It’s been almost a year since the superstar Korean pop group BTS released new music, but that changes this weekend with the release of Bastions — a 5-part animated superhero series debuting on the Crunchyroll streaming service starting on May 13.
BTS composed the Bastions theme song, the group’s first new music as a collective since the release of its anthology album Proof in June of last year. I was actually in the crowd in Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium last year when that album was announced at the very end of the last show of the group’s Permission to Dance era. The boys had left the stage, and then there it was on the giant monitors — a message teasing the group’s upcoming album, sending the fans into even more of a screaming frenzy.
Things changed pretty fast after that, though. The group announced a pause just a few months later, driven largely by Korea’s mandatory military service requirement. Two members, Jin and j-hope, have already enlisted, while five of the seven have also used the time apart to release individual music projects. BTS’ song for Crunchyroll’s Bastions series, meanwhile, is the first new song from the group since the announcement of its hiatus.
According to Crunchyroll, Bastions is about a group of rookie superheroes in a world where superheroes compete for popularity. “The young dynamos emerge as full-fledged heroes after saving Earth from a crisis by uncovering the identity of a villain responsible for environmental pollution.”
Given that the series represents a fusion of animation and K-pop, the soundtrack also includes music from other Korean artists, like the up-and-coming K-pop girl group Le Sserafim (the name of which is an anagram of the phrase “I’m fearless). “Crunchyroll has an extraordinary opportunity to introduce fans to more animation styles from Asia, and this exciting new series from Korea does just that,” said Crunchyroll chief content officer Asa Suehira.
“And having the music of so many K-pop stars really broadens the appeal of Bastions.”
How to sign up for Crunchyroll
If you’re a BTS fan and want to check out Bastions this weekend, the good news is that Crunchyroll has an ad-supported free tier you can sign up for. Alternatively, there are ad-free premium subscription tiers you can pay for instead. Their prices and benefits are as follows:
Fan
Price: $7.99/month
Benefits:
- No ads
- Unlimited access to the Crunchyroll library
- New episodes one hour after Japan
- Access to digital manga (manga is only available in English)
- Stream on 1 device at a time
Mega fan
Price: $9.99/month
Benefits:
- No ads
- Unlimited access to the Crunchyroll library
- New episodes one hour after Japan
- Access to digital manga (manga is only available in English)
- Stream on 4 devices at a time
- Offline Viewing
- First access to special Crunchyroll Expo events and lotteries (starting in 2021)
- $15 off $100 purchase in the Crunchyroll Store every 3 months
Ultimate fan
Price: $14.99/month
Benefits
- No ads
- Unlimited access to the Crunchyroll library
- New episodes one hour after Japan
- Access to digital manga (manga is only available in English)
- Stream on 6 devices at a time
- Offline Viewing
- First access to special Crunchyroll Expo events and lotteries (starting in 2021)
- $25 off $100 purchase in the Crunchyroll Store every 3 months*
- Annual swag bag
- Access to an exclusive limited-run Hime Nendoroid figure
