From the moment Astro Boy first aired on NBC in 1963, anime has been a part of American TV-watching habits, whether audiences knew they were watching anime, or thought it was just another cartoon. But we’re long past the times where anime shows were reedited and repackaged into entirely new shows like Robotech and Voltron. And, for the most part, we’ve moved beyond the dark days of groan-inducing censorship and mistranslations, even if the differences still persist.
Nowadays, anime is so widely available on streaming that you no longer have to shell out hundreds of dollars for a VHS set or rely on pirated versions of new episodes with subtitles made by fans who took liberties of their own in the translation. It’s never been easier to be an anime fan, with dedicated streaming services offering the latest episode of the biggest shows mere hours after their initial Japanese broadcast, and even mainstream services diving into the medium with original productions or exciting acquisitions. At the same time, the entertainment industry is contracting, and mergers between giant corporations have spelled doom for anime streamers like VRV and Funimation — sometimes taking your digital purchases with them. Anime is a specific content category, and chaotic closures like these can leave anime fans wondering what’s going on with each platform’s offerings and exclusives.
That’s where we come in. The list below breaks down the many streaming services offering anime shows and movies, and we’ve split it up between the many services specifically made for anime fans and the general streamers that feature large anime hubs and libraries. Here’s what they each have to offer.
Streaming options tailored for anime lovers
Crunchyroll
What Netflix is to streaming at large, Crunchyroll is to anime streaming. If you want the biggest library of titles with a mix of classics such as Revolutionary Girl Utena and new hits including Jujutsu Kaisen, you can’t do much better than Crunchyroll. Since its acquisition of Funimation, no other service matches the number of anime titles and seasonal releases Crunchyroll has. Each new season brings dozens of new and returning anime, most streaming exclusively on the platform. This includes some of the best anime of 2023, like Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and Anime Awards nominee Bocchi the Rock! as well as the excellent Odd Taxi.
Although many of the bigger titles on Crunchyroll, like Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer, can also be found on other services, Crunchyroll’s strength lies in its exclusives library that includes original productions like Onyx Equinox and The God of High School. If you want more than just anime, Crunchyroll also operates an extensive library of manga and a physical media store.
Availability and support: Crunchyroll is available on consoles (now including the Nintendo Switch, which still doesn’t offer wide streaming support), mobile devices, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire. The app is also available on Samsung and LG Smart TVs and the Apple Vision Pro. Crunchyroll is also a rare streamer with subtitles and dubbing in multiple languages available worldwide (not just geo-locked to your location), including Spanish, German, Russian, and Arabic.
Cost: The service does have an ad-supported free tier that even includes some of its popular shows, but if you want every new episode, pay for the premium subscription, which starts at $8 a month or $80 a year.
HIDIVE
If you want something more grown-up than the teenage-aimed action shows that other streamers focus on, HIDIVE is the service for you. This streamer prides itself on offering edgier or more obscure shows, like Elfen Lied and Made in Abyss and the earlier Lupin the Third seasons, but it also has seasonal exclusives like Eminence in Shadow, the viral hit Ya Boy Kongming, and the acclaimed Oshi no Ko.
Even if you aren’t interested in the more mature content, what makes HIDIVE stand out is its large library of shojo anime (aimed at teenage girls) and classic titles. While you won’t find mainstream titles like Hunter x Hunter or Dragon Ball, HIDIVE boasts hugely influential titles like Patlabor; Hideaki Anno’s first masterpiece, Gunbuster; and the anime that could ruin other anime for you, Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Think of HIDIVE as the Nintendo to Crunchyroll’s Xbox or PlayStation. Its app is somewhat lackluster and offers no offline viewing, but many titles offer subtitles in multiple languages.
Availability and support: The app is available on mobile, Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, and Xbox One (sorry, PlayStation gamers).
Cost: The HIDIVE subscription is one of the cheaper ones, at $5 a month or $48 a year.
RetroCrush
Enough about all these mainstream shows with clean animation and formula-heavy stories; take me back to the good ol’ days! If that’s you, then RetroCrush is your streamer. Rather than focus on new buzzy titles, RetroCrush collects the bloody, sexy, often subversive anime from before the turn of the century, when it was an underground obsession for American fans. Bubblegum Crisis, Ninja Scroll, and City Hunter are some of the classic titles that make RetroCrush a great alternative to more mainstream streamers, but the service also includes Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles, even older titles like the original Astro Boy, and Hideaki Anno and Hayao Miyazaki’s Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. This is the platform if you want to understand what inspired your favorite anime and where the biggest animators got their start.
What RetroCrush lacks in fancy aesthetics or wider platform support, it compensates for with a “randomize†button that replaces hours of deciding what to watch with just the click of a button — kind of like channel surfing, but for anime. Likewise, it offers the type of curation bigger streamers simply don’t have, with plenty of themed collections that can be hiding your new favorite.
Availability and support: RetroCrush is only available on mobile, web browser, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.
Cost: The service is free, but if you want an ad-free experience or some of the most premium titles, a subscription is $5 a month or $50 a year.
The mainstream services great for watching anime
Netflix
At this point, do you really need someone to pitch you on Netflix? What you may not know, however, is that they have a pretty great anime library too. Though the streamer has plenty of modern classics and recent hits like Demon Slayer and Cowboy Bebop, what really brought it into the conversation as a competitor to Crunchyroll are its exclusive Netflix Original titles.
