Crunchyroll Anime Now Used in VR Treatment for Kids With Lazy Eye

Crunchyroll has teamed up with Luminopia, a company that creates FDA-cleared digital therapeutics, to bring anime into a new and unexpected space: vision therapy. Luminopia’s treatment uses VR headsets to help pediatric patients with amblyopia, the condition commonly known as lazy eye.

The way it works is that children wear a VR headset while watching content that is specially designed to make both eyes work together, gradually strengthening the weaker one over time. Adding recognizable anime from Crunchyroll makes the sessions more engaging for kids who might otherwise resist wearing a patch or doing traditional exercises.

The partnership brings Crunchyroll’s library into Luminopia’s platform as content during treatment sessions. It is a genuinely creative use of anime outside of pure entertainment.

My take: This is one of the more surprising anime collaborations in a while, and I mean that in a good way. If kids have to go through vision therapy, making it feel like watching a show is a smart approach. Good on both companies for thinking outside the box here.