Funimation, the American OTT streaming service hub for anime and other entertainment content, is about to bid adieu. Launched in 2016, following its initial partnership with Toei Animation, Funimation is now permanently shutting down. Fortunately, though the app and website services are terminating, Funimation merged with Crunchyroll in March 2022. This merger is a guarantee to the audiences that they will continue to have a seamless experience while streaming anime.
Officially speaking, Funimation will cease to exist as a streaming platform from April 2, 2024. According to the streaming service, they took this decision with the intent to give the best experience to the viewers and to give them access to one large anime library. Hence, merging with Crunchyroll is Funimation’s best step forward to achieve this goal.
Funimation Crunchyroll merger explained
Addressing the chaos, Funimation writes, “As part of Crunchyroll’s unification of fan services announced in March 2022, the Funimation app and website will sunset on April 2, 2024.”
It goes on to reassure its users by stating, “Rest assured, this transition will not impact your access to the vast library of anime available on Crunchyroll. We remain committed to delivering the best anime streaming experience and will continue to expand our offerings to cater to your diverse interests!”
Funimation, in December 2023, announced that the feature to download and watch content offline would be halted. Moreover, the platform has been urging its customer base to migrate to Crunchyroll. With this, the users’ subscription will transfer to Crunchyroll, along with their Watch History.
That said, Funimation has not yet addressed the issue of refunds. Additionally, due to the difference in libraries between Funimation and Crunchyroll, fans cannot expect that all content will be transferred to Crunchyroll.
Though the news of Funimation’s shutting down is unfortunate for loyal Funimation customers, its decision to merge with Crunchyroll promises that fans can continue to have the best streaming experience.
