Crunchyroll Store Australia

• 1. Introduction

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  Crunchyroll Store Australia began as a mail-order business in 1996, when Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard set up Madman Entertainment to sell imported anime tapes. They had studied the success of Manga Entertainment in the United States and the United Kingdom and believed Australia was a ready market. Two years in, Madman put Neon Genesis Evangelion on national television, airing it on SBS TV in 1998. From those beginnings, the company would change its name, its owners, and its relationship to every major format shift in home video. How did a pair of anime importers end up inside Sony's entertainment empire? And what became of AnimeLab, the streaming service the company built and then retired?

• 2. The Format Frontier

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  Ghost in the Shell, the 1995 film, was Madman Entertainment's first DVD release. Producing it made Madman only the second Australian company to author DVDs in-house. In June 2009, The Transformers: The Movie became the company's first Blu-ray release. On the 1st of June 2009, Madman released an English adaptation of Tamagotchi: The Movie. The 2007 film was built around the Bandai and WiZ digital pets. Plans existed to dub the sequel, Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe!. That project was cancelled for reasons Madman never disclosed.

  On the 23rd of February 2008, Viz Media signed a distribution deal with Madman, covering Viz's manga catalogue across Australia and New Zealand. The arrangement ran for eight years. Simon & Schuster took over that distribution in April 2016, and Madman ceased handling manga titles. Before the manga chapter closed, Madman had already pointed toward its next ambition at a pop culture convention in 2008.

• 3. AnimeLab

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  At the 2008 Supanova Pop Culture Expo, Madman Entertainment announced it was exploring new distribution methods. The immediate result was the Madman Screening Room, a video-on-demand platform, with School Rumble as its debut title. On the 28th of May 2014, AnimeLab launched in beta, replacing the Madman Screening Room. The service opened with 50 series and 700 episodes, all free without advertisements during beta. Initially, AnimeLab drew from Madman's own catalogue. On the 4th of September 2014, Siren Visual announced it would add its titles to the platform, starting with The Devil Is a Part-Timer!. AnimeLab also simulcasted Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, even though Hanabee held the distribution licence for that series.

  On the 26th of May 2015, AnimeLab exited beta, adding a paid subscription tier alongside a free ad-supported option. In August 2016, AnimeLab launched a programming block called AnimeLab On-Air on C31 Melbourne and C44 Adelaide. It aired on Friday nights before shifting to a Monday schedule. On the 25th of August 2017, AnimeLab added select titles from Adult Swim's back catalogue. Those titles were removed in 2020.

  On the 24th of January 2020, Funimation announced it would shut down FunimationNow in Australia and New Zealand. Access would end on the 30th of March, with all Funimation titles moving onto AnimeLab.

• 4. Corporate Transformation

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  On the 12th of October 2016, Madman Anime Group Pty. Ltd. was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Madman Entertainment. The separation positioned the anime operation for outside investment. On the 15th of November 2017, Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, acquired a minority interest in Madman Anime Group. Tim Anderson confirmed the transaction on the 17th of February 2018. The number of shares issued to Aniplex was not disclosed.

  On the 6th of February 2019, Five V Capital sold Madman Anime Group to Aniplex outright. On the 24th of September 2019, Aniplex and Sony Pictures Television announced a consolidation of their international anime streaming operations. Funimation, Madman Anime Group, and Wakanim were brought into a single joint venture. AnimeLab was reorganised as a direct subsidiary of Funimation.

  On the 10th of June 2021, AnimeLab announced it would rebrand as Funimation on the 17th of June. Subscribers' credentials migrated to Funimation's website on that date, and staff moved to a new Funimation ANZ division. On the 2nd of November 2021, AnimeLab announced its retirement, effective the 9th of December 2021. The company took its new name, Crunchyroll Pty. Ltd., on the 23rd of March 2022, when Funimation rebranded globally as Crunchyroll, LLC. The new ownership chain ran from Sony through Sony Pictures Entertainment and Aniplex.

• 5. Festivals and Titles

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  Madman Entertainment announced Madman Anime Festival in early 2016, timing it to mark the company's twentieth anniversary. Melbourne hosted the inaugural edition on the 3rd and the 4th of September 2016.

  At Madman Anime Festival Melbourne in 2018, AnimeLab announced it had reached one million users. The same event brought news of a collaboration with the Australian Red Cross, using the simulcast of Cells at Work! to encourage blood donation.

  On the 29th of March 2022, the company announced that Madman Anime Festival would be replaced with Crunchyroll Expo Australia. The inaugural Crunchyroll Expo Australia was scheduled for Melbourne on the 17th and the 18th of September 2022. The catalogue at that point covered Dragon Ball, One Piece, My Hero Academia, and Fairy Tail. Clannad, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Persona 5: The Animation, and Spy x Family were also part of the lineup. All were licensed in parallel with Aniplex of America and Sentai Filmworks in the United States.