Crunchyroll Users May Be Entitled to Payment from Class Action Settlement
October 8, 2023 at 12:00 pm | Posted in Other Stuff | Leave a commentTags: crunchyroll
Crunchyroll users should check their emails for information regarding a class action settlement involving the anime streaming giant. The class action lawsuit Salvador Beltran, Jr. and Eli Gross, et al. v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. d/b/a Crunchyroll, filed in September 2022, accuses the company of violating the federal Video Privacy Protection Act by sharing its subscribers’ personally identifiable information with third parties without consent. The plaintiffs and Crunchyroll reached a settlement agreement last month.
The settlement applies to registered users who are based in the U.S. and who viewed a Crunchyroll video between September 8, 2020, and September 20, 2023. Members of this settlement class are eligible to receive a proportionate share of the $16 million settlement fund created by Crunchyroll, which is expected to be approximately $30 per user.
Members interested in receiving payment must file a claim by December 12. Members who wish to opt-out of, or object to, the settlement must do so by November 27. The court will hold the final approval hearing to decide whether to approve the settlement on December 19.
The administrator of the settlement, Kroll Settlement Administration, has created a website to serve as an information center about the case, with resources for users who want to file a claim or take other actions. It began emailing affected users over the past week with further details about the settlement along with their class member ID.
Users who believe that they should be a member of the settlement class but who did not receive an email should contact Kroll for assistance.
Crunchyroll has been a home to the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime since November 2014.
(News from Kroll Settlement Administration)
Right Stuf Closes Up Shop, Relocates Products to Crunchyroll Store
September 22, 2023 at 6:00 pm | Posted in Other Stuff | Leave a commentTags: crunchyroll
Right Stuf Anime is closing its doors. Today Crunchyroll, the owner of the popular retailer of anime and manga products, announced that it will shutter Right Stuf’s website and move its inventory to the Crunchyroll Store on October 10. The migration will grow the Crunchyroll Store to include over 30,000 products from more than 4,000 titles.
Right Stuf was founded in 1987 and originally sold telescopes. It entered the anime business in 1989 when it released Astro Boy on home video. It continued to grow in the early 90s when it began selling anime titles published by other companies. The rest, as they say, is history.
Crunchyroll acquired Right Stuf in August 2022 to expand its own e-commerce business.
During Yu-Gi-Oh!’s heyday, Right Stuf sold not only Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga but also trading cards, toys, apparel, and other collectibles. Unlike some other small online retailers, Right Stuf never exploited the popularity of the franchise by inflating the prices of its Yu-Gi-Oh! products, always selling them at MSRP (or less, thanks to its numerous sales). More recently, with the decline of physical media, Right Stuf continued to be a reliable source for purchasing Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! figures.
(News from Crunchyroll PR, h/t ANN, Crunchyroll News)
Yu-Gi-Oh! Streaming Update, April 2023: SEVENS Season 1 Departs Several Services, VRAINS Season 3 Joins YouTube
April 30, 2023 at 9:00 pm | Posted in ARC-V, English dubbed, Pyramid of Light, SEVENS, VRAINS, Yu-Gi-Oh! | Leave a commentTags: crunchyroll, directv stream, fubotv, hoopla, sling tv, youtube
The first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS left several major streaming services on April 1. DirecTV Stream, fuboTV, Sling TV, and even Disney’s own streaming platform DisneyNOW are among the many services that no longer host Season 1.
This might explain why some services had been removing various episodes of Season 1 since the end of January, seemingly at random. Season 1 should have been set to expire at the beginning of April but, perhaps because of some careless scheduling or glitches, many of them started disappearing earlier than they should have.
Then again, this doesn’t explain why some Season 1 episodes would be restored without rhyme or reason after being removed. It also doesn’t explain why Sling TV’s second listing for Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS, which contains only Season 2 episodes 4 through 7 and 9, is still up.
Anyway, those disappearances are mere curiosities at this point and don’t really matter anymore.
Hulu and YouTube TV continue to host all of Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS Season 1 and episodes 1 through 22 of Season 2 and have not had any of their Season 1 episodes removed at any time.
* * *
More great news for fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS arrived this past month. Season 3 of the English dub began streaming for free on YouTube on April 24. Seasons 1 through 3 are all available for purchase on the platform as well, but Seasons 1 and 2 are not available for free streaming there.
