
The good old days of “One Piece” are gone, especially for the fans of the anime on Crunchyroll. The Texas-based entertainment company AT&T’s WarnerMedia before Sony acquired it for over $1 billion around three years ago.
The Sony regime over Crunchyroll has then started, and things are unfavorable for anime fans. Earlier this week, the company said it is imposing subscription-only access to most of Crunchyroll’s “One Piece” content beginning soon.
The official Crunchyroll account on X stated, “(emoji) Heads up, One Piece fans!
Starting soon, some One Piece arcs will require a Premium Membership. But the first 206 episodes (East Blue to Sky Island) will stay free, so new fans can still start Luffy’s journey at no cost.”
In other words, the first 206 episodes of the popular anime will still be available for free, spanning from the East Blue Arc to the Sky Island Arc. After which, all the subsequent arcs will be hidden behind a paywall and will require a Premium Membership, unfortunately.
The official Crunchyroll X account also suggested that fans should mark their calendars for each phase of this controversial update, such as on December 23rd for Water 7 to Fishman Island, January 20th for Punk Hazard to Whole Cake Island plus six specials, and February 17th for Reverie, Wano Kuni to Egghead Island.
“Catch these iconic arcs before they shift to subscription-only!” Crunchyroll wrote on X.
What does this imply? For newcomers, this new policy guarantees they have sufficient content to comprehend and experience the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy for free. Only, those who have been supporting the series for a long time shall not be required to purchase a fee to access the content of the series.
However, the content lockdown has not yet officially taken effect, so luckily for you, you can still watch the entire series with ads. Subscribing to Premium membership offers ad-free watching, early content access, and so much more.
Fans are reacting to this commotion. X netizen @the_HUGOAT posted a meme featuring a scene in “One Piece,” which says, “The world has truly entered a Great Pirate Era!”
“Crunchyroll REALLY promoting piracy with their genius,” commented @Apoc0110.
Others say this is “greed” and “greedy monopoly.”
This is the second issue “One Piece” has found itself in after its hiatus, which also dismayed fans.
Redditors say there are over three million “One Piece” fans outside Japan. What more within the country, right? Catch “One Piece” on Crunchyroll before the new imposition takes place.