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Crunchyroll Studios
FormerlyEllation Studios (2018–2020)
IndustryAnimation
FoundedAugust 22, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-08-22)
DefunctAugust 9, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-08-09)
FateClosed due to Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll
HeadquartersBurbank, California
Number of locations
2
Key people
Margaret M. Dean (head of studio)
ParentCrunchyroll

Crunchyroll Studios (formerly known as Ellation Studios) was Crunchyroll's in-house animation studio that produced original animated shows for both it and the VRV streaming service until it was shut down in August 2021 following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll.

History

[edit]

On December 2, 2013, The Chernin Group (the holding company of former News Corp. president Peter Chernin) announced that it had acquired a controlling interest in Crunchyroll for a reported $100 million.[1] The Chernin Group said that Crunchyroll management and existing investor TV Tokyo would maintain a "significant" stake in the company.[2][3]

On April 22, 2014, AT&T and The Chernin Group announced the formation of a joint venture to acquire, invest in, and launch over-the-top (OTT) video services. Both companies committed over $500 million in funding to the venture.[4] The new company was named Otter Media and became the majority owner of Crunchyroll.[5] On August 3, 2015, Variety reported that Otter Media would unveil Ellation, a new umbrella company for its subscription-based video services, including Crunchyroll.[6] Ellation's services included VRV, which debuted in 2016, a video streaming platform described as targeting "geeks, gamers and lovers of comedy, fantasy and technology."[7]

In January 2018, Otter Media bought the remaining stake in Ellation, the owner of VRV and Crunchyroll, and integrated it as Otter Media's Consumer Division.[8] On June 20, 2018, Recode reported that AT&T was close to buying out Chernin's stake in Otter Media, on the heel of its acquisition of Time Warner (whose digital media holdings included Machinima).[9] On August 7, 2018, AT&T announced their acquisition of Chernin Group's stake in Otter Media for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $1 billion.[10] On August 22, 2018, Ellation formed Ellation Studios, a production studio with facilities in both the U.S. and Japan, to produce original content for Crunchyroll and VRV.[11][12] On December 4, 2018, Otter announced a broad restructuring that would result in the layoff of about ten percent of its staff. As part of the reorganization, Machinima, which had been part of Warner Bros. Digital Networks, was re-organized under Otter Media. Ellation will now house Rooster Teeth, Crunchyroll, and VRV, while Machinima became a unit of Fullscreen.[13][14][15]

In August 2018, the service announced an expansion into original content with the anime-inspired series High Guardian Spice, produced by Ellation Studios.[16]

In 2013, Rodriguez first came up with the idea for the show and pitched it to Frederator Studios but it was rejected. It was later pitched to Crunchyroll in 2016, developed into a comic in 2017, and re-pitched in 2018 when Marge Dean started at Crunchyroll, becoming a TV show.[17] In October 2023, Rodriguez told Melanie Cionco of Skwigly that he tried to "pitch the show for five years before it would eventually get picked up by Crunchyroll as part of their original series" and noted that he downplayed the show's queerness when he was "pitching it as a kids show for like Nickelodeon, Frederator, Cartoon Network etc."[18]

The show began production in 2017. According to the resume of Claire Stenger, a co-developer, writer, and co-story editor for the show, she worked on pitch documents, helped with VO sessions, gave notes, and helped with the writing, between September 2017 and October 2018.[19] The show was originally set to be released in early 2019, but was delayed.[20][21][22] The show wrapped production in autumn 2019, as noted by Raye Rodriguez,[23][24] the series creator, and Anime News Network, even though Crunchyroll missed deadlines for release in 2019 and 2020.[25][26] ANN reviewer Callum May stated that negative backlash by some people to the series was why there was a lack of communication or release of the series and argued that Crunchyroll has an internal and external "communication problem".[25]

On March 4, 2019, following the reconstruction of WarnerMedia's businesses, Otter Media became part of Warner Bros. Entertainment.[27] However, on May 31, it was transferred to the WarnerMedia Entertainment division in order to oversee HBO Max.[28] In September 2019, Crunchyroll announced it had acquired a majority stake in Viz Media Europe from Hitotsubashi Group,[29] and later rebranded Viz Media Europe as Crunchyroll SAS.[30][31] As a result, the Ellation name was moved from being Otter Media's Consumer Division to Crunchyroll's subsidiary in Moldova,[32] and VRV was made a brand of Crunchyroll.[33]

On February 25, 2020, Crunchyroll initially announced seven series under its Crunchyroll Originals label.[21] They were anime or other animated series that are either co-produced or directly produced by the company. While Crunchyroll previously co-produced anime titles, this list only includes those that Crunchyroll themselves officially place under the label. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the brand was quietly discontinued alongside the closure of the in-house production studios.[34][35]

