Is Crunchyroll worth a subscription?

C

ChrisT

Hikikomori
Getting back in to anime after a long break. Looked at Crunchyroll, and I've signed up to a 14 day free trial. Seems really good for watching the latest anime series, but when I've looked up some older stuff, they don't have it.

Do people find it's worth the subscription? And if so, where can you find older anime to stream online?
 
some people seem to be having problems with the streams, it's hard to catch up on some popular manga too since they've jettisoned earlier chapters. right now I don't think so, ears to the ground for the streams to improve
 
I do think its worth the subscription. I mainly use it for the simulcasts but if I was watching an older series (even only a few years old) then it wouldn't usually be something I was looking for. It'd be something I liked the sound of and felt like giving it a go so I suppose it makes me try new series?
 
Crunchyroll's catalogue over the past couple of years has improved a lot more than it used to be. 95-99% of the simulcasts announced are generally confirmed for the UK & Ireland which is good, and with the Funimation partnership we have a lot more catalog titles making their way onto the service.

The real issues at the moment is that their Flash player has been playing up lately, but their HTML5 player is coming soon as evidently seen with some folks already receiving it for their accounts. The other issue is that the much older catalogue titles are/were still region locked since at the time the service or distributor only has US/CA rights. HIDIVE is a similar case, but both services do generally offer UK/IE for any new & recent titles from here on.

For £4.99 a month or £39.99 a year it's worth the price to be honest. Plus you have apps that support Crunchyroll.
 
Eh I'd say it's easily worth it tbh, like I know I wouldn't watch anywhere near as much anime as I do if it weren't for Crunchyroll and for £40 a year I think it's pretty cheap (obviously circumstances decide how true that is for you).
 
If I didn’t want to watch anime ASAP I would not sub it’s backlog is not great imo especially as they don’t update with Blu ray streams so are mostly censored etc. my bleach watch has had episodes freeze not load, random sub font changes mid ep it shows they really don’t care about there older backlog shows
 
Best €40 I spend on anime each year tbh. It has its issues with server capacity and lack of availability of some titles(there are ways around this point), but overall is a solid service for subtitled anime.
 
I've had massive problems with their flash player, support is useless too.

I've since been using the firefox plugin for the HTML5 player on their site and the whole viewing experience is a lot better now. For the simulcasts and the backlog (there's not a lot of older stuff here though) £40 a year to me is reasonable, though it'd be nice to have access to some of the stuff the US get.

HIDIVE might also be worth a look for older titles.

I forget who pointed this out originally but because.moe is REALLY useful for finding out who's streaming what shows where.
 
Without the US unblocker I wouldn’t use it. I wouldn’t be able to see Yamato currently so without the full library I think it’s rubbish. The UK catalogue is a joke
 
If you're in need of dubbed content like me then its a bit of wasteland. At least with other services the premium feels more uustfied with the expense they go to. I do realise that outs me in a minority of anime fans who almost never visit Crunchyroll.

Though none are worse than what Amazon briefly tried in US where they charged a premium on top of premium for barely any effort on their part.
 
I know I've watched a lot both seasonal and backlog since I subscribed, and it's easily been worth the fee. The main issue is that the PS4 app which I use the most often has issues with loading videos, especially seasonal content. All in all when it works it's been a very worthwhile investment, but when it doesn't work it can be frustrating.
 
But they (Amazon) had HIDIVE content which costs me $5 for anywhere so I wouldn’t have saved any money if I was in America and no one has ever answered that to me yet, why did people moan when it cost us in the UK the exact same amount to access not as many shows. As really $5 a month CR is still cheaper than our £5 a month for more content and more tailored support as the staff is all US
 
thedoctor2016 said:
But they (Amazon) had HIDIVE content which costs me $5 for anywhere so I wouldn’t have saved any money if I was in America and no one has ever answered that to me yet, why did people moan when it cost us in the UK the exact same amount to access not as many shows. As really $5 a month CR is still cheaper than our £5 a month for more content and more tailored support as the staff is all US
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Crunchyroll is $7 a month or $60 a year in the US not $5.
 
Okay but before 25th June 2016 that would have still been cheaper. Only rate has changed it’s gone slightly higher but the 50p a month for how much content I would pay
 
Other than the Discotek titles, I can't say I've ever felt any noticeable gap in the UK catalogue vs the US one, or at least there's not been anything in the past couple of years whose absence has particularly bothered me. Unless you especially want dubbed content, or the few high value older titles Netflix are holding, CR still seems like the best option to me.
 
They pick up the most shows per season so if I were to recommend a subscription anywhere it would be there. Unfortunately they have a record of not picking up the best show of the season in my opinion, but it's worth throwing a few quid at them just to support anime streaming even tho I still find I have to pirate shows I want to watch because god knows I aint having 4 or 5 different subs just for that one show no one decided to picked up.

Unless things have changed they still havn't blocked the use of VPN to get around the region locking. So good on them for that, I pulled my Netflix subscription right away when they did it.
 
Crunchyroll do have a large back catalogue for anime that has aired this decade, and one that is very diverse at that. Obviously things go in and out of license like any other streaming service but if it's volume of stuff to watch I think Crunchy delivers on value. Now if there's something specific you are looking for OP or the old classics, Netflix and/or HI-DIVE might suit you better.

Of course the streaming anime market is much more competitive now and whichever service you go for you're not going to get everything (unless you have enough money to subscribe to Crunchy, HI-DIVE, Netflix and Amazon all at once). But for keeping up with a lot of shows that fit my tastes and its back catalogue Crunchy has been worth it for the few years I've been a subscriber.

However the elephant in the room is the level of service which has consistently been patchy. You'll get a spell of good service then there'll be a longer dry spell where you struggle or can't watch anything at all (the situation we seem to be in recently).

So I'd say yes it's worth it for the content, but beware of their patchy level of service. It would be a good idea though to browse around the different services and find out which one fits your viewing habits best.
 
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