Anime fans can let out a collective sigh of relief. VRV, the anime streaming service is about disappear but you won’t lose any of your content. The service is merging with Crunchyroll and they’ve created steps to make sure you still have access.
While Crunchyroll's parent company bought VRV's parent back in 2021, the merger is now complete and the VRV app will cease operation on May 3.
In a website FAQ, VRV assured fans that the merger was for their benefit saying that this would enable the streaming service to grow in order to become the “largest anime library in the world.”
VRV assured subscribers that all credits, gift card balances, and subscriptions will be rolled over to a Crunchyroll membership. The service will also transfer your Watch History and Queue. If you happen to have a subscription to both services, the VRV one will be unavailable. You can log in to your Crunchyroll account with your VRV username and password.
Crunchyroll subscriptions start at $7.99 per month. The service not only provides a large collection of anime, but you can read a variety of Manga, and they release new anime an hour after it airs in Japan meaning you’ll never miss out. To access the service you can use desktop, mobile, gaming consoles, and other streaming devices that include iOS, Android, Apple TV, Xbox, Roku, and PS4.
Unfortunately, VRV Select which provides a “curated selection of movies and shows” and the Mondo Channel will no longer be available.
Crunchyroll has been scooping up competitor anime streamers at a regular clip, gobbling up Funimation last year
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is a subscription video streaming service catering to fans of anime with over 30,000 episodes. Viewers can see new episodes of shows one hour after they air in Japan, and read hundreds of chapters across dozens of manga titles. Some of their more popular titles are Dragon Ball Super, Attack on Titan, and Fire Force.