Tag Archives: anime

Crunchyroll Is Adding Mobile Games To Its Subscription Service

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Crunchyroll is getting into gaming, Mashable reported. On Tuesday, the anime streaming service launched Crunchyroll Game Vault, a destination for mobile games, for both its Mega and Ultimate Fan subscribers.

The company said the Game Vault is now available for Android users and will be available on iOS “very soon.” The Game Vault launched with five titles – Captain Velvet: The Jump+ Dimensions, River City Girls, Wolfstride, Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery, and Inbento, and won’t have in-app purchases. The games will also be “free,” although you’d already be paying either $10 or $15 for a Crunchyroll subscription.

GameSpot reported that anime fans will soon have a new avenue to play top anime video game hits, as Crunchyroll has announced new and exclusive games on mobile devices to all Crunchyroll Mega and Ultimate members beginning today.

Crunchyroll Game Vault will add to the service in waves, in a model similar to how Netflix Games operates in the Netflix app. The first wave includes five games, with three of them being exclusive to Crunchyroll’s service on mobile devices.

Multiple games in the first wave of Game Vault offerings are hitting mobile devices for the first time. Among them is River City Girls – the old school beat’-em-up from Arc System Works – and Wolfstride, an RPG which was previously only available on PC. Both games will be Crunchryoll Game Vault exclusives on mobile devices.

The Verge reported that the Crunchyroll Game Vault is available today for free to subscribers of the Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan tiers of Crunchyroll – the two higher-cost tiers available – and at launch, there will be five titles. Much like on Netflix or Apple Arcade, the games will all be free and devoid of in-app purchases.

According to The Verge, most gaming subscription services tend to offer a large breadth of titles, it sounds like Crunchyroll’s will be more focused. The company says it will feature “premium mobile games specifically for fans of anime and anime-inspired entertainment.” And while there are only five games at launch, Crunchyroll says the vault will “feature continuous additions to its line-up, with a whole new wave of titles coming soon.”

For now, Crunchyroll’s games offering seems like a nice bonus, not unlike the digital manga included in the subscription’s higher tiers.

The news comes a day after Crunchyroll announced a partnership with Walmart that will see Crunchyroll-branded “fan shops” in 2,400 retail locations in the US, selling things like Blu-ray collections, vinyl records, and physical subscription cards.

VentureBeat reported that Crunchyroll Game Vault is the latest step the anime streaming service is taking to reach fans through games. Crunchyroll games has published a number of anime-inspired games, including Street Fighter: Duel, My Hero Academia: The Strongest Hero, and the upcoming One Punch Man: World. Moreover, Crunchyroll Games is publishing all of the Game Vault launch titles for mobile.

In my opinion, this news is going to make fans of anime very interested in playing the anime-inspired games that Crunchyroll is offering. It appears that to access this content, you need to purchase a $10 or $15 for a Crunchyroll subscription.

Robotech Franchise Previews New Comic Book Series

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Robotech LogoIt’s not easy being a Robotech fan. Like a lot of people my age, I first encountered the franchise in its original incarnation as an animated series that ran in syndication on local TV stations in the mid-1980’s. The series really captured my imagination at the time and I’ve been a fan ever since.

For the uninitiated, Robotech began as a mashup of three Japanese anima series that actually had very little to do with each other. In order to meet U.S. TV syndication requirements, Los Angeles-based producer Carl Macek combined the three different shows (Macross, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Mospeada) into a new story called Robotech, which allowed Macek to meet the requirement that daily animated TV shows have at least 85 episodes. Macek reimagined the three disparate anime series as an epic intergenerational sci-fi series that would see planet Earth caught up in three different intergalactic wars. At the time of Robotech’s debut, there hadn’t been anything like it. The storylines were deep and complex, and contained dramatic elements like interpersonal relationships and the deaths of lead characters.

Despite its early success, the Robotech franchise has gone thru some tough times. Plans for two sequels to the franchise (The Sentinels and Robotech 3000) were scrapped due to various reasons. Macek left the franchise in the 1990’s, leaving the studio that owned the property, Harmony Gold, to go thru a rubber-stamping period that saw the rise of all kinds of Robotech-related merchandise and media. Some of that stuff was great and some of it was terrible.

The 21st century found Robotech trying its best to expand its reach. A full-length animated film called Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles was released in the mid-2000’s. Plans for a sequel went into action but it seemed like the Robotech curse had returned, as that project was put on hold and another idea for a new Robotech TV series was canned when the project couldn’t generate sufficient funds via Kickstarter to produce a pilot episode.

Despite these setbacks, the Robotech franchise continues onward. It was recently announced that a new comic book series was in development. And while full details haven’t been announced as to what the series will cover, the first previews of artwork from the series show some promise. The series is set for release during the summer of 2017 and will be produced by UK-based publisher Titan Comics.

The preview panels contain no dialog, but hint that at least part of the series will take place during Robotech’s first story arc, as the characters and vehicles depicted are definitely from the Macross Saga.

It’s doubtful this series will do much to truly revitalize the franchise. But it’s good to see something coming out of the Robotech camp these days that looks intriguing.