When you hear the word Crunchyroll, you might assume that it is a delicacy. But the anime, manga, and the dorama enthusiasts would be aware of this site. The anime enthusiasts search in various websites for downloading some of their favorite Asian series especially the series from Japan, some end up getting what they looked out for and some don’t end up getting it. Even if they get, they might not get it along with English subtitles. Not all can speak Japanese or even interpret what is written on the screen. Ultimately, despite being deeply interested in watching these series and other videos, they end up not watching it when they don’t get quality videos. To resolve this issue, an American multinational company started a video streaming services site where it hosts various Japanese shows, manga, and anime. There are over 900 shows on its site. 

The website is involved in licensing, production, and distribution of the content obtained from the Japanese production houses. 

There are a lot of people who always want to download the best quality anime and manga. This interest in anime and manga is not something new. It started way back in the 1960s when the manga and anime comics were released. These comics were mostly black and white and it had a lot of characterization in it. Just like watching movies, the heavy content one could find in these sites was very fascinating. 

What is Crunchyroll? 

Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll is an American multinational firm that has a streaming site where the anime, manga comics are streamed. It was started in the year 2006 by a group of enthusiastic students from American Universities. It took shape during that time as the OTT services had started gaining prominence in the market. Moreover, the movies are released in the theatres but one cannot find anime and manga being released in one. So, people started buying DVDs’ to watch their favorite content with some money. Not everyone could afford the DVD and also there was an issue associated with the DVD of region locking. Only when the person has the DVD player with a particular code as that of the DVD, they had bought it could be played. Not all households could afford a DVD player which wasn’t region-locked.

So, the students felt that it would be a great idea if they bought to homes the favorite anime and manga comics via the internet. The amount one would be spending on the subscription way lesser than the amount one would spend every time to watch manga and anime on DVDs’. 

Legality 

The video streaming services website is completely legal and operated via the norms laid down by the telecommunication bodies of those particular countries. As one can see that the website is run by a Multinational Corporation, the personnel acquire the video content only by signing contracts with the production houses. So, there are very few to no chances that the company might get sued due to the screening of content on their website. 

 And also, the users face a lot of issues and flak when they are trying to watch the content from the illegal sites. Sometimes, the website might be pulled down by the government and the extension might get changed. All these illegal issues are not to be found in websites like these. Plus, the problem of advertisements popping in between is not to be found in websites like these as they are not dependent on the advertising agencies to generate revenue to maintain the site. The revenue is obtained by the subscription fee charged to the subscribers. 

Features of this website 

There are many excellent features to jot down about this website. The few best notable features of this site are listed below. 

  • Best customer satisfaction 

Customer satisfaction and customer retention is the key success element of any business. One can enquire the customers of this site as to whether they are completely satisfied with the quality of content they receive via this site and the answer is complete yes. The company strives to maintain one of the best customer services professional teams where any queries of the customers are attended to carefully and if in case, any complaint is registered, stern action is taken. The company also maintains social media profiles in common networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and other sites where updates are posted constantly and one can also comment and receive feedback on the shows being streamed. 

  • Builds strong anime community 

The website is known for building a strong anime community. The anime episodes are arranged in the right fashion and one can find every episode in the site with proper subtitles and content. Below, every episode, one could find a comments section where an entire community bonding is created where the people comment on the quality of programs, they get to watch and they share views of the programs and discuss what could be the next episode content. This has led to idea sharing and content enhancement to the producers’ side. 

  • Best User Interactivity 

For any website to gain a lot of prominence in today’s market scenario, proper user interactivity has to be maintained. As the website is maintained by a team of professionals who are well versed in the technical aspects, they are much aware as to what would attract the users to the site and what kind of features when added to the site increase the user interactive nature of the site. 

  • Free Trial and Free shows 

Before you wish to subscribe and become a member of this site, you could opt for the free membership trial. The trial offers you the feature where one could use the entire website as if one had obtained the website using the money, they had spent in. 

Latest anime and other shows to download 

Just like in the film industry, the anime industry keeps releasing new content very often. Once you open the site of Crunchyroll, you can find a list of anime and other manga comics on the site. A few of the best comics are listed below. 

  • Tower of God 
  • Darling in the Franxx 
  • Baruto: Naruto Next generations 
  • Naruto Shippuden 
  • JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure 

How to download anime and other shows from Crunchyroll? 

It is a well-known fact that Crunchyroll is an anime site that is operated legally. So, downloading any files from this site is not going to be like the procedure used to download anime from the illegal sites. The steps to download from this site are provided below. 

Legal manner 

Once you buy the subscription of Crunchyroll, you can access all the content on the site. Crunchyroll has also released an official application for all kinds of operating systems which can be downloaded from the play store. One can download their favorite shows in the application and watch it during their free time in offline mode. 

