Anime Expo Bookends a Big Year for Anime and Crunchyroll

The cosplay was typically intense and wildly creative among the tens of thousands of anime fans who turned out over the holiday weekend for the four-day Anime Expo in downtown Los Angeles.

But there was one unmissable trend evident in the sea of characters that stood out like a neon sign to executives at Crunchyroll, Sony Corp.’s subscription streaming anime platform that is the undisputed hub for the growing medium.

The executives couldn’t help but notice the high volume of home-made, tall conical witch hats with tassels that were sported by attendees in a nod to the hit Crunchyroll series “Witch Hat Atelier.” What surprised them was that the show only hit the platform in early April. That means fans quickly committed to delivering a cosplay tribute to the adventures of plucky witch apprentice Coco as they prepared for this weekend’s Anime Expo convention, which is the biggest such gathering for fans in North America.

For many young adults, couples and families, America 250 celebrations took a backseat to the opportunity to meet their anime heroes through the panels, meet-and-greets, sneak peeks and fan giveaways that unfolded over four days at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Peacock Theater and other downtown L.A. venues.

“We are really just starting to understand how global this phenomenon has become, and how much among Gen Z this really has become their favorite medium and art form,” says Mitchel Berger, Crunchyroll’s executive VP of global commerce. “A lot of people are still surprised at the global nature of it and the mainstream army it has become at this point.”

This year’s Anime Expo, which concludes today, comes as the bookend to an astounding 12-month stretch of growth in business and pop…