Completion Of Funimation-Crunchyroll Merger Results In Over 100 Anime Titles Being Made Digitally Unavailable To Western Audiences Including ‘Astro Boy’, ‘Slayers’, And ‘Mobile Suit Gundam SEED’

By 
·April 23, 2024
The Strike Gundam awakens in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Episode 30 "Flashing Blades" (2003), Sunrise

The Strike Gundam awakens in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Episode 30 "Flashing Blades" (2003), Sunrise

In a result that will no doubt bolster the very anime piracy the newly-formed entity is seeking to combat, thanks to various licensing issues that arose during the acquisition process, the recent completion of the previously-announced Funimation-Crunchyroll merger has rendered a worrying amount of titles, all of which were previously hosted on the former platform, completely unavailable to streaming audiences.

Trunks (Takeshi Kusao) finds his Super Saiyan powers are still no match for the combined might of Androids 17 (Shigeru Nakahara) and 18 (Miki Ito) in Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks (2000), Toei Co. Ltd.

RELATED: Sony’s Funimation Completes $1.175 Billion USD Purchase of Crunchyroll From AT&T

As previously reported, in August 2021, the Sony-owned Funimation announced that not only had they acquired Crunchyroll for roughly $1.175 billion USD, but also that, as part of the deal, their own service and library of anime would eventually be folded into the latter in order to better streamline their offerings.

The Aegis Gundam charges forth in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Episode 30 “Flashing Blades” (2003), Sunrise

And while many fans had hoped they would still be able to legally access all of Funimation’s library following the merger, reality has since proven to be far more consumer-unfriendly, as following the initial confirmation that digital copies of Funimation titles would not be supported by Crunchyroll, it has now been discovered that several titles have been lost, or at least partially so, in the digital shuffle.

Per a list complied by one of the moderators of Crunchyroll Discord server and verified by Bounding Into Comics against the streaming database Just Watch, following the April 2nd completion of the merger, over 100 Funimation-licensed titles are now sitting in digital purgatory, unavailable to stream or purchase digitally anywhere online.

Source: Astro Boy Episode 12 “Damdam’s Neck” (1980), Tezuka Productions

These titles include:

Toma Kamijo and Accelerator in A Certain Magical Index Season 2 Episode 21″Learning Device (Testament)” (2011), J.C. Staff

RELATED: All Of Funimation, Wakanim, and VRV Content To Move To Crunchyroll

Masayoshi (Toshiki Masuda) searches for King Torture (Sho Hayumi) in Samurai Flamenco Season 1 Episode 10 “Final Battle at the Enemy Base!” (2013), Manglobe
Lina Inverse in Slayers Season 5 Episode 5 “RAIDER! A voice from the darkness!” (2009), J.C. Staff

Meanwhile, the following titles are no longer available to stream on the Funimation-Crunchyroll platform but can still be purchased from various digital stores:

Goku (Masako Nozawa) and Krillin (Mayumi Tanaka) undertake their Turtle School training in Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (1988), Toei Animation
Masamune Date (Kazuya Nakai) and Kojuro Katakura (Toshiyuki Morikawa) come to blows in Sengoku Basra: Samurai Kings Season 1 Episode 6 “Bonds Torn Asunder – Mortifying Retreat for Masamune!” (2009), Production I.G.
Yuichiro Hyakuya (Miyu Irino) gives Mikaela Hyakuya (Kensho Ono) a hug in Seraph of the End Season 2 Episode 10 “Yu and Mika” (2015), Wit Studio

NEXT: Former Funimation Script Writer Jamie Marchi Doubles Down On Her Infamous Anti-Patriarchy Localization Of ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid’: “This Is What Happens When A Script Is Dubbed Into A Different Language”

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