Illegal manner 

Crunchyroll just like any other video streaming services provider doesn’t encourage piracy at all. It constantly blocks the sites which are streaming its content without prior permission from the site owner. Some tools are using which you can download the series on your device. The tools work in a fashion where you need to copy and paste the link of the Crunchyroll URL and it opens in the site and you can download the video using the screen recording feature of the site. 

Best alternatives to Crunchyroll 

The following are the best alternatives to Crunchyroll. Watching the anime on DVD and CDs has been the norm until the OTT service providers took over the market. There are few OTT services providers which can offer you free content by generating a lot of advertisements in between the shows. The best alternatives to Crunchyroll when it comes to watching anime is listed below.

1. YouTube

YouTube was the first-ever video sharing platform to come into existence. Anyone can export the video files to YouTube and anyone can watch it online for free. Most of the anime enthusiasts upload their favorite anime on sites like YouTube. YouTube is also region-specific but content like anime isn’t mostly barred by the region. Anyone from any corner of the world watches the same content as the other person would watch. The anime videos are legally uploaded onto YouTube only. So, one need not worry if they would have crossed the violations after YouTube in itself permits the upload of videos only after scanning the content and despite that the video gets uploaded, the company can request YouTube to bring down the video. There might be few drawbacks of watching the anime and manga shows on YouTube but it is one of the simplest and safest sites anyone can prefer. 

2. Netflix Trials

Netflix Trials is the free trial period offered to those who are planning to take up a subscription from Netflix. This is the period when you can enjoy watching a lot of series, movies. Netflix is an MNC based in the USA and it is popular all over the world for the best video streaming services it provides to the users. Netflix is available in Roku, Firestick devices, etc., Netflix has also released an application for android, windows, and iOS which can be downloaded from the respective app stores. The free trial period is offered only for a short duration of time, if you want to extend it, then you need to pay for the subscription and get the access mentioned for 1 year, 2 years or so on. Netflix has a separate section dedicated to anime and shows from East Asia alone. As it is used by people from all over the world, it is fitted with English subtitles. One can find all the latest shows on Netflix. It is arranged in an orderly fashion. 

3. Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime is the video streaming services provided by American Multinational company Amazon. To avail the videos streamed in Amazon Prime free of cost, one needs to take up the free trial period offered by Amazon. This is the duration in which the user can get to watch all the anime and other favorite shows without even paying a single penny. Amazon Prime is available as an application as well. One can download it from the app stores and it is designed for all kinds of platforms. Amazon Prime is one of the best streaming services providers and it is very popular in Asian countries like India. There is a huge fan base for the shows from Japanese countries in India. One can find subtitles in English, Hindi, and other popular regional languages. A small description of the show is given as well to enhance the viewer experience. 

4. Funimation

As already mentioned, Crunchyroll is one of the forerunners for obtaining the license required to stream the Japanese shows. Funimation is one of the other good legal streaming services providers and one of the best parts is that this streaming services provider has partnered with Crunchyroll to share the content between them. If you are residing in the Northern part of America and you are looking for options to download some of the best shows in anime and manga, then this site is the one you need to be looking for. Funimation provides free shows to watch for the viewers only on its website. It is not possible to watch the series for free in its application. Only the ones who have paid for the subscription can watch the anime in the application developed by Funimation. When you open the website, a catalogue is provided where you can check which series is available for free and which is not available free of cost. 

5. Crackle

Sony Crackle
Crackle

Crackle is another best streaming service, provider. If you are interested in watching anime along with the other stupendous shows one could ever think of, then Crackle is the best option one could go for. This is the site where you can find videos and other sorts of files from all parts of the world. If you are an anime fan, then you should never miss out on catching up on anime from this site as the content keeps getting updated very often. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that Crackle offers content based on geography. When you enter the site, the geographical location gets recorded and the shows are provided based on the geographical location. Also, you can make use of the Virtual Private Network to view the content from a different geographical location. The quality of anime uploaded on to this site is top-notch and it is not easy to find a site like Crackle which streams good quality content free of cost. 

6. Tubi TV

Tubi TV
Tubi TV

If you are looking for completely free of cost services provider, then you need to choose Tubi TV. When you are residing in the USA and other European nations, you must be aware of the fact that Tubi TV has one of the largest viewer bases in the country after the USA. This is one of the best sites to watch and download content. You can find a lot of good content on the site alongside a great series from Japan and other Asian countries. The entire website is filled with shows which come with subtitles only. One of the amazing features is the user interactive nature of this site and you can find the latest anime on this site. One need not register themselves to view and download content from this site. They can just enter the website and search for their favorite show and keep watching them. After all, you need to just adjust with the advertisements that pop up often in between the shows as it is the only source of revenue generation for Tubi TV. 

