Crunchyroll and Adult Swim announce 'Shenmue', 'Dr. Stone and more!

Saturday al Virtual Crunchyroll Expol, new Japanese animated series and collaborations were announced, including Shenmue, a Crunchyroll and Adult Swim production, in collaboration with Loot Crate, with a home video distribution deal with Sentai Filmworks, the return of DR STONE and more.

The first ever digital edition of Crunchyroll's annual flagship anime convention, revealed another collaboration between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim: Shenmue, an original anime series based on the beloved SEGA video game franchise. The fruits of this latest co-production will be streamed worldwide, outside of Japan and China, on Crunchyroll and aired on Adult Swim's Toonami in the United States.

“The first video game of Shenmue was released over 20 years ago and we are very excited to be working with Adult Swim again to bring this franchise to life through anime, ”said Sarah Victor, head of development, Crunchyroll. "We can't wait to show our fans more of this action-packed adventure series as we continue to move forward with production."

The 13-episode anime follows Ryo Hazuki's journey. After witnessing his father's murder in the family dojo.

Ryo dedicates his life to finding the man in charge, a mission that takes him from the streets of Yokosuka, Japan, to the vast metropolis of Hong Kong and beyond. He will soon learn that mystical forces greater than himself are at stake as he trains to become the greatest martial arts expert, fueled by a thirst for revenge.

Shenmue is directed by Sakurai Chikara (One Punch Man S2, Naruto), with the animation production of Telecom Animation Film and the production management of Sola Entertainment. Game creator Yu Suzuki is also on board as an executive producer.

“The world of Shenmue it's fascinating and unique, and we're so excited to partner with Yu Suzuki to bring his epic creation to anime and create a martial arts epic! Said Jason DeMarco, SVP / air creative director for Adult Swim.

Crunchyroll and I heard Filmworkss, one of the world's leading distributors of anime and official anime products, today announces a partnership for the distribution of home video and streaming. Sentai will distribute four titles to kickstart the partnership, including Food Wars! The Fourth Plate, Ancestry of a Bookworm, Granbelm e World Trigger. These series will appear as a mix of subtitled and dubbed content in English.

"We are delighted to expand Crunchyroll's partnership with Sentai and look forward to working closely with them to bring even more anime to fans in the US and Canada," said Alden Budill, Head of Global Partnerships and Content Strategy, Crunchyroll.

"Since 2011, Sentai and Crunchyroll have collaborated to bring exciting content to anime fans in new and innovative ways," added John Ledford, CEO of Sentai. "With this latest content partnership, Sentai is thrilled to offer fans the chance to own their favorite Crunchyroll shows on select Blu-rays and our award-winning Premium Box Sets."

Crunchyroll and loot crate revealed further details, behind their partnership to bring fans more from their favorite anime series. Crunchyroll is curating two different series with Loot Crate: the Crunchyroll Crate and the limited edition Mobile Suit Gundam Life Crate.

The monthly Crunchyroll Crate will include elements from an incredible range of anime titles, including the upcoming Crunchyroll Original series Noblesse, alongside fan favorites Mob Psycho 100, Welcome to Demon School Iruma-Kun, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, alongside the beloved mascot of the Crunchyroll-Hime brand. Available worldwide, excluding Asia and a selection of other territories, fans can pre-order the Crunchyroll Crate here, with scheduled shipping starting in late November / early December 2020.

The quarterly Mobile Suit Gundam Life Crate is a limited edition boxed series. For more information, fans can register at www.lootcrate.com to stay up-to-date on release details and enter a sweepstakes for free Mobile Suit Gundam boxes. More details on the limited edition Mobile Suit Gundam Box series will be available this fall.

The brand also announced and previewed a series of anime coming to Crunchyroll, including:

• How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Omega - The second season of the popular anime series follows the adventures of a young MMORPG player who is transported to another world and becomes a (fake) demon lord. The series will arrive on Crunchyroll 2021.
• DR STONE - Crunchyroll has announced that the second season of the science adventure series will arrive on Crunchyroll in January 2021. DR STONE follows Senku's journey as he works to rebuild humanity through science.

Crunchyroll also reviewed a number of series coming this October, including the highly anticipated horror anime series Kaisen Jujutsu and the upcoming Crunchyroll Original series, Noblesse.

Fans eager to review the announcement can sign up for a free Virtual Crunchyroll Expo badge now on www.crunchyrollexpo.com and stream the Crunchyroll Industry Panel in the V-CRX On-Demand section.