Anime is among the most popular mediums of art in the modern global entertainment market, and yet so many series are still out of reach for fans due to licensing agreements or obscurity. The problem is compounded by the various streaming services that each carry different anime, such as Hulu, Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, Prime and HBO Max, as most people can’t afford every service to be able to watch any anime they want. In the age of so many companies vying for subscribers, a pleasant surprise has come out of this problem, with Crunchyroll and Viz Media releasing free episodes of various anime on YouTube.
The impact of this is undeniable. As YouTube is completely free of charge with ads, having a full anime catalog between the Viz Media and Crunchyroll YouTube channels opens up viewing possibilities outside of paid subscription services. This, in turn, makes anime more accessible to everyone, making the move to upload series on YouTube a huge win for fans everywhere.
The Expanding Catalog of Anime Available to Watch on YouTube
Some of the series on YouTube from Viz and Crunchyroll are notoriously hard to find on anime-specific streaming services. Up until recently, Sailor Moon, for example, was only available for purchase, absent from any legal anime streaming service. With Viz uploading the original subbed version on YouTube, fans who don’t have Hulu to stream the 1992 classic now have access to it. Inuyasha similarly has had trouble reaching fans fully in the streaming market, with only part of the original anime available on Netflix and the rest on Hulu. The decision of these companies to make older anime classics accessible on YouTube, combined with the newer series available to watch, is a real benefit to lower-income and student anime fans especially. It takes the pressure off viewers to subscribe to so many paid services, at least in part.
In addition to these modern classics being free with ads thanks to Viz Media’s channel, the Crunchyroll YouTube page also offers a playlist full of free anime episodes. Though the channel doesn’t tend to upload full series like Viz, opting mostly to share first episodes only, this is still a treat for anime fans who may want to see which series they enjoy before committing to a streaming service like Crunchyroll. Among the company’s first-episode catalog are anime such as Yona of the Dawn, Darling in the Franxx, Re: Zero and Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro. In addition to these standouts are newer series from the Winter 2023 season and popular series from past years, such as Yuri on Ice. This opens up the possibility of more people being able to enter the anime space, taking away the necessity of paying for a streaming service or physical copy in order to try out new anime or watch an old favorite.
Who Can Take Advantage of Free Anime?
Anime is for everyone, although the way the entertainment industry is enmeshed in the battle between streaming services makes this less true in the current cultural landscape. While the barriers of access to TV shows and movies will probably be a continuing problem with popular media, the availability of anime on YouTube is an important push in the right direction.
Not only does this move on the part of Viz and Crunchyroll open up anime in an accessible way to anyone with Internet access, but it’s also a great stand against piracy. By creating a space in which the pressure to spend is taken away, people are freer to enjoy anime without pirating and taking away from the creators of the franchises that are so dependent on revenue to survive. All in all, this is a win not just for anime fans, but also for the writers and artists working in the anime industry.