A new report from Bloomberg has revealed troubling details about Crunchyroll’s marketing strategy or lack thereof for the hit anime DanDadan.
The show, based on Yukinobu Tatsu’s wildly popular manga, debuted earlier this year and became a major success on Netflix, where it premiered as the second most-watched non-English series. Despite its obvious potential, Crunchyroll, a platform known for championing anime, seemingly chose not to heavily promote the series.
According to an internal email obtained by Bloomberg, Crunchyroll’s Senior Vice President Markus Gerdemann instructed staff to avoid pushing DanDadan too hard. The email cited “ongoing acquisition discussions” as the rationale behind this decision, though further details remain unclear.
What makes this even more baffling is the timing. With Netflix aggressively licensing popular anime like DanDadan, Crunchyroll’s reluctance to fully support the series has left fans questioning its commitment to promoting quality content.
Our investigation found that Crunchyroll stopped posting or promoting DanDadan on October 22. The series was not mentioned on their X (formerly Twitter) handle for nearly two months.
The silence was finally broken on December 21 with the announcement of DanDadan Season 2. This prolonged gap in promotion is striking, especially given the anime’s success on competing platforms during this period.
This isn’t the first time Crunchyroll’s marketing strategies have come under scrutiny. Bloomberg also reported that earlier this year, Crunchyroll’s One Piece concert at San Diego Comic-Con disappointed fans and industry partners alike due to lackluster execution.
The most notable issue during the One Piece concert was the poor visibility of the event’s centerpiece. During the concert, the signature ship from the One Piece series sailed by on the San Diego Bay, but it wasn’t properly lit. Many attendees couldn’t even see the ship—a major visual highlight that should have anchored the event.
This lack of promotion for DanDadan is particularly surprising given the series’ rising popularity. The manga has built a loyal fanbase in Japan and internationally, and the anime had all the ingredients for success.
Anime production costs are no small matter, typically ranging from $200,000 to $300,000 per episode. With increasing competition from platforms like Netflix and Disney, under-promoting a series with such promise seems like a risky move.
Fans and industry insiders alike are questioning whether Crunchyroll’s strategy aligns with the needs of the anime community. While Netflix and Disney continue to secure major licensing deals and dominate viewership charts, Crunchyroll appears to be losing ground in the very space it helped popularize.
Source: Bloomberg
