Anime Expo 2024: Crunchyroll World Premiere News and Acquisitions Announced

Crunchyroll held its Industry Panel at Anime Expo 2024 on Saturday, July 6 at 5:00 PM PT in the Los Angeles Convention Center in California.

During the panel, Crunchyroll announced multiple acquisitions of several hotly anticipated animated series from Japan that it will stream for fans around the world in the coming year. Those announcements included the following:

• It was announced to the world that Crunchyroll and Aniplex will be adapting the widely popular Korean web-novel turned webtoon Omniscient Reader into an anime series. In production and coming soon, key art and a first-look teaser debuted to the audience.

  Dokja was an average office worker whose sole interest was reading his favorite web novel ‘Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse.’ But when the novel suddenly becomes reality, he is the only person who knows how the world will end. Armed with this realization, Dokja uses his understanding to change the course of the story, and the world, as he knows it.

• Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE, the next and final chapter of the Dr. STONE saga, was 10 billion percent confirmed coming soon to Crunchyroll on-stage by none other than the lead voice actor Yusuke Kobayashi (voice of Senku Ishigami). New key art was also shared in celebration of the anime’s fifth anniversary.

  Several thousand years after a mysterious phenomenon that turns all of humanity to stone, the extraordinarily intelligent, science-driven boy, Senku Ishigami, awakens. Facing a world of stone and the total collapse of civilization, Senku makes up his mind to use science to rebuild the world. Starting with his super strong childhood friend Taiju Oki, who awakened at the same time, they will begin to rebuild civilization from nothing… Depicting two million years of scientific history from the Stone Age to present day, the unprecedented crafting adventure story is about to begin!

• The long-awaited Fire Force Season 3 was announced coming to Crunchyroll as a split cour release, in April 2025 and January 2026. New key art and a teaser trailer were shared.

  Tokyo is burning, and citizens are mysteriously suffering from spontaneous human combustion all throughout the city! Responsible for snuffing out this inferno is the Fire Force, and Shinra is ready to join their fight. Now, as part of Company 8, he’ll use his devil’s footprints to help keep the city from turning to ash! But his past and a burning secret behind the scenes could set everything ablaze.

• The dark romance series Yakuza Fiancé is set to join Crunchyroll this October 2024. Based on the popular manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Asuka Konishi, a special video from director Toshifumi Kawase was presented before a world premiere sneak peek from the first episode was shown exclusively to the audience. Key art was also shared.

  Somei Renji is Somei Yoshino’s grandfather and leader of the “Somei Group”, the Kansai region’s biggest yakuza group. When he arranges for her to be married to Miyama Kirishima, Yoshino has to move to “Miyama Clan” estate, the Kanto region’s biggest yakuza group. Kirishima warmly welcomes Yoshino and is such a pleasant, personable, and nice young man that nobody would suspect that he comes from a yakuza family. This puts Yoshino at ease even though she was initially feeling insecure in this unfamiliar place. But then, a certain event leads to Yoshino witnessing the real Kirishima.

• And lastly, after its critically acclaimed first season, The Apothecary Diaries from TOHO Animation Studio and OLM will return to Crunchyroll for Season 2! Another mystery arises for Maomao to solve with the beloved series arriving in 2025. Special key art was shared along with a teaser trailer.

  Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!

• BLUE LOCK Season 2 kicked off the next acquisition announcement with an in-person appearance from Kazuki Ura, who voices the lead character Yoichi Isagi. The high stakes soccer anime from studio 8bit (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) will once again score with audiences on Crunchyroll this October 2024. The teaser trailer was shared.

  Japan’s desire for World Cup glory leads the Japanese Football Association to launch a new rigorous training program to find the national team’s next striker. Three hundred high school players are pitted against each other for the position, but only one will come out on top. Who among them will be the striker to usher in a new era of Japanese soccer?

• Producer Yoko Shiraishi came on stage next to join Kazuki Ura, who also voices the romantic lead, Hazawa Kizuki, in Anyway, I’m Falling in Love withYou, which will be coming to Crunchyroll this January 2025. A short teaser and key art of the coming-of-age romance series directed by Junichi Yamamato (Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion) was shared.

  It’s July 1, 2020. Mizuha, a high school second-year, is having the worst seventeenth birthday ever. She’s missing her chance to get close to the older student she admires, and her parents didn’t even remember that it’s her birthday. Worst of all, there’s a new and unknown infectious disease making the rounds, so all her club tournaments and school trips have been canceled. She’s convinced that she’ll never have the dazzling youth that she’s always dreamed of… but then her childhood friend, Kizuki, suddenly declares himself a candidate to be her boyfriend. This is a school youth story about four childhood friends who grew up like family, one being the heroine, Nishino Mizuha, and the four boys she grew up with whom she sees as family.

