Crunchyroll Inc. has announced a partnership agreement with NBC Universal Entertainment Japan to co-develop new anime titles with international appeal.  The deal will include working to create new iterations of existing properties as well as the development of entirely new projects.  As a leading international platform for anime and manga Crunchyroll has had a distribution agreement with NBC Universal Entertainment Japan (NUEJ), and has distributed some of NUEJ’s top productions such as Berserk and Drifters.

Last year Crunchyroll announced a major partnership deal with American anime powerhouse Funimation (see “Anime Market Re-Aligns as Crunchyroll and Funimation Partner”) as well as a strategic alliance with Kadokawa (see “ Kadokawa Buys Majority Stake in Yen Press”).

NBC Universal Entertainment Japan is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution company that has its headquarters in Akasaka, Minato (Tokyo).  The company, which was formerly known a Pioneer LDC and then Geneon Entertainment merged with Universal Pictures Japan in 2009 becoming Geneon Universal Entertainment, which changed its name to NBC Universal Entertainment Japan in 2013.