Ah, anime, lifeblood for thousands and beloved entertainment for millions, art so popular a whole industry lives from it, while giving us insight into the culture of Japan. How could anyone not like it? But like many things in life, sometimes it’s better when it’s free.
In this article we’re going to list the top anime streaming sites, where you can watch whole episodes online without downloading.
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For this test, we checked the quality of the archive, as well as usability. Also we looked for three anime as a reference sample: two rather recent and popular ones and one older show.
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1. Kissanime.com – Loads of Content, Streams in HD, Ads Are OK, No Movies Though
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”95%” bar_text=”Very large choice”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”70%” bar_text=”HD streams available”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”90%” bar_text=”Nice website, moderate advertising”]
“HD! They’ve got HD streams for the show we were looking for, wohoo!!”, were our first thoughts about Kissanime. And with only a few banner ads to the left and right, these guys almost immediately streamed themselves into our hearts.
OK, so the HD streams are mostly hosted on YouTube, and of course a lot of episodes are only available in your usual mediocre to low quality, but that doesn’t stop this site from being our favorite resource for anime. And they have a mobile version of the page too, which is very cool indeed although we would have preferred an app.
A forum is also part of the site, and communities are always a good source for content if you have the time to become familiar and become a part of it. Some might prefer an anime movie section though, which is unfortunately missing.
2. AnimeFever.org – High Quality Streams, Big Archive: A Raw Diamond, Hidden Behind An Ugly Layout and Annoying Banner Ads
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”95%” bar_text=”Very large choice”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”65%” bar_text=”Higher quality than average due to special stream hoster”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”90%” bar_text=”Ugly as hell, but no usability problems”]
Our first impression almost made us close the browser window, the site never to be seen again: We had reached a direct link to an episode. Indeed everything apart from the homepage looks pretty ugly, with banner ads everywhere and a strange design.
But when, we looked deeper into what they had to offer, and were pretty impressed.
First of all, the ads might look ugly, but there are just regular banners; nothing shady to be found anywhere. What a difference to so many others!
Then there is the database of anime: We found everything we looked for. Not only that, but quality tended to be a lot better than with other sites, especially for one of the three shows on our list (no dedicated movie section is available though).
No wonder: Videos are hosted on either their own servers or a different service than the competition uses. Cool!
On the downside, there is an annoying waiting time of about 20 seconds for each video, and episodes tend to be split into two parts so you have to endure this delay not once but twice. You can reduce this delay significantly by creating a free account though.
Regardless of all that, with selection being huge and quality often vastly superior to other sites, AnimeFever is kind of an insider tip.
3. Animetoon.TV – Large Archive of English Dubbed Content, Acceptable Quality, Apps for Mobile Use
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”95%” bar_text=”Very large choice”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”80%” bar_text=”Nice website, moderate advertising”]
English dubbed anime, anime movies and cartoons are what this site is all about, people looking for subbed episodes with original audio will be disappointed. However if you’ve got no problem with that, Animetoon is a site definitely worth looking at.
We found everything we looked for, although only episodes already available in English, which limits you quite a bit. The ads are tolerable in both amount and content, with content being hosted on your usual anime filehosters, which guarantees a reasonable quality.
A mobile app is available for android, which might come in handy to you. All in all, a good source for your cartoon and anime needs.
4. AnimeFreak.tv – Interesting Features for Fans of Japanese Audio, Great Selection
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”95%” bar_text=”Very large choice”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”75%” bar_text=”Nice website, ads are usually okay”]
Love the ability to choose between subbed and dubbed versions? Than this site might be awesome for you: Loads of episodes are available in both versions, and there is a convenient switch on the site so you can choose what you want without much hassle.
Great selection of anime, a very cartoonish design and no aggressive ads (although that obnoxious, loud video ad really spoiled that impression): Although there is no movie section AnimeFreak is a solid page.
