premieres, panels and activations.
Crunchyroll Wraps Anime Expo
Crunchyroll hosted eight panels at Anime Expo this year, and treated fans to three exclusive world premieres of upcoming simulcast titles, “Dr. STONE,” “To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts,” and “In/Spectre.”
At the Crunchyroll Industry Panel, surprise guest Mike Shinoda revealed a preview of his upcoming music video for “World’s on Fire.” Our fans got an insight into Mike’s personal connection to anime and how it was an inspiration for his music videos back in his Linkin Park days. Mike shared, “My music and anime have had a long history crossing paths, from the fan videos edited over Linkin Park’s music, to our original video for ‘Breaking The Habit.’ This new video for ‘World’s On Fire’ is a lighthearted video that focuses on a female protagonist as she learns to control her unique power.”
Crunchyroll also announced a series of simulcast additions including “Isekai Cheat Magician,” “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime OAD,” “A Destructive God Sits Next To Me,” “GRANBELM,” “Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?” and two “Konosuba” OVAs from seasons one and two, adding to an already exciting summer anime season.
The Crunchyroll Games industry panel brought in a lot of eager fans to get highlights of the division’s current and upcoming slate. During the panel, special guest Masayuki Yamagishi, the creator of “Grand Summoners,” gifted fans with free in-game crystals and rare items to strengthen their characters as a special treat for attending. To announce the return of the popular “One Punch Man” crossover event, Yamagishi ripped off his shirt, revealing a hidden Saitama tee to celebrate the comeback — needless to say, fans loved the dramatic reveal. Following the “Grand Summoners” panel, our partners at “Attack on Titan: TACTICS” joined Tim Lyu and Siobhan Sullivan on stage to discuss highlights of the upcoming game.
On the convention floor, Crunchyroll provided fans with a ton of different experiences around the Crunchyroll Booth, from free giveaways to exclusive merchandise to living “Dr. STONE” statues. Each day, attendees who stopped by the Crunchyroll booth, recieved free drawstring bags that were offered in four different designs including “Mob Psycho 100,” “Dr. STONE,” “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,” and “The Rising of the Shield Hero.” The onsite Crunchyroll Store was busy all weekend long, with fans lined up to purchase exclusive merchandise featuring designs from some of our top shows including “One Piece,” “Naruto,” “Mob Psycho 100,” “Dr. STONE.” Popular items that sold out before AX ended included the Zero Two statue from the “DARLING in the FRANXX” series, the purple “Mob Psycho 100” hoodie, and the Crunchyroll Hime figure.
Outside the convention center, fans who visited Crunchyroll HQ, our AX offsite located in L.A. Live, got the opportunity to check out “The Rising of the Shield Hero” training room, photo opportunities from “Black Clover” and “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,” demos of upcoming Crunchyroll Games, and a Crunchyroll Expo booth, to get fans hyped for our owned convention over Labor Day weekend.
New to fans this year was the launch of Crunchyroll’s Digital Drops app that attendees could download to obtain exclusive stickers from various anime titles via QR Codes placed in locations around AX. Fans were invited to collect and trade virtual stickers through the weekend, and our team is hard at work at the next round of digital downloads!
Crunchyroll Gears up for an Action-Packed San Diego Comic-Con
Crunchyroll is heading to San Diego Comic-Con this year with a variety of activations including, Crunchyroll HQ (our first-ever SDCC offsite!), our booth on the con floor, our yearly industry panel and a number of nightlife experiences to keep fans busy through the fandom-packed weekend.
Attendees visiting the Crunchyroll Booth inside the convention center can receive a free, random enamel pin. Fans are invited to keep this pin handy and show it off to staff at Crunchyroll HQ where they can receive a free Crunchyroll Hime collectible coin, while supplies last.
Our ever-popular Crunchyroll HQ offsite will make it’s SDCC debut at the Fluxx nightclub, open and free to the public for fans to attend during the convention. Fans can expect demos of Crunchyroll Games, the Bananya pool and photo ops.
Fans eager to hear more about the latest and greatest for Crunchyroll are invited to hang with the Crunchyroll crew on Saturday night during our industry panel.
Finally, to close off convention activities, Crunchyroll is hosting two parties, Ready Party One on Wednesday, July 17 and Awesome Mixer Vol 2 on Friday, July 19, featuring special guests Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Dan Fogler.
