During Sony Group Corporation’s press conference at CES 2025 in Las Vegas yesterday, the company announced a series of PlayStation video games in production. Sony-owned anime streamer Crunchyroll has also announced a new spin-off aptly titled manga service Crunchyroll Manga. This manga app, scheduled for release this year, aspires to be the premier place for anime fans to read their favorite series.
Although Crunchyroll has not yet revealed when fans should expect the release of Crunchyroll Manga, the company has revealed that the standalone app will be “a new premium option for Crunchyroll members” In addition, Crunchyroll has ongoing plans to release the app on iOS as well. Android with ongoing plans for web browser integration.
“Crunchyroll Manga will be the first online manga app that hosts catalogs from popular publishers, giving fans unparalleled access to the works of imagination that inspire the anime we love,” Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini said in a press release. “As we strengthen our partnership in this exciting new venture, we aim to add even more value to the Crunchyroll membership, complementing our extensive anime library, the Crunchyroll Game Vault, and the extensive selection of products in the Crunchyroll store.”
He continued: “Research shows that almost 70% of anime fans read digital manga at least once a month, which highlights the huge demand for this medium.” Crunchyroll Manga will not only meet this growing interest but will also fuel the continued global popularity of anime and manga alike. “
Manga fans, it’s happening! 🧡 Crunchyroll Manga launches in 2025! This app is just the beginning of a new chapter. What manga do you hope to see featured?
📖 More: pic.twitter.com/zWmVS3Pko
– Crunchyroll (@Crunchyroll) January 7, 2025
Another “new” manga app with lots of questions
As Purini notes, the feedback loop of fans picking up the manga after the final season of the anime (or while watching the ongoing anime adaptation) is a time-honored tradition. In fact, whenever a new anime season rolls around, social media managers at manga companies like Viz Media and Yen Press are quick to remind people to download their app or visit their stores to pick up where the anime left off while they wait for the seasons. new ones. the first show.
Manga reading apps like Viz Manga, Shonen Jump App, and Manga Plus allow people to keep up with ongoing and old manga series at affordable monthly rates of $1.99, $2.99, and $1.99 ($4.99 for the -deluxe), respectively. As an overview, Crunchyroll premium membership prices are as follows:
- Follower ($7.99 per month):
- Mega Fan ($11.99 per month)
- Ultimate Fan ($15.99 per month)
While Crunchyroll dipping its toe into a manga app service makes a ton of sense as it currently hosts the largest catalog of anime—thanks in large part to its merger with Funimation—this isn’t technically the first time the streamer has offered manga to subscribers. reading the supplement. In fact, before the broadcaster did a website overhaul last year, Crunchyroll used to offer a web-based manga reading add-on for premium members where they could read chapters of Kodansha series like. Attack on Titan online. Unfortunately, the service was apparently shut down in 2023.
In a customer service response to a user about what happened to the oft-forgotten service on the r/Crunchyroll subreddit, a Crunchyroll representative reportedly told them, “As part of Crunchyroll’s commitment to providing fans with the best experience possible, we will be sunsetting the Crunchyroll manga app December 11, 2023 [though] it has already been removed from Google Play.”
io9 reached out to Crunchyroll for comment on whether Crunchyroll Manga is a soft relaunch of its old service, what membership tiers it will be associated with, and whether it will have different pricing options for users who don’t want to go premium. Add. We will update when asked.
Crunchyroll’s changes for 2024 show no sign of slowing down
Anime fans are already freaking out about Crunchyroll Manga. The response on social media called the service a relaunch of history, lamented that it was launched only in English in the US and Canada with loose plans to expand later, and fought for physical media through digital licensing.
Some have noted that the previous service used to only offer Kodansha manga, raising doubts about how Crunchyroll Manga will fulfill its promise to “make it easier than ever for fans to read brand new and popular titles from many top publishers at once.” place,” where would-be competitors and former partners like Kodansha offer their own manga reading services like K Manga.
IK Manga, like Square Enix’s Manga Up, uses a ticketing service that plays manga readings like a live service video game. There is a possibility that the merger of Sony and Kadokawa—continuing to dominate the anime industry—will lead to the filling of the catalog of the Crunchyroll Manga series with manga from publishers such as. It’s fun in the Dungeon.
All of this comes after the backlash caused by fans discovering Crunchyroll’s Funimation merger means they will no longer be able to access the manga they purchased digitally on the sunset anime radio. Crunchyroll also initiated several user experience changes, including removing its comment section for anime episodes and allowing users to have multiple profiles on an account.
While the changes mentioned above are largely innocuous in the way they fold into the way other broadcasters operate, Crunchyroll’s latest announcement for 2024 will pay off. One piece episodes of premium subscription categories have made fans feel like going to the beach to loot the most popular anime rather than preparing to collect a lot of income to watch a long-running anime. Perhaps Crunchyroll Manga will act as a force to sweeten the deal for fans on the phone to upgrade to a premium Crunchyroll membership.
Looking for more io9 news? Check out when you can expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.