Crunchyroll PS3 App Review
by Joshua Williams
Netflix, Vudu, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video and now Crunchyroll. It’s safe to say that PS3 owners have no shortage of options when it comes to finding Anime. Not only does Crunchyroll trump these other services in quantity but it also offers episodes soon after they air and a robust selection of drama. With the keys to a premium membership I recently had a chance to put this new app through the paces; this is my review of Crunchyroll for PS3.
If you’re at all familiar with navigating similar services, you’ll be right at home with the Crunchyroll app. The service is divided between anime and drama offerings and within each it is easy to find what is most popular. Streaming is high quality and there are very few hiccups but that is always dependent on your connection. One reoccurring issue I’ve been having is resuming playback after fast-forwarding or rewinding several minutes. The simple fix has been to go an extra few seconds or so but I’ve attributed it to buffering.
Design wise the app is put together fairly well but it would be nice you could see the scenes you’re fast-forwarding or rewinding to as seen in other applications. Room for improvement takes nothing away from what is already in place though. The ease of use by advancing to the next or prior episode with a single button is complimented well with the fact that there are no commercials to interrupt your entertainment.
There were a number of glaring issues that I thought would put a damper on this review but a new patch appears to have cleared things up. This is always to be expected when an app first launches and it says a lot about the reliability of the service that they were able to quickly remedy the situation. If you are a fan of anime and or drama you can do a lot worse than the Crunchyroll application.
Positives and Negatives – Crunchyroll
+ Easy to navigate
+ No commercials
+ Unrivaled selection of titles (if this is the content you’re into).
– Minor issues when progressing or rewinding several minutes.
– Some titles that aren’t offered due to past copyright issues.
8/10
