Season 1 of both Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia have been removed from the anime streaming site Crunchyroll. This marks the end of a relationship between Funimation and Crunchyroll that has been in place since Attack on Titan began streaming on both platforms in 2013. My Hero Academia initially released exclusively on Funimation’s service in 2016, but began releasing on Crunchyroll in 2017.
The fallout between Funimation and Crunchyroll sparked the beginning of the end for the future of streaming options for subscribers. When the breakup was announced in November 2018 and subscribers learned that content sharing between the two platforms would end, not much changed right away. However, most of the effects were merely delayed until the Spring 2019 season. These removals are merely some of the initial effects of the break up. More clarifications on what will and will not remain on one another’s platforms are coming.
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According to Anime News Network, Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia have both been affected by content removals related to ongoing streaming rights talks between Funimation and Crunchyroll. When asked to comment on the disappearance of some of the most popular shows on the platform, Crunchyroll responded that it is currently “working through the rights for season 1 for both titles and will share any additional details soon.”
In addition to the first seasons of Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia, A Certain Magical Index and Overlord are also missing content from Crunchyroll's streaming platform. Overlord’s first season has been removed, while seasons 1 and 2 of A Certain Magical Index, as well as the series’ feature film, were removed from Crunchyroll late last year. For now, Funimation and Hulu are the only places where anime fans can find these series’ premiere seasons.
In preparation for some of the coming removals, Crunchyroll released an anime commercial pushing the tagline, “Stay Crunchy.” It’s a sign of the anime streaming wars currently raging between platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Funimation, Crunchyroll, and more. Expect to see traditional distributors pull more content for their own platforms as the competition heats up and the need for exclusive content intensifies.
The fate of the most recent seasons of the affected series remains up in the air. Will they shortly be disappearing? The future streaming options for the upcoming My Hero Academia Season 4 and the second half of Attack on Titan Season 3 have yet to be clarified as well, though it’s very possible that both big name franchises will soon be gone from Crunchyroll’s streaming archives for good, leaving anime fans to weigh the costs of even more streaming subscriptions.
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Source: Anime News Network, Crunchyroll