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RetroCrush Acquires Streaming Rights for Future Boy Conan Anime
posted on by Alex Mateo
Cineverse's RetroCrush streaming service announced on Wednesday that it has acquired exclusive streaming rights to Hayao Miyazaki and Nippon Animation's Future Boy Conan anime from GKIDS. The service will begin streaming the anime on April 18, and it will release episodes weekly. The anime will stream in Japanese with English subtitles and with an English dub. The first three episodes will be free to watch.
The free, ad-supported, streaming television (FAST) linear channel for RetroCrush will air Future Boy Conan during the "A Very Hayao Miyazaki Earth Day" marathon on April 20, 22, and 27 from 8:00 a.m. EDT to 4:00 a.m. EDT on the next day.
GKIDS released the Future Boy Conan anime in North America with new 4K restoration and an English dub in November 2021. It is the series' first release in North America.
GKIDS describes the story:
Twenty years ago, a terrible war fought with magnetic weapons caused the earth's axis to tilt, and earthquakes and tidal waves destroyed civilization. Conan is born into this new world, raised by his adopted grandfather on an isolated island. But his life is forever changed when a mysterious girl named Lana washes ashore, pursued by shadowy operatives who seek to use her in a new scheme to control what's left of the world.
The sci-fi adventure anime premiered in Japan in 1978, and it ran for 26 episodes. The anime was Miyazaki's directorial debut.
The anime got a stage play adaptation in May-June 2024 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater Playhouse.
This marks Cineverse's second exclusive deal with GKIDS. Their first exclusive deal was for Gainax's science-fiction adventure anime Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water.
RetroCrush is a free, ad-supported video-on-demand service available in the United States and Canada. The service has apps on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and smart TVs, in addition to being available on browsers. The service launched in March 2020. A free ad-supported television (FAST) version of RetroCrush launched through the STIRR streaming service in July 2020.
Cinedigm acquired Digital Media Rights (DMR), the parent company of the RetroCrush, AsianCrush, and Midnight Pulp streaming services, in January 2022.
Digital Media Rights stated to ANN that its goal with the streaming service is to "serve as a community built for the consumption and discussion of the Golden Age of Japanese animation, (and some not so retro), from the perspectives of pop culture, fandom, art, internet memes & more." The service plans to include a library of content that "hasn't had proper streaming releases outside of Japan." RetroCrush's streaming partners include Discotek Media, TMS, NHK, Studio Pierrot, AMG, Happinet, and Right Stuf among others.
