The Anime Effect: A Crunchyroll Podcast is the premier hangout show highlighting anime’s influence on the broader cultural zeitgeist. The Anime Effect is a weekly news and discussion podcast with Crunchyroll hosts and special guests that spotlight anime's influence on pop culture. The show provides a gateway for the anime-curious to enter the wide world of the medium while providing a new perspective for existing fans.
Each week, hosts Nicholas Friedman, LeAlec Murray, and Leah President come together to discuss the latest anime news, bringing their unique takes, expertise on the topics, and personable flair to the conversation.
Episodes often feature interviews with special guests, ranging from voice actors to producers to musicians to professional athletes. Past notable guests have included acclaimed rapper Denzel Curry, Olympian Amber Glenn the same week she broke a figure skating world record, and one of the biggest stars in the VTuber world, Mori Calliope.
With a diversity of voices coming from both the guests and hosts, The Anime Effect aims to provide a space for anyone to celebrate anime, regardless of their background. The team behind the show recognizes that anime fans can come from anywhere, and aims to make them all feel represented by those it welcomes through its doors.
It’s a podcast that welcomes anyone and everyone into the space – all they have to do is love anime.
Every week, The Anime Effect: A Crunchyroll Podcast, engages with its audience of anime fans by doing exactly what they love to do: talk about anime.
On the first episode of the week, hosts Nicholas Friedman, LeAlec Murray, and Leah President come together to talk about the latest anime news bringing their unique takes, expertise on the subjects, and personable flair to the conversation. Whether it’s Nicholas’ deep knowledge about anime itself, LeAlec’s love of professional wrestling, or Leah’s mastery of music and pop culture, the trio is able to bring fresh perspectives and unique takes to the world of anime news.
The second episode every week features an interview with a special guest, ranging from voice actors to producers to musicians to professional athletes. Many episodes feature the minds behind some of the most popular anime in the world, from the creators of fan-favorite anime Gachiakuta, to the voices of the protagonists from the 2025 box office smash Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle and the iconic My Dress-Up Darling, to the creator of Fairy Tail. Past notable guests have included actor David Dastmalchian (who manifested his One Piece role the first time he guested), voice actor and Dungeons & Dragons superstar Matthew Mercer, and music icon Big Sean.
The goal of The Anime Effect is to celebrate anime and how it affects worldwide culture, whether or not the shows discussed appear on Crunchyroll itself. The show is all about how anime has affected the broader cultural landscape, and discussing the medium as a whole, regardless of streaming platform, paired with compelling conversations with tastemakers across pop culture, allows the show to explore anime in a fresh new way.
The Anime Effect provides a space for those who might be curious about anime a space to learn more about what they might like about the medium, highlighting the immense diversity of the anime fandom. Each of the guests has their own taste, giving their fans an opportunity to follow them into the anime fandom. Whether they like the anime culture that inspired Denzel Curry’s music, the stories that gave athletes like Amber Glenn and Gabby Williams strength to find victory, or the voice actors that inspired David Dastmalchian and Matthew Mercer to follow their acting dreams, there truly is something for everyone.
The Anime Effect shows that anime is already part of fans' lives, even if they haven't realized it yet.
Combined with a robust social media strategy that brings highlights of the interviews to a wide variety of audiences across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, The Anime Effect is able to provide the premier anime podcast experience to a variety of audiences across many platforms.
When The Anime Effect: A Crunchyroll Podcast launched in February 2024, it was an immediate success, shooting to the No. 1 slot of the US Animation Charts in its first week.
Since then, the show has only grown in listenership and reputation. Garnering millions of listens, views, and downloads across podcast platforms and YouTube, the show has gained both a loyal following thanks to its unique take on discussing the anime world, and has shed a spotlight on the crossover between anime and culture at large
In 2026 alone, The Anime Effect soared to new heights, finding success with both The Gachiakuta After Show and Witch Chat: The Official Witch Hat Companion Podcast, while clips from its video episodes went viral, driving 40M+ views across Crunchyroll’s social platforms.
