- Anime is taking over the world!
Okay. Well maybe not quite that much.
But you remember the old days when anime was this niche,
nerdy thing that only a few people in the English
speaking world knew about,
and you kind of had to hunt around,
go to specialty stores or torrent sites
to get the good stuff.
Yeah. That's, well, that's over.
Those days are long gone.
Nowadays there's an absolute glut of great anime out there.
Right at your fingertips.
You've got subbed or dubbed or classic or new fangled.
Today, we're gonna talk about the best ways to watch anime.
Whether you're just getting started on your anime journey
or you pretty much live life
in a Super Sayain state at all times.
Now, a lot of people think, okay,
we've got Funimation and Crunchy Roll.
And I that's all I need to know.
We will get to those.
But I'm also gonna tell you about a few places
where you can watch some anime absolutely free.
Because those are premium services and free stuff is good.
So let's get started.
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All right, so I promised you some free anime services.
And so let's start there and get it done.
What I would recommend is use these free services
if you don't have a subscription service
and you don't really want one.
So for instance, Hulu is going to carry a lot of what is
on these free services.
Just as an example. Netflix as well.
But anyway, let's start with Pluto TV.
I highlighted Pluto TV a week ago on the channel
and it's a kind of on my mind, right?
And I did notice as I was doing my review that,
yeah, they've got some anime stuff on there to check out.
So Pluto TV is split into two different sides.
You've got the live TV side and the on demand side.
Over on live TV they've got four channels
dedicated to anime.
Anime all day.
That's kind of a generalist channel.
They're going to switch between different programs.
And then three that are devoted to specific shows.
One Piece, Naruto, and Yu-Gi-Oh.
Over on the on-demand side they do have 15 movies
and 50 series by my count.
At least right now.
And those titles, much like on every other free service,
is going to drift toward the classic.
So you get a lot of RWBY and Ghost in the Shell,
that sort of thing.
So over on Pluto TV,
you're not gonna get a ton of anime
and much of what you find here
you will be able to find elsewhere too.
Like I mentioned before.
But still, Pluto is free.
So if you're just looking for a quick fix,
something to scratch that itch
or maybe you're looking for a starter on your anime journey
or just some background noise
while you're working around the house, it is great.
It's a great choice.
And that brings me to Tubi.
Another free service that you've probably heard about.
This is a free streamer that does not include live TV
like they have over on Pluto
but Tubi has 200 titles
including much of what we saw on Pluto
but much more of that same.
So a lot of RWBY, more Ghost in the Shell,
plus more titles.
So this is basically gonna stick with the basics
and the classics, but it does bump it up a notch
from what we had over on Pluto.
You just don't have that live TV option
where you can kind of just keep it running all day, right?
But if we're talking free streaming services
then the ultimate for anime has to be Retro Crush.
Now, the thing about Retro Crush
is that you're gonna find mostly classic
and niche eighties stuff, right?
But hey, that might be exactly what you're after.
If that's your jam then Retro Crush is awesome
and it's free.
If you do end up loving it, then you can opt-out
of the commercials if you pay them five bucks a month,
but that's totally optional.
You don't have to do that.
As far as other streaming services.
There's not a ton else out there that I could find
on a cursory glance.
You do have Adult Swim that carries Cowboy BeBop
and Dragon Ball Super and a few classic titles like that.
But over on some other free services,
like the Roku Channel,
I don't recommend going there.
So the Roku Channel, for instance, I found nothing.
No anime on a quick search through,
they had no anime category.
They didn't have any of the live TV channels
that carried anime.
But I did find some stuff by manually searching.
But I say if they're not gonna prioritize anime
on their interface then anime fans
don't need to prioritize them.
There are other places you can go.
And the same would go for other services like Stir and Plex.
I didn't find anything there either.
Now over on the paid side
we need to talk about two big names, Hulu and Netflix.
If you pay for any streaming services
it's probably one of those two, right?
Or both.
Over on Hulu, I counted up 314 series in their library
and about 20 movies.
Again, by my count.
I, in fact, I found some stuff that I'd never even heard of.
I didn't know that they did 12 episodes of Devil May Cry.
I love that game.
I might have to check that one out.
