Crunchyroll is in the news today and I’ll get to all of that. But first, a moment of silence. When I saw Crunchyroll in a headline flying through my RSS feed, I thought for sure it was the streaming service announcing that it had fixed its Smart TV app. Instead, it launched a new FAST channel and settled a class-action lawsuit.
Crunchyroll, owned by Sony, which bought it from AT&T and WarnerMedia, is one of the main ways to get anime legally and cheaply in the United States. It frequently airs shows at the exact same time they air in Japan, offers dubbed and subtitled versions of those shows, and has a massive library featuring what seems to be every major anime from the last 20 years.
But Crunchyroll is a service best used on your phone or web browser and only viewed on a TV via AirPlay or Chromecast. The app you’ll find on Apple TV, Roku, PS4, and PS5 is a painful alternative prone to glitches and bugs that make it nearly unusable. (The app is available on almost every other smart TV and set-top box available, and while I haven’t tried those versions, I haven’t heard anyone say anything glowing about them either.) I log out of the Apple TV app daily. When I do manage to log in, it rarely allows me to pick up a program where I left off. Instead, I usually have to search for the show and then scroll down to find the most recent episode.
Crunchyroll is a service best used on your phone
The exception is Birdie Wing: Girls Golf Story. I watched a single episode of the show and for some reason the app refuses to let me forget what I did. I swear I’ll watch it again someday, but the fact that the app can remember that I watched it but can’t show me the next episode of Spy Family X without me looking for it on my own it has discouraged me.
Things have gotten so bad that I’ve effectively stopped using the app on any of the devices connected to my TV. Instead, I open the app on my phone and play it via AirPlay on my TV. This usually works great, except when I compulsively open TikTok on my phone and the AirPlay connection drops.
This experience, which is unbearable at 10am on a Saturday when you just want to watch a little show while eating a late breakfast, is why I was so excited to see Crunchyroll pop up in my RSS feed today. But unfortunately, there is no information about a new, improved and functional app for Crunchyroll.
Instead, the company (which, again, is owned by Sony) announced that it will join GSN. to launch anime streaming channels for FAST TV services. Those services include Amazon Freevee, Roku Channel, LG Channels, and Vizio’s WatchFree Plus. Programs streaming at launch include PSYCHO-PASS and CLAMP Code Geass. The shows will initially air dubbed because the channel’s goal is to attract new viewers to the world of anime, according to Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini in a quote. Deadline.
The other big news from Crunchyroll this week is that parent company Sony has settled a class-action lawsuit. The complaint, how do you see it Engadget, claims that Sony may have shared Crunchyroll users’ individual viewing information with third-party sites without permission. If you were a subscriber between September 8, 2020 and September 20, 2023, you may be eligible to receive up to $30. You will need to submit your claim online here before December 12 to receive payment.
If you have access to my viewing history, no, I will not explain the presence of RWBY in that.