5. AnimeCrazy.eu – Movie Section and Large Archive, However Down Links and Streaming Hosters With Dubious Ads Spoil The Picture
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”80%” bar_text=”Very large choice, but some down links”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”65%” bar_text=”Site is ad-free, file hoster sucks”]
“What a beautiful, clean design, and no advertising on the site!”, was our first thought. “Cool they have everything we’re looking for!”, was the next. Unfortunately some links to the stuff we looked for were down, and the filehosters used sometimes display the fishy ads usually found on movie streaming sites.
Oh well, can’t have it all. In any case, a large archive and a dedicated anime movie section make up for a lot, and savvy users know how to get around occasional fake download ads and simply overlook slightly erotic banners. Apart from that Animecrazy definitely deserves a decent ranking in any good anime streaming site list.
6. WatchCartoonOnline.com – Good Site, But Remove Those Pop-ups!
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”95%” bar_text=”Very large choice”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”50%” bar_text=”Freakin’ Pop-ups, Go Away”]
“Animes are not cartoon, they’re freakin’ animes!!”, we hear you yell. Don’t worry, design, low amount of banners, a huge selection of both dubbed and subbed anime and a small but cool selection of movies prove that these guys understand anime. Also, they had all three shows part of our random sample in the okay usual quality.
But did they have to make pop-ups obscuring the site everytime you click on something? It’s bothersome, really. That search result page layout isn’t very thought out either, as they don’t display long and compact episode lists but rather only show a few results per page.
Apart from that, a small but sexy site; there are better ones though.
7. AnimeTip.com – Incomplete Archive, Almost No Ads
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”65%” bar_text=”Not the best, but still okay”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”90%” bar_text=”Almost no ads anywhere!”]
Two of three shows from our list were found, one wasn’t, with only one episode listed. The rest was available, in okay to good quality as is standard for most portals out there. We noticed some shows had only one or two episodes online, so their archive is definitely the best.
With a rather dark layout these guys have the flair of being a bit “underground”, and almost no ads spoil the atmosphere. The movie section is as good as the show section, and a few advanced features for registered users like watchlists and playlists.
8. AnimeHere.com – YAAS (Yet Another Anime Site), We Use It As Backup
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”65%” bar_text=”Not the best, but still okay”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”90%” bar_text=”Low amount of ads”]
Animehere has the same layout as another streaming site on this list – have a look if you can figure out which one! We would consider them to be really user friendly and easy to use, with a low amount of ads and thus, a load of likes on Facebook. Seems they are really popular!
Movies are available too, definitely a plus.
One of the very popular animes we looked for was not available, quality is the usual watchable-but-mostly-not-great you find elsewhere. A good backup site to use if your favorite show isn’t to be found on other sites.
9. Animeseason.com – Not For Us, But Maybe For You?
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”40%” bar_text=”None of our shows were available, no movie section either”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”80%” bar_text=”Acceptable ads”]
None of our animes were available, and there is no movie section. Quality is acceptable to rather low, but at least the ads are acceptable: Not good, but not terrible either.
If you got some time to spare, you might check them out.
10. GoGoAnime.com – Ads From Hell, Use It Caution
[skill_bar heading=”Size of Archive” percent=”80%” bar_text=”Large archive”]
[skill_bar heading=”Quality” percent=”50%” bar_text=”The usual stream hosters, mediocre quality overall”]
[skill_bar heading=”Ads and usability” percent=”20%” bar_text=”Is it hell? No, it’s advertising hell!”]
All our shows were to be found, streaming quality is ok, lots of mirrors are available, and they have anime movies. Then why are they rated so low?
Because of the horrible advertising, that’s why! Trying to get us to download unnecessary registry cleaning software to fix our supposedly extremely slow Internet connection – beware of the bogus speed test provided – was one of the more harmless things they tried to shove down our throats.
No, we honestly don’t care for your fake download links, annoying popups and other crap you advertise… why would anyone decide to use your site instead of all the other ones available?
Fire up your adblocker and have a go if you want, but for havens sake don’t install or download anything these guys offer you except for streaming links.
