Anime in India was always looked down upon as ‘Kid’s Content” or simply mindless “cartoons” from time immemorial. But luckily from the last decade the scenario is changing slowly. India is now acknowledging Anime as a Culture, resulting in a humongous fanbase.

After the fall of Animax, Toonami and Cartoon Network(when animes were aired), the medium changed from Television to Online. In the age of smartphones and low cost internet, it is high time anime gets the appreciation it deserves.

Why use Legal Anime Streaming sites instead of Pirated ones?

Because, Pirated sites draw loss for the anime production companies as well as it is malicious for your device. Legal platform streaming gives the companies the profit and motivation that they need to bring in more awesome animes and grow the community! So, to make India an Anime hub, we ought to use legal mediums available to invite more production companies and bring back the glorious anime days.

Here we have 9 Anime Streaming options for you to enjoy great animes easily and legally in India:

Netflix

The best paid choice for every Indian anilovers. Its user friendly and have a great collection of animes and what not. Watch all the popular giants like Naruto, MHA, FMAB, Black Clover, with a recent addition of One piece. It has a good collection of anime movies too- Popular, Originals,Ghibli and all. It also has some original series with a fresh look. But it doesn’t have simulcast, so you might have to wait until all the episodes air.

Muse Asia

An epic Youtube channel dedicated to Anime. An awesome source to stream series like One punch man, Noblesse, Talentless Nana, Hyouka, Slime, Goblin Slayer, God of High School etc. It lacks a lot of popular titles which can be a downer. But they have a good collection of lesser known yet awesome animes. The great thing about the channel is it has simulcast and it updates everyday!

Ani-One

One of the oldest Youtube channels where you can access full anime episodes without a hitch. It is similar to Muse Asia but with a bigger library. Starting from Konosuba, No game No life, Food Wars, Balance Unlimited and a whole lot of currently airing animes. All legal and safe. Of course simulcast is available but with only subtitles.

Anilog

A channel which is going to beat up all other anime channels on Youtube, as its a collaboration between several Anime Studios like Toei Animation, Kodansha etc. At present, for the Indian viewers it may not be of your heart’s content as it lacks the typical Shounen or Slice of life titles. Currently they are airing titles that are famous according to NHK, but as they have promised in the news, soon we can get more awesome animes. Fingers crossed.

Amazon Prime Video

If you like old animes like Astro boy, GTO, Bakugan, Beyblade etc definitely check out this option. Its user friendly with a good library of anime movies like Ghost in the shell, Pokemon movies, few Naruto movies etc. It needs improvement with the anime series collection and put in more mainstream animes. Among the popular titles you will find Vinland Saga, Banana Fish, Watakoi, Psycho Pass, Elfen Lied, Toradora etc.

Crunchyroll

Mother of all aniwebsites but didn’t age well with time. It’s definitely not an option for a middle class Indian weeb. The free version doesnt offer much except Naruto and Boruto. Even with paid version the library is not so overwhelming. If you are an anime superfan, then you can explore this site. The premium version gives access to 1000+ animes to stream with numerous subbed and dub episodes.

Anime Planet

Anime planet is one of the best aniwebsites out there with legal streaming anime episodes. It also has mangas, recommendations and reviews. But the problem is its navigation system, its confusing. It is basically like a website to rank and talk about anime, much like MAL, with a hit and miss chance of actually finding episode videos. The only good thing about the site is that it is FREE, legal and not pirated.

AnimeLab

A promising website with lots of series to choose from. Also airs new animes with simulcasting. The only drawback for us Indian viewers is we need to use VPN. If you can go through the trouble, then enjoy free anime without anymore hassle! For the free users, there will be ads and standard quality videos. Among the free series, we have all the mainstream shounens as well as the average ones- enough to fill Indian otaku hunger. The premium users will get full access to the library without ads and HD videos as well as no delay simulcasting.

Hulu

If you want to work a lot just get limited ads or no ads and a great anime time then Hulu is here for you. Much like Netflix and Prime Video but with simulcasts at a decent subscription plan. The hard part is it is not available in India but if you have VPN then its done. You will find most of your loved animes like AOT, Naruto, Black clover, Fire Force etc with latest episodes. Also great anime movies are there.

Other than these giants, we also have a good news from Akatsuki Inc. a gaming and anime production company who wants to localise contents in India.

Here is an excerpt of the news that we received:

First we are targeting tier I, metros as the Kumarba is available in English,” Yuki Kawamura, Head of Global IP Expansion at Akatsuki Inc, told PTI. He added that the next step will be to expand to vernacular audiences in tier II cities and beyond by dubbing in local languages like Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. “We are planning to bring in a range of content from education to edutainment to interactive and engaging content. In the pipeline, we have more properties to come in. We want to distinguish (ourselves from others) by bringing rich story telling expertise from Japan,” Kawamura said. He noted that the current content lineup may not be a 100 per cent fit with Indian audiences. “So we have to have localisation, not just in terms of language localisation but also on the content side.

To avail the whole news, click on the link here.

Mr. Yuki Kawamura‘s attempt is just the first step to a huge process to bring together the Anime Industry in India. Though most of the population in this country is youth, however the popularity of Japanese Animation is not as close to what it should be. It’s a shame.

I hope by the next decade, the myth of anime being a “waste of time” will be broken by more entertainment industries. But do you remeber the quote from Assasintion Classroom?

“Its all fun and games until things get real.”

Nagisa Shiota, Assasination Classroom