Anime Streaming Guide 2023

By Andrew Osmond.

When this blog last presented a rundown of anime streaming titles this time last year, Crunchyroll had been recently acquired by the Funimation Group. Well, what a difference a year makes. Crunchyroll’s the name now, baby. In March, it was announced that Funimation’s animation library would be transferring to Crunchyroll en masse, and that new anime series would only be available on Crunchyroll. Moreover, Crunchyroll was altering its rules so that viewers would not be able to see new anime episodes free; a subscription was required.

As of writing, the Funimation site is still online, though its main purpose may be to serve as an online billboard for Crunchyroll. Log on to Funimation and the first thing you see is an exhortation to head over to Crunchyroll for all the new shows there. As of writing, it seems all the series on Crunchyroll that debuted in spring 2022 or later are counted as “new” for the purposes of the subscription rule. You can stream brand-new episodes of One Piece for free as of writing, but Boruto went subscription-only after episode 250 last May. In the case of a non-continuous show such as Mob Psycho 100, the series are counted separately. You can see the first two Mob series without subscriptions, but not the just-ended third series.

Crunchyroll

Unsurprisingly, Crunchyroll has added a deluge of upcoming titles. Several are new series of older series, which we can presume will be subscription-only. These include the second series of the supernatural In/Spectre, the Viking epic Vinland Saga, and the comedies The Vampire Dies in No Time, The Misfit of Demon Academy and Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagataro. There are also second series for the fantasies BOFURI, The Fruit of Evolution and By the Grace of the Gods. Meanwhile, To Your Eternity’s second series carries on from the previous TV season.

Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac is entering its third series, although that’s a reboot of a venerable property going back to the 1980s; you’ll find some older Saint Seiya anime on Crunchyroll. On the reboot front, there’s Trigun Stampede, a new CG version of Yasuhiro Nightow’s manga by Studio Orange (Beastars). Sorcerous Stabber Orphen is also returning; that’s the third series of a rebooted anime originally screened in the 1990s.

The super-detective series Bungo Stray Dogs is now about to start its fourth series. One Piece and Boruto continue their long-haul runs, along with the sixth series of My Hero Academia and the third series of Welcome to Demon School. Other ongoing shows include Case Closed (Detective Conan) and the “Third Beat” series of the male singer show Idolish7.

Carryovers from the winter season include Blue Lock, Play it Cool, Guys, and the current incarnation of the cycling series Yowamushi Pedal, called Yowamaushi Pedal Limit Break. Shadowverse Flame is continuing too, along with younger-skewing franchise fare in Digimon Ghost Game and Delicious Party Pretty Cure.

The new shows this season include an ambitious-looking Polygon CG show called Kaina of the Great Snow Sea; Revenger, about hitmen in samurai times; Buddy Daddies, about hitmen in modern times; and The Tale of Outcasts, about a beggar girl meeting a demon in the nineteenth century. There are new comedies at school – Tomo-chan is a Girl – and the office – The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleagues.

The very cute-looking Lee’s Detective Agency has begun, with Crunchyroll putting up a sample on YouTube. ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister has a mad scientist girl turning her big brother into a sister. NieR:Automata Ver1.1a is an SF show about androids fighting alien machines; it’s from a videogame.

Fantasy anime include Malevolent Spirits: Monogatari, which is about the interactions between spirits and humans. So is The Fire Hunter, written by Mamoru Oshii, and the enticing-sounding Sugar Apple Fairy Tale. Other new fantasies include the heftily-named The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – North War, from a game series, and Ayakashi Triangle, whose ninja hero is turned into a girl.

Then there are those fantasy anime whose extended titles serve as synopses for themselves. They include The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World; Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World; The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World; Chillin’ in My 30s after Getting Fired from the Demon King’s Army; Handyman Saitou in Another World; Reborn to Master the Blade; Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill (by the MAPPA studio); and Adventurers Who Don’t Believe in Humanity Will Save The World (which has the Japanese title Ningen Fushin).

Hi-Dive

Hi-Dive carries on, nabbing some big licenses from its immense rival. It’s currently streaming the new TV remake of Rumiko Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura, and it’s about to resume the fourth season of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Its other titles for the new season include Kyoto Animation’s Tsurune: The Linking Shot, the sequel to the studio’s 2018 archery drama. Then there’s a show whose title is a mouthful even by anime standards – Endo and Koyabashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Liesolette. It’s about what happens when girl gamers in our world are overheard by someone in the game they’re playing.

Then there’s The Eminence in Shadow (continuing from the previous season), Reincarnated as a Sword, Farming Life in Another World, the judo show Ippon! Again, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Giant Beasts of ARS, Spy Classroom and My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog.

