Crunchyroll Celebrates 5 Million Subscribers Milestone

In the world of anime streaming services, Crunchyroll has become one of the biggest platforms that specialize in anime, and it seems that the company is celebrating a major milestone as it has hit five million subscribers. Though the platform has housed the likes of Dragon Ball Super, My Hero Academia, and countless other major franchises, Crunchyroll is also working on original productions, with the likes of The God of High School, Noblesse, and Tower of God already being added to its library and Fena: Pirate Princess set to be its latest arrival later this month.

On top of their announcement that Crunchyroll has hit five million subscribers, the streaming service also went into details about another series that will be an original for the platform in Dark Star Squadron, an anime series that will star Zoe Saldana, the actress who is perhaps best known for her role as Gamora in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy series and described as such:

"Dark Star Squadron follows the journey of four failing cadets who return from a joyride with a stolen starship to find their academy in ruins and everyone vanished. Now on their own, the ill-equipped heroes embark for the far side of the galaxy to find the missing and prove their worth."

Discussing the five million subscriber milestone, Crunchyroll's General Manager, Joanne Waage, had this to say:

"The tremendous growth of our streaming service is indicative of the growing love for anime and its deserved spotlight in popular culture,"

Last year, it was announced that Crunchyroll had been bought by Sony Entertainment, the parent company of Funimation, which would merge the two major anime streaming platforms. While there have been no changes to either streaming service since this announcement, it will be interesting to see what developments will emerge in the future.

Crunchyroll first hit the scene in 2006, originally founded by a group of graduates from Berkeley, and has since become one of the premier services to watch anime series, as well as read manga and buy anime-related merchandise. Recognizing the value of anime in general, other services have been working toward adding series and movies to their library, including the likes of Netflix, HBO Max, and many others.

What do you think of Crunchyroll's newest milestone? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of streaming.