While Crunchyroll may have a total monopoly when it comes to anime streaming in the West, one thing for certain is that they’re not reinvesting their profits towards security measures.
Ahead of their slated premieres, numerous titles from the Crunchyroll Spring 2024 anime lineup have leaked online, with full episodes surfacing around March 28.
As of now, the following titles have been leaked:
KonoSuba – God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Season 3 (two episodes) – Premieres on April 10th
Sound! Euphonium Season 3 (two episodes) – Premiered April 7th
Chillin’ in Another World With Level 2 Super Cheat Powers – Premiered April 8th
Unnamed Memory – Premieres on April 9th
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World – Premiered April 7th
Gods’ Games We Play – Premiered April 1st
Astro Note – Premiered April 5th
The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases – Premiered April 2nd
It all began at “Comic Con Puerto Rico 2024” where the first episode of the third season of KonoSuba was reportedly leaked from a Crunchyroll panel. While it was initially believed to be an isolated incident, the situation escalated when its second episode of the series was leaked, alongside the other aforementioned leaked shows.
The leaked episodes in question are apparently of high quality, with subtitles even.
It’s not uncommon for episodes of popular or highly anticipated series to be leaked before their official release. However, what’s alarming about this situation is that ten episodes from eight different anime series scheduled for the Spring 2024 season have been leaked before their official premiere, which is unheard of.
If you’re interested in downloading any of these leaked episodes before their scheduled air date, platforms like Nyaa.si are available for that purpose.
Date a Live V and An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride were also listed on Crunchyroll’s screener list for the event, but they have not been leaked. However, the most notable franchise to have been leaked early is KonoSuba, with its two episodes causing a significant uproar in the anime community.
Fans are now able to binge-watch the first two episodes, but they’ll have to wait until April 24th for the third episode to air officially, unless more episodes surface online beforehand, which would be hilarious.
Crunchyroll is widely considered the most cancerous corporation in the anime industry, if you’re a true fan of Japanese anime and or manga simply boycotting them is far from enough.
Recently, the company merged its services by shuttering Funimation, which resulted in Funimation subscribers being forced into a Crunchyroll subscription. As a consequence, Funimation subscribers lost access to their “digital copies” of content.
Additionally, Crunchyroll has faced legal issues, such as violating the United States Video Privacy Protection Act by disclosing subscribers’ personal information to third-party companies.
But it’s okay because as a pittance for selling your data and information, they gave subscription holders $30 in return.
Crunchyroll also shut down the Right Stuf Store a year after acquiring the company, bolstering their own monopoly when it comes to western distribution of anime merchandise.
And of course, we cannot overlook the fact that Crunchyroll frequently hires controversial localizers with a clear progressive agenda. These individuals often freely modify the scripts of Japanese anime, either removing problematic elements or injecting cringeworthy meme lingo and Western buzzwords like “Gamer Gate,” “Patriarchy,” “Misogynist,” and “Social Justice Warrior.”
Crunchyroll are hated for a reason, if we’re being honest the criticism they receive falls far short of what they truly deserve for their actions against dedicated fans of Japanese entertainment.
Their objective is clear: to normalize anime worldwide, which often involves trimming and altering elements to make it socially acceptable for foreign audiences who cannot differentiate fiction from reality as they label it “pedophilic” regardless.
Simultaneously, their efforts to globalize anime with progressive changes inserted into English scripts have not gone unnoticed. Changes are now being made directly from the source itself to ensure adaptations can be safely consumed by “global audiences.” Japanese game companies have also been following suit, with examples such as Atlus removing a “transphobic” scene from Persona 3 Reload, and Masayoshi Yokoyama, the executive producer of the Yakuza series, collaborating with localizers to remove LGBT caricatures and instances of sexism from their games.
