Why You Can Trust CNET Know Someone Who Loves Anime? This Is the Streaming Service to Gift Them
Crunchyroll's simulcast calendar is my favorite feature of the streaming service.
- Though Kourtnee hasn't won any journalism awards yet, she's been a Netflix streaming subscriber since 2012 and knows the magic of its hidden codes.
Crunchyroll's basic subscription is $8 a month.
We consume a good amount of anime in my house -- not enough to keep any single streaming service in business on our own, but it's enough. I have one kid who can't miss an episode of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, and when Attack on Titan was still on the air, it was appointment TV in my home. I have to keep multiple streamers on rotation for anime, but Crunchyroll is one that's a staple I don't mind paying for, and it's not expensive.
It's true you can watch some things for free, but the basic $8 a month subscription is what opens the gate to Crunchyroll's simulcasts. That means you can watch new episodes the same day they air in Japan, instead of waiting days or months. I'm watching Dandadan this season and prefer to stream on my TV, but my kids often use their phones for streaming and watch way more than one season of each series every week.
Simulcasts help you plan your TV-watching schedule
It's a good thing there's a simulcast calendar that lets you know what time every title will broadcast. You can look up airtimes — whether it's the popular Japanese subtitled version or a dubbed release in a different language. That's convenient when you want to keep up with the latest drops for shows like Dandadan (I'm going to keep mentioning this show) or Re:Zero, or other favorites, such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Solo Leveling and Demon Slayer.
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Simulcasts are its strongpoint, and that's partly due to Crunchyroll's mega library. When the merger with Funimation happened two years ago, it brought their catalogs together, which offers viewers tens of thousands of new and old anime series and movies. Does it have every single anime title out there? No. I have to hit up Hulu and HiDive for some stuff. But there's a bunch to watch, including Crunchyroll originals and adaptations of well-known manga like Chainsaw Man, Dragon Ball and My Hero Academia. On top of anime, the Sony-owned app also has music content you can stream.
Up until this year, one of Crunchyroll's downsides was that it offered only a single profile for your account. When there are three or more people in your family who use the app, things can get tricky. This past April, the streamer rolled out the ability to create up to five profiles for premium subscribers (avatars included), allowing viewers to keep their watch lists and in-progress shows separate from everyone else who may be sharing the account.
Read more: Best Anime Streaming Services of 2024
Why does Crunchyroll make a great gift?
The service is available in more than 200 countries, with access to 1,600-plus hours of classic and new anime from around the world. The $8 a month subscription is perfect for any anime lover, and upgrading to the $10-a-month Mega Fan or $15 Ultimate Fan plan grants more perks. In addition to letting you watch anime, each of those plans offers access to Crunchyroll Game Vault and discounts in the Crunchyroll merch store, which right now has a holiday gift guide worth checking out too.
If you need additional gifts for the people in your life, here are 63 of our favorite ideas that will help you while shopping this holiday season.