Crunchyroll Free Account Updates for Spring 2022
From the Spring 2022 anime season, new weekly releases (also known as simulcasts) on Crunchyroll are no longer available to free subscribers. Previously, Crunchyroll allowed users to watch most anime on their platform for free, including the latest simulcasts with a week’s (or episode’s) delay. People with a free membership had to watch anime in lower quality and with periodic ads during the shows. Still, the free membership was a great way for people to watch one particular trending show without having to pay. However, this has now changed. With Crunchyroll and Funimation becoming one streaming service, it was widely believed that they might look to take a similar approach to competitors such as Netflix, where titles can only be watched with a subscription.
Is Crunchyroll Not Free Anymore?
As of right now, the vast majority of anime on Crunchyroll is still available for free with ads. However, this could change in the future. Crunchyroll has clarified that ad-supported free memberships will remain for older anime titles and that more titles will be added for free viewing in future. For now, it is planning on “stopping the automatic free availability of all simulcast content”. This means that if you want to watch the latest anime on Crunchyroll, you’ll likely need a paid membership. Importantly, though, Crunchyroll has not confirmed when exactly simulcasts will be made available for those on a free account. At the time of writing, Spring 2022 series such as Spy x Family and Kaguya-sama: Love is War are still unavailable for free members, despite both series ending many weeks ago.
Will Crunchyroll Remain Free?
There is nothing to suggest that Crunchyroll is removing free memberships soon. However, what’s available for free will likely be reduced going forward, which could lead to free memberships being removed. Given Crunchyroll’s dominance over the anime streaming market following its merger with Funimation, it wouldn’t be surprising if they look at a new subscription model that is more in line with other streaming services. Competitors like Netflix, Disney Plus and HIDIVE all only offer paid options, so such a move would make sense from a business point of view. Recently, Crunchyroll announced that it was reducing the cost of its monthly subscription in over 100 countries, with some being reduced by over 50%. This change could be a sign of the increased competitiveness of streaming platforms forcing Crunchyroll to offer cheaper options. Or, it could be looked at cynically as one step towards a Netflix-style subscription-only model. However, it might not be as simple for Crunchyroll to become paid only. Crunchyroll has a huge number of free members, the majority of which later become subscribers, so they may wish to keep this revenue stream open. There is also a huge issue with piracy in anime, and Crunchyroll continuing to offer some free series might be seen by the industry as an important part of efforts to combat the issue. For now, you can rest assured that lots of anime on Crunchyroll remain free. If you are interested in exploring your other options, see where you can watch anime legally for free.