7. Viewster 

Viewster, as the name goes, this is the site where you can view major shows and other content without any hindrance. Name any anime released in recent times, you can find it is Viewster. Despite being a video streaming services site, Viewster doesn’t charge a single penny from its users for watching and downloading content from the platform. Just like how there are a lot of genres when it comes to movies, the same is found in the anime and other shows from Japan as well. Moreover, in most of the other streaming sites, the description is provided in Japanese and one cannot find the content description in English. But it gives one great zeal while watching shows from Viewster as it is one of the best streaming sites with proper description. Very few advertisements pop up in between the shows so that the user doesn’t get distracted while they are trying to watch and download content from this site. 

8. Viki

To watch and download anime from Viki, you need not possess the account registration details. Anyone can just log on to the site and register themselves and watch the content on the site for absolutely free of cost. One can find different collections of anime in different countries. For example, when you are accessing the content of anime from this site from one particular region’s network, then you will be able to watch one set of shows and when you watch the content of anime from the other country’s VPN, then you will be able to view another different set of anime. One more amazing feature of this site is that one can find both subtitled and dubbed anime on this site. The quality of upload is too good and one can also indulge in conversations about the anime uploaded in the comments section and enjoy being a part of the greater anime fan club all across the globe.

9. RetroCrush TV

If you are looking for alternative sites to Crunchyroll, RetroCrush TV would be an amazing one. If you are interested in streaming movies and classic shows, this is the best site for you. It brings to you different kinds of shows and series that would provide you with a different kind of anime streaming experience. To get the best collection of anime classics, there’s no better site than RetroCrush TV. Here, you can get dubbed versions of some of the best original anime series. The contents are downloadable and are available in a variety of formats. So, people can choose a suitable format before streaming and downloading. Besides categorising every content under suitable groups, the site also allows people to search for their desired anime in the search bar.

10. Hulu Anime

Hulu
Hulu

Similar to Crunchyroll is Hulu Anime, another great site for watching anime content. Its anime selection is massive and surprising. If you are done watching the latest anime releases, you can look for some old and rare anime shows on Hulu Anime. Here, you can choose to read and watch as you wish. To get some idea about its collection of content, head over to the “watch now” section and go through the innumerable categories found. The site offers free services and keeps its collection updated from time to time. With its simple UI and easy downloading process, it has gained quick popularity among anime lovers.

11. AnimeLab

Another great platform for getting every anime kind of anime-related content is AnimeLab. It’s a major hub for anime content. It allows you to stream anime shows and download them as well anytime on your device. The best part is its services are available for free. Innumerable new anime-providing sites have come up in recent times. However, AnimeLab has continued to deliver top-notch services for years now. This site even uploads reviews of the major anime shows. Based on your movie preferences, it also recommends shows that you must watch. On AnimeLab, you can stream more than 45000 anime episodes for free! So visit AnimeLab today and browse through its amazing collection of contents!

Check out our other alternatives:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Crunchyroll

1. Can one download content for free from Crunchyroll? 

No. One cannot download content for free from Crunchyroll. You need to pay a certain amount and get the subscription of Crunchyroll if you wish to access the content of Crunchyroll. Though you can enjoy watching content from Crunchyroll at free of cost during the trial period, it is not possible to download the content without paying the subscription charges. 

2. Is the content streamed in Crunchyroll region-specific? 

Yes. The content is streamed according to the region just like any other video streaming services provider. This is because the company has to work on the kind of subtitles that can be used for the audience to understand. For example, in Spain, Spanish should be a must and when in India, adding regional languages is a must. 

3. Is it very expensive to get a subscription from Crunchyroll? 

No. Getting a subscription from Crunchyroll is one of the cheapest things one would incur if they wish to watch anime. It is way cheaper than buying CDs and DVDs’. 

4. Can one find movies from other languages in Crunchyroll? 

No. It is not possible to find movies from other languages in Crunchyroll. It is mostly from the Asian region. Though Crunchyroll is working on ways to rope in movies from the other languages. 

5. Can one find HD quality content in Crunchyroll? 

It is a noted fact that Crunchyroll only streams HD quality content on its site. One cannot find videos with a lesser resolution on its site. 

Disclaimer 

Crunchyroll is a legally operated video streaming services site. Anyone who is found violating the norms and conditions laid down by Crunchyroll’s code of conduct, they will be booked under the Copyright violation act. Already action is being taken on the sites which try to steal the content from the site. One should be aware of the fact that a lot of hardship is being incurred by the highly qualified team to bring good content to one’s table. So, it is not encouraged to watch the content streamed in other illegally operated sites. It doesn’t give you the quality experience of watching like how it is in the legal sites.

Crunchyroll

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