Crunchyroll Expo (CRX) is an annual three-day

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activ ...

held during August/September at the

San Jose McEnery Convention Center The San Jose McEnery Convention Center (commonly known simply as the San Jose Convention Center) is a convention center in Downtown San Jose, California. The facility is the largest convention center in Silicon Valley. It is known for hosting h ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

over

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

weekend. The convention is organized by anime licensor

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and t ...

and LeftField Media.

Programming

The convention typically offers an Artists Alley, Dealers Room, a Masquerade, panels, and video games.

History

Crunchyroll Expo was first held in 2017 at the

Santa Clara Convention Center The Santa Clara Convention Center is located in northern Santa Clara, California. It serves as one of the large meeting and convention facilities in Silicon Valley, with of meeting space. It was built in 1986 and expanded in 2009. The conventio ...

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. LeftField Media was brought in to help run the convention. Crunchyroll Expo received most of its ticket sales in the days before the event. MAGWest was held the same weekend, and the conventions partnered to allow attendees to participate in limited events at the other. The convention had staffing and badge check issues, along with autograph ticket confusion. They also had no video rooms. Crunchyroll Expo for 2018 moved to the

. They were the same weekend as SacAnime. Crunchyroll partnered with

ReedPop RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

to organize Crunchyroll Expo starting in 2020. Crunchyroll Expo 2020 was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. An online event named Virtual Crunchyroll Expo was instead held from September 4–6, 2020. The pandemic also resulted in the 2021 convention's cancellation, and it was again replaced with an online event. Crunchyroll Expo 2022 was a hybrid convention, with both physical and online events. The convention featured a new music festival, the Crunchy City Music Fest. Crunchyroll Expo had an attendance cap, and admission was sold out. The convention also had mask and vaccination requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with increased security. LeftField Media also returned to run the convention.

Event history

Virtual Crunchyroll Expo

Due to the cancellation of Crunchyroll Expo 2020 because of the

, an online event named Virtual Crunchyroll Expo was held from September 4–6, 2020. The event featured many Japanese guests including

Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include ''Tomie'', a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness; '' Uzumaki'', a three-volume series about a town obsessed with spirals; and ...

Soma Saito is a Japanese voice actor and singer affiliated with 81 Produce and Sacra Music. Biography Early life Saito was born on April 22, 1991, in Shōwa, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. He is the eldest of three siblings, with two younger sisters. He ...

Rie Takahashi is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with 81 Produce. She had a leading role in the anime series '' Seiyu's Life!'', where she became part of the musical unit Earphones. She voiced Futaba Ichinose in '' Seiyu's Life!'', Megumin in ...

Mayumi Tanaka (born January 15, 1955) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator. She voiced Monkey D. Luffy in ''One Piece'', Ryunosuke Fujinami in '' Urusei Yatsura'', Koenma in '' Yu Yu Hakusho'', Pazu in '' Laputa: Castle in the Sky'', Krillin, ...

, and pro wrestler Miro. It also included a artists alley, cosplay event, and exhibitor hall. Virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2021 was held from August 5–7, 2021 and also had a significant Japanese guest list.

Crunchyroll Expo Australia

Crunchyroll Expo Australia is a two-day convention held during September at the

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues are ow ...

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metr ...

. The convention in 2022 had issues with long entrance lines outside of the convention center. Attendees had waits of up to five hours in bad weather due to the convention center reaching capacity. Crunchyroll after the convention made refunds available for those who could not enter the event.

Event history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crunchyroll Expo Anime conventions in the United States Annual events in California Conventions in California Culture of San Jose, California San Francisco Bay Area conventions Recurring events established in 2017 2017 establishments in California Tourist attractions in Santa Clara County, California Tourist attractions in San Jose, California Crunchyroll

Programming

History

Event history

Virtual Crunchyroll Expo

Crunchyroll Expo Australia

Event history

See also

References

External links