Crunchyroll Announces End Of Free Anime Simulcast Broadcasts As Sentai Filmworks Set To Pull Over 60 Series From Platform

Spencer Baculi |

Mar 27, 2022

Source: himouto! Umaru-chan Episode 1 "Umaru and Onii-chan" (2015), Doga Kobo

Hot off the heels of it’s official consolidation with Funimation with one of the most anti-consumer one-two-punches in recent memory, Crunchyroll has announced that not only will they be torpedoing their free, ad-supported simulcasts of anime in favor of an exclusively paid option, but also that over sixty Sentai Filmworks-licensed will be removed from their platform at the end of the month.

These upcoming changes to the recently acquired Sony subsidiary’s offerings were announced on March 24th beginning with a blog post published to the official Q&A resource, the Crunchyroll Database, wherein the company informed users, “For the Spring 2022 season and future seasonal releases, Crunchyroll will update our offering on simulcast titles by subscription tier. To view new and continuing simulcasts, a premium monthly or annual subscription will be required.”

“We will no longer be offering simulcast episodes one week after release as an ad-supported, free viewing option,” they added. “For continuing series, ad-supported viewing on any new episodes will not be available in line with the Spring season, however, previously published episodes are still available to all user types.”

However, the company then noted that this new rule would come with a handful of exceptions, as in promotion of each round of “new seasonal simulcasts, we will be offering initial episodes of select titles as part of a ‘seasonal sampler’ for free viewing for a limited time”.

According to Crunchyroll, the sampler for the Spring 2022 season will include:

Spy x Family
A Couple of Cuckoos
Dawn of the Witch
Tomodachi Game
Skeleton Knight in Another World
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie
The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody
Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

“The first three episodes of these Spring titles will be available for free, ad-supported viewing one week after their subscription-only premiere until 5/31,” Crunchyroll explained of their new sampler system. “After this date, all episodes within our seasonal sampler preview will require subscription.”

Further, in a separate blog post published that same day to the Crunchyroll front page proper, the streaming service revealed that over sixty titles would be “leaving Crunchyroll on March 31”.

These titles include:

Akame ga Kill!
Amagi Brilliant Park
Ano Natsu de Matteru
BanG Dream!
BanG Dream! Season 2
Beyond the Boundary
Black Bullet
BTOOOM!
Chivalry of a Failed Knight
Diabolik Lovers
DIABOLIK LOVERS Ⅱ: MORE,BLOOD
Familiar of Zero F
Flowers of Evil
Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
Food Wars! The Second Plate

GATE
GIRLS und PANZER
Golden Time
Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East (Season 1)
Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East (Season 2)
Haven’t You Heard I’m Sakamoto
HENNEKO – The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat –
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 2
Infinite Stratos
Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon

Is The Order A Rabbit?
Is the Order a Rabbit?? (Season 2)
Kids on the Slope
Kokoro Connect
Listen to Me, Girls, I’m Your Father!
Little Busters!
Little Busters! Refrain
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions – Heart Throb –
Majestic Prince

Medaka Box
MONSTER MUSUME EVERYDAY LIFE WITH MONSTER GIRLS
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
Motto Love Ru
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Too!
Mysterious Girlfriend X
No Game No Life
Non Non Biyori
Non Non Biyori Repeat (Season 2)
Outbreak Company
Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation

Say “I love you”
SCHOOL-LIVE!
Sunday Without God
Tanaka-kun is always listless
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou
To Love Ru
To Love Ru Darkness
To Love Ru Darkness 2
Ushio and Tora
Utawarerumono The False Faces
WATAMOTE ~No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys Fault I’m Not Popular!~
Wolf Girl and Black Prince
Young Black Jack

Though no official reason was given for the pulling of these particular titles, given that all those set to be removed are currently licensed for foreign distribution by Sentai Filmworks, it’s likely this move was done in order to bolster the library of the company’s own HiDive anime streaming service – itself now standing as arguably the only major competitor to Crunchyroll/Funimation

What do you make of these upcoming changes to Crunchyroll? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!

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