Anime streaming service Funimation is officially dead

North American anime watchers headed to Funimation over the last three decades to watch hit anime titles, but that’s no longer the case.

Funimation has officially shut down, as the streaming platform has merged with Crunchyroll. Most animes from Funimation have already been transferred over to Crunchyroll, with more coming in the future.

If you go to Funimation’s website, it automatically directs you to Crunchyroll. The Funimation app no longer appears in the App store or Play Store. I also tried logging into the Funimation app on my PS5 and was met with a ‘it’s time to head over to Crunchyroll’ prompt.

According to Crunchyroll, those with a Funimation account subscription are automatically transferred to a Crunchyroll subscription. Payments will reflect those of a Crunchyroll account upon the next billing cycle.

Unfortunately, digital copies of animes purchased on Funimation won’t be transferred to Crunchyroll, including titles purchased by redeeming DVD or Blu-ray codes. However, the president of Crunchyroll, Rahul Pruni, told The Verge that Funimation subscribers who had digital copies are entitled to cheaper subscriptions on Crunchyroll or can get access to the same show through Crunchyroll’s streaming service.

Sony acquired Funimation in 2017 before purchasing Crunchrolly in 2021. The company announced plans to merge the two sites in 2022, and titles from Funimation started moving to Crunchyroll.

For Sony, it made sense to merge two popular anime streaming services into one. Many streaming platforms have been doing the same, as Disney Plus and Hulu recently merged.

Crunchyroll subscriptions in Canada cost $9.99/mo for the fan package, while mega-fan costs $12.49/mo.

Update 04/04/2024 at 1:28pm ET: Adjusted the subheading to clarify that not all Funimation anime is moving to Crunchyroll.

Image credit: Funimation

Source: Crunchyroll