Culture news Crunchyroll increases its prices! One of the benchmark streaming platforms for anime explains why
Crunchyroll is, without a doubt, one of the essential platforms in France for those wishing to watch current Japanese animation series. It offers a subscription system allowing you to enjoy this content without advertisements barely an hour after their broadcast in Japan. She has just increased her prices.
Crunchyroll: an essential platform for fans of Japanese anime
If Japanese animated series and films have been broadcast in our homes for almost half a century, the genre seems to be experiencing an increase in popularity in France. A phenomenon that can be explained by the proliferation of high-quality content. The health crisis, which occurred between 2020 and 2022, has probably caused greater consumption of these products, succeeding in attracting a new audience. Reference platforms on the fingers of the hand: Netflix, ADN and Crunchyroll make up the top three in France.
If Netflix stands out for the quality of its original productions in the field (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Pluto or even Castlevania), Crunchyroll is probably the platform of choice for those looking for regular new releases. They are available one hour after their broadcast in Japan, sometimes accompanied by their French version. Arguments which justify the subscription of several fans of the genre… until the announcement of the price increase.
“Two years to watch everything”
On May 1, the Crunchyroll platform announced the increase in subscription prices for third-party Fan and Mega Fan: subscriptions which roughly allow you to enjoy the Crunchyroll catalog without advertisements one hour after their broadcast in Japan. Revisited tariffs which affect Colombia, Portugal, Argentina, the United States but also France.
- Fan Subscription : goes from €4.99 to €5.99 for the monthly plan / €39.99 to €59.99 for the annual plan
- Mega-Fan Subscription : goes from €6.49 to €7.99 for the monthly plan / €64.99 to €79.99 for the annual plan.
Beyond the price increase, the trial period is also being revised: it goes from 14 days to 7 days. Something that Crunchyroll justifies as follows:
The price increase reflects the increase in content on the platform in recent years, expanding its catalog with more than 45,000 episodes across 1,400 series and films. That means it would take almost two years to watch everything on Crunchyroll. Big news includes the recent Spring 2024 anime season with more than 50 simulcast series (up to doubling from the previous half of 20-25 series per season) and the arrival of clips and concerts thanks to the partnership between Crunchyroll and Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
A decision that doesn’t work for everyone. Among the comments linked to the announcement on the official website, we can read that the increase is not justifiable just by the increase in content. Several Internet users point out the malfunctions concerning certain dubbings, the announcement of May 1 effective…from May 1 or the still unfulfilled promise to repatriate the titles formerly available on Wakanim following the merger orchestrated by Sony.
