---
title: 'Anime Removed Permanently - Is Crunchyroll Killing Physical Media?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=nuHd2gv2-Co'
video_id: 'nuHd2gv2-Co'
date: 2026-07-16
duration_sec: 485
---

# Anime Removed Permanently - Is Crunchyroll Killing Physical Media?

> Source: [Anime Removed Permanently - Is Crunchyroll Killing Physical Media?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=nuHd2gv2-Co)

## Summary

The video criticizes Crunchyroll for removing popular anime like Black Lagoon and Fate/Kaleid from its platform and locking its merchandise store behind the highest subscription tier. The creator argues these actions drive piracy and signal a push to phase out physical media, reflecting broader industry trends.

### Key Points

- **Crunchyroll Store Locked Behind Highest Tier** [00:02] — Crunchyroll announced that only subscribers on the highest tier can access its store, preventing lower-tier users from purchasing merchandise.
- **Shadow Removal of Anime** [00:15] — Crunchyroll removed Black Lagoon and Fate/Kaleid from its platform, making them unavailable for legal streaming.
- **Accusation of Greed** [01:09] — The creator calls Crunchyroll's actions 'astounding greed,' noting the removals occurred within 24 hours of the store announcement.
- **Piracy Justification** [01:38] — The creator argues that removing legal access to anime drives piracy, as fans turn to pirate sites to watch removed series.
- **Piracy Growth in Anime** [02:49] — Anime and manga piracy is massive, and removing content only fuels it further.
- **Convenience vs. Ownership** [03:03] — Streaming services offer convenience, but removing content undermines that value, pushing users to piracy.
- **Store Access Inequality** [03:45] — Basic tier subscribers ($9.99/month) cannot buy merchandise, requiring an extra $4-5 for the highest tier.
- **Rumors of Phasing Out Physical Media** [04:55] — There are rumors that Crunchyroll plans to phase out Blu-ray discs and manga, especially unpopular ones, following Sony's move away from physical discs.
- **Absorption of Right Stuf** [05:34] — Crunchyroll absorbed rival Right Stuf into its store but failed to maintain its inventory, potentially killing physical media.
- **You Will Own Nothing** [06:28] — The creator believes Crunchyroll's strategy aims to eliminate ownership, pushing a digital-only future.
- **Fighting Piracy Wrongly** [07:07] — Removing content and limiting access is not an effective anti-piracy strategy; it only increases piracy.

### Conclusion

Crunchyroll's actions—locking the store and removing popular anime—are counterproductive, driving fans to piracy and signaling a move away from physical media. The creator warns this will backfire, as anime fans are among the most prolific pirates.

