Crunchyroll Interview

Written by Ross Locksley on 10 May 2010

First of all, we'd like to thank Crunchyroll for agreeing to talk to us, as well as granting us access to their catalogue in order to better formulate our own questions, whilst also asking some of yours.

Q: Crunchyroll is a relatively new way to watch anime – how does Crunchyroll view the expansion of this market, and what steps are you taking to lead it?

 A:   Crunchyroll is leader in online streaming anime, and has been since pioneering the simulcasting system. Our fans have responded well to the move and love what we do, as it means more anime that be delivered faster to them. We are able to continually do this with our membership plan, as the money that users pay goes directly back to the licensors, letting them know that there is support outside of Japan to keep doing what they are doing.  Along with trying to export the most from Japan, we also make the entire user experience as optimal as possible.

Q: How does the UK factor into these plans?

A: UK fans are very important to us, so we definitely want to bring as much anime to the UK audience as possible. Most of our shows are already available to the UK and the Commonwealth, and we're always trying to expand our library so that everything will be available there.

Q: Although the majority of new shows you announce these days are available to our readers, we still see some series geographically restricted in such a way that they aren't accessible from the UK. What is typically the reason for some series being more restrictive in terms of who can watch them than others?

A: Geo restrictions due in part to the wishes of licensors. While we do fight for rights, not everything can be guaranteed to be available everywhere.  However, UK is definitely a top priority for us and down the road our goal is to have every single piece of anime content available to all fans in UK and commonwealth.

Q: When a new season of anime in Japan comes around, how do you decide which series to target as potential titles to license?

A: We indiscriminately try to get as many titles as possible, but since there's no solid, formulaic process of licensing that can guarantee results, it can be quite an experience. As mentioned before our goal is to have 100% of anime simulcasted available to the world within an hour of broadcast in Japan. We already stream more shows than everyone combined, and we hope to realize our goal to reach 100% of all anime soon.

 Q: You recently announced that TV Tokyo has invested money in Crunchyroll in return for a small stake in the company - What (if any) difference do you think this will make to the service and series you provide and offer?

A: TV Tokyo is a valued partner and this particular partnership will mean that we will work together more closely to bring even more content to the UK and the rest of the world.

Q: In the past, Crunchyroll allowed the buffering of an entire episode, now only a small amount of data is buffered during playback, which can be a problem for those of us without top-notch Internet connections. Why was this change made, and is it something that might be altered further in the future?

A:  We use a secure streaming process which ensures more content to be available, as our licensors prefer the streaming process to be as secure as possible.  Of course we are constantly making improvements as technology develops to enhance the overall user experience.  In fact, we currently have local servers in UK which should make the streaming process there more ideal.