By Ashley Hawkins & Julie/a Stivers

Last week, it became apparent that Crunchyroll, the predominant anime streamer in North America and the main provider of free public performance rights (often known simply as PPR) for school and public libraries to show anime in their clubs, had collapsed its outreach program for clubs. This decision created confusion and tumult in our profession, which is already reeling amid budget cuts due to the dismantling of IMLS and the DOE, legislative attacks on libraries, book bans, the firing of Dr. Hayden (which occurred almost simultaneously), and so much more. Anime clubs, as I’m sure many of you know, are some of the most attended programming in libraries, rivaled only by gaming programming (and we all know that the attendees of these programs are usually the same group). The outreach program was, in essence, free programming for Crunchyroll, which we were happy to give, as PPR is incredibly expensive, and Crunchyroll doesn’t grant opportunities to obtain PPR for its properties. 

We won’t speculate on Crunchyroll’s reasoning, as they haven’t made a public statement yet. We’re not journalists—we’re school librarians, and that’s not our focus. Our focus has always been kids and teens, and supporting others who work with the groups we believe need the joy and community this type of programming brings. For the moment, we’ll focus on two things: why Crunchyroll should reconsider its decision and what you, our colleagues in school and public libraries, should do next.

Why Crunchyroll Should Reconsider: The Essentiality of Anime Clubs

Anime clubs are essential. For students, librarians, and schools.

If you have read anything either of us has written or heard either of us speak, you must know that the existence of anime and manga programming in libraries is non-negotiable to us. 

Communal viewing is vital to socio-emotional development and community building, and has been life-saving for young people we know personally. We’re sure many other librarians can attest to this as well, and we’ve read in the time since this change occurred first-person testimony of how vital anime clubs were to people who went on to become industry professionals, and how important the library has been to so many of those professionals and current fans. 

Crunchyroll’s decision to dismantle its outreach program is also a blow to young people amid attacks on those who need anime and manga programming the most: LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and neurodivergent young people. These students have been the target of government propaganda and, in the case of some of our students, the threat of deportation, imprisonment, and more. It’s a scary time to be a young person. These are the times when building a community is essential. 

For neurodivergent youth, the loss of anime club could be devastating—changes to routine can lead to meltdowns and burnout. For those who have higher support needs, the type of community provided by anime club is often the best or only way to make social connections with people who share their special interests. Making those connections is vital and important.

It’s also important to note that this happened during Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. For Asian American youth, anime club can often be a way to connect with media that centers a cultural viewpoint closer to or aligned with the one they live at home. It is disenfranchising to take away an essential part of that club where they consume media with characters that resemble them.

This decision is damaging and cruel, but it’s also short-sighted from a business perspective. Anime clubs build future Crunchyroll viewers and subscribers- there’s actually a well-established precedent for outreach as a business model, as noted by Samantha Ferreira from Anime Herald. We rarely watch a whole anime together as a club. But it’s pretty common that a club member will sign up to be a subscriber to keep watching on Crunchyroll. This is so important for the anime industry as a whole. As information professionals, we work with our young people to ensure they use valid, legal sources for media that are within copyright. But if we can’t introduce our students or patrons to legitimate resources, the odds are that they’ll turn to piracy and less desirable websites with questionable advertising to seek out the shows they love.

Where Librarians Can Go for Anime to Watch With Young People

Anime club and communal viewing are essential! For those of you who have already received that dreaded email, you may be wondering: What do I do now?

Luckily, you have options. None of those options, by the way, are ending your programming. For the marginalized groups we mentioned, that could be disastrous. Your options will depend on what type of club you run and what kind of library you work in. It took us a little time to read up on Fair Use and Copyright, but here’s what we’ve got:

  • Contact VIZ at event.inquiry@viz.com. They will grant rights to show the shows they license with proof that you are from a school or library, so it’s advised to use your institution email when reaching out. VIZ will also take care of teachers and librarians with extra freebies at cons. Response time may vary, but someone will respond. (Thanks to Keith Kelly for providing this information!)
  • Buy DVDs/Blu-Rays with associated PPR (Important: This doesn’t mean you get it with anything you buy. Some content—generally educational content—comes with PPR.).
  • Criterion
  • Audio Cine (Canada)
  • Swank
  • Kino Lorber
  • Motion Picture Licensing Corporation
  • Movies Licensing USA (a division of Swank)
  • New Yorker Films
  • Sony Picture Classics
  • Watching clips or episodes provided by studios, Crunchyroll, etc, on YouTube. Content uploaded to YouTube can be used so long as admission is not charged under fair use guidelines. You need to ensure you are streaming directly from the studio or “creator” account and not from an illegally uploaded clip or episode. To clarify, it must be an episode that is already provided for free on the YouTube platform.
  • School clubs are to be considered classes. Under this purview, school clubs, as long as they keep a club roster (not “open to the public”), could view legally obtained anime on DVD and streaming services under fair use. As clubs are in alignment with AASL standards, having a general “lesson plan” for clubs would be advised for legal protection. This is all under the face-to-face teaching exemption: 17 U.S.C. §110(1). Remember, you will still need to pay for services, purchase the DVD/Blu-ray, or stream with ads.

And of course, always preview any content before showing it to young people.

If None of These Options Work For You

There’s something else to consider as well. Watching anime isn’t the only thing you can do as a club. You can do so, so many things together that are just as fun, and still call it an anime club! Here are low planning, fun activities off the top of our heads (For crafts, we’re dropping one tutorial to give you an idea!):

It is also important to sit down with your anime club and be honest. Tell them what’s happening and what impact it may have on your club. Ask their opinion about how to move forward. Present them with the options. Let your young people decide what will make them feel the most included and in the community, and odds are they’ll come up with a plan that is ten times cooler than anything any of us could possibly come up with.

If you’d like further guidance on potential club lesson plans, please see our book that we co-wrote with Emily Ratica, Sara Smith, and Sybil “Mouna” Touré: Manga Goes to School: Cultivating Engagement and Inclusion in K–12 Settings. Public librarians may wish to investigate the book Anime Clubs for Public Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Chantale Pard.