Crunchyroll Removing Certain Anime Makes Them Harder to Watch

Crunchyroll has quietly removed multiple anime from its streaming catalogue in recent weeks, including a well‑known classic that is now difficult to access through legitimate streaming services. At first it appeared that Norihiro Yagi’s Claymore was the only series affected; within days, Death Parade and 91 Days were also pulled from the platform.

Technically, viewers may still find those shows via Crunchyroll’s Amazon Video Channel or the Roku Channel, but outside of those storefronts they are effectively unavailable — and could be removed from those channels as well. The removals were first flagged by X user MangaAlerts.

If Crunchyroll’s licensing agreements expired, the titles will remain off the service until new deals are negotiated. The platform no longer publishes expiration dates for licensed content; for years it has been inconsistent about warning subscribers when shows are scheduled to depart, and sometimes series disappear with no prior notice. Posts from Crunchyroll users on Reddit suggest that some licensors prohibit the service from sharing exact license end dates, a practice the company says helps preserve relationships with rights holders (by contrast, services such as Tubi and Netflix typically notify viewers when titles will be leaving).

The timing of Claymore’s removal is notable because Yagi’s manga adaptation was announced earlier in 2025 as the basis for a live‑action project starring Heroes actor Masi Oka. That adaptation, a collaboration between CBS Studios, Propagate Content, and Shueisha, was described as aiming to retain the manga’s action and moral complexity — suggesting the property might ultimately appear on a platform associated with those studios, such as Paramount Plus. More details about the live‑action project have been scarce since the initial announcement. (Deadline.)

Originally serialized in Shueisha’s Monthly Shonen Jump beginning in 2001, Claymore remains one of Yagi’s most ambitious works. The anime adaptation ran for 26 episodes and presented an original ending that diverged from the manga. Its dark fantasy setting centers on half‑human warriors known publicly as Claymores, created to battle monstrous threats while confronting their own tragic fates.

Death Parade, written and directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa and produced by Madhouse, is a single‑season psychological series in which the recently deceased are forced to play high‑stakes games at a bar called Quindecim to determine the fate of their souls.

91 Days follows a man who returns to his hometown during Prohibition to pursue vengeance after his family is killed in a mob dispute, telling a noir‑tinged story of retribution and organized crime.

Polygon has reached out to Crunchyroll for comment about these removals and will update this article when the company responds.

Source: Polygon