More news from Anime Expo continues to make its way onto the net. The latest is huge news for Crunchyroll as co-founder Ken Gao announced to the crowd that CR would begin producing dubs and distributing blu-ray and DVD's for some of the anime it currently simulcasts. The first round of titles that will receive this treatment include: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, the new Berserk series, Twin Star Exorcists, Free!, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Big Order, Myriad Colors Phantom World, and Gintama.
The streaming platform also announced that they have secured merchandising rights for Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress and will look in-house for product designs.
Crunchyroll was started in 2006 by a group of UC Berkley college students and currently offers over 200 anime shows and more than 200 Asian dramas. However, the site had very humble beginnings, starting out as a video upload site which users utilized to share illegal, fansubbed anime shows. However, by 2008, Crunchyroll had secured $4.08 million in funding from venture capitalist, Venrock and began to legally secure distribution rights with various anime studios. In 2013, the site also began offering digital manga copies to its subscribers. By 2015, the site announced that it currently had over 700,000 paid subscription services worldwide. A basic membership fee is $6.95/month.