Please let me know in the comments
if it's worth checking out.
Anyway, over on Netflix, they operate with anime
the same way that they do with just about every other genre
where they are concentrating
on their own Netflix branded titles.
So by my count they've got 74 original anime titles.
Plus, obviously, a ton of licensed stuff as well.
So if you already have Netflix, you already have Hulu,
then great, you're in good shape.
You've got a lot of good anime at your fingertips.
Same would go for Amazon Prime.
Now there's also HBO Max.
But that operates a little bit differently.
HBO Max is owned by AT&T, which also owns Crunchy Roll
which is a premium paid anime service.
And so you might think sweet if they own them
they must have put it all on HBO Max
so I can watch it with that subscription.
Not quite.
There is a really good Crunchy Roll section of HBO Max,
but that is going to be a curated list of titles
from Crunchy Roll.
It's not their entire library.
They usually pluck out, I think, just a few dozen titles to
throw onto HBO Max
and it's usually there for a limited amount of time.
So if you get hooked on something
you're gonna have to go over and pay for a Crunchy Roll
once it leaves the HBO library.
And that means it's probably time for us to talk
about Crunchy Roll and Funimation and HIDIVE.
These are the granddaddies.
These are the big names in paid anime streaming services.
So, how do they work?
Well, they do have differences.
So, for instance, if you hate reading your dialogue,
then go to Funimation.
They are the best for dubbed content.
So Crunchy Roll, on the other side,
is gonna be better for subtitled content.
If you don't mind reading a little bit.
If you like staying up to date to the minute
then you also need to consider simulcasts.
Now all of these services do simulcasts
to some degree or another,
but Funimation is the best at it.
They have some shows available within hours
of their release in Japan.
Now there are some titles that need to be dubbed
and might take as long as a couple of weeks,
but hey, that's not too bad, right?
Better than waiting a year or more, right?
So the next season comes out
and you're just catching up on the end of the last one.
But in general,
Funimation is also gonna be better for classic titles.
Crunchy Roll on the other hand
will be better for mostly the newer shows.
If you really want to stay up to date
with the stuff that's coming out now.
I'm not talking about simulcasts
but just what's in their library.
Crunchy Roll errs on the side of newer.
And what's this all gonna cost you?
Well, Crunchy Roll goes for eight bucks a month.
Funimation goes for $6 a month or $8 a month
depending on which tier you want.
And I think there's actually one higher tier
but we can disregard that for now.
Now both of those come with a 14 day free trial.
Now, if you've been paying attention
then you might remember at the beginning of this section
I mentioned Crunchy Roll, Funimation and HIDIVE.
So why haven't I talked about HIDIVE?
Well, HIDIVE is another premium service that you can get
for five bucks a month.
Now that one has a 30 day free trial
if you want to just go try it out.
But why haven't I talked about HIDIVE much
with regards to the other two?
Well, HIDIVE is, it's good.
It's got some free content available that you can check out
or the $5 a month, like I said.
But the thing about HIDIVE is,
while they do have some free content available,
it's really best if you pay that five bucks.
And the library that they have is somewhat limited compared
to the other two services.
And if you don't pay the five bucks,
it's gonna be commercial supported
and some people find that annoying.
I know I do.
Now, if you're leaning toward Crunchy Roll
then here's what I would suggest.
I'm going to throw another name at you.
Consider VRV, V-R-V.
VRV goes for 10 bucks a month total.
And with VRV you get Crunchy Roll and HIDIVE.
Plus a few other services that aren't anime
but that you might find fun as well.
So that's the lay of the land.
If you're an anime junkie
then you probably knew about most of this stuff
but hopefully I gave you some tips for,
especially on the free side.
Most anime junkies have heard of Funimation
and Crunchy Roll and HIDIVE
but you may not have known
that there was something called Retro Crush
or that you could get quite a few good free titles
over on Tubi.
So yeah, good hunting.
Find some great anime out there.
And let me know in the comments
if I missed any services that you think are must haves
or at least must considers.
And give this video a like and subscribe
on your way down there.
And like I said,
don't forget to join us on Fridays for our live streams.
I'd love to see you there.
I love interacting with all of you.
So I will see you on Friday.
Thanks for watching.