Earthquake on the side of Japanese animation streaming platforms: Wakanim and Crunchyroll merge. It is a historic union for the anime fans who will very soon see their favorite programs come together on the same and unique platform. For Wakanim, the future is Crunchyroll.
Wakanim and Crunchyroll: the kings of anime unite
Great news for anime lovers. Two giants of Japanese animation are joining forces. Slowly but surely, Wakanim and Crunchyroll will become one. For fans, that means a multitude of anime and animated films on one platform ! Very roughly, it’s a bit like Netflix and Prime Video came together. A fusion to match that of Goku and Vegeta.
Since Tuesday, the Wakanim catalog (Fruits Basket, Fire Force, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation) is gradually joining that of Crunchyroll, already well supplied with hits like Jujutsu Kaisen, Tokyo Revengers or My Hero Academia. By the end of March, 80% of anime and animated films available on Wakanim will be accessible on Crunchyroll. In the end, anime lovers who subscribe to both platforms come out on top as they will enjoy their favorite anime on a single platform. As for Wakanim subscribers, the platform strongly encourages them to unsubscribe to join Crunchyroll.
All persons who have subscribed to a paid subscription offer before February 28 can terminate or cancel the latter and take advantage of two months Premium for free on Crunchyroll. Be careful, however, since this offer is reserved for new users… If you are a Wakanim subscriber, don’t worry. You will receive an e-mail during the week to provide an update and explain how to benefit from this offer. As for Crunchyroll subscribers, they are rather quiet for once since they will be able to take advantage of the extensive catalog of the platform without moving a finger.
A priori, Crunchyroll subscription prices should not be increased. The Fan subscription remains at 4.99 euros per month while the Mega Fan subscription is still at 6.49 euros per month. For now, at least.
If this merger is generally good news for fans of Japanese animation, we regret losing the more intuitive interface of Wakanim in favor of that of Crunchyroll. That said, we imagine that the latter will be able to take advantage of the qualities of the French platform. In short, we hope for the best of both worlds.
We should have guessed…
Funimation, Wakanim’s sister company, and Crunchyroll had been rubbing shoulders for a while and the partnerships between Wakanim and Crunchyroll were multiplying. We can recently mention the distribution of Crunchyroll, in partnership with Wakanim, of the animated film Jujutsu Kaisen 0 in dark rooms from next march 16. In this sense, many anime are found on both platforms like Demon Slayer or The attack of the Titans. In short, it was to be expected.
With this merger, Sony definitely reigns supreme over Japanese animation here. Indeed, the group now owns Crunchyroll, Wakanim and 50% of DNA, namely the ultimate streaming platform dedicated to anime in France.
Finally, it seems that Sony is determined to keep only Crunchyroll at the end. This will not happen in a snap of the fingers, we are reassured. But if nothing is official and everything is still a little more vague, we understand that the Wakanim platform is doomed to disappear. Sooner or later. Definitely or not. But to disappear.