KissAnime closed in 2020, and the best days for millions of anime fans worldwide started vanishing. Cartoon sites came second to KissAnime for the place to get daily simulcasts or second thoughts on ancient anime. Now with it gone, a massive void stands in front with a question on everyone’s lips-“Where do we go now?”
Since then, however, the landscape has developed from a more fragmented niche to a high-growth competitive and accessible world marketplace. Finding your favorite shows—and supporting those who create them—has never been easier. Here is a walkthrough of great legal venues for streaming anime, assisting you in compromising between the options and settling on the one that best suits you.
Why Go Legal? Benefits of Supporting the Industry
It is an interesting matter before going into the sites-the “Why are you choosing a legal platform?” While illegal gave this allure of free, the two realms each offer their array of benefits.
- Directly Supporting the Creators: Each subscriber receives some return out of their dollar in developing anime studios, animators, writers, and artists. These funds buy the new seasons, original anime, and other health issues.
- Better Quality and Secure: Legal sites show you HD videos, provide professional subs and dubs, and offer a streaming link that will undoubtedly work. So far, illegal websites try to make you watch malware popups rather than letting you watch them.
- Synchronizing Release Schedule: This means that the new episodes are simulcast on official sites and translators are at work creating well-translated versions within hours of their airing in Japan.
- Marking the International Market: When legal sites show huge numbers of viewers and the subscription rates soar higher, together perform strong power by anime in the international market. This encourages Japanese studios to license more shows internationally and invest in building an international anime market.
Forms of Best Anime Streaming Services Today
Nowadays, a diversified anime streaming market exists. Here are the major players and what they have on offer.
Anime Giants (Subscription-Basis)
With their almost exclusive interest in anime, these platforms are a fantastic place to start.
Crunchyroll:
After the merger with Funimation, Crunchyroll has become the unequivocal king of anime streaming services. It is therefore the closest thing today to KissAnime’s one-stop-shop library.
Library: Biggest library of anime in the world with tens of thousands of episodes covering almost every imaginable genre. It has an enormous back-catalogue besides allowing for the routing of most new seasonal simulcasts.
Best For: Everyone. If the viewer has the luxury to subscribe to only one service, then it has to be Crunchyroll for its sheer volume of subbed and dubbed content.
HIDIVE:
Instead of standing second to Crunchyroll, HIDIVE has carved out a strong niche for itself, licencing shows that might have eluded the former.
Library: More curated and at times edgier selections of anime. It is known for picking exclusives, uncensored versions of shows, and niche titles that appeal to a small fanbase.
o Best For: Viewers craving for shows off the beaten path, with a strong catalogue of exclusives too, and at a more reasonable price.
The World Megastreamers (Subscription-Based)
Being a huge global venture with big investments in anime makes these platforms serious contenders.
Netflix: No longer the casually upstart, Netflix has cemented its position as a titan in the anime arena.
Library: Heavily emphasizes high-quality exclusive content, such as critically acclaimed “Netflix Originals” like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Devilman Crybaby, and holds exclusive international streaming rights for key franchises.
Best for: Viewers who enjoy binge-watching exclusives that have big production values and already have a Netflix subscription.
Hulu: While strong, it is mostly average in the US.
Library: Has a robust and well-rounded library of popular, fan-favourite shows from major distributors. The place to hunt down well-known hits and plethora of dubbed anime.
Best for: Those who already have a Hulu (preferably bundled with Disney+) subscription and want to access the “greatest hits” library of anime series.
Free, Yet Legal, Options (Ad-Supported)
If you’re tight with cash, there is a perfect way of watching anime for free from a movie studio perspective.
- Tubi & Pluto TV: These two ad-supported goliaths harbor quite extensive anime libraries. You can find hundreds of classics and even some newer series to stream legally without any subscription.
- RetroCrush: As the name implies, this one focuses on classics, with a vast catalog of beloved series and movies from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
How to Pick the Right Service for You
It’s easy to navigate these when you are aware of what you want.
- If you seek the largest library and most new shows, you should invest in Crunchyroll.
- If you love unique shows and want a budget-conscious one, HIDIVE is yours.
- When you want to watch commercialized exclusives and originals, your Netflix subscription is a worthwhile consideration.
- If it’s free or classic shows, then go and explore Tubi and RetroCrush catalogues.
Conclusion
The days when one could rely on a shady site like KissAnime are long gone. Instead, a thriving and competitive legal streaming environment has cropped up, presenting more choices than ever before. It could mean paying for one or two streaming services.
Yet, these are the streaming services where anime fans get better, safer, and more secure viewing experiences. More importantly, the money goes to the industry, which helps fund the production of the anime you’ll continue loving in the upcoming years.
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