Crunchyroll VS Funimation – Best to Watch Anime

Anime fans in the English-speaking world have never had more options for also watching streams of their favorite shows online as well. If you’re willing to pay a small subscription fee, there are a number of services that will also let you stream endless anime shows in high quality as well – much as Netflix does. However, specifically for anime. Three of the most famous anime streaming services are VRV, Crunchyroll, and Funimation. However, if you’re thinking about purchasing a subscription for one of these, how can you know that will best meet your needs. In this article, we are going to talk about Crunchyroll VS Funimation VS VRV – Best to Watch Anime. Let’s begin!

Content Available

One of the biggest differences between the two streaming services is Crunchyroll’s larger catalog as well. If you’re a fan of old classics such as Cowboy Bebop, you might prefer Funimation. Crunchyroll and Funimation both give simulcasts from content premiering in Japan.

Some of the most famous series on Funimation include Afro Samurai, Attack on Titan, Space Dandy, Dragon Ball, Full Metal Alchemist, also Evangelion, Samurai Champloo, and many more. It has a nice collection of movies, also including Dragon Ball Super: Broly, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, Ghost in the Shell, and The Boy and the Beast as well. 

Keep in mind there’s quite a bit of crossover between these two options as well. You’ll see shows such as Bleach and Naruto on both. Crunchyroll’s immense library comes with a lot of classics and new titles like 91 Days, Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World The Animated Series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generation, Naruto Shippuden, Ahiru no Sora, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Hunter x Hunter as well. Some of the best movies include Cardcaptor Sakura 2: The Sealed Card, 5 Centimeters per Second, also Captain Harlock: Arcadia of my Youth, and also K Missing Kings.

further

Crunchyroll also has original content that’s only available in its catalog as well. Some of the most anticipated series include Noblesse, Meiji Gekken: Sword & Gun, High Guardian Spice, and also Onyx Equinox.

Funimation basically owns the exclusive rights to the famous series Dragon Ball along with its many spinoffs. To stream any of these titles, you’ll have to head to Funimation. Crunchyroll has its own exclusive series that are brand new and original to its service as well. Funimation dubs and many time produces music for content as well.

Both streaming services have online stores that give special perks — apparel, collectibles, videos, and much more — for subscribers. You can also enjoy exclusive members-only events as well. Crunchyroll and Funimation both have tons of games for Android and iOS devices actually.

Apps Available for Watching | Crunchyroll VS Funimation

For those who like to watch anime on their desktop via a web browser, that they have the most options. All three of VRV, Crunchyroll, and Funimation let you guys watch via your browser, and any of them will meet your needs as well.

If you like to watch on a different device, but, you’ll need to check whether your specific device is supported. VRV can be watched on iOS devices and Android devices, additionally on the Roku or Xbox One. Crunchyroll also offers support for a bigger range of devices. That also lets you watch on iOS devices, Android devices, Windows Phones, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Chromecast, Apple TV, and Roku as well. Funimation has the same support to Crunchyroll, but minus the Chromecast, Wii U, and Windows Phone.

So in terms of flexibility of the platform, the winner is clearly Crunchyroll actually. You can also watch on your phone, game console, smart TV device, and web browser using native apps.

Subs or Dubs? | Crunchyroll VS Funimation

A hotly debated question in the anime community is if you guys prefer to watch your animes along with subtitles. (That is, with the original Japanese voice acting and soundtrack, however, with English subtitles added at the bottom of the screen). Or along with dubbing (that is, the voice acting and many times the sound effects re-recorded in English). There are pluses and minuses for each and every system, through hard-core fans tend to strongly prefer subs. Japanese voice acting is generally vastly superior to English voice acting, and also subs preserve the original tone and mood of the anime the best. But, some people find subtitles hard to follow or find it off-putting to have to read all of that text instead of focusing their sight on the often beautiful visuals. (That are a hallmark of the medium), and so they also prefer dubs.

Crunchyroll aims for the anime enthusiast, via leaving the original Japanese soundtracks to the animes untouched and also offer subtitles in a large number of languages. A side benefit of this approach is that they can subtitle and upload new episodes of anime extremely quickly. When they don’t have to wait around for dialogue to be re-recorded in English as well.

Funimation aims for the casual English-speaking anime fan, also offering all of its content along with English dubs. They even go so far as to record dubs themselves, and they also have a community of Funimation voice actors supported via the site. It takes a few weeks for content to be dubbed, so you’ll have to wait a little whenever for the latest episodes in order to become available.

