The best anime are all over the streaming world – and one of the world's biggest anime libraries is taking over Samsung TVs. Crunchyroll has just inked a new deal with the TV giant to bring its entire catalog to Samsung TVs. That's a lot of TVs, and it's a lot of anime too: Crunchyroll has over 46,000 episodes and movies in its catalog, and it also has 3,300 Japanese music and concert videos.
According to Crunchyroll's Kaliel Roberts: "Samsung is providing a seamless experience for both dedicated anime fans and the anime-curious, allowing them to easily sign up and access their favorite anime directly on their TV screens."
This is a pretty big deal, because Crunchyroll is the world's biggest and best anime streaming service: it's essentially the ESPN of anime. However, not all of the best Samsung TVs will be able to benefit: you'll need to have a relatively recent Samsung set.
Which Samsung TVs will be able to access Crunchyroll's anime app?
The Crunchyroll app for Samsung TVs is a Tizen app, but it's not compatible with older versions of the Tizen operating system. According to Flatpanelshd.com, you'll need to have a smart TV released in 2017 or later: 2015 and 2016 models don't have a recent enough version of the OS, and Samsung doesn't provide post-purchase operating system version upgrades.
The app will be rolling out in the US at first but should reach other Samsung owners by the end of the week. Expect to pay around $8 per month for ad-free streaming; there will be a free ad-supported plan as well as a 14-day free trial of the ad-free service.
If your Samsung isn't new enough, don't worry: there are also apps for third party TV hardware including Apple TV and Google TV. And if your smart TV or streaming device has Amazon Prime Video, you can get Crunchyroll on Prime Video too. It's not included in the price of your Prime subscription, however – like many third party channels it's an add-on that you can subscribe to from within the Prime Video app.
This isn't the only Crunchyroll news this week. As of this week, the expanding Dragon Ball catalog will be streaming to users in Ireland as well as the previously announced UK and France. Over 800 episodes of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and more will be available to stream on the service in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. The expansion kicks off with the original Dragon Ball series in English sub, English dub, French sub and French dub on February 9.
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