The month of Ani-May starts this week, on 1st May 2024 to be exact, and to celebrate Crunchyroll in the UK will be offering discounts at retail, an exclusive competition at HMV and free anime to watch on the Crunchyroll streaming platform for non-subscribers.
Discounts at Retail:
Available now at HMV, and at online retailers (such as Amazon UK & Anime-On-Line), discounts on Crunchyroll Blu-Ray and DVDs are being offered until the end of the month. There are a wide variety of titles reduced in this promotion with our highlights including Beast Tamer – Complete Season, Chainsaw Man – Complete Series and SPY x FAMILY – Part 1. These promotional discounts are now available at participating, but more discounts (and retailers offering the discounts) may appear throughout the month of May.
Picture from @HMVMansfield on X
HMV Takeover:
Throughout the month HMV will be taken over by Crunchyroll; with new anime merchandise from popular shows such as SPY x FAMILY, Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia being stocked. More surprisingly is that HMV will offer early access to selective Crunchyroll releases, including Mob Psycho – Season 3, KONOSUBA – An Explosion on This Wonderful World! and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, with further details to be announced.
HMV Competition:
Crunchyroll have partnered with HMV for a special competition, in which the winner will receive a weekend VIP trip to Paris, France for the Japan Expo in July. Sadly specific details about this competition, such as how to enter and the exact nature of the prize, were not mentioned in the press release we received – but it will take place throughout the month of May in HMV.
Free Anime on Crunchyroll:
Finally, throughout the month of May, the 20 popular anime shows will become accessible for non-subscribers, with shows such as Chainsaw Man, Haikyu!!, Solo Leveling, Dr. STONE, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Rent-a-Girlfriend, and VINLAND SAGA being made available. This means that non-subscribers will be able to watch these shows with ads, whereas previously they were only available to Crunchyroll subscribers. These shows will only be available for non-subscribers during the month of May, after which they will return to subscribers only.
There’s lots of explore throughout the month this Ani-May, but how will you be celebrating? Will you be streaming new anime or picking up something from HMV. Let us know!
