By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
Crunchyroll is launching its second annual Ani-May event with licensing activations across retail, digital and streaming platforms. These activations will include exclusive anime merchandise drops and promotions at retailers across the United States, Canada, Brazil and EMEA.
Throughout the month of May, fans can expect a wide range of officially licensed merchandise from anime series such as Tokyo Ghoul, Jujutsu Kaisen, Solo Leveling, Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, Spy x Family and more.
“The love and excitement around anime continues to grow and for Ani-May, we’re revealing a fresh lineup of apparel, home goods, and more to empower fans to live authentically into their fandom,” said Crunchyroll VP, Anna Songco Adamian. “We have lined up an incredible slate of international retail partners who, like us, are passionate about providing fans with a variety of ways to enjoy and display their love for their favorite films, series, and characters.”
This years’ Ani-May retail partners in North America will include Barnes & Noble in the U.S. and Hot Topic for both the U.S. and Canada.
Specialty retailer Hot Topic will celebrate Ani-May 2024 with month-long activations and special promotions both in-store and online. These will include exclusive anime merchandise, a limited edition Crunchyroll-Hime sticker gift with anime purchases, exclusive giveaways and special Discord programming hosted by TheAnimeMen.
Barnes & Noble will feature an Ani-May sale on select anime DVD and Blu-Ray titles for both online and in store purchase.
In Latin America, the Ani-May event will be represented by specialty retailers Riachuelo in Brazil, Falabella in Peru, as well as Gameplanet and Grupo Control in Mexico. Riachuelo will provide fans in Brazil with Ani-May inspired digital and in-store signage as well as limited-edition t-shirts through their FanLab Stores. Falabella will offer official Ani-May 2024 T-shirts throughout the month of May. Gameplanet will be launching digital signage and licensed home products for the event. Grupo Control will bring a variety of licensed anime apparel to its stores alongside dedicated Ani-May product displays.
In Europe, select retailers will be partipating in the Ani-May event including HMV, Games Academy/Funside, Cultura, El Corte Ingles, Thalia, Gamestop, MediaSaturn, Mueller, Hugendubel and XS Toys. HMV intends to add Ani-May event branding to stores in the UK, Ireland and Belgium, as well as a wide variety of merchandise and exclusive early release anime home entertainment. Games Academy/Funside will activate Ani-May promotions through its online community, mobile application and at retail locations throughout Italy. Cultura is developing an anime and manga merchandise slate that will appear throughout the month at specifically branded areas across Cultura stores in France. El Corte Ingles is offering in-store promotions and anime merchandise at its flagship retail locations in Spain.
In Germany and Austria, Thalia will offer manga, merchandise and home entertainment offerings at its retail stores that focus on the Jujitsu Kaisen, Kaiju No.8, Spy x Family, Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Hell’s Paradise IPs. Mueller will also offer an extensive catalog of Crunchyroll manga titles to fans in both Germany and Austria. Gamestop is offering exclusive iron-on items at participating outlets in Germany to any customer who buys two or more Crunchyroll items during Ani-May. In addition, German fans will have access to Ani-May products, manga, and entertainment through MediaSaturn retail outlets. Finally, Hugendubel will present exclusive Crunchyroll merchandising in stores across Germany for several popular Crunchyroll titles.
In Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, XS Toys is offering a special selection of plush, figures, and collectibles from licensed Crunchyroll titles.
European Crunchyroll and Ani-May fans will also have the opportunity to win a weekend in Paris with VIP access to the Crunchyroll booth at Japan Expo through select retailers across the continent.
In addition, the official Crunchyroll Store will offer fans in the US, Australia and New Zealand a wide selection of new releases, sales, and specials for Ani-May 2024.
The Crunchyroll Store activations will rollout new products each week of the Ani-May event.
Throughout the month of Ani-May, Crunchyroll is making twenty series available to watch for free on its streaming platform. These series include many of the Ani-May featured titles including Chainsaw Man, Haikyu!!, Solo Leveling, Cowboy Bebop, Dr. STONE, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Soul Eater, Yu Yu Hakusho and more.
The full list of titles available for the Ani-May celebration event can be found through Crunchyroll News.