The two great Japanese animation (anime) streaming references, Crunchyroll and Funimation, have announced a merger that will mean that users will only have to pay for one service.
This was an expected move, after Crunchyroll owner Sony Pictures Entertainment announced the acquisition of Funimation in August 2021; Until then, Funimation was a better-known name in the United States, where it was one of the major importers and distributors of anime from Japan. However, the growth of streaming platforms made him lose weight among fans.
In recent years, Netflix has invested heavily in this niche, with original anime production available only on its platform; a tactic that Crunchyroll has also followed, with its own “Originals” such as an anime based on Blade Runner, High Guardian Spice or, more recently, the series based on the video game Shenmue. Faced with this competition, the telecommunications giant AT&T decided to sell Funimation to Sony.
Now, Sony has announced that Funimation subscribers will have to sign up for a Crunchyroll premium account in order to continue watching anime, though it has sweetened the transition by offering 60 days of Crunchyroll Premium for free. Starting next spring season, the premieres will only be available through Crunchyroll, although the Funimation app will continue to receive episodes of series that have already started.
In the same way, Funimation’s catalog has been transferred to Crunchyroll, so users of the latter suddenly have access to more series such as Fruits Basket, Mars Red or Kaguya-sama; In total, there are 1,600 more hours of content, however, not all Funimation series will be available on Crunchyroll from Spain, due to licenses. The list of new available series has been published in the.
It’s also unclear if Crunchyroll will raise prices to compensate for the increased amount of content available. In Spain, the Crunchyroll subscription is available from 4.99 euros per month, with an option of 6.49 euros per month to access from four devices.
Facebook Comments
Disqus