Hi-Dive is also streaming Lupin Zero, the new series about a teenage version of Lupin the Third, which joins nearly all the other TV Lupin anime on the platform, including this year’s “Part 6” series, set largely in London. HiDive doesn’t have the Italian-set “Part 4” series, but you can find that on Crunchyroll while the “Part 5” and “Part 6” series are also available on ITVX.

The platform’s back catalogue includes the whole of Made in Abyss up to last year’s continuation, as well as shows as diverse as Maria Watches Over Us, O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Princess Principal and Flowers of Evil.

ITVX

ITVX has added a good selection of anime titles this year, though none are brand-new. You can watch them free with adverts, or buy a subscription to watch ad-free. Most of the titles are only available in their dubbed versions, unless otherwise indicated in the list below:

Cardcaptor Sakura, Cowboy Bebop, Emma A Victorian Romance Season 1, Erased, Full Metal Panic! Series 1, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Gurren Lagann, Inuyasha Series 1, Lupin the Third: Part 5,  Lupin the Third: Part 6, Megalobox, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, the first Patlabor movie, Persona 5, Planetes, The Promised Neverland Season 1, Sword of the Stranger, The Tatami Galaxy (subtitled version), Tokyo Ghoul (as well as Tokyo Ghoul √A and Tokyo Ghoul:re), Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Escaflowne (Funimation dub), Welcome to the Ballroom (subtitled version), and Your Lie in April.

Netflix

Netflix continues to stream a large number of anime titles, including some giants. As of writing, British readers can still find all the Studio Ghibli films there, as well as the original TV Evangelion plus the film End of Evangelion.(Look over to Amazon Prime for the 21^st-century versions.) There are also plenty of older gems – Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Angel Beats!, Toradora. Netflix’s “original” anime often get flak, but remember the cream of the crop: Violet Evergarden (including the films), Kakegurui, Beastars…

One series that’s loomed large is David Productions’ epic-length version of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, with the Stone Ocean Arc being completed in December. The platform also premiered the series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners in September, the new offering from Studio Trigger and Hiroyuki Imaishi (Promare). Another fairly recent debut was Drifting Home, a lavish fantasy film by Studio Colorido, which is making another new film, currently untitled, for Netflix in 2024.

There don’t seem to be any imminent new anime releases confirmed for Netflix just at present. The big Japanese releases at the moment include series two of the live-action version of the deathgame manga Alice in Borderland, and the rather Shinkai-esque romantic live-action J-drama First Love. Last October, there was a negative report in a Japanese business weekly that claimed, in the words of the Cartoon Brew site, that “anime producers are losing confidence in Netflix’s ability to turn an original production into a hit, and that traditional TV broadcast methods may prove more profitable in the long run.” We shall see…

Amazon Prime

As mentioned above, Amazon Prime’s most obvious anime assets are the four Evangelion “Rebuild” films, including the finale, Thrice Upon a Time. They’re available with a Prime subscription, as are some other titles including Dororo, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Re:Creators, Blade of the Immortal and lots of Yu-Gi-Oh!

One anime that costs extra but that some readers may be interested in seeing is Panda and the Magic Serpent – that’s the English dub of Hakujaden, the very first colour anime feature and a landmark in anime history.

Disney+

The Disney platform has been moving tentatively into anime, with by far the biggest title being Bleach Thousand Year Blood War. The first 13-part series has just concluded, with the new series due to start in July. All sixteen seasons of the original Bleach anime are also available on the platform.

There are only a few other anime currently available on the platform in Britain, including the miniseries The Tatami Time Machine Blues. Directed by Shingo Natsume, it brings back the characters from Masaaki Yuasa’s classic series The Tatami Galaxy, though Disney doesn’t have that; you can watch it on Crunchyroll (subscription-only), ITVX, or buy Anime Limited’s Blu-ray.

Disney+ also has the Star Wars Visions anthology, plus an interesting series of making-of films for that title – click the “Extras” tab. The platform also streams Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall and a series that most people wouldn’t realise was anime – the 39-part Marvel Future Avengers, animated by Madhouse.

Disney has also acquired the 2022 series Summer Time Rendering, directed by Ayumu Watanabe (Fortune Favours Lady Nikuko), which is streaming on the platform in Japan but not in Anglophone territories yet. (Insert your “Mouse Jail” quip here.) However, at November’s end, Disney announced an impressive-looking slate of upcoming titles, including the film Phoenix: Eden17 (trailer), based on Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix. They don’t have firm release dates yet, though.

Andrew Osmond is the author of 100 Animated Feature Films.