At Anime Expo in Los Angeles this past weekend Crunchyroll held a panel which saw them announce a selection of new titles they have acquired for simulcast streaming, with highlights including BLUE LOCK (Season 2) and FIRE FORCE (Season 3).
A round-up of the titles acquired by Crunchyroll for simulcast streaming can be found below:
October 2024:
BLUE LOCK – Season 2: Japan’s desire for World Cup glory leads the Japanese Football Association to launch a new rigorous training program to find the national team’s next striker. Three hundred high school players are pitted against each other for the position, but only one will come out on top. Who among them will be the striker to usher in a new era of Japanese soccer?
Natsume’s Book of Friends: Natsume Takashi has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko, he discovers the reason why spirits surround him.
Demon Lord, Retry! R: Akira Oono finds himself in the world of Infinity Game as the last boss and his favorite character, the Demon Lord Hakuto Kunai. After meeting Aku, Luna, and other friends along the way, the Demon Lord begins a new journey to find a spell that can take him back to the real world. The story of the Demon Lord continues in this next chapter!
Yakuza Fiancé: Somei Renji is Somei Yoshino’s grandfather and leader of the “Somei Group”, the Kansai region’s biggest yakuza group. When he arranges for her to be married to Miyama Kirishima, Yoshino has to move to “Miyama Clan” estate, the Kanto region’s biggest yakuza group. Kirishima warmly welcomes Yoshino and is such a pleasant, personable, and nice young man that nobody would suspect that he comes from a yakuza family. This puts Yoshino at ease even though she was initially feeling insecure in this unfamiliar place. But then, a certain event leads to Yoshino witnessing the real Kirishima.
January 2025:
Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You: It’s July 1, 2020. Mizuha, a high school second-year, is having the worst seventeenth birthday ever. She’s missing her chance to get close to the older student she admires, and her parents didn’t even remember that it’s her birthday. Worst of all, there’s a new and unknown infectious disease making the rounds, so all her club tournaments and school trips have been canceled. She’s convinced that she’ll never have the dazzling youth that she’s always dreamed of… but then her childhood friend, Kizuki, suddenly declares himself a candidate to be her boyfriend. This is a school youth story about four childhood friends who grew up like family, one being the heroine, Nishino Mizuha, and the four boys she grew up with whom she sees as family.
Winter 2025:
Link Click: Bridon Ar: To save the deceased Cheng Xiaoshi, Lu Guang returns to the beginning, retracing the path of destiny. However, a photo containing clues about Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents appears in the “Time Photo Studio.” To uncover the truth, Lu Guang nervously travels to Bridon with Cheng Xiaoshi. Friendly top model Xia Fei, the eccentric leader of Chinatown, Vein, and the mysteriously appearing Liu Xiao… Faced with people harboring different motives, can Lu Guang break the fated deadlock?
2025/2026:
Fire Force Season 3: Tokyo is burning, and citizens are mysteriously suffering from spontaneous human combustion all throughout the city! Responsible for snuffing out this inferno is the Fire Force, and Shinra is ready to join their fight. Now, as part of Company 8, he’ll use his devil’s footprints to help keep the city from turning to ash! But his past and a burning secret behind the scenes could set everything ablaze.
The Apothecary Diaries: Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!
COMING SOON:
Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE: Several thousand years after a mysterious phenomenon that turns all of humanity to stone, the extraordinarily intelligent, science-driven boy, Senku Ishigami, awakens. Facing a world of stone and the total collapse of civilization, Senku makes up his mind to use science to rebuild the world. Starting with his super strong childhood friend Taiju Oki, who awakened at the same time, they will begin to rebuild civilization from nothing… Depicting two million years of scientific history from the Stone Age to present day, the unprecedented crafting adventure story is about to begin!
Omniscient Reader: Dokja was an average office worker whose sole interest was reading his favorite web novel ‘Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse.’ But when the novel suddenly becomes reality, he is the only person who knows how the world will end. Armed with this realization, Dokja uses his understanding to change the course of the story, and the world, as he knows it.
As outlined above these titles won’t be streaming on the platform any time soon, as they are currently in production, but at least we know that we will be able to enjoy these shows on the Crunchyroll platform once they become available.
