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Crunchyroll's Annecy Moment: A Missed Opportunity for Industry Transformation

The reason for Crunchyroll's "brand myopia" is due to the failed Crunchyroll originals lineup (High Guardian Spice, Onyx Equinox, Freakangels). Remember when Crunchyroll got massive backlash when they unveiled High Guardian Spice? One of the major criticisms CR got from that is that the subscriber money should be going to anime and not these cartoons.

Here's what Crunchyroll isn't talking about, but which desperately needs addressing: Japan has fewer than 6,000 animators, and that number is predicted to drop according to the Japan Research Institute. With demand for anime content exploding globally, the math simply doesn't work without international collaboration. Japanese producers face a stark choice between AI automation and international partnerships to scale capacity.

It's clearly obvious Crunchyroll and by extension Sony, only cares about the numbers, and by numbers I mean money. They don't care about the people, the workers, the animators, the ones they have to toil to make the product, that they have to make under sterile and unhealthy conditions by the way. They still don't get a lot of credit that they deserve and don't get paid handsomely for the amount of work they do. They are equivalent to the Amazon Workers that work in sweatshop like conditions. It's also the same for mangaka industry too, as they are constantly facing strict deadlines under stressful conditions with unhealthy working environment.

In an ideal world, Crunchyroll will abandon its brand myopia, which conflates "anime" with "exclusively Japanese-made content," and truly embrace its position as “thought-leaders” and innovators. Surely they understand that anime is a storytelling medium and aesthetic approach that can transcend geographic boundaries?

One of the major criticisms CR got from that is that the subscriber money should be going to anime and not these cartoons.

Here's what Crunchyroll isn't talking about, but which desperately needs addressing: Japan has fewer than 6,000 animators, and that number is predicted to drop according to the Japan Research Institute. With demand for anime content exploding globally, the math simply doesn't work without international collaboration.

Like, no bro, I watch anime to get unique Japanese stories from the minds of Japanese creators that are entrenched knee-deep in crazy otaku philosophies and moe culture. Yes obviously there can be Western creators who can write stories with that kind of influence too, but I get the feeling that's not what we're talking about here and we're trying to expand what "anime" is beyond what enthusiasts of it (like me) would be comfortable with...