Funimation is shutting down — and taking your digital library with it - In which the anime fandom learns to own nothing and be happy

  • 🐕 I am attempting to get the site runnning as fast as possible. If you are experiencing slow page load times, please report it.
Crunchyroll is shutting down Funimation for good on April 2, 2024. Former Funimation users will not be able to access digital copies previously purchased through that service. Also, legacy subscription prices will increase, nearly by double in many cases ($54.95 to $99.99 annually).

Original | archive

Funimation is shutting down — and taking your digital library with it​

Funimation is migrating existing subscribers to Crunchyroll when it shuts down in April.​

By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
Feb 8, 2024, 4:03 PM UTC

Funimation is shutting down on April 2nd, 2024. The anime streaming service will start migrating existing subscribers to Crunchyroll — a move that will not only affect subscription prices, but will also wipe digital libraries.
A support page on Funimation’s website says the service will automatically transfer existing subscribers to Crunchyroll, noting that the transfer “may vary depending on your specific payment platform, subscription type and region.” But the page — unhelpfully — doesn’t say how much subscribers will have to pay following the transition, only that legacy subscribers will see a price increase. You’ll have to check your email to see how much you’ll have to pay.

Since I’m a legacy subscriber, my price is going up. Instead of paying $5.99 per month for the Funimation Premium Plus plan I was grandfathered into, I’ll have to pay $9.99 per month for Crunchyroll’s Mega Fan plan. (For some reason, my email lists my new price as $12.49 Canadian, which is how much Canadian users have to pay for the Mega Fan plan.)

I’m not the only one getting a price increase, either. In a post on X, one user says they’ll see their yearly subscription price go from $54.95 to $99.99. However, the user notes that they were also grandfathered into an older Funimation plan, which is why the price hike is so steep. Another user on the same legacy plan as me will also see the same jump from $5.99 to $9.99 per month. We’ve reached out to Crunchyroll for more clarification about the new prices Funimation subscribers will have to pay but didn’t immediately hear back.

To make matters worse, Crunchyroll won’t support the digital copies redeemed through Funimation. This promotion allowed users to redeem digital copies of a Funimation Blu-ray or DVD they purchased, giving them the ability them to store and view the show or movie through the streaming service. Funimation said users could keep the copies “forever” — but that’s clearly not the case now.

According to Funimation’s support page, Crunchyroll “does not currently support Funimation Digital copies, which means that access to previously available digital copies will not be supported.” In other words, all those digital copies are going away, too, which is a massive bummer for anyone who purchased — and later sold — eligible DVDs or Blu-rays, hoping to store the digital copies on Funimation forever.
The writing has been on the wall for Funimation for quite some time. When Sony acquired Crunchyroll in 2021, it made plans to combine Crunchyroll and Funimation into a single streaming service. After that, Crunchyroll inherited a huge library of content from Funimation — but Funimation remained online, while still adding episodes of continuing series. We didn’t know when Funimation was going to shut down until now.

If you’re interested in transferring to a Crunchyroll subscription, there are instructions on the support page about how to transfer your watch history and queue. As for myself, I’m likely going to cancel my subscription. The only reason why I kept Funimation was because I’m on a legacy $5.99 per month plan — making it the cheapest ad-free streaming service I have amid rising prices across the entire industry. Sure, Funimation’s playback controls and UI aren’t all that great, but I’ll miss using the app to get my fill of nostalgia from Dragon Ball Z or to catch up with new episodes of My Hero Academia.
 
Unless the subtitles are hardsubbed on to the Jap language version, it is still possible to ripped the raw version from the DVD. As this have been an issue ever since U.S. anime and "other" companies first started doing anime DVDs.
That's what I'm saying. Sentai subs are either on or off. There isn't a middle option. Not to mention ripping from blu ray isn't nearly as easy as DVD.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Vyse Inglebard
That's what I'm saying. Sentai subs are either on or off. There isn't a middle option.
That is the whole point of that particular "ripping" is to get that midde option of no sub Jap track. Since Sentai DVDs not having a raw option is "same shit, different company, different decade" that have been around from the very beginning of DVDs.
 
That is the whole point of that particular "ripping" is to get that midde option of no sub Jap track. Since Sentai DVDs not having a raw option is "same shit, different company, different decade" that have been around from the very beginning of DVDs.
You don't seem to get it. They sell Blu ray. Not DVD. Ripping from DVD is far more simple because it's old. Not to mention the average Nip is tech inept.
 
The 'current year' version of "it doesn't make economic sense" is basically "you can't expect them to port/sell uncensored versions guys.. that would mean they are available.. i..errr... be a lot of.... um... work.... ahhh... LOL I can't believe anyone would actually care about this! hahahahehe...>_>....."
 
  • Feels
Reactions: Vyse Inglebard
I thought Funimation was a streaming service just like Crunchyroll so I'm mostly shocked and confused to learn you had the option of purchasing anything on there.
 
Ghost stories was never meant to be funny. Shin Chan was. Shin Chan was dubbed in Spain and is extremely popular. It's also been dubbed into various languages here and is known as a heart warming cheeky treat. Funimation just turned it into bad shitposting neglecting the context snd history of the show. A show that started at the same time as Sailor Moon and is still going. If they can advertise AIDS commercials during kid's programming featuring fags and troons in the US and put drag queens on Nick Jr, they can handle a stupid kid, who shows his cartoon ass off all the time. They also had the license for the show for 14 years and did shit with it.
It wasn't uncommon for mooning to be in American children's cartoons around the time that dub aired.
 
I watched most of My Hero Academia on Crunchyroll back in 2017, when the only caveat was really ads (which were defeated by an adblocker) and being a week late.

There were a few reasons why I left Crunchyroll for good but it's unfathomable how customer loyalty is not paid back with discounts and perks, but another round at gang rape.
When companies get so big they no longer have to worry about the average consumer because they're getting pumped with artificial money that it's collapsing the economy. Crunchyroll bought Funimation and people's libraries got creamed by Crunchyroll who instead of losing money pre 2017 got pumped with so much dark esg money and diversity hires I'm surprised it's still around.
 
Back