• From Studio LAN, the thrilling Link Click series is back for Link Click: Bridon Arc, coming to Crunchyroll this winter. A new teaser trailer for the Chinese donghua was shared.

  To save the deceased Cheng Xiaoshi, Lu Guang returns to the beginning, retracing the path of destiny. However, a photo containing clues about Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents appears in the “Time Photo Studio.” To uncover the truth, Lu Guang nervously travels to Bridon with Cheng Xiaoshi. Friendly top model Xia Fei, the eccentric leader of Chinatown, Vein, and the mysteriously appearing Liu Xiao… Faced with people harboring different motives, can Lu Guang break the fated deadlock?

• After nearly seven years, Natsume’s Book of Friends (known as Natsume Yujin-cho) is returning for Season 7 on Crunchyroll, joining the Fall 2024 season lineup. A short teaser trailer introducing the production staff and key art was shared.

  Natsume Takashi has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko, he discovers the reason why spirits surround him.

• From director Kazuomi Koga (Rent-A-Girlfriend) comes Demon Lord, Retry! R, which will make its way to Crunchyroll this Fall 2024. Key art and a world premiere teaser trailer for the fantasy series were showcased.

  Akira Oono finds himself in the world of Infinity Game as the last boss and his favorite character, the Demon Lord Hakuto Kunai. After meeting Aku, Luna, and other friends along the way, the Demon Lord begins a new journey to find a spell that can take him back to the real world. The story of the Demon Lord continues in this next chapter!

Crunchyroll also kicked off the 10th Anniversary celebration of Tokyo Ghoul and revealed a series of exclusive products so fans can celebrate their favorite anime. More details will be announced at a later date.

Additionally, earlier at Anime Expo, before the Crunchyroll Industry Panel, there were several announcements featuring Crunchyroll, including: 

• The “Final Phase” title was revealed for TRIGUN STARGAZE during the TRIGUN STAMPEDE panel, presented by Crunchyroll and Orange, on July 4. A special TRIGUN STAMPEDE anniversary illustration of Vash the Stampede and Nicholas Wolfwood from Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow was shared with the audience along with the new title treatment for TRIGUN STARGAZE. Three new character illustrations of Vash, Wolfwood, and Million Knives were also shown during the panel.

  Vash the Stampede’s a joyful gunslinging pacifist, so why does he have a $$6 million bounty on his head? That’s what’s puzzling rookie reporter Meryl Stryfe and her jaded veteran partner when looking into the vigilante only to find someone who hates blood. But their investigation turns out to uncover something heinous—his evil twin brother, Millions Knives.

• During the Witch Hat Atelier Panel featuring Manga Author Kamome Shirahama and Anime Staff on July 4, world premiere footage from a teaser trailer along with all-new key art was released for the upcoming adaptation of the popular manga of the same name created by Kamome Shirahama. Additionally, the staff on the project have been revealed, including director Ayumu Watanabe (Summer Time Rendering), character designer Kairi Unabara (a key animator on Scott Pilgrim Takes Off), and music composed by Yuka Kitamura (ELDEN RING; Bloodborne; DARK SOULS III). The anime will be produced by the studio BUG FILMS (Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead). The series will be coming to Crunchyroll in 2025.

  In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: She wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch…until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows” might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem…

• Fans anxiously awaiting the return of Solo Leveling from A-1 Pictures (Lycoris Recoil; NieR:Automata Ver1.1a) were presented with the world premiere trailer for Season 2 during the Solo Leveling Panel on July 5.

• It was revealed during the Blue Exorcist Special Event panel on July 5 that both Blue Exorcist -Beyond the Snow Saga- and Blue Exorcist -The Blue Night Saga- will be coming to Crunchyroll as back-to-back cours starting this October. A teaser trailer and key art for Blue Exorcist -Beyond the Snow Saga- were shown in advance of its return.

• An October 2024 premiere on Crunchyroll was confirmed for Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Season 3 during the Arifureta Season 3 Premiere + Voice Cast Talk panel on July 5. The previously released key art and an all-new trailer were shared.

• A new teaser and official anime announcement for Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- during the Black Butler -Public School Arc- Panel on July 6 were delivered to fans along with news that the series will be returning to Crunchyroll for the upcoming arc. During the Crunchyroll Industry Panel, Daisuke Ono, the voice actor for the demon butler Sebastian Michaelis, made his way on-stage to share the news as well.