Launched in mid-2006,[3] the service has over 120million registered users worldwide.[4] Crunchyroll was previously a subsidiary ofOtter Media, itself a subsidiary ofAT&T'sWarnerMedia, and from 2016 to 2018, the service partnered withFunimation, which Sony acquired in 2017 and would eventually merge into its brand in 2022 after Sony acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T in 2021.
Crunchyroll offers over 1,000 anime series,[5] more than 200 East Asian dramas in over 18 languages, and formerly offered around 80 manga titles through itsCrunchyroll Manga, anthology, although the number of available shows varies by country due to licensing restrictions. Crunchyroll passed one million paid subscribers in February 2017,[5][7] and has over 17million paid subscribers as of 2025[update].[2]
Crunchyroll was first launched in 2006 and was initially a pirate site that specialized in hosting East Asian content. Some of the content hosted on Crunchyroll included versions of East Asian shows that had beensubtitled by fans.[8]
In 2008, Crunchyroll secured a capital investment of $4.05 million from theventure capital firmVenrock.[9] The investment drew criticism from anime distributors and licensorsBandai Entertainment andFunimation as the site continued to allow users to upload unlicensed copies of copyrighted titles.[10]
Logo used from 2012 to 2018. The logo was simplified while the eye symbol was introduced, replacing the sushi symbol.
Crunchyroll eventually began securing legal distribution agreements with companies, includingGonzo, for a growing list of titles. On January 8, 2009, after announcing a deal withTV Tokyo to host episodes ofNaruto Shippuden, Crunchyroll stated that it was committed to removing all copyright-infringing material from its site and to only hosting content to which it had legitimate distribution rights.[11]
On December 2, 2013,The Chernin Group (the holding company of formerNews Corp. presidentPeter Chernin) announced that it had acquired acontrolling interest in Crunchyroll for a reported $100 million.[14] The Chernin Group said that Crunchyroll management and existing investor TV Tokyo would maintain a "significant" stake in the company.[15][16]
On April 22, 2014, AT&T and The Chernin Group announced the formation of a joint venture to acquire, invest in, and launchover-the-top (OTT) video services. Both companies committed over $500 million in funding to the venture.[17] The new company was named Otter Media and became the majority owner of Crunchyroll.[18] On August 3, 2015,Variety reported that Otter Media would unveil Ellation, a new umbrella company for its subscription-based video services, including Crunchyroll.[19] Ellation's services includedVRV, which debuted in 2016, a video streaming platform described as targeting "geeks, gamers and lovers of comedy, fantasy and technology."[20]
On October 22, 2015,Anime News Network reported that Crunchyroll had achieved 700,000 paying subscribers. In addition, the company announced that Crunchyroll andSumitomo Corporation had created a joint venture to produce and invest in anime productions.[21]
On April 11, 2016, Crunchyroll andKadokawa Corporation announced the formation of a strategic alliance that gave Crunchyroll exclusive worldwide digital distribution rights (excluding Asia) for Kadokawa anime titles in the upcoming year. It also granted Crunchyroll the right to co-finance Kadokawa anime titles to be produced in the future.[22]
On July 1, 2016, Crunchyroll announced plans to dub and release a number of series on home video.[23] On September 8, 2016, Crunchyroll announced a partnership withFunimation. Crunchyroll would stream select Funimation titles, while Funimation would stream select Crunchyroll titles as well as their upcoming dubbed content. In addition, Funimation would act as the distributor for Crunchyroll's home video catalog.[24]
On February 9, 2017, Crunchyroll announced that it had reached one million paid subscribers.[5][7] On March 22, 2017, Kun Gao took over as representative director of its Japanese branch, succeeding Vincent Shortino.[25] On March 30, 2017, Crunchyroll began to distribute anime throughSteam.[26][27] On November 4, 2017, a group of hackers managed tohijack the official site for almost six hours. Users were redirected to a fake lookalike site that prompted them to download ransomware under the guise of "CrunchyViewer". Crunchyroll filed afirst information report against the hackers.[28] On July 18, 2017, Crunchyroll began collaborating with the video-streaming platformTwitch.[29]
AT&T/WarnerMedia ownership and internal productions
Logo used from 2018 to 2024. The text color was changed from gray to orange to match the symbol color while the shade of orange was made slightly darker.
