Crunchyroll.com is one of the premier sources for legal ad supported anime streaming on the Internet. Thanks to their new iPhone app you can now stream full episodes of hundreds of different anime and Jdrama series over 3G or Wi-Fi. Best of all, the app is free to download and many of the episodes require nothing more than a free account to watch.
How It Works
The Crunchyroll app has a really well thought out and intuitive user interface. Simply boot up the app for the first time, login to your existing account or if you don’t have one follow the link and register. Once logged in, you choose whether your looking for anime or Jdrama and your then given a list of the most popular entries for each. The iPhone version of the app keeps things simple with a scrolling list including the title and a small screen cap. The oPad version of the app functions more like what you would expect form something like Netflix with a large number of cover images accompanied by small titles. Once you select your series your taken to a list similar to the first only this time populated with episode numbers and titles. Selecting an episode bring up a screen cap and a long description, if you decide it’s what you want to watch simply click play now and it begins streaming. Streaming quality in my experience was surprisingly good despite being connected to AT&T’s less than stellar 3G network. Unfortunately not all of the content is available to free members. In order to watch the latest episode of their most popular titles such as Naruto and Bleach you have to have a premium account. Alternatively you can wait until next week and that episode will be available for streaming free of charge.
Pros, Cons and Final Thoughts
Pros: The application is available free of charge and a free account gets you access to a huge library of content. The UI is very simple quick and intuitive, once logged in it’s easy to find what you want and to start watching.
Cons: While the number of shows available is impressive, the entire library is not yet available so if you’re looking for more obscure content you may be out of luck. Unfortunately some of the episodes of the most popular series do require you sign up for a premium account and pay a monthly fee.
Final Thoughts: While it’s unfortunate that not everything is available yet, the amount of content you get is still very impressive when you consider this app is free. Ultimately, whether you’re a hard-core fan of anime or just a casual watcher you really have nothing to lose by downloading this app and giving it a try.
Guest Post Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blogger for First in Education where she’s recently written on telecommunications equipment installation jobs along with a piece on online mechanical engineering programs. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, traveling, and working with origami.
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