Crunchyroll brings 500 professionals to New York to talk about the future of anime

On October 7, Crunchyroll held the first edition of the Anime Future Forum in New York, a closed-door event that brought together around 500 entertainment industry professionals from around the world. The meeting served to discuss how Japanese anime expands globally, how its intellectual property is protected and what makes a franchise work outside Japan.

Guests included Manabu Otsuka, president of MAPPA, the studio behind Jujutsu Kaisen, and James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios. In total, around 40 speakers took part in panels and conferences.

One of the panels at the Anime Future Forum held in New York (photo: Crunchyroll).news.infoseek.co.jp

The big theme of the forum was authenticity. The idea repeated across several sessions is that a franchise succeeds in the global market when it keeps its essence and builds a long-term fan community. It's not about copying formulas, but about respecting the author's intent and the heart of the characters.

James Gunn explained it with long-running characters: you don't need to recreate every past version, but to capture their essence and offer your own take. The team behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse pointed to something similar: international success came from telling local stories with specific cultural and family roots, which end up connecting with everyone.

Fandom as the engine of franchises

Another block of the event focused on community building. In the session on transmedia storytelling, speakers talked about how appealing characters create emotional bonds with fans, and that those bonds are the basis for expanding a work into video games, merchandising or events. Gundam served as an example: the value of a franchise isn't just in the work itself, but in the ongoing relationship between creators, fans and community.

Sony used the forum to announce an anime hub on PlayStation 5: a space that will bring together anime, related video games and access to Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll also confirmed that its digital manga service, Crunchyroll Manga, will expand its availability to more regions, although no dates or list of countries were given.

From left to right: Ravi Ahuja, Hiroki Totoki and Rahul Purini at the Anime Future Forum (photo: Crunchyroll).news.infoseek.co.jp

At the closing, Rahul Purini, president of Crunchyroll, insisted on the forum's central message: the future of anime is built through collaboration between industry and platforms, without barriers. The official event photo brought together Purini with Ravi Ahuja, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Hiroki Totoki, CEO of Sony Group.

The Crunchyroll Manga expansion is one of those pieces of news that hits close to home. We still don't know if Latin America will be included in that expansion or when. How would you feel about having manga included in the same Crunchyroll subscription? I'll read you in the comments.