Funimation Productions, LLC (commonly referred to as Funimation) was a North American anime company founded in 1994 by the Japanese-American entrepreneur Gen Fukunaga. It was the largest distributor of anime in North America, and had the international license for the My Hero Academia anime.
On August 2021, Funimation's parent company, Sony, acquired Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia and placed it under Funimation, planning to merge the two streaming services together. On March 2022, it was announced that Funimation and a few other streaming services, as well as the majority of their catalogs, would be absorbed by the Crunchyroll branding and be managed under Crunchyroll, LLC. The Funimation app and website would shut down on April 2, 2024, making Crunchyroll the primary streaming host of the My Hero Academia anime.
Simulcast and Streaming Services#
In March 2016, Funimation Entertainment announced they had licensed the series for streaming services, home and broadcast release, as well as obtaining the merchandise rights.
Currently, the series is streamed on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix in North America.
Simulcast by Funimation#
Funimation releases their English dubbed and subtitled versions of the anime's episodes during the same time frame as the Japanese release. The Funimation streaming service was available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Peru.
Simuldubbing#
Funimation produced the official English dub for the first five seasons of the main series, the first three movies, and the fourth OVA.
After the merger, Crunchyroll would take over producing the English dub for Seasons 6-8, the Vigilantes series, the fourth movie, and the sixth, seventh, and eighth OVAs.
My Hero Academia#
Season 1#
Season 1's English dub premiered on May 4th, 2016, making the English dub's debut five episodes behind the most recent episode that aired in Japan.
Season 2#
For Season 2, the dubbed episodes were released on the same day as the Japanese episodes until the release of Episode 27, with the original promo for the season saying this would only apply to the first six episodes of the season. After that point, the dubbed release was behind the Japanese release by two weeks.[1]
Season 3#
In a similar manner to Season 2, Season 3's dubbed episodes were released on the same day as the Japanese episodes until the release of Episode 49, with the original promo of the season stating only the first six episodes would receive this treatment.[2] After that point, the dubbed release behind the most recent Japanese airing by two weeks. Episode 39's English dub premiere was skipped over due to a delay in receiving dubbing materials from Japan, making Episode 40 the start of the season's simuldub. Episode 39's English dub later premiered on April 28, 2018, along with Episode 42.
Season 4#
In Season 4, the dubbed episodes followed a same-day release schedule up until the release of Episode 73, followed by another week's delay after Episode 77 due to Funimation not receiving dubbing materials from Japan on time.[3][4] Episode 84's premiere, as well as production for the rest of the season's English version, was postponed due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] Episode 84's English dub later premiered on April 12, 2020, followed by Episode 85 on April 26, Episode 86 on May 10, and Episodes 87 and 88 on June 14.[6]
Season 5#
Due to the simuldub being remotely recorded, Episode 89's English dub premiered on April 10, 2021, with the Japanese release of Episode 91, followed by a new episode every week.[7][8]Episode 103's English dub release was delayed to July 24, followed by a break in release for Episode 108, which later released on August 27.[9][10]
Season 6#
Season 7#
Season 8#
The English dub of the season premiered on October 18, 2025, once again releasing two weeks behind the premiere of the Japanese version.[11]
Both the English and Japanese version of Episode 171 premiered on May 2, 2026.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes#
Season 1#
The English and Japanese versions of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes both premiered on April 7, 2025. This is the first season of a My Hero Academia series to be produced as a same day simuldub since Season 4 of the main series, and the first to finish its run without any production delays.
Season 2#
The English and Japanese versions of Season 2 both premiered on January 5, 2026. The former's release was delayed by two weeks starting at Episode 24.[12]