Pros & Cons
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- Expansive anime library
- All tiers support 1080p streaming
- Many simulcast shows
- Some original series
- Manga and apparel store
- Offline downloads
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- Some interface clutter
- No free tier
- Few subtitle options
Crunchyroll Specs
| Ads | |
| Anime | |
| Concurrent Streams | 6 |
| Offline Downloads on Mobile | |
| On-Demand Movies and TV Shows | |
| Original Programming | |
| Starting Price | $9.99 per month |
| Web Store |
Anime fans are spoiled for choice when it comes to video streaming services. Crunchyroll, one of the best-known names in the category, is also a top destination for watching Japanese animated shows and movies. It has more than 1,300 series, many simulcast shows, and offline viewing. Thanks to mergers by its parent company, Sony, Crunchyroll has become a one-stop anime shop that features dubbed content from former competitors Funimation and VRV. All of this makes Crunchyroll the best streaming service for anime fans, and earns it our Editors' Choice award.
Plans and Prices
The biggest change to Crunchyroll is that it no longer has a free tier. The service's three paid plans begin with the $9.99-per-month Fan tier, which grants you full access to the library on one device. Moving up the ladder, you'll find the $13.99-per-month Mega Fan plan, which provides discounts on select products in the online store (more on that later), access to fan expos, offline viewing, and the ability to stream on four devices. The $17.99-per-month Ultimate Fan option lets you stream on six devices and includes cool annual gifts, such as branded bags and action figures. Notably, all tiers support 1080p streaming.
(Credit: Crunchyroll/PCMag)Other services with anime programming charge a similar price. Hidive's premium version, for example, costs $6.99 per month. An HBO Max membership, which includes a lot of animated DC content, costs $10.99 per month with ads. Hulu's ad-supported tier costs $11.99 per month, but you can pay $18.99 per month to opt out of commercials. Netflix starts at $7.99 per month with ads, but we recommend that people subscribe to Netflix's $17.99-per-month Standard plan instead. Disney+ is $11.99 per month with ads, while Prime Video is $8.99 per month with ads. If you don't want to pay anything, RetroCrush's classic anime library is completely free.
One unique aspect of Crunchyroll is its apparel and manga shop. There, you can browse merchandise that suits a holistic weeb lifestyle, including books, figurines, clothes, and home videos (for those who prefer physical media to complement their streaming). Crunchyroll's shop even has Japanese snacks available for sale, perhaps to live up to the service's delicious name.
Crunchyroll is available on many different platforms and devices, including media streaming devices (Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), mobile phones (Android and iOS), and several gaming consoles (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Switch, Xbox Series S/X, and Xbox One). Crunchyroll no longer supports the Xbox 360 or the original Wii, and it is not yet compatible with the Switch 2.
What Can You Watch on Crunchyroll?
The library is divided into anime and live-action drama sections, with the former comprising the majority of the content. Shows are distributed across various genres, including action, adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy, music, mystery, romance, and sci-fi. Top shows include Attack on Titan, Death Note, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hunter X Hunter, One-Punch Man, several Naruto series, and Yuri!!! on Ice. Crunchyroll also produces original anime series, including A Place Further Than the Universe, In/Spectre, and The Rising of the Shield Hero. There are too many shows on Crunchyroll to list them all, but you can find the complete list here.
Other anime streaming sites fill some of Crunchyroll's coverage gaps while offering many of the same shows. For instance, Hulu has most of the shows mentioned above, as well as classics like Cowboy Bebop, some Dragon Ball series, and Trigun. Netflix also offers many of the same popular titles, in addition to acclaimed platform-exclusive programs, such as Beastars, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Castlevania: Nocturne, and Dan Da Dan. Netflix is also the exclusive home of the smash-hit K-Pop Demon Hunters.
(Credit: Crunchyroll/PCMag)Crunchyroll, like most other dedicated anime streaming services, maintains a library of simulcast shows. Simulcast episodes are available approximately one hour after they originally air (it's not live TV streaming like YouTube TV). Currently, Crunchyroll has about 40 simulcast shows in its library, including Ace of the Diamond, Black Clover, In/Spectre, My Hero Academia, and One Piece. You can keep track of all the episode releases with Crunchyroll's simulcast calendar. Hulu also offers simulcast series, like Bleach and Chainsaw Man.
Crunchyroll's dramas include a live-action stage adaptation of Demon Slayer and some of Bruce Lee's catalog. These are certainly not the service's main draw, but some audiences may appreciate their inclusion.
The library has grown even more impressive now that it has absorbed Funimation. Before, Crunchyroll and Funimation stood on opposite sides of the "subs versus dubs" debate. However, with Crunchyroll bolstered by Funimation's extensive dubbed library, subscribers no longer need to make a choice. Crunchyroll also acquired content from the defunct streaming services Wakanim and VRV, which bundled Crunchyroll alongside other streaming channels. Having a few non-anime cartoon options makes Crunchyroll even more irresistible.