Ever since the streamer debuted Devilman Crybaby, Netflix has become a sort of modern revival of the ’80s “original video animation†(or “OVAâ€) model: short auteur-driven anime that’s not limited by the need to break into the mainstream or run for years on end and could tell a unique and concise story with a definitive ending. From the recent Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (yes, it is an anime) to the masterpiece that is Pluto, the adorable comfort of Pokémon Concierge, and the stunning Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Netflix has vowed (threatened?) to increase its anime-production output, partnering with some impressive studios to come out with exclusive titles. Plus this is the one place you can stream the hugely influential Neon Genesis Evangelion and Naoki Urasawa’s unforgettable Monster.
In the past, Netflix’s biggest downside when it came to anime was the so-called “Netflix jail,†meaning months-long delays in international broadcast for Netflix titles. Thankfully, that seems to be a thing of the past, with recent titles like Delicious in Dungeon (which also has a same-day dub release together with the subbed version), Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, and their streaming Vinland Saga season 2 all having simulcast releases — meaning the same day as in Japan. This is Crunchyroll’s biggest competitor, and quickly becoming a must-have streamer for anime fans in addition to, well, everyone else.
Availability and support: Netflix is widely supported and works on most devices.
Cost: Netflix’s price starts at $7 per month for the ad-supported plan, with the 4K plan setting you back $23 per month.
Hulu
If you are new to anime, or simply don’t want to commit to a dedicated streaming service just for that medium, then consider Hulu. The streamer hosts a collection of the biggest shows featured in other services, meaning everything from Attack on Titan, Chainsaw Man and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and also older classics like One Piece and Sailor Moon. Hulu’s breadth is exciting, carrying modern classics, lesser-known gems, weird genre titles, magical girl shows, and even older movies like Ninja Scroll. Hulu also does the best job at actually recommending relevant and interesting anime depending on your viewing history, so you can quickly get acclimated just by following the recommendations.
While Hulu used to lack exclusives, that is no longer the case. The streamer has entered the simulcast game with exclusive shows like the hilarious Undead Unluck, the Bleach revival, the trippy sci-fi thriller Summer Time Rendering, the sequel to Tatami Galaxy, and the acclaimed Heavenly Delusion. The problem is that Hulu has taken over Netflix in heavily delaying their simulcast titles, with many shows getting held back for months on end in the U.S., and titles like Heavenly Delusion suffering from big subtitling problems. Internationally, all Hulu anime are available on Disney+.
Availability and support: Hulu works on most devices (including the Nintendo Switch), but it only offers English subtitles.
Cost: A Hulu subscription starts at $8 a month (or $80 for a year) for the ad-supported plan, or $13 a month with no ads.
Max
Unfortunately, Max has removed much of its anime library in the wake of Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll and last year’s shift from HBO Max, but there are still some exclusive titles that make this worth a look. The biggest draw for Max is without a doubt the exclusive streaming rights to the entire Studio Ghibli collection, which is already more than worth the subscription price whether you’re a longtime anime fan or a newcomer looking for the essentials and for child-friendly anime programming. Then there are more recent Adult Swim anime productions, like Housing Complex C and the Ninja Kamui — the premise of which is basically “What if John Wick was a ninja?â€
Availability and support: Max only offers subtitles in English, but it is available on all major devices.
Cost: The ad-supported plan is $10 a month or $100 for a year, while the ad-free plan starts at $15 a month or $150 a year.
Amazon Prime Video
The dark horse of the anime streaming race, Amazon Prime Video is hard to recommend for newcomers given how difficult Prime Video is to navigate, and how little the service’s spectacular exclusives are marketed. Even if you are on the lookout for new shows, chances are you’ll miss a great title, so to subscribe just to watch anime may not be as rewarding as other services.
Still, if you already have Prime and are interested in some of the best shows and movies of the past decade, Prime Video does have Made in Abyss, Princess Tutu, and GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka. Then there’s arguably the two biggest titles on the entire site: the utterly incredible historical action show Vinland Saga (though they only have the first season). Prime Video also houses the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. It is the only place to watch Hideaki Anno’s latest masterpiece Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time.
Availability and support: Amazon Prime Video is available on most major devices, but its language support can vary by title.
Cost: Amazon Prime Video will set you back $139 a year and includes other perks alongside your Prime Video membership.
Tubi
If you want an anime tasting menu that’s free and includes a vast library with a good mix of old and new, why not try Tubi? The ad-supported streaming service includes movies like Akira, Paprika, Jin-Roh, and the spectacular anthology Memories (featuring shorts from the directors of Akira, Wolf’s Rain, and Perfect Blue). On the TV front, Tubi is full of crowd-pleasers that show the variety of anime as a medium with Cardcaptor Sakura standing side by side with Ouran High School Host Club, Digimon Tri, Death Note, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Ranma 1/2. There are even more recent titles, like the first season of Attack on Titan and the 2022 movie Blue Thermal — a rare exclusive. You may not want to have Tubi as your only source of streaming anime, but it serves as both a great introduction and a free complement to a more dedicated service with newer titles.
Availability and support: Tubi works on most devices, despite its less-refined interface compared to most paid streaming apps. One aspect where it stands out from other services, even anime-centric ones is that it has a Spanish dub for several of their shows, including Knights of the Zodiac (a show that is infinitely superior en español over English).
Cost: Nada, zip, zero, zilch.
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