YouTube joins The Roku Channel and Tubi as one of the few streaming networks that is offering Season 3 for free.
* * *
Also on April 24, hoopla, the digital borrowing service used by libraries, added Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Season 1. This comes years after the platform carried only Season 2. Why did it not start with Season 1? Who knows. But if this series is popular enough, maybe it will eventually pick up Season 3. Let your local library know what Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga you want to enjoy and maybe you’ll soon see it on a free digital borrowing platform like hoopla.
* * *
Crunchyroll added Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie on April 29, but only for the United Kingdom and Ireland. The geo-blocking suggests that this title is a transfer from Funimation, which acquired the movie when it purchased Manga Entertainment UK in May 2019. Funimation then acquired Crunchyroll, with the sale concluding in August 2021.
Pyramid of Light, along with The Dark Side of Dimensions, is still accessible on Funimation’s website in the same countries.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Streaming Update, February-March 2023: Disappearing Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS Episodes, Additions to Many AVOD Services
March 31, 2023 at 9:00 pm | Posted in ARC-V, Bonds Beyond Time, Duel Monsters, English dubbed, GX, Pyramid of Light, SEVENS, VRAINS, Yu-Gi-Oh!, ZEXAL | Leave a commentTags: amazon freevee, crackle, crunchyroll, disney xd, fubotv, hoopla, kartoon channel!, overdrive, sling tv, tubi tv, vidgo
Strange things have been happening to the English-dubbed Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS episodes on some streaming services ever since Season 2 premiered near the end of January. Various episodes of the anime have been removed, and then sometimes restored, seemingly at random and without rhyme or reason.
fuboTV, for example, currently hosts Season 2 episodes 1 through 22 of SEVENS, which is to be expected. However, it’s also missing every episode of Season 1 except episodes 3 through 6. But just yesterday, fuboTV had Season 1 episodes 2 through 6 plus episode 43. Near the beginning of March, its Season 1 library inexplicably included only episodes 39 through 43. And near the beginning of February, it had only Season 1 episodes 20, 21, 35 through 38, and 41 through 43. Sometimes, its library would remain untouched for days. Other times, random episodes would appear and disappear every day. Weird!
Sling TV has also been seeing baffling removals of its Season 1 episodes. As with fuboTV, those episodes have been disappearing over the past two months, a handful at a time in no particular order. Now, the service doesn’t carry any Season 1 episodes at all. (Its Season 2 episodes remain unaffected by this oddity.)
Stranger still, Sling TV has a second listing of Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS episodes whose contents have been also been regularly changing without any explanation. Currently it contains only Season 2 episodes 4 through 7 and 9. But a few days ago, it had only Season 2 episodes 5 and 6. What’s going on over there?
Even Disney’s own website and app DisneyNOW is not immune to these strange occurrences. Near the beginning of February, DisneyNOW removed Season 1 episode 42 without any warning. Then, about a week later, it removed episode 43. All the other episodes in Seasons 1 and 2 are untouched. Today, episodes 42 and 43 are still not available on DisneyNOW. However, the good news is that Disney XD’s official YouTube channel added episodes 42 and 43 for free viewing in February, so maybe that’s the reason DisneyNOW removed those two episodes.
Luckily, not all streaming services have had problems with their SEVENS episodes. Hulu still has all of Season 1 and the first 22 episodes of Season 2 and has never had any episodes removed. DirecTV Stream, YouTube TV, and most of the other platforms are all fine as well.
Have you noticed any odd occurrences while streaming Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS?
* * *
The past two months saw multiple Yu-Gi-Oh! titles joining various free, ad-supported on-demand video services.
Amazon Freevee welcomed two Yu-Gi-Oh! titles. February 28 saw the addition of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie. Previously the film was available to subscribers of CONtv via Amazon. And March 6 saw the addition of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Season 2, which was formerly restricted to subscribers of Prime Video.
Also on February 28, Crackle added Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie and Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time.
On March 9, Tubi added Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Season 2.
On March 16, hoopla, the library media streaming platform, added Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 1.
