Second Annual Crunchyroll Expo Wraps in San Jose with Over 45,000 in Turnstile Attendance
What: Crunchyroll, the world’s largest destination for anime and manga, just wrapped their second annual Crunchyroll Expo in San Jose, which featured three jam-packed days of panels, premieres, guest appearances, exhibits, and more.
Crunchyroll Expo is a showcase of the best of what Japanese animation and pop culture has to offer, and this year’s convention drew more than 45,000 in turnstile attendance over Labor Day Weekend, an incredible turnout for a second-year convention.
To accommodate the expected growth, Crunchyroll moved from Santa Clara to the San Jose Convention Center for this year’s con, which allowed the Expo team to fill the schedule with more panels and events than ever before.
Crunchyroll Expo 2018 featured nearly 250 artists, over 60 special guests, and more than 135 panels and premieres. Highlights from Crunchyroll Expo 2018 include:
· “Alita: Battle Angel” - From Manga to Film - Director Robert Rodriguez, Producer Jon Landau, and Alita herself, Rosa Salazar sat down with Crunchyroll’s head of events Dallas Middaugh to discuss how the project grew from influential manga to the big screen. The film premieres December 21, 2018
· Sports Anime with Johnny Weir - Olympic figure skater and anime fan Johnny Weir led a deep dive into iconic sports anime
· “Anime Crimes Division” season 2 - Director Freddie Wong and actor Riley Rose Critchlow unveiled an exclusive sneak preview of “Anime Crimes Division” season 2, premiering September 7, 2018 on Crunchyroll.
· Crunchyroll announced a huge slate of fall simulcast titles, including: “Double Decker,” “Goblin Slayer,” “Golden Kamuy Season 2,” “Radiant,” “RErideD – Derrida, who leaps through time –” “SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI MASTER,” “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,” “Black Clover,” and “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5”.
· Crunchyroll Super Fan Pack Launch - J-Novel Club, ANiUTa, Utomik, Munchpak, and Right Stuf Anime were announced as partners for Crunchyroll’s Super Fan Pack subscription, a $15/month bundle launching in the US in Q4 2018.
· Dan Memo Hime Collaboration - Crunchyroll’s very own Hime will now be featured in the mobile game, DanMachi: Memoria Freese, published by Crunchyroll Games.
· Additional special guests featured over the weekend include Yuji Horii, series creator and game designer of “Dragon Quest,” Ryo Horikawa, Japanese voice actor for Vegeta in the Dragon Ball series, producer Yūichi Fukushima, director Atsushi Nishigori, and character designer Masayoshi Tanaka of “Darling in the FRANXX,” Akiyo Nagano, creator of “Bananya,” Akira Himekawa, manga creators A.Honda and S.Nagano, voice actors Justin Briner, Luci Christian, Clifford Chapin and Colleen Clinkenbeard of “My Hero Academia” among many others.
Where: The San Jose McEnry Convention Center - 150 W San Carlos St, San Jose, CA 95113
When: Labor Day Weekend - September 1 - 3, 2018
About Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is the world’s largest destination for anime and manga, boasting a global community of more than 40 million registered users and over 1 million subscribers. Fans connect through the most complete anime library including "Naruto Shippuden," "Attack on Titan," and “Dragon Ball Super,” events such as Crunchyroll Expo, Anime Awards, Crunchyroll News, and can purchase related merchandise through its online store. Through its app on game consoles, set-top boxes, mobile devices and more, Crunchyroll delivers content from leading media producers directly to viewers translated professionally in multiple languages. The service is available for free or through a premium offering that allows users to watch ad-free with access to simulcasts—top series available immediately after Japanese broadcast.
Fans can also view Crunchyroll on VRV, a fandom--focused aggregation platform featuring premium SVOD channels and a curated house channel, VRV Select.
