Anime fans who live outside of Japan have to face a number of problems. Not only are they unable to watch their favorite shows as soon as they air, but they also have to search for hours, trying to find a proper stream. Some fans resort to downloading anime from fan-subbing websites, which is illegal and time consuming, while others purchase DVDs, which are expensive and don’t really solve the problem of not watching the show on time.
Crunchyroll is an application that can help these anime fans out. For those of you who do not know, Crunchyroll is an anime and Asian drama streaming application that lets you, well, stream anime and Asian drama of course! To elaborate further, Crunchyroll provides an easy, cheap and legal way to stay up to date with your favorite anime and Asian TV shows. It is much like Hulu, but dedicated to, as I said, anime and Asian drama.
The Crunchyroll app released for the Sony PlayStation 3 on the 31st of July. Since it’s still fairly new, there are some minor issues and here and there that are very likely to be fixed in the near future. When the application was first released, there were lots of bugs and crash issues, but they have been fixed now and there is nothing to worry about any more. This application is available on iOS and Android devices as well.
First off, let me tell you that Crunchyroll can be downloaded for free from the PlayStation Store. You can either use it for free, or get a premium membership. Free users will have to face some limitations, such as viewing only one episode per series, while premium members have complete access to everything that the application has to offer. A premium membership for only anime, or only Asian drama, will cost you about $7 per month, while access to both of these is $12 per month. Having unlimited access to a large number of anime series for such a meager price is difficult to resist. However, as of now, Crunchyroll is providing a 30-day premium membership trial to those users who sign up from their PlayStation 3 system. If you enjoy the service, you can continue the membership by paying the specified amount. If you don’t, no harm done.
To many anime fans, Crunchyroll would seem like the perfect application. And in many ways, it is. The user interface is simple and navigation is quick, with hardly any chance of confusion. Users can browse through popular series, or simulcasts (streaming on the same day as the anime airs in Japan). All series are fully subbed, as subbing is usually preferred over dubbing. Users also have the option to set episodes on queue, which is a good feature, allowing the transition of episodes to be smooth. Furthermore, if you have a Crunchyroll application on some other device, you can view and edit your queue from there as well – a convenient feature indeed.
Quite unfortunately, Crunchyroll isn’t perfect. Everything has it’s flaws, and Crunchyroll has a few too. The only major issue I had was that anime was in 480p. I obviously did not watch every single episode of every single series, but I browsed through many of them, and I was saddened to see that they were provided in 480p. I understand that most anime is produced in 480p as producing in HD can be quite expensive. Yet, this was a big let-down. Most fan subbing websites can provide many series in 720p at the least, yet Crunchyroll does not. ‘Time of Eve’, an OVA that I watched a while back in HD, was beautiful on my computer. I expected it to be better on my television when I watched in Crunchyroll. Imagine my disappointment as I watched the first episode in 480p, on a large screen which made it worse. The entire episode seemed dull and drab. Let’s face it, this is the age of 1080p media. Quality is a major aspect in entertainment, and I believe that some users who try Crunchyroll will be disappointed with the resolution of anime.
But do not lose hope! Crunchyroll has said “We are also planning on rolling out 720p and 1080p on PS3™ later this year, so stay tuned”. And there you have it, this problem will be solved soon. Despite this, for now, you’ll have to do with 480p.
Another issue I encountered with this application was that some old anime series were not available. ‘Death Note’, a highly acclaimed anime series, was no where to be found. I also tried looking for Full Metal Alchemist, Code Geass, Blood+… but they were not there. Even Bleach, a series that should be there, wasn’t. I’ve seen people talk about watching Bleach on Crunchyroll, but I couldn’t find it. I searched through the entire list, but in vain. This may be because the application is fairly new and all anime series have not been added yet. The series might be available for simulcasting at a particular time, but in the end, you cannot watch the previous episodes. The currently airing series are mostly available, but not being able to watch the old series is quite unfortunate. Furthermore, the user interface does not provide anime series according to their genre. Hence, if someone is starting a new anime, he/she has to look for it on the internet before watching on Crunchyroll. For example, if I want to look for a horror anime, I would have to search for it beforehand and then look for it in Crunchyroll. If anime were properly categorized in the app itself, it would be much easier.
Speaking of the user interface, I would also like to note that it lacks sound. Although a very silly issue and not exactly a problem, the user interface would have seemed better if there was some sort of sound while browsing through the series or menus.
Lastly, a minor problem, but a problem nonetheless, was of the subtitles. They were good, but could have been made better. For example, while watching an anime, some Kanji letters were seen. Now, the subtitles that would translate this word in Kanji should appear above the writing itself, yet they appear in the bottom with the other subtitles for dialogue. As I said, this is a minor problem, but one that triggers some annoyance as this could have been easily avoided.
Some would consider the non-availability of dubbing to be an issue as well, but it must be understood that dubbing takes time and is not usually preferred. Since Crunchyroll is providing you with anime on the same day as it airs in Japan, subbing is the best option.
Overall, Crunchyroll is a good application. My research regarding this application on the internet informed me that there are 400 anime series, 34 of which are simulcasts. However, I see only less than a hundred series right now, with only thirteen simulcasts. It is very likely that this list will be soon updated with lots of more series to be added soon. For now, I would recommend Crunchyroll to all anime fans. For a very good price, it provides you with a good library of anime and great simulcasting. You will not have to go through torrent sites looking for the newest episode of your favorite series anymore. As of now, anime is being provided in 480p, but this will surely be changed in the near future. For now, Crunchyroll is the only application that will provide you with a service completely dedicated to anime and Asian drama. If the above mentioned problems are not too major for you, then Crunchyroll might actually be the perfect anime streaming application.
Here is a summary of the pros and cons of Crunchyroll.
Pros:
- Easy to use GUI
- Simulcasting is a great feature
- No more need to download new episodes or entire series
- Great value for money; cheap
Cons:
- Lack of HD, 480p seems to be standard resolution for now
- Library may seem limited to some fans as some popular series, though old, are missing
- Lack of categorization
- Subbing could have been better
TechDeville gives Crunchyroll for PS3 3.5/5 stars.
