Funimation recently announced that it will be closing its doors for good on April 2, 2024. This move has been a long time in the making, but it’s not great news for consumers. Let’s review the details of the shutdown and what this means for Funimation subscribers.
Funimation is closing on April 2
In days of yore, anime fans had the freedom to choose their favorite streaming platform: Crunchyroll or Funimation. But then Sony bought Funimation in 2017 and Crunchyroll in 2021, eliminating most of the competition in the dedicated anime streaming space. Both platforms existed in a weird limbo … until now.
Funimation subscribers have until April 2 to watch their favorite anime on the purple app. After that, all remaining Funimation accounts will be automatically converted to Crunchyroll accounts, and Premium accounts will be charged according to Crunchyroll’s pricing structure.
Crunchyroll offers four subscription tiers
Funimation subscribers will be able to log into their newly created Crunchyroll account with their original Funimation credentials, and will be charged a new price to their original payment method.
Say goodbye to Funimation digital copies
Unfortunately, while Crunchyroll is in the process of rolling Funimation’s library into its own, it won’t honor any Funimation digital copies. Funimation DVDs and Blu-Rays used to come with digital codes, entitling purchasers to a free digital copy of the physical movie they’d purchased.
Hopefully, you hung onto those physical copies, because the digital ones are going away. If you previously purchased a Funimation DVD/Blu-Ray (which you’ll be able to identify by the purple sticker on the case), you have until April 2 to watch them online. After the migration, you won’t be able to redeem any existing codes, and you won’t be able to access any previously redeemed titles.
This is a really disappointing decision and has already lost Crunchyroll a lot of goodwill from anime fans. Funimation digital copies weren’t just a nice perk for subscribers; non-subscribers could redeem them too, as long as they bought a physical copy with a Funimation code. We’re sad to see them go.
Next steps for Funimation subscribers
If you’re currently a Funimation subscriber, your account will be converted to a Crunchyroll account automatically. However, you still might have to take action, so we’re here to walk you through it. Let’s go over your options for a few possible situations:
I’m new to Crunchyroll, and I want to transfer my watch history and queue from Funimation to Crunchyroll.
Good news—this is happening automatically. You’ll be able to log into Crunchyroll with your Funimation username and password, and your watchlist and history should be there waiting for you.
Unfortunately, Crunchyroll will not preserve any digital copies (redeemed from DVD and Blu-ray codes) associated with your account.
I want to combine my Funimation account with a pre-existing Crunchyroll account.
You will automatically be able to log into Crunchyroll with your existing Funimation credentials. If your Funimation account and Crunchyroll account are associated with the same email address, you’ll be able to merge them.
Upon login, select “Combine Crunchyroll and Funimation data” and click continue. You will also have the option to replace your Crunchyroll data with Funimation data, or delete your Funimation data entirely.
If you had a Premium Funimation subscription and a free Crunchyroll subscription, your Crunchyroll account will be upgraded to Premium, and you’ll be charged accordingly.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to merge accounts from two separate email addresses. Funimation recommends contacting Crunchyroll’s support team for next steps.
I don’t want to pay for Crunchyroll.
If you were a premium Funimation subscriber and don’t want to become a premium Crunchyroll subscriber, you’ll have to cancel your Funimation subscription. Act quickly, because the deadline to opt-out of the Crunchyroll merger is April 2, 2024.
After April 2, you’ll be charged according to Crunchyroll’s pricing structure, and will have to cancel through your newly created or merged Crunchyroll account.
Is any of this good news for Funimation subscribers?
There’s very little to be happy about here—Crunchyroll has a near-monopoly on the anime streaming market, and it’s far from a perfect service. The biggest bummer is the loss of digital copies, but there’s also another downside to Funimation’s demise.
Our biggest gripe with Crunchyroll has long been its treatment of subs and dubs—mainly, that you can’t combine them. There are no captions on dubbed anime. So if you want the often less literal, more natural translation of a dub, but still need captions for accessibility reasons, you’re out of luck.
Funimation didn’t have this same problem; it was a really nice place to watch dubbed anime. When Crunchyroll began siphoning off Funimation’s catalog, it took all of its dubs but didn’t adopt the same accessibility features that made Funimation nice to use.
The only positive about this move is it finally ends the confusion that came from keeping both services up and running. Even though Funimation has theoretically still been operating the past few years, it’s a shell of its former self. It stopped carrying any new simulcasts a few seasons ago, and no longer accepts new subscribers.
So it’s possible you already made the switch, and this official death date means very little to you—unless you were still counting on that library of digital content, that is.
Olivia Bono loves entertainment, and she’s never going to shut up about it. Here at CableTV.com, you’ll find her writing about the wild world of streaming. Her specialty is animation—you can find much of her work at our anime hub page. Olivia previously wrote for the Cornell Daily Sun, where in addition to television, she reviewed movies, albums, and video games. Outside of work, she loves to listen to audiobooks, make art, and spend time outdoors.
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