In January 2018,Otter Media bought the remaining shares (20%) of Crunchyroll from TV Tokyo and other investors.[30] In August 2018, AT&T acquired the remainder of Otter Media that it did not already own from The Chernin Group; the company and Crunchyroll were thus folded underWarnerMedia (formerly Time Warner, which AT&T had also recently acquired).[31] In August 2018, the service announced an expansion into original content with the anime-inspired seriesHigh Guardian Spice, produced byEllation Studios.[32] On October 18, 2018, Funimation announced that their partnership with Crunchyroll ended as a result ofSony Pictures Television's acquisition of Funimation and AT&T's acquisition of Crunchyroll's parent company, Otter Media.[33]
On March 4, 2019, it was announced that Otter Media would be placed underWarner Bros. as part of their reorganization efforts. As a result of said reorganization, the company and Crunchyroll became corporate sisters to the American cable channelCartoon Network and its nighttime programming blockAdult Swim, which broadcast anime under theToonami brand.[34] Due to a subsequent reorganization, Crunchyroll was moved under WarnerMedia Entertainment, owner of networks such asTBS andTNT, in May 2019 so that its COO could oversee the launch of the original incarnation ofHBO Max from the brand.[35]
On July 3, 2019, Crunchyroll announced that they had partnered withViz Media to distribute select Crunchyroll-licensed titles on home video and electronic sell-through in the United States and Canada.[36] On July 20, 2019, independent Australian production companyGlitch Productions announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to produce theirYouTube original series,Meta Runner.[37] On September 6, 2019, Crunchyroll announced that they had become the majority investor inViz Media Europe.[38] Crunchyroll solidified this deal on December 4, 2019, becoming the majority owners of Viz Media Europe Group and appointing former Viz Media Europe president John Easum as Head.[39] It was later rebranded asCrunchyroll EMEA, with former Viz Media Europe brands becoming Crunchyroll brands.[40][41]
On October 15, 2019, it was announced thatNaver Corporation'swebtoon publishing portal,WEBTOON, was partnering with Crunchyroll to produce animated adaptations of its series.[42] On February 25, 2020, Crunchyroll announced a slate of several programs under their new "Crunchyroll Originals" brand, including anime adaptations of the webtoonsTower of God,The God of High School, andNoblesse.[43]
On August 12, 2020,The Information reported thatSony Pictures Entertainment, Funimation's parent company, was in talks to acquire Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia forUS$1.5 billion.[45] According toVariety, the amount was decreased toUS$1 billion.[46] Later in October 2020, it was reported that Sony was in its final talks with AT&T to acquire the streaming service for more than¥100 billion (2020) (US$936.55 million).[47] On December 9, 2020, Funimation and its ownerSony announced that they had reached a deal with AT&T and WarnerMedia to acquire Crunchyroll for aroundUS$1.175 billion. The acquisition was considered to be a major consolidation of global anime distribution rights outside of East Asia.[48][49] However, on March 24, 2021, it was reported that theUnited States Department of Justice had extended its antitrust review of the acquisition.[50]
On August 9, 2021, Sony announced that it had completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll. Following the acquisition, Sony stated that they wanted to create a unified anime subscription experience using their existing anime businesses as soon as possible.[51] Crunchyroll confirmed four days later thatVRV was included in the acquisition.[52] On September 23, 2021, Crunchyroll announced that they had entered into a partnership deal withFuji TV for anime content development and production. The partners planned to start work on the new slate in April 2022 with anime-focused developer and producer Slow Curve.[53][54]
On March 1, 2022, it was announced that the Funimation,Wakanim, and VRV SVOD services would be consolidated into Crunchyroll. Additionally, Funimation Global Group, LLC, would be renamed and merged into Crunchyroll, LLC, with the Funimation brand currently in the process of being phased out in favor of Crunchyroll.[55][56] On that same day, March 13, Crunchyroll would start adding new anime titles, including Hindi or Indian English subs and dubs for India.[57][58][59] In the wake of theRussian military invasion of Ukraine, Crunchyroll and Wakanim announced that they would suspend their services in Russia as of March 11.[60] Its parent company, Sony, donated $2 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.[61]
