It is the most loved streaming app by young and very young people, over 50 million downloads on Android alone, approximately 120 million registered usersof which 11 million paying: it’s a bit like Netflix, but you can only see Japanese anime or in any case coming from the East.
It’s called Crunchyroll, it’s a streaming platform that is available worldwide and currently owned by Sony, which bought it at the end of 2020 (for about 1.2 billion dollars) from Warner Bros. Which in turn had taken over it from AT&T. The idea however is old from 2006 and came to a group of students of the University of California at Berkeleywho precisely wanted a place where they could see films and series produced in Asia.
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youtube: a scene from Nier:Automata
How much does Crunchyroll cost and how to subscribe
Crunchyroll ha preceded Netflix by a couple of years in the field of streaming but remains very small compared to the giant of Los Gatos, which currently has around 240 million subscribers (all paying) worldwide. Despite this, her specialization has allowed her to carve out a significant space for herself.
We used Crunchyroll thanks to a 75 day free trial obtained with our Game Pass Ultimate subscription and below we will tell you how it went, how to sign up, how much the paid service costs, what we liked and what not. And also what to see, of course.
Compared to more or less all major streaming platforms, Crunchyroll still allows a period of free use for anyone: connect to the Italian site, you create an account and then you have 14 days of viewing. During the registration procedure it is still necessary to enter a payment methodbecause the charges will start automatically at the end of the trial.
We found all very clear: both in the confirmation email and under the item Account of the site the date from which you will start paying is precisely specified, and immediately below is the button Cancel your subscription. Which is something that should therefore be able to be done without particular problems, which unfortunately does not often happen.
If you decide to continue, there are 3 options available. Indeed, there are 4: you can remain registered but choose the plan Free, with ads and a (very) limited amount of content to watch. Otherwise, you can activate the plan Fan from 4.99 euros per month, Mega Fan from 6.49 per month (which is the one used for testing) or Annual Mega Fan from 64.99 euros per year. The catalog is the same for everyone, but Mega Fan subscriptions allow viewing on up to 4 devices (instead of just one) and offline playback.
The audio and subtitle languages are specified in the information of each single content
How to use Crunchyroll (and what changes between Sub and Dub)
The experience of browsing and watching content on Crunchyroll is similar to that of other streaming platforms: there are app on the App Store and Play Store, for i televisions smart, can be accessed from browser and so on. The contents are organized by date, by alphabetical order, by genre and by popularity.
There is however one important difference compared to other streaming platforms Widespread in the West: Since content becomes available very quickly after broadcast in Japan, it is rarely in a language that can be understood. This is why next to each one, together with the average user rating, there is the wording Subtitled, Voiced or Sub/Dubwhich means both things, that is Subbed e Dubbed (subtitled and also dubbed). The acronym Dub however, it does not necessarily mean that the dubbing is in Italian: very often it is in English, but equally often the subtitles are in Italian. Also here, the app is however very clear: for each content, under the heading Information it is possible to see the list of available languages and in any case when you start watching you are warned if the film or series is only in Japanese with subtitles.
The content resolution it is not specified: it seemed to us at the level of Netflix’s Full HD, without drops in frame rates or traces of buffering, not even in the first seconds. Among the features to which the platforms have now accustomed us, the command See next episode arrives maybe a little late (after the end credits) e lacks skip the intro. However, these are two quite understandable defects, because anime episodes are generally shorter than average.
Interview Cristina D’Avena, from the initials of the cartoons to the video game Genshin Impact by Alessandra Contin 16 April 2023 In the upper right corner, clearly visible, the banner that recalls the availability of the 14-day free trial
What anime is on Crunchyroll and what to watch
For the rest, there is everything one would expect: there is the section Keep watching which fills up as you look at things, there are i Recommendedyou can make lists of what interests you and you can choose whether to see or not i VM18 content. Which are not the really adult ones but simply genre anime hiswhich complement the various shonen e shojo (intended for boys and girls respectively).
All right, but what can you see on Crunchyroll? Above all, what is worth seeing? The platform speaks of “over 1000 titles”, probably counting the individual episodes and also its original productions (which it has been making since the beginning of 2020), which is a considerable number: among the most popular titles there are Obviously Demon Slayer, One Piece, Attack on Titanall seasons of Naruto and all those of My Hero Academia and much more.
But there are also less obvious and mainstream productions. Above all appreciating science fiction and leaving shonen alone due to age limits, we particularly enjoyed 86, Nier: Automata e Knights of Sidonia and even had the opportunity to recover Kill la Kill e Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Above all, we liked the two spinoffs of Blade Runnerentitled Black Out 2022 e Black Lotus e set between the first and second film, which are far more beautiful than the IMDb ratings would suggest. Also, the platform has a section of news really complete and curated and dedicated apps for accessing some video games taken from the most successful series and for reading the manga.
As for what is not there, it is missing Evangelionthere is not Devilman and there are practically none of the big Japanese robots (but there is so much Gundam): there is almost nothing of the classics, but it is not actually to look for this content that one turns to Crunchyroll. Although honestly an entire rewatch of Ranma 1/2 we would have gladly done that.
@capoema