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Like everyone else out there, anime fans are feeling the squeeze as Crunchyroll announced a recent increase in its subscription pricing. While this is the first price increase for Crunchyroll subscribers since 2019, it comes at an awkward time for the company, which has seen box office records fall and removed its free streaming plan in 2025.

Crunchyroll announced earlier this week that they were putting up their prices for each subscription tier by $2, making the new cost of your monthly anime consumption:

• Fan Tier – Was $7.99 a month, now $9.99
• Mega Fan Tier – Was $11.99 a month, now $13.99
• Ultimate Fan Tier – Was $15.99 a month, now $17.99

This price increase is small, but it comes just weeks after Crunchyroll removed its free streaming plan, which had been ad-supported for years. The company also faced growing controversy in 2025 when some of its shows aired with subtitles that were clearly AI-generated. Alongside this, it is likely that they have missed their self-imposed target of 25 million subscribers in 2025 and have been hit with their fourth round of layoffs since 2021. They are also seeing increased competition from Netflix and Amazon for anime licenses, which has likely increased the fees they have to pay to Japanese studios.

Even with these controversies, Crunchyroll remains a core part of Sony Pictures’ business. Movies like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc were massive box office wins for them, and Crunchyroll is poised to generate over 40% of Sony Pictures’ profits over the next year.

While increasing subscription fees is always a risky move, Crunchyroll seems to be banking on the public’s appetite for anime being greater than their reluctance to pay more for it. Removing the free subscription tier while upping the cost of every other tier is a clear sign that they think people are willing to pay more for anime, despite some of the company’s recent missteps.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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