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Crunchyroll & Netflix are vying for the next hit anime like a football draft - and Delicious in Dungeon could be the big one that got away from Crunchyroll

The anime streaming industry is becoming a profitable - and therefore competitive - place, with Netflix and Crunchyroll trading the biggest blows.

Delicious in Dungeon Cast
Image credit: Netflix

Though they don’t want to admit it, we can see the start of a fairly intense rivalry between Netflix and Crunchyroll. While Crunchyroll is the undisputed king of anime by sheer number of shows, Netflix has slowly begun to catch up over the years. Like football teams vying for the same pool of players, both streamers hope to snag the rights to the next big hit, with Netflix managing to get Delicious in Dungeon for themselves last year.

During a sit down with BBC News, Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini was asked if Delicious in Dungeon was a show that he wishes he’d managed to secure for Crunchyroll. He deftly sidestepped the question while admitting that even a company like Crunchyroll can’t get every big show. “Yeah, like there’s almost 300 shows made in Japan every year and we want to get as much of that content exclusively on our service.”

That exclusivity is clearly a key word here, as sharing the rights to Dan Da Dan season one with Netflix reportedly became something of a sore spot for Crunchyroll last year.

When asked if it's like multiple football teams vying for a star player in a draft, Purini says it's "somewhat similar."

We can’t blame the BBC for asking Crunchyroll about their competitive relationship with Netflix – we did the same thing at New York Comic-Con last year. All streaming services who want to host anime on their site are competing for the same pool of shows, something that Purini agreed was similar to football teams trying to recruit new players. The important part of that comparison is that most athletes are going to go with whoever offers them more money and we don’t think Crunchyroll can compete with the deep pockets and massive subscriber base of Netflix on that front.


Trent Cannon

Trent Cannon: Trent is a freelance writer who has been covering anime, video games, and pop culture for a decade. (He/Him)

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