On March 24, Crunchyroll announced that starting with the Spring 2022 season, a subscription would be required to watch new and continued simulcasts, with older titles featured on the site prior to this season remaining free to watch. It was also announced that the first three episodes of select titles would be free a week after their premiere until May 31.[62][63]
On April 5, the company announced that Funimation'sYouTube channel had been rebranded asCrunchyroll Dubs and that it would serve as Crunchyroll's channel for English-dubbed content, while English-subtitled content would continue to be uploaded on theirCrunchyroll Collection channel.[64] The company also stated that they would release an English-dubbed first episode of an anime series every Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET on the Crunchyroll Dubs YouTube channel, starting withRe:Zero − Starting Life in Another World on April 9. Three days later, Crunchyroll announced that the Funimation Shop would be moved to the Crunchyroll Store.[65] On November 2, Crunchyroll collaborated with the instant messaging social platformDiscord. The integration allows Crunchyroll users to link their accounts and display the movie or show they are currently watching on their Discord profile.[66]
On March 1, 2023, it was reported Crunchyroll received a dedicated button on new Sony Bravia TVs remotes.[67] A couple days later, Crunchyroll launched a feature where users with subscriptions could watch J-pop and anime music videos and live concerts on the site. It primarily features artists fromSony Music Japan.[68]
On May 15, Crunchyroll partnered with the language learning appDuolingo to help users learn Japanese via anime.[69]
On October 6, Senior Vice President of global creative marketing Markus Gerdemann stated that some of Crunchyroll's fastest-growing markets outside the United States wereBrazil,France,Germany andMexico, and over 800 million people were interested in anime worldwide.[70]
On February 16, 2024, Crunchyroll launched its official weeklypodcastCrunchyroll Presents:The Anime Effect on all majoraudio streaming platforms made to discuss anime and its impact on worldwide popular culture.[71] Throughout February 2024, Crunchyroll launched its application forLG andSamsungsmart TVs globally.[72]
In February 2024, Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini said that relying onartificial intelligence to produce subtitles faster was "definitely an area where we are focused on". He said, "Right now, one of the areas we are very focused on testing is our subtitling andclosed captioning, where we go fromspeech to text and how do we improve and optimize our processes where we can get the subtitles done in various languages across the world faster so that we can launch as close to the Japanese release as possible".[73]
On July 8, Crunchyroll removed the comment section across all platforms, stating that it was done to "reduce harmful content", presumably in response to backlash from users being againstTwilight Out of Focus.[74][75] The following day, Crunchyroll announced that its store would be available across 34 European countries.[76] In mid-July, Crunchyroll unveiled a new brand identity, among them a new logo and new graphics, which took effect one week later atSan Diego Comic-Con 2024.[77] The new logo uses a slightly adjusted eye symbol while the wordmark was rendered in a new typeface.[78]
On August 15, Crunchyroll began rolling out the campaign on Crunchyroll official launch in Indonesia, complete with local subs and dubs in most of the newly-added titles for the Southeast Asian regions including Indonesia.[79] On August 19, Crunchyroll collaborated with the music-audio streaming serviceSpotify by launching its themed and curated playlists within the Spotify's Anime Hub.[80]
On January 7, 2025, Crunchyroll announced duringSony Group Corporation's CES 2025 press conference that a new digitalmanga application would join the service as a premium add-on, launched on October 9, 2025. The app launched as a standalone, calledCrunchyroll Manga, on iOS and Android with web browser support planned for the future. Crunchyroll Manga first launched in English in the United States and Canada, with other language options planned.[81][82]
In April 2025, Purini toldForbes that Crunchyroll was "not considering AI in the creative process, including our voice actors."[83][84]
In October 2025, Crunchyroll announced that it had partnered withDelta Airlines to bring its catalog into Delta Airlines'in-flight entertainment system starting in November.[85] It then announced a global collaboration withHoYoverse for an exclusiveHonkai: Star Rail collab, which began on November 6 to coincide with the game's Version 3.7 update. During the collaboration, theHoYoFair program's Honkai: Star Rail "Chimerric Park" event streamed exclusively on Crunchyroll as part of the collaboration.[86][87]