## Transcript

display in the last day. A few hours Crunchyroll store will no longer be available to those that do not have the highest tier subscriptions, they shadow removed Black Lagoon and Fate/Kaleid off
their platform and probably other anime that were completely unaware of. And I The only way now you can actually watch, for instance, Black Lagoon is by having the physical disc, the Blu-ray DVD disc of Black Lagoon. So, for instance, if
Black Lagoon and be able to watch it since you could no longer legally watch instance, you can see it right here. You cannot actually watch it at all. You Well, you obviously you'll be like, "Okay, I can fix this problem. I'll just
go buy the physical copy." Well, once again, the announcement that Crunchyroll made yesterday, the only way you can access their store is by legitimately paying the highest tier subscription. So, this is very fascinating. Literally
hours after they decide to jail the store behind the highest paid subscription, they decide to remove very well-known anime. I'm like, everybody sees this. I I I cannot be the only one that sees what they're doing
here. The absolute [ __ ] greed that this company has is astounding. Like, it actually is astounding that they even had the balls to do this. Literally not had the balls to do this. Literally not even a week later, literally not even 24
hours after they did the announcement of the Crunchyroll store, they removed Black Lagoon and Fate/Kaleid. And this one really is absolutely insane. Like, I I'm absolutely pissed off about this for a variety of reasons. First off, this
gets into the whole conversation around piracy. I I'm just I'm going to say it. band-aid off. I don't care how many people I've pissed off. If people want to blacklist me from every different association, sponsors, or whatever, I'm
just going to say it like it is, okay? When you remove series like Black Lagoon, instance, and you can no longer legally watch them, okay, at all on a legal platform, no [ __ ] wonder there is people that are going to pirate. And
before people like to come in and ride the company and try to play defense for a multi-million dollar company, yeah, I know it's licensing why the the series were removed from the platform. However, it's not the point. They could easily
renew the license, pay for a new license. There's different avenues. And maybe there wasn't a wallet. The point is is why would you ever pay for a service when your anime that you want to watch that's my might be in your backlog
and you want to go BACK AND REWATCH IS JUST REMOVED like that. It's gone. And quick little Google search, go to a pirate site and find it all there. And site's taken down and then you just go to another pirate site. It's just like
This is why piracy is so massive for anime and manga. When you have stuff like this, when you shadow remove series because of licensing or whatever, this pisses people off. It pisses me off. I
have the Blu-ray, you know, Black Lagoon and also fake lead. But the point here Crunchyroll, for example, is convenience. For instance, you don't have to be spammed by ads or anything. You have just a service all there. But
when you remove these anime, just like that, and they're gone, it makes people not want to associate with your platform. It makes people want to go and go to a pirate site to be able to watch their favorite series. And then
you associate this entire situation with them locking out the store and you can't stuff unless you're like the highest tier. And I'm going to go and do a instance, if you're someone that pays
the basic lowest tier, which is $9.99, $10 a month for Crunchyroll, you cannot merchandise. You might be able to look at it, but they'll be like, "Nah, sorry. You You don't pay an extra four to five dollars, you can't access this. We're
it's just I said this yesterday, but the equivalent of this is basically like you go into a bookstore, you find a manga, and you're like, "Oh, I want to get then the store clerk, they straight up tell you, "Oh, you can't buy this manga
because you're not You're not a higher-tier subscription. You're to purchase this book. That's another $12 on top of that. I'm sorry. You got to You got to pay a higher-tier subscription." It's just like I have
never heard of something like that. That is actually insane that Crunchyroll has the audacity to do something like that. And the craziest thing about this is that they make this announcement of removing anime literally after that. And
it's just like the incentive here is clear. That they they want you to buy those discs on their site. But also they are It's very obvious. There's been a while now, and I want to kind of dive a little bit deeper into it. There is
rumors right now with Crunchyroll that they are going to be phasing out Blu-ray discs and manga that are unpopular. I briefly touched upon this yesterday, but I want to kind of dive a
little bit deeper into it. Basically, this announcement with Crunchyroll was actually rumored and already kind of prior to the stuff with Sony PlayStation. For those that don't know what's going on with PlayStation, Sony
longer have active physical disc productions in the future. That will be caused a lot of backlash, and a lot of people have gotten very pissed with Sony and PlayStation for very good reason. But prior to this whole situation, it
that Crunchyroll was going to be phasing out like their physical merchandise, which was very weird because it's like, why do this? Cuz people want to buy physical manga and discs and stuff for anime. But they were trying to phase it
out. And this was after they absorbed Right Stuf into their store, Crunchyroll Basically, killed off a rival company, into the Crunchyroll store, and then they didn't follow up with a keeping
and stuff from Right Stuf into the Crunchyroll brand. And then you have it to where there is now potential possibility of removing physical discs and stuff because, you know, they don't want to no longer hold them. It's just
They killed a rival company just to kill physical media. And then then we have it's very clear what's going on here. You will own nothing and be happy. You
will never own anything. That is what they're trying to do. However, this is going to really blow back in their face very hard. Anime and manga fans are 100%
probably the biggest pirates in the modern era for like the internet. I content that is pirated, and it's very hard to squash it down. And I think that if they want to play ball and try to basically
try to hit all these pirate sites down, they want to make sure you can no longer access certain series because it's no longer legal to stream anymore, piracy will just continue to grow. It will. They This is not how you fight piracy.
You're not offering a good service. It just It's very insane that Crunchyroll thinks this is a a smart move. It's not. It's It's really stupid. I just I cannot believe they had the audacity to remove stuff like this
because it's like Black Lagoon isn't an unpopular series. It's a pretty popular series. I I think a lot of people recognize it. It's a very well-beloved series. And the fact that they don't have the license now,
you can't legally watch it anymore, is just pathetic. It really is. Like this is really really pathetic. And this is the fear of the digital age that anything I get any given moment on any platform is
just gone because, you know, licensing and stuff. But, why deal with it when convenient. So, I'm going to leave it at that. I just I wanted to bring this up. Crunchyroll, man, are really just scum. Pure freaking scum.
I'll leave it at that. You be safe. Stay healthy. Chibi out.