Genius Brands International’s AVOD streaming network Kartoon Channel! once again allows viewers to stream its Yu-Gi-Oh! anime for free. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, ZEXAL, and ARC-V had been locked behind a paywall ever since Genius Brands launched its SVOD service Kidaverse in April 2022 and added those shows to its catalog. However, Genius Brands has quietly returned those three titles back to the AVOD Kartoon Channel! service. When exactly that occurred is a little bit of a mystery since the company didn’t publicize the change.
* * *
Cinedigm announced on March 3 that the subscription streaming service Vidgo added more than 10,000 TV and movie titles from Cinedigm’s catalog, including Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie. Unfortunately, Vidgo does not provide a full list of its available titles, nor does it state which titles are available on-demand and which play on live TV. If you use Vidgo, do chime in if you see more Yu-Gi-Oh! content on its service.
* * *
Lastly, in some less positive news, Crunchyroll stopped hosting English-dubbed episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters in February. And OverDrive, the distributor of digital media for libraries and schools, removed Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie from its catalog.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Streaming Update, December 2022–January 2023: The Roku Channel, Tubi, Amazon Freevee, and More
January 31, 2023 at 10:00 pm | Posted in English dubbed, GX, VRAINS, Yu-Gi-Oh!, ZEXAL | Leave a commentTags: amazon freevee, crunchyroll, hoopla, the roku channel, tubi tv
Wonderful news for fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS — the English dub of Season 3 has joined even more services and platforms. The free, ad-supported streaming services The Roku Channel and Tubi both added Season 3 on January 28. The Roku Channel now hosts all three English-dubbed seasons of the anime. Tubi has only Seasons 1 and 3; it no longer carries Season 2.
The arrival of VRAINS Season 3 on these AVOD platforms follows its earlier debut on several DTO/EST services.
Speaking of which, Season 3 continues to make its way to more DTO/EST platforms for purchase. Google Play, Vudu and YouTube have all 38 episodes of Season 3 in HD for $27.99.
* * *
Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL joined the AVOD service Amazon Freevee on December 28, 2022. Previously, the show’s three seasons were available on Prime Video to paid subscribers, but now anyone can watch it on Amazon’s website and apps for free with ads.
* * *
hoopla, the digital media service used by public libraries, added Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 2 and Season 3 (but not Season 1) in December and Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time this past month to its collection. hoopla’s web and mobile platforms are available at participating libraries for free to anyone who has a library card.
* * *
Crunchyroll began integrating its language selection options into its video player earlier this month. The previous approach of having separate “seasons” listed for every sub and dub option will soon be no more. Crunchyroll users who log in to the service may be asked to choose their preferred language option to set as their default. Obviously this only affects the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime that have separate dub and sub options — Duel Monsters, GX, and 5D’s.
This updated language selection system is very much a work in progress. Not every app and platform has it, users’ default selections might not be properly recognized for every show, and the number of episodes and the “season” numbers might be incorrect for some shows. This is a big change for Crunchyroll so there are bound to be some kinks to work out. Users who encounter any major problems should report them to Crunchyroll customer support.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Streaming Update, November 2022: Pluto TV, Crunchyroll
November 30, 2022 at 10:00 pm | Posted in 5D's, ARC-V, Bonds Beyond Time, Capsule Monsters, Duel Monsters, English dubbed, GX, Japanese, Pyramid of Light, Yu-Gi-Oh! | 2 CommentsTags: crunchyroll, pluto tv
Pluto TV’s 24-hour Yu-Gi-Oh! channel saw a few changes this past month. First, the channel number has been changed to 2385 from 840. The renumbering was part of a platform-wide adjustment of channel numbers as Pluto TV continues to add more content and new channels. The Yu-Gi-Oh! channel is still grouped in the “Gaming + Anime” section.
Then, for the first time since April 2022, the Yu-Gi-Oh! channel streamed something other than Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, GX, and (on rare occasions) VRAINS by marathoning Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s on November 7. The channel then played Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie on November 18, which it has since repeated a few more times. Coincidentally or not, these additions to the channel came after Pluto TV’s Twitter account replied on November 3 to a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan who asked to see every Yu-Gi-Oh! series on the channel.
“We’d love to have every series of Yu-Gi-Oh! available on our Yu-Gi-Oh! channel too,” said Pluto TV. “We’ll get that request over to our Content and Programming teams for future programming and consideration. Stay tuned!”
