Crunchyroll is a popular American streaming platform that primarily shows anime and manga content (along with some Asian dramas and video game–related content). Although originally founded back in 2006 as a site for fans to share decidedly “grey” fan‑subtitled anime episodes, it now operates through official licensing deals with Japanese studios and distributors.
In 2025, Crunchyroll is one of the largest fully legal anime platforms in world, available in over 190 countries worldwide. But given its somewhat disreputable origins, it’s reasonable to question if it’s safe.
- Is Crunchyroll legal?
- Is Crunchroll secure?
- Is Crunchyroll private?
- Is Crunchyroll safe for children?
- How to stay safe on Crunchyroll
Is Crunchyroll legal?
It is now. Crunchyroll started as an illegal anime streaming site that hosted fansubbed episodes (with unlicensed fan-made subtitles) and pirated uploads. Most controversially, it profited from this piracy by showing ads and offering paid membership options.
However, this changed in 2008 when venture capitalists led by Venrock Associates invested $4 million(new window) on the platform. Crunchyroll used this money reinvent itself; removing pirated content and negotiating proper licenses with Japanese distributors.
In 2021, the by-now entirely legal and reputable Crunchyroll was acquired by Sony (via its Funimation Global Group) for $1.2 billion.
It now earns revenue (contributing more than $1 billion a year to its parent company) through premium subscriptions, advertising on its free tier, and partnerships with studios and merchandisers. In a world where piracy on anime titles remains rife, Crunchyroll supports creators and helps to fund the development of new anime productions.
Is Crunchyroll secure?
As you would expect, connections to Crunchyroll are secured using HTTPS(new window). It also partners with reputable payment providers such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal, so there are no real concerns on that front.
Is Crunchyroll private?
Crunchyroll’s free tier is entirely ad-supported. If you pay for a premium Crunchyroll subscription you won’t see ads, but quite a lot of tracking is still performed and passed-on to third parties.
Cruncyroll’s own privacy policy(new window) is quite minimal, instead mainly directing you to that of Sony(new window) (its parent company). This states that Sony websites:
- Use cookies and other tracking technologies to personalize content and advertising.
- Collect contact information, device identifiers such as IP address, and usage information such as your ad interactions, browsing history, geolocations, and viewing history for the purpose of delivering targeted ads.
- Allow third party services to also use tracking technologies for advertising purposes.
- Allow personal data collected by Sony to be used by third parties to serve targeted ads on third-party websites and platforms.
- May “convert your email address, telephone number, or other information into a unique value and provide it to these third-party platforms for matching purposes”.
In 2023 Sony settled a $10 million class action lawsuit(new window) for the sharing the personal information of Crunchyroll subscribers with third parties that included Facebook, Google, Adobe and others.
While this is all fairly standard behavior for streaming platforms, its disappointing that becoming a paid customer doesn’t appear to stop you being tracked and served targeted ads (albeit not while watching Crunchyroll itself).
However, Crunchyroll does abide by regional privacy laws (such as Europe’s GDPR(new window)) and provides a “Cookie Settings” option in the website footer that allows you to “opt out of targeted advertising or the sale/sharing of your information via cookies”. If you live in the US, you can also complete a webform asking Crunchyroll not to sell or share your personal information.
In early 2025, a list of usernames and passwords(new window) for several Crunchyroll Premium accounts was posted on X, but there’s no evidence this was due to Crunchyroll’s systems being breached (Crunchyroll blamed users for re-using their passwords across multiple accounts).
Is Crunchyroll safe for children?
If you’re unfamiliar with anime and think of it as “cartoons”, the amount of content aimed firmly at adults on the Crunchyroll platform may come as a shock. Unlike many kid‑focused platforms (such Disney+, and Netflix Kids), Crunchyroll doesn’t have a separate kids section that automatically filters out mature content.
Shows are given a content rating (All, PG, 12+, 16+, and 18+ in most regions), but the catalog is mixed, with many popular series rated 14+. Shows labeled 16+ may contain strong violence, harsh language, and sexual content, including non-explicit nudity. Serious themes like suicide, abuse, and sexual assault may be depicted. Shows labeled 18+ may contain harsh language, explicit nudity, sexual content, and extreme violence.
Parental controls are available via the Crunchyroll settings. These allow parents and guardians to set content rating (age) limits, but these restrictions don’t remove titles from the catalog. This means blocked content still shows up in the library. It just can’t be played.
Parents have complained(new window) that Crunchyroll’s content filters either don’t work or are very weak, although it’s unclear if this remains the case.
Another criticism is that without a kids profile that can be secured with a lock or PIN, a tech-savvy child can easily enter Crunchyroll’s settings and change the content rating themselves. There’s also no age verification to sign up to the free service, and therefore nothing to stop them setting up their own Crunchyroll account.
How to stay safe on Crunchyroll
If you don’t wish to be tracked to advertising purposes, you can sign up for a free email account(new window) using a hide-my-email alias(new window) and prevent Crunchyroll from tracking your IP address with a VPN. If you sign up for Crunchyroll Premium, such precautions are arguably moot, although Proton VPN’s premium NetShield Ad-blocker feature will help prevent other forms of tracking. And if you’re watching Crunchyroll for free, it may reduce the number of ads you see.
Other than that, Crunchyroll is a fairly safe platform for most adults. However, thanks to the very adult nature of much of its content combined with very loose parental controls, the same can’t be said for children. For younger kids, simply setting up suitable content filters may be sufficient to shield them from inappropriate content, but older kids and teens may require adult supervision.
Final thoughts on Crunchyroll’s safety
Crunchyroll’s transformation from pirate site to the world’s default platform for watching fully-legal anime content is remarkable. And the ability to watch simulcasts (where you can watch new content live as it is released in Japan) is a huge draw for anime fans.
For adults, its a safe enough platform (if extensive tracking doesn’t overly concern you too much). Kids though, should be supervised at all times.
