At its recent annual fan convention Crunchyroll Expo, the titular streamer has made two big announcements for anime streaming. The anime giant has announced that it has acquired the streaming rights to two famous, albeit very different classic anime features.
Coming to the platform on August 18 are Katsuhiro Otomo’s sci-fi epic Akira and Makoto Shinkai’s coming-of-age fantasy romance, Your Name. While these films have certainly already made indelible marks on the history of anime itself, this upcoming presentation from Crunchyroll is sure to introduce a whole new pool of viewers to two of anime’s biggest event feature films.
Your Name
The first new anime tentpole coming to Crunchyroll was released in 2016 from CoMix Wave Films and acclaimed theatrical anime director Makoto Shinkai. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to consider Your Name one of the biggest sensations in the history of anime, becoming one of the highest-grossing films ever released in Japan and establishing Makoto Shinkai as not just a cult-classic anime director, but one of Japan’s preeminent directors, period.
Telling the story of a young man, Taki, and a young girl, Mitsuha, Your Name is highly acclaimed for its blending of realistic melodrama with magical realist fantasy, highlighted by distinct, lush environments and some of the most detailed art direction found in any anime ever. This new edition is certain to give the sensation some renewed interest ahead of both director Shinkai’s upcoming film, Suzume, coming out later this year, in addition to the loose, live-action American adaptation that has been in long development at Paramount Pictures.
Akira
Similarly to Your Name, Akira is an anime feature that hardly needs an introduction. The 1988 sci-fi epic directed by Katsuhiro Otomo as an adaptation of his own manga is synonymous with the golden age of action anime OVAs, not to mention being one of the preeminent works of the now-ubiquitous cyberpunk subgenre of sci-fi. Set in an alternate 2020 Neo-Tokyo, Akira follows a group of motorcycle-riding street gangs who become entangled in a world of sordid crime and dangerous biotechnology.
One of the most expensive anime ever produced at the time of its creation, Akira remains a visual marvel and a foundational work for both anime and sci-fi media in general. The mangaka-director Katsuhiro Otomo is currently in production on a new film, Orbital Era, which is also an adaptation of one of his manga. Likewise, a live-action adaptation of Akira involving Taika Waititi has been in a (semi-uncertain) state of development at Warner Bros.
Crunchyroll is licensing Akira and Your Name to be released on their platform starting Thursday, August 18, 2022.