It’s the End of an Era for Crunchyroll

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Starting in 2026, the way anime fans stream will change. Crunchyroll is removing its free, ad-supported option on December 31st, 2025.

Crunchyroll is ending its free, ad-supported streaming option. Viewers recently saw a message telling them they’ll need to subscribe to a paid plan to keep watching anime after December 31, 2025. The message encourages users to upgrade for an ad-free experience and has quickly spread across social media sites like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter).

Here’s a list of anime titles on Crunchyroll that will soon require a subscription, as they will no longer be available for free with ads:

  • Beast Tamer
  • Blue Lock
  • Bocchi the Rock!
  • Bungo Stray Dogs
  • Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill
  • Chainsaw Man
  • Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
  • The Daily Life of the Immortal King
  • Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro
  • Golden Kamuy
  • Lycoris Recoil
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury
  • My Dress-up Darling
  • Ranking of Kings
  • The Reincarnation Of The Strongest Exorcist In Another World
  • Soul Eater
  • Spy x Family
  • Vinland Saga
  • Yona of the Dawn

As a longtime Crunchyroll fan, seeing this list of anime you can watch with ads feels…small. It really highlights how much more generous Crunchyroll used to be! For years, we could all enjoy new episodes as they came out, with ads of course, but it was fantastic. Then, in March 2022, things changed – they started making new releases exclusive to paying subscribers, which was a bummer.

Crunchyroll recently announced it’s discontinuing its free, ad-supported streaming option, continuing a pattern of phasing out free content in favor of paid subscriptions. A prime example of this was the removal of its free library access in early May, which was a very popular feature and one of Crunchyroll’s biggest successes.

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2025-12-06 21:13