Does crunchyroll have love is hard for otaku?

Signing up is fairly straight forward. Once you go to crunchyroll.com, you just pick your plan (which I’ll get into later), choose a payment method (credit/debit card or PayPal), enter your details, and then (if you picked the plan with VRV) sign up for VRV. After that, you’re all set and ready to start you free 14-Day Trial. (Spoiler Alert: I’m kinda glad there’s a trial.)

As I mentioned previously, there are different tiers of Crunchyroll to choose from: Crunchyroll Only, Fan Pack, and Super Fan pack. The differences you can see in the picture. To stay fair, I went middle of the line, not too little, but not too much that most people may not even purchase that tier. If you think you’ll want more bang for your buck, then by all means go ahead and get the higher tier.

You can access Crunchyroll on mobile, desktop, or app (via Xbox, PlayStation, SmartTV, etc). I have to say I think the non-mobile app version is the best (granted I only tried that and the browser version). The in-browser Crunchyroll is just filled with ads. Maybe it was the certain ad I was seeing, but it looked cluttered and just messy. However, it does give you access to Manga and news, so that’s a plus.

So this is where I became a little disappointed. I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for over a decade now. Naturally, every streaming service is going to have to compare because I think they have set the standard for streaming services.

Okay, so, first of all, the selection? It’s pretty decent, especially if you want to watch anime mere hours after it debuts in Japan. That’s pretty cool. Just note, that they’re going to be losing a lot of series soon as Funimation is creating their own service (I found, but couldn’t watch Soul Eater due to this).

However, one of the biggest arguments anime fans have is Sub vs Dub (subtitles vs line dubbing). For me, I am a Dub fan. I have severe ADHD, so when I read subtitles, I get a bit distracted and focus more on the words than what’s happening on screen. (That’s one of the reasons I haven’t seen Attack on Titan yet. Netflix has only Japanese audio last time I checked). That’s on me. But I love to have the option. Unless I am COMPLETELY missing it SOMEhow (and if I did PLEASE tweet at me and let me know @MichaelBEstrin), I do not see the option to change the language of the audio, like on Netflix (and countless other services). I tried watching Ace Attorney, but it was only in Japanese. Fine, I thought. Maybe it hasn’t been dubbed yet. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. So I decided to try something I KNOW has both, Fullmetal Alchemist (shocking, I know). Nope. Only English. Which again, great for me, NOT great for sub fans. I found myself growing frustrated at the lack of such a simple feature.

Look, if you’re a die-hard anime fan (fanime???), you’ll want this, especially for all the shows/movies that aren’t found on other services. But for someone like me, who needs my shows in English (or just my native language), it’s just not there. I would assume a company as in tune with anime as Crunchyroll would have that down. They just didn’t. Again, I’m sorry I have to compare it to Netflix, but it just doesn’t feel as smooth, and the fact that most of the shows I watch are leaving anyway, it just leaves me wanting more. So for now, I am leaving this as a “Get the trial and see if it’s for you.”

Have you tried Crunchyroll? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

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Have you tried Crunchyroll? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!