This wasn’t the first time Pluto TV had told Twitter users that it would love to stream more Yu-Gi-Oh! spin-off titles. And the latter half of Pluto TV’s reply is a copied-and-pasted response that it gives to everyone who asks for new content, so it’s even more surprising to see something actually come out of it.
Also this past month, Pluto TV confirmed to a different Yu-Gi-Oh! fan on Twitter that it only has two seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. If you want to see the rest, let Pluto TV or your other favorite streaming services know. You never know what might come about from your comments!
As always, if you prefer to make your own schedule rather than watch the linear Yu-Gi-Oh! channel, Pluto TV has every series from Duel Monsters to VRAINS Season 2 available on demand.
* * *
On November 2, Crunchyroll put its remaining free Yu-Gi-Oh! anime titles behind its paywall. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (dubbed and subbed), GX (dubbed and subbed), and ARC-V (subbed) can now only be viewed by users with one of its premium fan plans. The Crunchyroll-owned streaming service VRV also put the same series behind its premium paywall.
The other three Yu-Gi-Oh! series — 5D’s, ZEXAL, and VRAINS — lost their free, ad-supported viewing option last month.
Crunchyroll still has many titles in its catalog that are free with ads. However, the majority are available only to paid subscribers.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Streaming Update, September-October 2022: Cineverse, Crunchyroll, Pluto TV
October 31, 2022 at 10:00 pm | Posted in 5D's, ARC-V, Bonds Beyond Time, Capsule Monsters, Duel Monsters, English dubbed, GX, Japanese, Pyramid of Light, Yu-Gi-Oh!, ZEXAL | Leave a commentTags: cineverse, crunchyroll, pluto tv
Yu-Gi-Oh! distributor Cinedigm formally announced the launch of its new Cineverse streaming network on September 15. The service, which kicks off with TV shows and movies from over 600 licensors, includes every English-dubbed Yu-Gi-Oh! TV series from Duel Monsters to ARC-V, plus Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie and Bonds Beyond Time:
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time
Cineverse did also briefly host the first two seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS at the time of its launch, but that show has abruptly disappeared since then.
Cinedigm stated that it wants to build Cineverse into the world’s largest streaming movie and television library and will keep the service free with ads “at launch.”
* * *
On October 1, Crunchyroll put three Yu-Gi-Oh! anime titles behind its paywall: 5D’s (dubbed and subbed), ZEXAL (dubbed), and VRAINS (subbed). The same series on the Crunchyroll-owned streaming service VRV were also restricted to its premium subscribers. Prior to this change, all Yu-Gi-Oh! series used to stream for free with ads on both services.
The quiet and abrupt shift in the availability of Crunchyroll’s free content is part of a pattern of changes that many Crunchyroll users have picked up on. In late September, AnimeNewsNetwork contacted Crunchyroll after noticing that several series that were once available to free users were suddenly restricted with no advance notice to only paid subscribers. Crunchyroll told ANN that it “continues to make more than 1,000 hours of anime available for free” and that its “AVOD content will rotate and refresh regularly.”
A cursory look through Crunchyroll’s catalog reveals that the majority of its series now require a paid subscription to view.
* * *
On October 24, Pluto TV’s all-day Yu-Gi-Oh! channel interrupted its usual programming of nonstop Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and GX full-series marathons for a special occasion — Seto Kaiba’s birthday. For eight hours straight, the channel played nothing but the best Seto Kaiba duels from the Duel Monsters anime. (Kaiba’s birthday is actually October 25. I guess Pluto TV was celebrating in Japan’s time zone.)
But you wouldn’t have known about this unless you were already tuned in to the channel because, in typical Pluto TV fashion, there was zero marketing whatsoever for this event. For shame.
In the future, would you like the Yu-Gi-Oh! channel to host more special events like this one? With more thorough advertising ahead of the event, of course. Or are you content with the regularity of its Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and GX marathons as they currently are?
Yu-Gi-Oh! Subbed – Episodes 185-224 Complete
February 9, 2021 at 9:00 pm | Posted in Duel Monsters, Japanese, Konami, Yu-Gi-Oh! | 3 CommentsTags: crunchyroll
To all the fans who asked for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime to be released uncut in Japanese with English subtitles, your hopes have been realized. After a journey spanning over five and a half years, today Crunchyroll released the final two episodes of the series. The entire show is available for free, right now!
