Streaming your favorite anime shows and movies is about to get more expensive. Crunchyroll announced today that it will be raising the price of its Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan subscription tiers.
It's the streaming platform's first price change since 2019 and will impact those living in Argentina, Colombia, France, Portugal, and the United States, along with select additional countries.
The Mega Fan Tier will increase from $9.99/month to $11.99/month. This ad-free, mid-tier plan provides access to Crunchyroll's entire library of anime plus new episodes shortly after they premiere in Japan. It allows for streaming on up to four devices at a time, offline viewing, and access to the Crunchyroll Game Vault.
The Ultimate Fan Tier, which is the highest-paid tier, will increase from $14.99/month to $15.99/month. This offers all the streaming benefits as the Mega Tier fan (with up to six devices as a time), plus some additional discounts and benefits when purchasing items from the Crunchyroll Store.
The Fan Tier will remain the same at $7.99/month. This basic streaming plan also offers ad-free viewing, but you can only stream on one device at a time. The ad-supported option also remains unchanged, still giving fans a free way to enjoy thousands of hours of anime.
Crunchyroll is one of the premier destinations for anime content, offering full seasons of anime, simulcasts, Crunchyroll Originals, and more. Unfortunately, the free-trial period is shifting to seven days of free viewing, down from the previous 14 days.
Prices for subscription services have been raised across the board. Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, and others have all raised their prices in recent months, in an effort to increase revenues as they focus on turning profits. We don't quite know Crunchyroll's revenue, but the service has been expanding its catalog for years.
"The price change reflects the increase in content on Crunchyroll in recent years, expanding its catalog to more than 45,000 episodes via 1,400 series and films," the service stated. "That means it would take nearly two years to watch everything on Crunchyroll!"
Crunchyroll just launched its Spring 2024 anime season, featuring more than 50 simulcast series. Some notable arrivals during the season include Kaiju No. 8, My Hero Academia Season 7 (debuting May 4th), That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3, Black Butler -Public School Arc-, and more.
The new pricing plans appear to already be live and since there's no yearly or multi-month option available, you should get hit with the increase during your next billing cycle.