STARCHILD AND CRUNCHYROLL ANNOUNCE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED HANAMARU KINDERGARTEN

Seiji Mizushima's Adaptation of Yuto's Manga Series Coming to Crunchyroll starting January 10th

San Francisco, CA and Tokyo, Japan (January 7, 2009) ‹ Crunchyroll and StarChild announces today the addition of HANAMARU KINDERGARTEN to Crunchyroll's Winter 2010 Anime Lineup. Adapted from the hit manga series created by Yuto and published by Square Enix's YOUNG GANGAN, HANAMARU KINDERGARTEN comes to life via the legendary anime studio GAINAX and critically acclaimed anime director Seiji Mizushima. Voice talent includes a lead cast of of fan favorites Ayahi Takagi, Kei Shindou, and Mako in the roles of Hiiragi, Anzu and Koume. More information can be found at http://www.crunchyroll.com/hanamaru.

This title is a dream for Crunchyroll to have, states Crunchyroll Vice President of Licensing, Rob Pereyda, with one of the foremost anime studios in all of Japan in GAINAX and the hottest anime director in Seiji Mizushima, anime fans around the world are in for a real treat.

HANAMARU KINDERGARTEN will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom in standard definition free of charge to all visitors of Crunchyroll's website and across the Crunchyroll network one week after airing in Japan. Crunchyroll's Anime Members and All-Access Members will receive early access to the program in 480P within one hour after its Japanese airing.

HANAMARU KINDERGARTEN joins hundreds of other Japanese anime and Chinese and Korean live-action drama series in one of the largest English-subtitled streaming collections of officially-licensed East Asian content in the world.

All fans can enjoy all content on the site for free, but Crunchyroll Anime Members benefits include higher quality streams of all shows (in some cases at 720p High Definition Video) with no advertisement and early access to all simulcast shows as early as one (1) hour after its Japan Broadcast. Crunchyroll Anime Membership costs as little as $5 a month and goes directly towards supporting Japan Animation companies. More information, including a two week free trial membership can be found at http://www.crunchyroll.com/freetrial.