• by Danielle Oster , 10 hours ago

Leading anime streaming platform Crunchyroll launched a new global brand campaign celebrating the genre, and calling on viewers to “Choose Unordinary.”

The campaign centers around an ad featuring hand-drawn animation created in a studio in Japan focused on Crunchyroll’s original character, Hime. It opens on a viewer watching a video on a cell phone, when Hime extends a hand to offer a bridge into the imaginative worlds beyond the screen. Hime then takes viewers away on a motorcycle ride, doing things like escaping monsters, alongside Hime, her sister, Sudachi, and their cat Yuzu.

The “Choose Unordinary” campaign acts  as a celebration of anime, while positioning Crunchyroll as viewers’ portal into the expansive genre.

“Anime is a uniquely immersive and imaginative art form, where high-schoolers battle gods, giant mechs fall in love and somehow you just might be reincarnated as a vending machine,” Crunchyroll Senior Vice President of Brand and Community Scott Donaton said in a statement. “We help fans step into these wonderful worlds and connect them -- to each other and to the creators, characters and stories that they love."

The campaign is running globally on social platforms. In select markets, it also features OOH and broadcast on-demand, with an activation in New York’s Time Square from Dec. 15-Jan. 2.

“Choose Unordinary” arrives following a momentous year for Crunchyroll. The platform, which includes 50,000 episodes, and 25,000 hours, of anime series, music, and films, has also expanded into areas including events, theatrical releases, and gaming 

This year, the theatrical release of Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures’ collaboration “Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle” set a new record as the highest-grossing international film release in North America, eclipsing a record set by “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” around 25 years ago.