Here is our comparison of Crunchyroll vs Funimation. Funimation and Crunchyroll are the only two trustable names that come to mind when thinking of streaming anime series. The debate for the best one still draws many eyeballs! So, which one is better? Which streaming service do you prefer for anime? Let’s compare them both today!
Today, we have listed all the important criteria upon which a consumer might choose between streaming services. From the prices to the quality of its subtitles, everything is thoroughly dissected. So, here the ultimate showdown of Crunchyroll Vs. Funimation.
*Disclaimer* Not a promotional article.
1. Crunchyroll vs Funimation: Pricing
The number one category upon which viewers decide their top streaming service is pricing. If the subscription happens to be too high, the customer automatically withdraws from the service. Thus, let us see what our two contenders offer in terms of monthly and yearly subscriptions.
Crunchyroll:
This streaming service currently has a premium plan that offers a 14-day trial period at a price of $7.99 per month. At this range, the website provides more than a thousand web shows with around thirty-thousand-plus episodes. Crunchyroll also does not bar the viewing experience with a resolution limit. This means that all the content on the website is available at 1080p and 720p High Definition quality. Along with the licensed shows, Crunchyroll also offers numerous original creations. The only drawback of this subscription is that it does not allow the downloading of contents for offline viewing.
Funimation:
The Funimation streaming service gives you the option between two premium subscriptions- Funimation Premium and Funimation Premium Plus. The Premium subscription costs $5.99 a month while the Plus deal charges $7.99 per month. Both of them offer a different set of shows. Let’s see both of them. Surprisingly, both subscriptions provide the same deal of nine hundred and fifty shows with twenty-five thousand episodes. All of it is available in HD at 1080p and 720p. The only difference between the two deals is the downloading option. The Premium Plus lets you download shows and movies for offline viewing. But, none of the deals offer Funimation-original shows. There is also a Premium Plus Ultra plan that comes with a surprise perk along with two free rentals. The Ultra plan costs $99.99 per year.
2. Crunchyroll vs Funimation: Content Catalog Compare
As the old saying goes- content is the king. No matter how much a ticket costs, if the film is good, the viewer will buy it. The same applies to streaming services. Let’s compare the content collection of both the services:
Crunchyroll Catalog:
We do not wish to be biased in this comparison, but Crunchyroll does have a wider range of anime series and movies than Funimation. The official catalog of this website will tell you that there are more than a thousand shows that are one click away. Another perk that only Crunchyroll offers as an anime-major is manga reads. Exclusive subscriptions include many popular mangas that release on Crunchyroll.
Besides the latest classics like Boruto: Naruto Next Generation, Berserk, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hunter x Hunter, and Jujutsu Kaisen, Crunchyroll also offers old anime shows with complete season collections. It also offers many original shows like Noblesse, Meiji Gekken: Sword & Gun, Onyx Equinox, and High Guardian Spice. Thus, Crunchyroll does provide a satisfactory pay-off. However, some popular shows are not there, like the Dragon Ball series and the My Hero Academia series.
Funimation Catalog:
For starters, Funimation provides only 950 shows for the same price as Crunchyroll. So, let’s look at the collection of anime that the site offers. Much like the former, this website also provides a wide range of anime shows, movies, and live-action content. Some of the popular shows that you will not find on Crunchyroll are Cowboy Bebop and Dragon Ball Z which might be deal-breaker for many anime lovers. Other shows include My Hero Academia, Death Parade, and the whole Dragon Ball franchise.
But Funimation also lacks big names from its catalog. For example, Boruto is not available on Funimation. Moreover, the website also does not offer any original shows from its radar.
3. Which Has Better Subs And Dubs?
Another big factor that leads to people breaking a deal with any streaming service is the quality of its subtitles and dubs. Both the platforms have a number of anime in English, both subbed and dubbed. But, which one has better? Let’s compare Crunchyroll vs Funimation in this criteria.
Crunchyroll:
For subtitles, Crunchyroll uses the normal standard subtitle style and font that we are used to reading. The fonts are not very catchy, so it doesn’t take away the effect of the animation. As for the dubs, Crunchyroll provides a good quality of dubbed anime shows. Some of the praiseworthy shows include the dubbing of Blue Exorcist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
Crunchyroll also mentions on its website that they are currently working to bring more dubbed shows in the coming years. So in the future, we can expect to see shows in languages other than English and Japanese.
Funimation:
In terms of Subtitles, any normal subscriber would tell you that Funimation’s subtitles are a pain. The website uses a CC format that takes away screen space. The fonts and style cannot even be changed, so we have to deal with what we have got.
In terms of dubbing, Funimation does have the upper hand. Most of the shows on Funimation come with an in-built English dubbing. And surprisingly, the dubbings are in sync with the emotional factor of the show. Funimation also says that they will continue to recreate performances in English even though the pandemic has slowed their work.
4. Crunchyroll vs Funimation: Conclusion
Well, both streaming services have their own set of advantages and drawbacks. We see that Crunchyroll has a higher number of shows, while Funimation can let you download them. Crunchyroll has better subtitles, while Funimation has better dubbings. There are some classics that Crunchyroll lacks while the other one has them and vice versa.
In conclusion, we can only suggest that you try each one for a month and rate your experience on that basis. Nonetheless, it is a huge responsibility to compare two giants that have made a mark in the anime industry. Thus, we leave that up to you to decide which one works for you.
So, this was a thorough comparison of two anime giants. Did we miss out on any category between the two? Which streaming service do you prefer? Let’s discuss this in the comment section. For more such informative articles, keep coming back to The Anime Daily.