For all the Anime and Manga fans or popularily known as Anime Otaku, we bring you a detailed Crunchyroll review – the largest Anime Streaming Service.
Crunchyroll allows its users and viewers to stream unlimited Anime shows, Manga and Korean Dramas. Crunchyroll is currently streaming more than 900 anime latest and old shows and over 200 Asian dramas and 50 manga streaming under the Crunchyroll Manga version which was started in 2013. Although only limited manga can be accessed worldwide due to licensing issues and restrictions.
What is Crunchyroll?
Crunchyroll is an on-demand streaming service which was start-up by a group of graduates from the University of California in 2006. Back then It mainly focused on upload and streaming of Asian shows video or popularly known as Anime. It also included a fan-subtitled version of these East Asian shows. (fan subtitled version of a show is the practice of translation by fans or subtitled into the language other than the original.)
It is different from other popular streaming devices like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu TV as it only focuses on streaming Anime shows and K Dramas from the East Asia. Crunchyroll has been listed as part of the content line up by HBO max.
Crunchyroll Plans and Pricing: Includes 2-week Free Trial
To get access to the premium version of the streaming service you can choose between two premium paid plans, Premium and Premium+. You can easily compare both the plans on their official website.
The each plan costs about $7.99/MO and $11.95/MO which comes with Two-Week free trial which can be cancelled anytime.
The Payment Methods are Credit Card or PayPal Account.
Let’s look into all three plans in detail :
» The Free Membership has a low quality video with a lot of ads. It gives access only to limited shows and drama. In case of customer care, you only get standard customer support.
» The premium Membership offer Ad-Free streaming with unlimited access to the shows and drama with the option to choose between High Definition 1080p or 720p. You also receive guaranteed priority response and premium Email support.
» The Premium+ Membership offer the same as the premium but with additional membership of VRV Premium owned by Otter Media.
They also have an option for Gift Membership. If you have a friend who is an anime fan, well now you have the perfect gift.
Crunchyroll: Pros and Cons
We are reviewing Crunchyroll honestly and we have researched deep. Here we have tried to bring all pros and cons of Crunchyroll into your attention here.
We will first talk about the benefits and features of the service:
1. It gives you access to unlimited anime shows , manga and Korean dramas. You get option to choose between 900+ anime dramas and 200+ Asian Dramas.
2. It simulcasts the latest episode aired on Japanese Broadcast within 1 hour on the site.
3. The video quality and sound quality of the shows are of a very High Definition.
4. It is accessible on your smartphone, you can watch your favourite shows on the go.
5. They have a tracker for Episodes and timestamp, incase you leave your show in between you can come back anytime to roughly the same spot you left.
6. There is a wide range of language options for subtitled and dubbed shows. You can choose from over 10+ language to stream your show in.
7.You get a queue option addressed as ‘My Shows’ as a watchlist, you can add in all the shows you want to watch.
8. You can change the subtitle language while you watch the show, by clicking the preferred language right below the video player without getting interrupted.
9. They have finally updated their Video Player from Adobe Flash to HTML5 Plugin, which is very user friendly and runs smoothly.
Drawbacks or the features that need to be improved for a quality customer service:
1.The graphics are not very appealing or does not look like a video streaming site. It mostly looks like the site back in 2010 we used for news and games.
2. The White Background of the Video Player takes up more space thereby give less space for screen.
3. Unnecessary Ads taking up the space, Irrespective of the premium plans, there are ads on the home page. While premium plans removes ads from the beginning of the video.
4. Due to their Licensing Issues, some shows cannot be broadcasted out of Japan.
5. Crunchroll Manga is not user friendly and difficult to read as it runs on Adobe Flash.
6. Unable to click on 0:00 mark on timeline of video player, in case you witch to re-watch the show there is no restart button.
7. There is a common glitch on pausing the video for too long, to resume you need to reload the page.
8. Mostly you find latest shows on Crunchyroll, but they don’t stream Old Classic Anime like Shin Tzu No Jo and Cardcaptor Sakura, because of their licensing issues
Why Opt for Crunchyroll?
Crunchyroll, a WarnerMedia company is the world’s most popular anime brand. It plays a large role in connecting anime and manga fans from over 200+ countries and territories. Fans can get complete access to the largest collection of licensed anime and manga through Crunchyroll.
The viewers and users can watch the anime in any preferred language as the streaming service has translated the shows into several languages including English, Espanol ( America Latina), Espanol ( Espana), Portugues ( Brasil), Portugues (Portugal), Francais, Deutsch, Farsi, Italiano, and others.
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The viewers can get access to the simulcasts – top series , right one hour after the Japanese broadcast. As mentioned already, It comes with a free version and two kinds of paid premium membership. The users can choose as per their requirements.
Is Crunchyroll worth your money?
Crunchyroll has good consumer satisfaction overall, and ranks 18th among other anime sites. The question arises is whether it is worth the money or no?
Sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime offer limited and popular Anime shows too, under the anime genre. Along with it to also get access to popular American TV shows and Movies.
Only if you are a Anime Geek and wish to explore more in the anime industry, then you may definitely buy Crunchyroll membership.
In Countries like India and America, only limited content is being broadcasted. You do not get access to all the shows or Manga. In India, the content is 5% less than what America is being broadcasted.
Well, users are satisfied with the quality and value of the Company but the most common issues they face is Customer Services as it does not meet the customer’s expectations.
Go, get it if you want to support the anime industry.
Help/ Support:
In case of any customer care or assistance, you can reach them by visiting the official site and clicking on the support tab and forums which redirects you to a form, fill the form and submit your inquiry and the support team will contact you for further guidance
