Crunchyroll Pty. Ltd., trading as Crunchyroll Store Australia, and previously known as Madman Anime, is an Australian video publisher and distribution company focused on Asian entertainment. The company handles licensing and distribution of anime in Australia and New Zealand. Originally part of independent film distributor

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

, the company is now operated as a division of

Crunchyroll, LLC Crunchyroll, LLC is an American Entertainment#Industry, entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas. It currently operates the anime-focused Crunchyroll, eponymous over-the-top media service, over-the-top video on demand#Subscription models, ...

, run by

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

through Sony Pictures Entertainment and

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

Aniplex Aniplex, Inc. (株式会社アニプレックス, ''Kabushiki-gaisha Anipurekkusu'') is a Japanese entertainment company and a subsidiary of Sony, Sony Group Corporation, founded in September 1995 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The company fo ...

History

As part of Madman Entertainment

Madman Entertainment was founded in 1996 by Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard as a mail order business specialising in imported anime titles, after following the success of

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1991, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally selling titles on VHS, the company became the second Australian distributor to author DVDs in-house, with the 1995 film ''

Ghost in the Shell ''Ghost in the Shell'' is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized between 1989 and 1991, is set in mid-21st century Japan and tel ...

'' being their first DVD release. In 1998, Madman began airing anime on television, with '' Neon Genesis Evangelion'' airing on SBS TV. On 23 February 2008, Madman Entertainment announced that it had reached a distribution deal with

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

to distribute its manga titles in Australia and New Zealand. The distribution deal ended in April 2016, with

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

taking over distribution of Viz's catalogue, and Madman Entertainment ceasing distribution of all manga titles. At the 2008 Supanova Pop Culture Expo, Madman Entertainment announced plans to explore new distribution methods. Madman Entertainment launched the Madman Screening Room, a video on demand streaming service, with '' School Rumble'' being the first title on the platform. Madman Entertainment also began releasing

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

titles, starting with '' The Transformers: The Movie'' in June 2009. On 1 June 2009, Madman Entertainment produced an English adaption of '' Tamagotchi: The Movie'', a 2007 film based on the

Tamagotchi is a brand of handheld digital pets that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the bigge ...

digital pets from

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...

and WiZ. Madman also intended to dub the film's sequel, '' Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe!'', but the dub was cancelled for unknown reasons. In early 2016, Madman Entertainment announced Madman Anime Festival, an annual anime convention to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The convention was held in Melbourne on 3–4 September of that year. Following the inaugural convention, Madman announced that it would expand to Perth and Brisbane in 2017, and Sydney in 2019. The convention also became the host for the preliminary rounds of the Madman National Cosplay Championship in Perth and Brisbane.

As Madman Anime Group Pty. Ltd.

On 12 October 2016, Madman Anime Group Pty. Ltd. was incorporated as a separate company, being a wholly-owned subsidiary of Madman Entertainment. On 17 February 2018, Madman co-founder & CEO Tim Anderson confirmed that on 15 November 2017,

subsidiary

had acquired a minority interest in Madman Anime Group, and was issued an undisclosed number of shares. In late 2018, Madman Anime confirmed that they had reached a distribution deal with

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

, with Madman Anime becoming the local distributors for select Funimation titles in Australia and New Zealand, and Funimation handling licensing and localisation for titles. On 6 February 2019, Madman Entertainment's owners Five V Capital sold Madman Anime Group to Aniplex for . On 24 September 2019,

and

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

announced that they were consolidating their international anime streaming services under a new joint venture comprising Funimation, Madman Anime Group and

Wakanim Wakanim was a French subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service specialized in online streaming and simulcasting of Japanese anime series. It was also the first platform to offer videos for download without digita ...

. The consolidation reorganised AnimeLab as a direct subsidiary of Funimation. The company changed its name to Crunchyroll Pty. Ltd. on 23 March 2022, following the rebranding of its parent company Funimation to Crunchyroll, LLC. On 29 March 2022, Madman Anime announced that Madman Anime Festival would be replaced with Crunchyroll Expo Australia, with the first event scheduled for Melbourne on 17–18 September 2022.

Notable titles

Crunchyroll Store Australia hosts notable titles that are also licensed by Crunchyroll, LLC itself and sibling company Aniplex of America in the United States as well as Sentai Filmworks such as ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

'', ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...

'', '' Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions'', ''

My Hero Academia is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 2014 to August 2024, with its chapters collected in 42 volumes. Set in a wor ...

'', '' Clannad'', '' Fairy Tail'', '' Persona 5: The Animation'' and ''

Spy × Family ''Spy × Family'' (stylized as ''SPY×FAMILY'' and pronounced "spy family") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo. The story follows Loid Forger, an enigmatic spy who has to "build a family" to execute a missio ...

''.

AnimeLab

AnimeLab Pty. Ltd. was a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

service that specialised in the online streaming and simulcasting of Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series, serving the Australian and New Zealand market. AnimeLab originally launched in beta on 28 May 2014 as a Madman Entertainment skunkworks project with 50 series and 700 episodes, and replaced the Madman Screening Room. During its beta, AnimeLab streamed its series for free without advertisements. Originally streaming titles exclusively from Madman's catalogue, on 4 September 2014, distributor Siren Visual announced that they would release titles on AnimeLab, starting with '' The Devil Is a Part-Timer!''. AnimeLab also simulcasted '' Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works'', despite Hanabee acquiring the distribution license for the series. On 26 May 2015, AnimeLab announced that the website had exited beta, and introduced a paid subscription, alongside an ad-based free service. In August 2016, AnimeLab launched ''AnimeLab On-Air'', an anime programming block airing on Friday nights on C31 Melbourne and C44 Adelaide. The block later moved to a Monday night schedule. On 25 August 2017, AnimeLab announced that they would begin streaming select titles from

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

's back catalogue. The Adult Swim titles were later removed in 2020. At Madman Anime Festival Melbourne 2018, AnimeLab announced that they had reached one million users. AnimeLab also announced a collaboration with the Australian Red Cross to promote blood donations in Australia with the simulcast of '' Cells at Work!''. On 24 January 2020,

announced that it would be shutting down access to FunimationNow in Australia and New Zealand on 30 March, merging all of Funimation's titles onto AnimeLab. On 10 June 2021, AnimeLab announced that it would begin the process of rebranding as Funimation on 17 June, with current AnimeLab subscriber credentials being transitioned onto Funimation's website on that date, and staff transitioning to Funimation ANZ. On 2 November 2021, AnimeLab announced that it would retire the service on 9 December 2021.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, Australia, New Zealand, Companies, Anime and manga 2019 mergers and acquisitions Anime companies Australian companies established in 1996 Australian companies established in 2016 Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in Melbourne Crunchyroll Entertainment companies established in 1996 Entertainment companies established in 2016 Film distributors of Australia Home video companies of Australia Home video distributors Madman Entertainment