With a "if you can imagine it, it can be created" attitude, anime throws viewers into a universe where imagination is unstifled and ever-expanding. You can sail the seas as part of a ragtag team of pirates in shows like One Piece, go on an epic adventure to fight back against a dystopian world in Attack on Titan, or become cursed with the soul of an ancient sorcerer in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Boasting over 50,000 episodes of anime, Crunchyroll has become the world's largest dedicated platform for the art form, expanding to include online manga graphic novels on which many animes are based, as well as games and merchandise.
And, according to Rahul Purini, the president of Crunchyroll, the service is only just beginning to reach its potential.
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times ahead of the 10th Anime Awards, Purini reflects on the continuing rising success of anime, the dedication of fans, and what shows are ones to watch.
This is the 10th anniversary of the Anime Awards, and the fandom 10 years ago versus the fandom now is completely different. It's much bigger globally.
Accessibility is another big part of it, it's made anime accessible for global audiences. In a small way, we have contributed to it by doing simulcasts, where we subtitle it very quickly, we are dubbing it very quickly and making it accessible on our platform. Then obviously it's the younger audience coming into the medium faster because of the stories and the art style.
Yeah, I think there have been shows over the last decade that have contributed. Last year, Attack on Titan [was] a huge show, a huge contributor to the growth of anime, My Hero Academia, another big show that's been great.
Demon Slayer is another amazing show that has built the anime audience. You saw that with the theatrical release and the box office that movie did globally. So a ton of shows have been foundational for the growth of anime.
2025 was an amazing year. We started off with Solo Leveling, then we had the Demon Slayer theatrical release [and] Chainsaw Man.
We've announced we are getting Black Torch in July. I can't wait for fans to see that show. We're also hoping Solo Leveling comes back!
Nothing to announce, but we are just as eager as the fans for the next show! We know the creators are actively working on it, so hopefully we can announce something soon.
Tough question, I'm biased towards all of them! There's almost 50 unique series when you go through the nominations. All of the shows are amazing.
There's a couple of categories that I'm eagerly waiting to see who wins. Obviously, anime of the year is a big category, there's some amazing shows in there, but best continuing series and best animation are also categories I'm excited to see.
Content continues to be our biggest area of investment. It's the foundation for why fans come to anime, why fans come to Crunchyroll, and so we are very keenly focused on building and continuing to extend our catalogue. So that's the big area. That's no different from where we were focused a decade ago. Global expansion, serving global fans, is going to be an area of investment.
What's it like being among fandoms at ComicCons?
I can imagine it being fun knowing you've had an input into that community
Crunchyroll has said before you'll never use AI. How difficult is that to navigate in an industry swinging towards that a lot of the time?
At the same time, we are a technology company, we are building experiences for our fans, and we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we were not using technology to create those amazing experiences. So we're looking at AI in terms of, how can we help with discovery, how can we help with recommendations and personalisation? How can we build a platform more engaging for our fans? That clarity makes it easy for how we use AI.
The fandom is growing really fast, and it's a big, young audience highly engaged and willing to spend money in the medium. That obviously attracts attention. [Netflix], like a lot of companies, want to serve that fandom, want to be part of that, and so we're not surprised other entertainment companies are interested.
Did you feel KPop Demon Hunters' success have any impact for CrunchyRoll by drawing attention to anime?
Are there any mangas that you would like to bring to the screen that you haven't yet?
Solo Leveling is a great example – Korean Manhwa we took to Japanese creators and have them go. We've announced Ghost of Tsushima, which is a PlayStation game IP we've taken to Japanese creators and said, 'Hey, let's create an anime for it'. You will hear from us on that wane.
Not right now! But I’m looking forward to some announcements soon.
Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Hence then, the article about crunchyroll president reacts to k pop demon hunters success and reveals what will be the next solo leveling was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Crunchyroll president reacts to K-Pop Demon Hunters success and reveals what will be the next Solo Leveling )
Also on site :