Crunchyroll has quietly removed a notable classic anime series from its streaming library, and that means this Shonen Jump favorite is now pretty much impossible to stream legally. Crunchyroll has one of the biggest anime libraries around as each new season, they are offering a ton of new shows that fans need to keep up with through the year. But it’s not the only reason fans keep their subscriptions active as there are a ton of older shows that still get a lot of attention on the platform too. Some shows that aren’t easily as accessible through other means in the same manner.
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Unfortunately it seems like one classic show has quietly left their library. Spotted by accounts like @MangaAlerts on X, Claymore has seemed to have been removed from Crunchyroll’s streaming service. At the time of this writing, it’s no longer available on the website but can still be accessed through Crunchyroll’s extensions with other services like YouTube Premium and Roku. Though if the anime has truly been removed from its library, it’s likely that Claymore won’t be available for streaming with those services for much longer either.
What Happens With Claymore Now?
If its license with Crunchyroll has expired, it means that Claymore won’t be streaming with the service for the immediate future until a new deal is signed. This happens with streaming services all the time as many franchises run out their respective licensing deals, and unfortunately some classic shows are caught in the crossfire of various removals. This just happens to be the case with Claymore as while it could still be purchased with services like Apple TV, it really doesn’t beat the convenience of streaming it.
It’s a particularly tough hit for Claymore this time around as the franchise is actually in the works on coming back in a whole new kind of way. Norihiro Yagi’s original manga is now in development on a new live-action series project Heroes star Masi Oka. The new live-action series was teased to “preserve the action and complex moral dilemmas of the original manga and the anime TV series,” but little has been revealed about the new project since it was confirmed to be in the works earlier this Spring.
What Is Claymore?
Claymore was first created by Norihigo Yagi in 2001 for Shueisha’s Monthly Shonen Jump magazine. It still remains the longest series that Yagi had ever developed, and introduced fans to a dark new fantasy world. Following a race of super soldiers known by the public as “Claymores” that were created to defend humanity from deadly monsters, the series essentially tracked each of these characters as they slowly headed toward their respective deaths.
It was a rather notable anime series that ran for 26 episodes, but ultimately went with its own original ending compared to the manga release. But if it’s left streaming devices for the immediate future, then fans won’t be able to easily access the classic series if they wanted to check it out. It’s definitely a bummer, but not one that could last forever if everything works out.
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