Earlier this week, as part of a competition Crunchyroll is running, I released a video to YouTube talking about what Crunchyroll means to me. In case you haven’t seen it, here it is:
However, having just renewed my Premium subscription for the fifth year in a row, there is much more to be said about Crunchyroll than can be said in one minute. With the exception of my time in Australia, I have not suspended my Crunchyroll subscription in the last five years, and I have no plans to stop subscribing. However, I’m not quite sold on Premium+ yet. If I went to conventions more often and shopped the Crunchyroll store more often, then it would definitely be something I’d move up to.
When people ask me to explain Crunchyroll to them, I still call it an anime streaming service. However, over the last five years, Crunchyroll has really become much more than that, should you choose to explore the site in more detail. Crunchyroll is now also a digital manga platform, news site, store, and a brilliant community. However, I still primarily use Crunchyroll for streaming, and usually on one of my streaming boxes rather than the site. If I had a good computer and TV hookup, I’m sure that would be different. But, even with the inconsistent experience across platforms, I doubt I’ll be switching away from my Apple TV, Roku, or PS4 anytime soon.
As I mentioned in the video, I do think Crunchyroll offers a way for fans to get involved in the industry. Supporting it through legal streaming I think is a good starting point. Do I think Crunchyroll get fans as involved as a Kickstarter does? No, and I think it would be great to see Crunchyroll leverage Kickstarter in some way to expand upon the connection it already offers fans to the industry. Convention guests are great. Contests are awesome. Opportunities to really shape the future of the industry are even better.
But, all of that just scratches the surface as to what Crunchyroll really means to me. If you’re one of my friends on Facebook, you probably already know that Crunchyroll means enough to me that I’ve applied for a job there. Twice. What you don’t know is that I would even turn down a position at Apple for a position at Crunchyroll – even if the pay and benefits were less. I love Apple, but I’d rather take a position somewhere I could put more than just one of my passions to work. At Apple, I could put my passion for technology to work. At Crunchyroll, I could put my passions for technology, anime, manga, and Japan to work. I’d much rather work somewhere I could grow my passions than somewhere that pays generously.
So, that’s what Crunchyroll really means to me: much more than can be said in a minute.
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