Since its inception, Crunchyroll has always given you the ability to watch anime for free. In fact, that was how the streaming service sold itself at the very beginning. Sure, you had to sit through some ads to do so, but for those of us who didn’t want to or couldn’t pay, the free ad-supported tier was always there as an option. It effectively allowed anime to spread far and wide, regardless of how much money you were willing or able to pay for the service. Alas, though, that same streaming service that allowed that to be possible is now shutting down the very thing that made it popular.

Crunchyroll is officially announcing that it will shut down all free ad-supported streaming of its anime. The shutdown will take place on December 31, 2025. Tellingly, they are keeping this announcement on the down-low. It has so far only appeared in some of the ads for those free ad-supported anime series, with the screenshots captured by MangaAlerts on Bluesky.

The only good news here is that there appears to be no other changes to the other tiers. We shall have to hope that it remains that way.

As for which Crunchyroll anime series will be affected by the shutdown? Well, MangaAlerts also has a partial list of those. You can check them out below:

Anime Affected by Free Ad-Supported Tier Shutdown

  • Beast Tamer
  • BLUELOCK
  • BOCCHI THE ROCK!
  • Bungo Stray Dogs
  • Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill
  • Chainsaw Man
  • Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
  • The Daily Life of the Immortal King
  • DON’T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO
  • Golden Kamuy
  • Lycoris Recoil
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury
  • My Dress-up Darling
  • Ranking of Kings
  • The Reincarnation Of The Strongest Exorcist In Another World
  • Soul Eater
  • SPY x FAMILY
  • VINLAND SAGA
  • Yona of the Dawn
Crunchyroll ad-supported ad screenshot by MangaAlerts
Welp, doesn’t look good for Crunchyroll here.

Honestly, it just looks like Crunchyroll is turning its back on the service that made it as popular as it is now. Without a free ad-supported tier, it’s just another money-grubbing streaming service. And for so little benefit to boot. Most people who have the capability to pay for an ad-free anime viewing experience are already doing so. Everyone else is literally unable to pay for that. Getting rid of the free option isn’t going to magically make free viewers upgrade to the paid tiers. It’s just going to make them gravitate to pirating anime because they can’t afford to pay for the paid tiers. Not won’t. Can’t. It’s amazing that someone high up in Crunchyroll doesn’t seem to understand that. Ah well, looks like we’ll be paying the price for those execs’ short-sightedness.

What do you all think? Are you also furious at Crunchyroll for getting rid of its free ad-supported tier? Tell us your angry anime thoughts in the comment section below.

Source: Bluesky

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