Crunchyroll is giving its anime universe a rather Hollywood-sized power-up. The platform is bringing its first-ever Anime Future Forum to life, with James Gunn headlining the inaugural event and giving its debut some serious star power. It is also a fitting cherry on top of a year that has already seen Crunchyroll surpass 21 million paid subscribers globally, while Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle and more added more theatrical momentum to the platform last year

And if 2026 has been Crunchyroll’s training arc, James Gunn might just be the latest power-up.

Unlike the fan-packed chaos of New York Comic Con, the Anime Future Forum is designed as a more buttoned-up gathering for the people shaping anime behind the scenes. The invitation-only summit will welcome more than 400 executives, creators, publishers, and influencers from animation, gaming, technology, and music. With James Gunn headlining, the guest list already has plenty of gravitational pull.

Under the theme “Designing for Anime’s Future,” the October 7 event will examine where the medium is headed next. Its conversations will span fandom, technology, storytelling, and IP protection, bringing together the creative and business forces increasingly responsible for anime’s global evolution. In other words, this is less about debating the best One Piece arc and more about deciding what comes after it.

The forum will also bring together senior figures from Japanese powerhouses including MAPPA, Toho, and Shueisha, alongside leadership from Sony and Crunchyroll. That mix gives the gathering a distinctly industry-wide flavor, connecting the studios producing the stories with the companies finding new ways to distribute and expand them. For anime, it is quite the evolution from weekly episode drops and convention panels.

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With 2027 already packed with anime and Crunchyroll’s new forum on the horizon, there is still one mystery left: James Gunn’s love for the genre.

James Gunn may spend his professional life surrounded by superheroes, but anime is apparently where his superpowers end. The filmmaker has openly admitted that he knows little about anime or manga and has never read Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, despite the franchise being practically impossible to escape. He would rather confess ignorance than swagger into the Grand Line pretending to know the map.

His position is surprisingly sensible: James Gunn respects anime, but believes its beloved stories deserve creators who actually understand their peculiar magic. His DC Studios role has nevertheless brought him closer to the medium from an industry perspective, and now he is heading to Crunchyroll’s Anime Future Forum, previously alongside Guillermo del Toro. For someone who does not quite speak fluent anime, that is an intriguing place to be.

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Are you excited to see James Gunn at the Crunchyroll's upcoming anime forum? Let us know in the comments!