On February 25, 2020, Crunchyroll initially announced seven series under its Crunchyroll Originals label.[88] These are anime or other animated series that are either co-produced or directly produced by the company. While Crunchyroll has co-produced other anime titles, this list only includes those that Crunchyroll themselves officially place under the label. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the brand was quietly discontinued alongside the closure of the in-house production studios.[89][90]
Series released under the "Crunchyroll Originals" label included:
The Crunchyroll Anime Awards are annual awards given to anime from the previous year. The awards were first held in January 2017. Crunchyroll selects twenty judges from diverse backgrounds, who then create a list of six nominees within each category. This list is then made available to the public, who votes online to choose the winners.[102]
Crunchyroll has been generally well-received as a streaming service dedicated to anime.IGN highlighted its simulcast streams of new shows as they air in Japan.[110] WhilePCMag was impressed by the selection of shows available, their reviewers felt that theuser interface was too cluttered.[111]
Crunchyroll Originals have been less well-received. Callum May ofAnime News Network outlined the production issues that Originals have faced, both for internal productions and U.S.-Japan co-productions.[89]
Crunchyroll has been accused ofunion busting and other anti-union practices in its English dubbing work.[112] After shifting to at-home recording during theCOVID-19 pandemic, Crunchyroll announced a return to studio recording in May 2022.[113] Following this shift, Crunchyroll began to primarily hire Texas-based actors to use their Texas studio. Since Texas is aright-to-work state, the Coalition of Dubbing Actors (CODA) alleged that this policy shift was an attempt to thwart union organization among dubbing actors and encouraged them to pressure Crunchyroll to sign a union contract withSAG-AFTRA.[113] In September 2022, Crunchyroll firedKyle McCarley from his role as the protagonist ofMob Psycho 100. McCarley, who is a member of SAG-AFTRA, had offered to work on a non-union contract for the third season, on the condition that Crunchyroll meet with SAG-AFTRA representatives to discuss potential future contracts but Crunchyroll refused.[114] In June 2023, Crunchyroll unlawfully forbade the developers of theTower of God: New World mobile game to cast the voice actors from the anime because the game production was covered by a union contract.[115]
Since theSony acquisition, theUnited States Department of Justice reviewed Sony's plan to combineFunimation and Crunchyroll into one service as a possibleantitrust case.[116] The Coalition of Dubbing Actors called the merged company a "chokepoint of power" in the dubbing industry.[113]Comic Book Resources called the merger a monopoly and observed that it resulted in increased prices for existing Funimation customers, despite being available in fewer countries.[117] In February 2024, Crunchyroll announced that it would not be honoring Funimation customers' digital purchases of anime, leading to a backlash.[118]
In October 2024, Crunchyroll was accused ofmail theft by voice actorDavid Wald. According to Wald, for five years the company received fan mail meant for him and gave the items to staff instead.[119] Crunchyroll stated that they did not intentionally open mail intended to others and were investigating the situation.[120] A couple of weeks later, Wald announced he left his role as the English voice of Gajeel Redfox inFairy Tail and he would not return to Crunchyroll's studio following the accusation.[121]
In July 2025, Crunchyroll faced controversy when the company allegedly usedgenerative artificial intelligence for some of its subtitles, withThe Verge andEngadget highlighting the German and English subtitles forNecronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show. Company president Rahul Purini previously denied using artificial intelligence in its translations.[122][123] A spokesperson for Crunchyroll later blamed a third-party vendor, acknowledging that the subtitles were AI generated.[123] The company faced further backlash in October 2025 when their subtitles for the Fall 2025 anime season were either missing or featured different fonts among other issues.[124]
^Toonkel, Jessica; Dotan, Tom (August 12, 2020)."AT&T Wants $1.5 Billion in Crunchyroll Sale to Sony".The Information.Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. RetrievedAugust 12, 2020.AT&T is in discussions to sell WarnerMedia's Crunchyroll Japanese anime-streaming service to Sony, according to three people familiar with the situation. If the two sides could reach a deal—which is far from certain—it would strengthen Sony's position in the niche market, as it already owns a rival anime service called Funimation. But there's a sticking point in the potential deal: price. AT&T is asking $1.5 billion, an amount that Sony has balked at, the people said.
Over 120 million