Productions

[edit]
Title First run start date First run end date Episodes Notes
Onyx Equinox November 21, 2020 December 26, 2020 12 Original work created by Sofia Alexander.
High Guardian Spice October 26, 2021[36] October 26, 2021 12 Original work created by Raye Rodriguez.
FreakAngels January 27, 2022[36] January 27, 2022 9 Adaptation of webcomic written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Paul Duffield.
Meiji Gekken: 1874 January 14, 2024 March 24, 2024 10 Original work created by Tsukasa Sakurai and Naoki Tozuka. Final production by the studio.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Glover, Ronald (December 2, 2013). "Chernin buys anime site Crunchyroll to expand online video assets". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  2. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 3, 2013). "Chernin Group Purchases Majority Stake in Crunchyroll". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on July 2, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  3. ^ Lieberman, David (December 2, 2013). "Peter Chernin Takes Control Of Anime Provider Crunchyroll". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  4. ^ "The Chernin Group and AT&T Create New Venture to Acquire, Invest In and Launch Online Video Businesses". AT&T. April 22, 2014. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  5. ^ Spangler, Todd (July 14, 2014). "AT&T-Chernin Group's Otter Media Online-Video Venture Acquires Creativebug for $10 Mil". Variety. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  6. ^ Roettgers, Janko (August 3, 2015). "Chernin, AT&T Set Brand for New Online Video Venture: Ellation". Variety. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  7. ^ Baumgartner, Jeff (June 20, 2016). "Ellation Will Ride SVOD's Next Wave". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  8. ^ Roettgers, Janko (2018-01-24). "AT&T-Chernin J.V. Otter Media Buys Out Remaining Fullscreen, Crunchyroll Owners". Variety. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  9. ^ "AT&T is getting ready to acquire all of Otter Media, the streaming video company it co-owns with Peter Chernin". Recode. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  10. ^ Spangler, Todd (August 7, 2018). "AT&T Buys Out Chernin Group's Stake in Otter Media". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  11. ^ Roettgers, Janko (August 22, 2018). "AT&T's Ellation Launches Studios in Burbank and Tokyo to Produce Crunchyroll Originals". variety.com.
  12. ^ "Deeper Dive—AT&T has extra SVOD gems in Crunchyroll and VRV". www.fiercevideo.com. August 23, 2018.
  13. ^ Spangler, Todd (December 4, 2018). "AT&T's Otter Media Lays Off 10% of Staff, Will Absorb Machinima in Reorg". Variety. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  14. ^ Weiss, Geoff (January 22, 2019). "After Porting Its Creator Network To Fullscreen, Machinima Wipes Seminal YouTube Channel". Tubefilter. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  15. ^ Alexander, Julia (January 19, 2019). "Machinima, one of YouTube's biggest and oldest channels, goes dark". The Verge. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  16. ^ Haasch Palmer (August 22, 2018). "Crunchyroll to produce original content, starting in 2019". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 30, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  17. ^ King, Jade (2021-11-03). "High Guardian Spice Interview: Raye Rodriguez On Creating A Queer Crunchyroll Original". TheGamer. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  18. ^ Cionco, Melanie (October 4, 2023). "The Fear of Trans Stories in Animation". Skwigly. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  19. ^ Stenger, Claire (July 19, 2017). "Resume". Official website of Claire Stenger. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  20. ^ "Corporate Reshuffle Signals New Era at Rooster Teeth: How the AT&T; takeover at Time Warner affects the local studio - Screens - The Austin Chronicle". 2020-07-04. Archived from the original on 2020-07-04. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  21. ^ a b Hodgkins, Crystalyn (February 25, 2020). "Crunchyroll Unveils 7 'Crunchyroll Originals' Works Including Tower of God, Noblesse, God of High School". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  22. ^ "Ellation Launches Studios In Burbank And Tokyo To Produce Crunchyroll Original Series 'High Guardian Spice'". Cartoon Brew. August 22, 2018. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  23. ^ Rodriguez, Raye [@dinoraye] (November 6, 2019). "Soooooooo... it was my last day at Crunchyroll a week and a half ago! High Guardian Spice has wrapped, now it's just a matter of when Hime-Sama wills it to be released into the wild. I animated a bouncy Rosemary in my now copious amounts of freetime to celebrate" (Tweet). Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ "High Guardian Spice, Onyx Equinox Creators Discuss the Shows' Low Budgets". Anime News Network. 2024-08-05. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  25. ^ a b May, Callum (June 18, 2021). "Crunchyroll Originals Have Been A Disaster". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  26. ^ Loveridge, Lynzee (October 15, 2019). "Crunchyroll Joins Forces With WEBTOON for New Animated Content". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  27. ^ Feiner, Lauren (March 4, 2019). "WarnerMedia reorganizes its leadership team after AT&T acquisition". CNBC. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  28. ^ Spangler, Todd (May 31, 2019). "WarnerMedia Reorg Gives Otter Media's Tony Goncalves Oversight of Streaming Service Development". Variety. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  29. ^ Coats, Cayla (September 6, 2019). "Crunchyroll and VIZ Media Europe Group Enter a New Relationship". Crunchyroll. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  30. ^ Mateo, Alex (April 2, 2020). "Viz Media Europe SAS Changes Name to Crunchyroll SAS". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  31. ^ "JAPANESE ENTERTAINMENT EMEA LEADER VIZ MEDIA EUROPE REBRANDS AS CRUNCHYROLL". Crunchyroll SAS. April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  32. ^ "Ellation". LinkedIn. Retrieved April 3, 2020. Ellation (a Crunchyroll company) was formerly the Consumer Division of WarnerMedia's Otter Media, which included industry leading brands Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, and VRV. We are transitioning the Ellation company name to focus on our team in Chișinău, Moldova.
  33. ^ "Crunchyroll | About". Crunchyroll. Retrieved April 4, 2020. VRV (U.S.) and Eye See Movies (Germany) are also Crunchyroll brands.
  34. ^ May, Callum (June 18, 2021). "Crunchyroll Originals Have Been A Disaster". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  35. ^ Alexander, Sofia [@sofiaealexander] (November 5, 2023). "#onyxequinox #onyxequinoxs2 #animacionmexicana" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on November 6, 2023. Retrieved 2023-11-06 – via Twitter.
  36. ^ a b Hazra, Adriana (October 10, 2021). "Crunchyroll Originals Animated Shows High Guardian Spice, FreakAngels Reveal New Trailers". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
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