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Crunchyroll Unveils 7 'Crunchyroll Originals' Works Including Tower of God, Noblesse, God of High School

Crunchyroll announced on Tuesday its first slate of "Crunchyroll Originals" works that the company is producing. The currently airing In/Spectre anime is also a "Crunchyroll Originals" product. Crunchyroll confirmed that three of the other seven works announced are being produced at Japanese anime studios.

The previously announced television anime adaptation of Korean creator SIU's Tower of God manhwa is part of the Crunchyroll Originals slate. Telecom Animation Film (Lupin the Third: Part 5, We Rent Tsukumogami, Orange) is producing the anime. Sola Entertainment is providing production management for the series. Crunchyroll will stream the series when it premieres this spring.

The website for the anime teased that the series would have a simultaneous release in Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

SIU launched the manhwa on NAVER WEBTOON in 2010. WEBTOONS launched the manhwa in English in July 2014.

Crunchyroll also announced an anime adaptation of Yongje Park's The God of High School manhwa. MAPPA is animating the series, and Sola Entertainment is providing production management.

Crunchyroll describes the work:

This action-packed series follows a high schooler and his friends as they compete in an epic tournament, borrowing power directly from the gods and uncovering a mysterious organization along the way… With the promise of their heart's deepest desires, motivating their tournament victory.

WEBTOONS started publishing the comic in English in July 2014.

Crunchyroll and WEBTOON Production are also producing a new anime based on Jeho Son and Kwangsu Lee's Noblesse manhwa. Production I.G is animating the work.

Crunchyroll describes the work:

This fantasy follows a powerful vampire noble who is thrown into modern civilization after 820 years of slumber. Dangerous adventures with his new friends await as they combat a secret organization and uncover his past.

WEBTOONS started publishing the manhwa in English in July 2014, and published the epilogue in January 2019. WEBTOONS also published a spinoff title Noblesse: Rai's Adventure in 2016.

Production I.G previously produced a 30-minute anime based on the manhwa in 2016 titled Noblesse: Awakening. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime.

Crunchyroll also announced four other Crunchyroll Originals works that the company has not specified if Japanese anime staff are involved. These works are listed as a "Crunchyroll Studios Production," and include:

• Onyx Equinox, created by Sofia Alexander. In the animated work, "a young Aztec boy is saved from death by the gods and chosen to act as 'humanity's champion,' forced to discard his apathy toward his fellow man and prove humanity's potential in a fight that spans across fantastical-yet-authentic Mesoamerican cultures." The show will premiere on Crunchyroll this summer.

• Meiji Gekken: Sword & Gun (working title). The animated work inspired by historical events takes place in Japan in 1870 and follows "an ensemble of characters - a former samurai, a yakuza bodyguard, a devious spy and a geisha assassin - as they try to find their place in the rapidly evolving Meiji-era while escaping the sins of their pasts."

• FreakAngels, based on graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. Crunchyroll describes the work: "After civilization comes to a sudden and crashing end, twelve 23-year-old psychics living in the rubble of London must check their wild impulses and discover their better angels in order to rebuild society."

• The previously announced High Guardian Spice by Raye Rodriguez. The show was originally slated to premiere on Crunchyroll last year. Crunchyroll describes the work: "Four fierce girls train to become great heroes at High Guardian Academy, where they form allegiances, uncover betrayals, and discover their true identities, while preparing to protect the world from an ominous unknown threat."

Crunchyroll stated it has previously co-produced more than 60 series since 2015, including The Rising of The Shield Hero, A Place Further Than the Universe, and The Junji Ito "Collection".

Crunchyroll announced a "Crunchyroll Originals" line in 2015 with Hiroyuki Takahashi's HYPERSONIC music club webcomic as the first installment. Crunchyroll also serialized the original webcomic PARK Harajuku: Crisis Team!, which inspired the Urahara anime.

Source: Press release