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters subbed anime project was unveiled in July 2015 at Kazuki Takahashi’s panel at San Diego Comic Con. The original plan called for five new episodes to be uploaded every month. But a lot can happen over the course of so many years to change even the most thoughtful of plans announced on the biggest of stages. Although it did take longer than expected to release the entire series, tremendous thanks and congratulations must go to Konami and Crunchyroll for seeing this project to its completion.
Major milestones of this journey:
- July 11, 2015 – The project begins with episodes 1 through 5.
- August 11, 2015 – The first new batch of uploads — episodes 6 through 10 — arrives.
- May 3, 2016 – Episodes 1 through 49 (season 1) are available.
- February 7, 2017 – Episodes 50 through 97 (season 2) are available.
- February 27, 2018 – Episodes 98 through 144 (season 3) are available.
- January 15, 2020 – Episodes 145 through 184 (season 4) are available.
- April 14, 2020 – The final story arc — episode 199 and onward — begins.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters subbed can be viewed for free worldwide (excluding Italian-speaking Europe and most of Asia) on the web and on Crunchyroll’s numerous apps.
Funimation Acquires Crunchyroll for $1.175 Billion
December 10, 2020 at 12:00 pm | Posted in Other Stuff | Leave a commentTags: crunchyroll, funimation
Anime giant Funimation is about to swallow up rival anime giant Crunchyroll. The companies announced on Wednesday that Sony’s Funimation Global Group will purchase AT&T’s Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion in cash. Both companies will continue to operate independently until regulatory approvals are complete and the deal closes.
This arrangement is part of AT&T’s push to sell off its noncore assets and slash its debts, reports Deadline Hollywood. Despite Crunchyroll’s popularity among anime fans, the service is too niche for the broader audience that AT&T is trying to attract with its HBO Max service, a source tells Reuters.
Needless to say, Sony’s acquisition will have far-reaching effects on the global landscape of anime licensing, production, and distribution. But with neither Funimation nor Crunchyroll accepting any questions regarding the sale, these effects remain to be seen.
Boasting over 3 million paying subscribers and 90 million registered users, Crunchyroll is an important player in the OTT distribution of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime franchise, which has been a part of its catalog since November 2014.
Funimation acquired Yu-Gi-Oh! home video distributor Manga Entertainment UK in May 2019, then began streaming Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions in the United Kingdom and Ireland in November 2019. During Yu-Gi-Oh!’s heyday, Funimation was also the home video distributor for the TV series in the United States until 2009.
(News from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Crunchyroll, Funimation, h/t ANN)
Crunchyroll Store’s Exclusive Yu-Gi-Oh! Art Show Apparel
November 23, 2020 at 12:00 pm | Posted in Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh! | Leave a commentTags: bioworld, crunchyroll, gallery1988, licensing
The Crunchyroll Store has been giving its Yu-Gi-Oh! goods a big push with social media campaigns and banner ads. The official store of the anime streaming giant is now selling new apparel inspired by exhibits from Konami and Gallery1988’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Tribute Art Show. Produced by Bioworld exclusively for the Crunchyroll Store, these would make the perfect holiday gifts for Yu-Gi-Oh! art lovers and fans everywhere.
Dan Mumford’s super popular It’s time to duel. graces the front of this black short-sleeve T-shirt. Price: $24.95.
Yugi from Tom Whalen’s King of Games is looking quite bold on this black hoodie. The Japanese text above him says “Duel Team Champion.” Price: $54.95.
Make a statement while wearing this eye-catching long-sleeve T-shirt inspired by Steve Dressler’s Hitotsu-Me Giant. The brilliant green head of the monster adorns the front and back of the shirt. The text says “Cyclops,” the name of the monster in the Japanese version of the game. Price: $29.95.
Look at that beautiful, artsy smiling face.
Someone find that drunk art critic who visited the New York art show and bought the $400 screen print of this piece! They must learn of the existence of this shirt!!
(News from @ShopCrunchyroll)
Related:
– Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon NYCC Shirt Available at Atsuko.com
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