A dedicated anime streaming service, such as Crunchyroll, should work well for you if that's the only thing you care about. However, if you or someone else in your household wants to watch other shows and movies (or even other animated series), then you're better off choosing a streaming service, such as Hulu or Netflix, that also includes mainstream content. For instance, Netflix's top originals include Bojack Horseman and Stranger Things. Hulu also offers popular exclusives, including The Bear and The Handmaid's Tale. Disney+ is a great option for family-friendly programming, featuring shows like Andor and Marvel's X-Men '97.
Streaming Crunchyroll on the Web
Crunchyroll's web interface features a distinctive gray, white, and orange color scheme. However, the amount of information on any one page is overwhelming. The interface feels more like an online forum board than a dedicated streaming service. You navigate the experience via a top menu for Shows, Manga, News, Games, and Store. In the upper-right corner, there are buttons for Queue, Random, and your profile icon. Queue allows you to sort saved shows, but it doesn't enable alphabetically sorting entries or searching the list. Random is a delightful feature that serves up the first episode of an unknown show. It's great for discovery.
(Credit: Crunchyroll/PCMag)The profile area allows you to update your basic information, add details about your anime-related interests, and customize your profile photo. You can also set notification and content preferences, as well as view payment history details.
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On the shows page, you sort anime and drama titles by Popular, Simulcasts, Updated, Alphabetical, Genres, Seasons, or Release Calendar. Clicking the show brings you to its detail page, where you browse available episodes, see user ratings, and find simulcast information.
The main playback interface is cluttered, so we recommend watching videos in full-screen mode to minimize distractions. By default, the space surrounding the content is filled not just with ads, but with user comments, a series' episode carousel, show recommendations, and links to other Crunchyroll content, such as news and browser-based versions of anime mobile games. The quality of those games, of course, varies. More on those in a bit.
In addition to the standard playback and volume controls, the video player features a "Next Episode" button and a gear icon for selecting the playback resolution and subtitle language (10 options available). However, the video player lacks rewind or fast-forward buttons. Fortunately, the video player itself functions properly. The manga reader worked well in testing, and we found it easy to jump between reading the Jujutsu Kaisen manga and watching its anime counterpart, also available on the service.
Mobile App and Games
We tested Crunchyroll's mobile app on a Google Pixel (it's available on iPhone, too). The app employs the same orange and white color scheme as the web version, ensuring a consistent look across platforms. An overflow menu at the top of the app lets you access account settings on one side and a search bar on the other. The account setting section is fairly basic. The only real customization option is the ability to change the app language and manga viewing quality. The side menu also features external links to other Crunchyroll apps, including its Manga App, News App, and Store.
(Credit: Crunchyroll/PCMag)The top navigation menu has four items: Home, New, Anime, and Manga Shop. Crunchyroll divides the Home section into a My Queue (essentially a list of shows you save for watching) and My History lists. The New section organizes shows in two categories: This Season and Updated Episodes. Titles are listed alphabetically, but we would like to see the option to sort by genre or popularity.
The dedicated Anime section has all these filter options that the New tab lacks. You can sort by popularity, release season, title, or genre. You can sort the manga section by Newest and Featured.
Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan subscribers can access premium mobile games via Crunchyroll, with no in-app purchases required. The current lineup isn't huge, but it features intriguing titles like the puzzle game Freshly Frosted, the beat 'em up River City Girls 2, and the strategy game Metal Slug Tactics. There's already a lot of overlap between gamers and anime fans, so hopefully, Crunchyroll's mobile gaming library can grow to rival Netflix's impressive offerings.
Crunchyroll supports offline downloads on mobile devices in its Mega Fan tier. Most other mainstream video streaming services support this feature, including Hulu, Paramount Plus, and Prime Video.
Subtitles and Parental Controls
Although Crunchyroll now offers a better mix of subtitles and dubs, subtitles remain the primary focus. So, we wish we had a few more options beyond just changing the language. Other streaming services let you adjust everything from font color to window opacity to make reading as comfortable as possible, but you can't do so with Crunchyroll.
We would still like to see Crunchyroll adopt more sophisticated parental control tools. We appreciate that you can filter mature video and manga content, but there's no way to lock those settings in place. Given the library's size, the ability to allowlist the series that a parent deems appropriate for their child would be helpful. Crunchyroll should also add support for multiple user profiles under one account. Additional profiles would help Crunchyroll users keep their queues organized and let them better tune their profiles.
Using a VPN With Crunchyroll
A VPN is an excellent way to protect your privacy online from malicious actors and your ISP. Another benefit? They can help you spoof your real geographic location when online. Many video streaming services, as a result, do not allow you to use a VPN since streaming rights are often locked to certain regions. As a result, some streaming services are not available to residents outside the US or Canada. The inherently international nature of Crunchyroll's content made us wonder whether a VPN connection would prevent us from streaming.
Fortunately, we experienced no major issues watching anime with our test Windows device connected to ProtonVPN servers in Canada or Denmark. Note: Even if your VPN works with all your video streaming services today, that does not guarantee it will continue to do so in the future. Video streaming services are continually finding new ways to detect and block VPN traffic.