Almost 18 years ago, the subscription video-on-demand website Crunchyroll launched, mainly distributing East Asian entertainment content, nowadays focused on Japanese anime. Back in 2006, it was primarily used to stream low-budget East Asian dramas with fan-made subtitles to an international audience. As it stands, Crunchyroll offers over 1000 anime shows, hundreds of East Asian dramas, and at least 80 manga titles under the subsidiary Crunchyroll Manga. However, it also hosts its own range of anime, known as Crunchyroll Originals, which were produced by the company and are therefore only available to stream via the platform. Following Sony’s acquisition, the fate of the brand known as Crunchyroll Originals is unknown, but of 15 available titles, we’ve selected only the very best.
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In/Spectre
The mystery-romance series In/Spectre, known to some parts of the world as Invented Inference, aired from January to March 2020 with 12 episodes. Produced by Crunchyroll and licensed by Viz Media, In/Spectre follows Kotoko Iwanaga, the so-called “God of Wisdom,” who’s tasked with handling any supernatural disturbances between humans and malevolent spirits known as youkai. In a world overrun with youkai, Kotoko crosses paths with a university student by the name of Kurou Sakuragawa, whom Kotoko believes to have supernatural links, so she enlists his help in containing the youkai. Years later, news of an idol crushed to death by steel beams floods the press, but Kotoko and Kurou believe a more sinister force to be behind the “accident.”
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Dr. Ramune: Mysterious Disease Specialist
One year after In/Spectre, another shōnen anime aired from January to March 2023, known in Japan as Kai Byoui Ramune and Dr. Ramune – Mysterious Disease Specialist in most other European countries. This supernatural anime focuses on Ramune, a doctor whose presence is underwhelming, but as soon as a patient experiences his expertise, they are left amazed by his innate sensibility when it comes to finding the source of medical mysteries. But the cure for every ailment comes at a personal cost, one that money simply won’t cover. Yuma Uchida, who voiced several supporting characters in Tokyo Mew Mew, leads the voice cast as Ramune, joined by Takuma Nagatsuka, Ayumu Murase, Kana Ueda, and Nobuhiko Okamoto.
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Shenmue: The Animation
Based on Sega’s Shenmue video game series by Yu Suzuki, Shenmue: The Animation is a co-production between Crunchyroll and Cartoon, the channel that hosts the Adult Swim Toonami anime block. In the series, Ryo Hazuki witnesses the murder of his father, then sets off on a mission to find the man responsible. He scours the streets of Tokyo, Japan, and finds himself all the way in Hong Kong, China. In his quest for closure and revenge, Ryo discovers that his father’s death isn’t exactly clear-cut and that more mystical and sinister forces are at play. Ryo is voiced by Masaya Matsukaze, who is best known for playing MegaBlue/Shun Namiki in Denji Sentai Megaranger.
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Fena: Pirate Princess
Another joint effort from Crunchyroll and Cartoon Network, Fena: Pirate Princess is a fantasy-adventure series that premiered from August to October 2021. The series focuses on the titular Fena Houtman, an orphan girl living in the 18th century. Originally raised by the British Empire as nothing more than a pawn in their operations, Fena manages to break free of her forged destiny and rewrite her future. She meets a band of misfits known as the Samurai Seven on her journey to finding where she truly belongs. Along the way, Fena and the Samurai Seven frequently come face-to-face with the Rumble Rose, a band of pirates responsible for the raid that led to the death of Fena’s father 10 years prior.
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So I’m a Spider, So What?
So I’m a Spider, So What? is categorized under the sub-genre of isekai, which is when a character — typically the protagonist — is suddenly transported to a new, unfamiliar realm often after reincarnating following an untimely death The plot follows a group of high school students who are fortunate enough to be reincarnated after disaster strikes and kills everyone at the school. Many students are reborn as knights, nobles, and princes, whereas one girl finds herself in the body of a spider — the weakest species at that — and must survive numerous threats to her life. After discovering the new world to be similar to an RPG, Kumoko realizes that she must defeat monsters to level up and evolve.