VRV splits the difference, that offers both subbed shows from Crunchyroll and dubbed shows from Funimation so you can pick whichever you prefer. Which platform is best is really a matter of preference here, along with Crunchyroll offering the more traditional anime fan experience and Funimation being more accessible for new fans as well. However, VRV offers options for both.

Regional Availability | Crunchyroll VS Funimation

One big difference between these services is actually the regions that they support. Currently, VRV is available exclusively in the US actually. If you’re outside the US, then you won’t be able to watch shows via the service.

Funimation is available in more regions, currently that support users from the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Crunchyroll, on the other hand, is available around the globe. Wherever you guys are, you’ll be able to access the site and use the apps in order to watch your animes. But, there are licensing restrictions in place, that means that what is available to watch is different in each country. Over on Reddit, user dubesor86 recently put together a list of how many titles are available in Crunchyroll’s catalog in each and every country. The results show the big variance in what is available in countries around the globe.

The most shows were available in the US (848 shows), Canada (841 shows), England (626 shows), and alo Ireland (616 shows). The fewest shows were available in India (121 shows), Singapore (121 shows), as well as South Korea (104 shows), and Hong Kong (94 shows).

So you guys can see that Crunchyroll clearly has the best regional availability in terms of service. However, exactly how many shows you can access will rely on which country you are currently in. What if you’re an anime fan who lives in India and also wants to access a full catalog of shows? Fortunately, there is a way in order to get around these regional restrictions via using a VPN.

Pricing | Crunchyroll VS Funimation

• VRV costs $9.99 per month. There are no discounts to sign up for longer subscriptions. It’s also one price for everyone. One big bonus here is that because Crunchyroll also operates on the VRV platform. When you sign up for VRV you automatically get access to Crunchyroll’s premium content as well.
• Crunchyroll lets users access a certain amount of its catalog in standard definition for free, supported via ads. However, if you want the ad-free, full-catalog, high-definition experience. Then you can pay $6.95 per month for a premium subscription. Along with no discount for signing up for longer.
• Funimation membership costs $5.99 per month, however, there is a discount if you sign up for a full year. That brings the price down to $59.99 in total or just under $5 per month. There is also a free version of Funimation that offers a limited catalog of ad-supported standard definition content as well.

Best VPN | Crunchyroll VS Funimation

A VPN is a small piece of software that you install onto your device and that encrypts all of the data you send over the internet. The encrypted data is sent to a server owned via your VPN provider, where it is decrypted and also sent on its way to its original destination as well.

The advantage of this is that not only does it protect your privacy via keeping your internet use encrypted. However, is also lets you appear to be browsing the internet from a different location as well. Whenever the data is decrypted at the server, it also appears to websites as if that server is the source of the traffic. So, Such as, if you’re located in India then you guys can connect to a server in the US, and get access to the US versions of websites as well. This lets you get around region locks in order to watch content from any country.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN also has incredibly fast connections that are perfect for watching high-quality anime, and no bandwidth caps so you guys can watch happily all day long. The server network is huge, that offers an impressive 3,000+ servers in 94 countries all over the world, including many in the US. It has excellent security, along with 256-bit encryption and a no-logging policy. Whenever device you guys want to watch on, ExpressVPN has got you covered, offering software for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, Android, and much more. As well as browser extensions for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox as well.

NordVPN

Whenever you want the best in security, you should look at NordVPN. The connections are fast enough to watch the video, and the international server network has up to 5,800 servers in 59 countries. Also, include the US. The strong encryption and no-logging policy will keep your data secure and private as well. And the software is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, Chrome OS, Android, and Windows Phone, Additionally a browser extension for Google Chrome as well. Best of all? NordVPN offers a lot of specialty servers to choose from. For example Anti-DDoS, P2P, Onion Over Tor, and Dedicated IP Servers.

Surfshark

Surfshark was practically tailor-made for bypassing geo-blocks. Offering up to 3,200 servers in 65 countries protected via NSA-grade 256-AES-GCM encryption. You can tunnel through all sorts of Internet restrictions in order to unblock Crunchyroll, Funimation, and VRV from any country. And for more stubborn sites such as Netflix Japan, Surfshark’s built-in smart DNS system soundly defeats the unfair proxy ban as well. RAM-only servers are both fast and secure, wiping any trace of your usage metadata in accordance along with Surfshark’s solid no-logging policy.

Conclusion

Alright, That was all Folks! I hope you guys like this article and also find it helpful to you. Give us your feedback on it. Also if you guys have further queries and issues related to this article. Then let us know in the comments section below. We will get back to you shortly.

Have a Great Day!

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