With access to an ever-growing library of content and the backing of one of the most powerful entertainment companies in the world, Crunchyroll is set to rule the anime world if it can only get past a glitch in its service. Owning one of, if not the largest catalog of animated movies in the world, Crunchyroll is a streaming giant, rivaling the customer base and influence of well-known competitors. in the field of streaming cartoons such as Netflix and Disney-Hulu. However, it has a major problem that its competitors seem to have solved, which is allowing its paying customers easy access to content, depending on their location. .
While US Crunchyroll subscribers have full access to the service wherever they go in the US, any customer traveling outside of the US will not be able to access the service despite the fact is Crunchyroll available in more than 90 countries worldwide. The only way for US customers to access the service they’re paying for seems to be if they use a VPN. The access issue goes against the impressive foresight that Crunchyroll has put in place at the right time to make the most of the growing popularity of the anime industry.
Crunchyroll users cannot use their accounts while traveling
The current version of Crunchyroll has two histories of companies investing in anime early on. Crunchyroll is the brainchild of three college classmates who love anime and think the general public does too. With no blueprint for success, they started Crunchyroll in 2006 by streaming mostly unlicensed content. Even so, the anime-focused Crunchyroll proved extremely popular. As their user base grows, so does attention from larger companies looking to break into the anime space but with little know-how on how to do it. For them, Crunchyroll presented an opportunity to make money. Accordingly, after a series of mergers and acquisitions, Sony acquired Crunchyroll in 2020.
Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll was an interesting choice since the company already has two anime divisions – Aniplex and Funimation – under its control. Like Crunchyroll, Funimation’s success led to its acquisition by Sony in 2017. With two forward-thinking anime streaming services under its control, in 2021, Sony merged the two. their efforts into one under the Crunchyroll label. It was a decision welcomed by most anime fans, not only because of the creation of a huge library of content that the consolidated companies would establish, but also because of its ability to streamline access to content. anime, a problem that for many years has hindered the spread of anime outside. Japanese.
While an abundance of content is all that fans dream of, getting online is more of a problem for corporate fans than it is to separate. All of this is unfortunate as Crunchyroll is not just another player in the game, Crunchyroll is a mainstay of the anime industry outside of Japan. While there are certainly good reasons for compelling restrictions like preventing anime piracy and complying with regional content guidelines, for legitimate paying customers, the promise of Crunchyroll providing anime anywhere access on demand remains elusive.