Crunchyroll and Funimation have now announced their merger, but how can anime fans around the world get the special 60-day free trial for Premium?
Crunchyroll and Funimation have both been at the pinnacle of the anime streaming industry for a significant amount of time; arguably causing as many arguments within the community as subbed vs dubbed.
However, there are some significant changes afoot within the anime streaming industry, with this week’s announcement confirming the merger of Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Alongside the news of the merger, a special 60-day free trial of Crunchyroll Premium was promoted; but how can users take advantage of this new offer?
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The basics of the merger
Last year, it was announced that Sony’s Funimation Group had acquired the Crunchyroll anime streaming platform, bringing both services under the same parent company.
This week, the two services announced that their libraries would be merging; with Funimation being absorbed by Crunchyroll, which will take the lead after April 1st.
From the start of the Spring anime broadcasting slate, all simulcast series will only be available on Crunchyroll, with the FAQ page noting that fans with subscriptions to both services should cancel their Funimation membership.
However, with so much news and information floating around the internet, it can be easy to lose track of the new offers available, including the special 60-day free trial.
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How to get the 60-day free trial
The good news is that those of us who have been paying subscribers to Funimation have an easy and cost-effective way to try out the new platform, i.e., Crunchyroll Premium.
According to the FAQ page for the merger, if you purchased a Funimation subscription package before February 28th, 2022, you are eligible for a special 60-day free trial of Crunchyroll Premium.
Qualified users will reportedly “receive an email by March 8th, 2022, with their own unique link to redeem this offer.”
However, if you purchased your subscription after February 28th, 2022, you will not be eligible for the free trial. Similarly, if you already have a Crunchyroll account, this offer will not apply to you.
Anime fans who do not possess a subscription to either platform can still take advantage of Crunchyroll’s standard 14-day free trial period.
Thankfully, the merger has not yet forced a price rise from Crunchyroll; who have maintained their normal pricing package for their three offered bundles:
- Standard Tier at £6.50 a month: No ads, unlimited access, one device at a time
- Fan Tier at £7.99 a month: No ads, unlimited access, four devices at a time and offline viewing
- Mega Fan Tier at £79.99 for a full year: No ads, unlimited access, four devices at a time, offline viewing at a 16% discount from the monthly-paying Fan Tier every 12 months.
Watch history and settings
Unfortunately, your personal watch history, queue and settings will not be directly transferred over from Funimation to Crunchyroll.
This means that users will lose access to their watch history and the titles currently within their specific anime queue.
The good news is that the tech team at Crunchyroll are already working on a solution to this.
Explaining on the FAQ page, whilst users should “continue to manage your accounts separately for now”, the team are “working hard to find a solution that will transfer your watch history.”
“Please note that you won’t see your Funimation digital copy, watch history or queue in Crunchyroll yet, but we’re working on it.” – Crunchyroll – Funimation FAQ.
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By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
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