My Family Watches a Lot of Anime, and There's One Streaming Service I Always Use

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. 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 Dan Da Dan (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 watchlists and in-progress shows separate from everyone else who may be sharing the account.

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 gift ideas for the people in your life, here are 52 of our favorite gifts available now.

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