Crunchyroll EMEA, formerly known as Viz Media Europe, is a European anime distributor. Established as Viz Media Europe, it was

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

's European sister company until 2019. It holds partnerships with TV channels, DVD distributors, and manga publishers. The company was once headquartered in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, before the company opened its current Paris operations on January 15, 2007. The division is made up of two subsidiaries, Crunchyroll SAS based in Paris, France, and Crunchyroll SA based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Crunchyroll EMEA is run by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

through

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 tel ...

, a joint venture between

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

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 Group Corporation and is opera ...

Aniplex is a Japanese anime, music production and anime licensee company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Established in September 1995, Aniplex has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime series, such as both ''Fullm ...

, with

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (ShoPro) retaining full ownership of the former Viz Media Europe's Publishing/Licensing Business for manga publishing in the region. On January 27, 2020, Viz Media Europe changed its corporate name to Crunchyroll EMEA, announcing the change publicly on April 2, 2020, with all of Viz Media's former brands being rebranded under Crunchyroll branding. Viz Media Europe Logo 2017

Subsidiaries and brands

As of April 2020, Crunchyroll EMEA has been organised into a portfolio of brands and companies. Crunchyroll EMEA is also affiliated with VME PLB SAS, though does not own any stake of the company. Additionally, despite Crunchyroll Moldova (formerly known as Ellation) being located in Europe, it is not incorporated or operated under Crunchyroll EMEA.

Current

Crunchyroll SAS

Crunchyroll SAS, formerly known as Viz Media Europe, is the French subsidiary of Crunchyroll, housing the French-language operations of the company, including Kazé France and Anime Digital Network.

Crunchyroll SA

Crunchyroll SA, formerly known as Viz Media Switzerland, is the Swiss subsidiary of Crunchyroll, housing the German-language operations of the company, including Kazé Germany, Eye See Movies, Crunchyroll GmbH and the defunct Anime on Demand.

Crunchyroll GmbH

Crunchyroll GmbH, formerly known as AV Visionen GmbH, is the German subsidiary of Crunchyroll SA, and is responsible for distributing anime, manga and films in German-speaking territories under the Kazé and Crunchyroll labels as well as German television and films in Germany though its Eye See Movies label. It is also the distributor for Anime House, Nipponart, Hardball Films, Film Confect Anime, and polyband Anime as well as for

's Peppermint Anime, and manga of the independent labels MangaCult and Manga Jam Session.

Kazé

Kazé is a French division of Crunchyroll EMEA, and is responsible for the distribution of anime and manga within France and other French-speaking regions. Kazé also operated in German territories through Crunchyroll SA and Crunchyroll GmbH as well in the British market in collaboration with Manga Entertainment UK, now known as

Crunchyroll UK and Ireland Crunchyroll Ltd., trading as Crunchyroll UK and Ireland, is a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 1987 as Island World Communications, the company operated as Manga Entertainment Ltd. until 2 ...

. On June 1, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that Kazé would be rebranded as Crunchyroll.

Former

Anime Digital Network

Anime Digital Network is a French video on demand service dedicated to streaming anime content to French-speaking territories. The business was a partnership between Crunchyroll EMEA (though Kazé) and

Média-Participations Média-Participations is a French media concern, controlled by a Belgian holding concern, specialized in Franco-Belgian comics. It has some forty publishers in its portfolio, including Dupuis, Dargaud, Le Lombard, Fleurus (publisher), Fleurus, La ...

subsidiary Citel. Crunchyroll relinquished its ownership of Anime Digital Network on July 27, 2022, with Média-Participations becoming the full owner of the business.

Anime on Demand

Anime on Demand was a German video on demand service dedicated to streaming anime content to German-speaking territories. It shut down on December 8, 2021, with all content being merged into Crunchyroll.

VME PLB SAS

VME PLB SAS is a publishing licensing business owned by

and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (ShoPro). The company was formed in December 2019, after Crunchyroll acquired the majority stake in Viz Media Europe. The company is responsible for licensing manga within the EMEA and Latin American regions. Kazuyoshi Takeuchi is President of VME PLB and Kazuyuki Masuda is Managing Director of VME PLB.

References

External links

* * * * * Manga distributors Crunchyroll Anime companies Viz Media Companies based in Paris {{manga-stub