Crunchyroll Apple TV Channel still isn't a fully functional service one month later

The Crunchyroll service finally arrived as an Apple TV Channel, yet its catalog is incomplete and has multiple issues after a month of slow fixes. Interested users may need to hold off for now.

I'm a fan of Apple and anime, so Crunchyroll as an Apple TV Channel is a perfect match for me as a customer. However, the problem-ridden rollout has left a lot to be desired.

I'm not here to complain as much as I'm hoping to bring attention to the ongoing issues and inform others. Many of the shows my wife and I watch work without issue, but several don't.

I'm paying the full monthly price (as opposed to the discounted annual price) to get access to the Channel version of the service. I would hope that it would be a perfect mirror of the Crunchyroll app catalog, as promised.

It isn't.

A big job

I have no doubt in my mind that the Crunchyroll team has a monumental task in bringing over some 50,000 episodes and their multitude of language options to a new database. There are sure to be speed bumps along the way.

However, had I known the service wouldn't be 100% one month on, I would have held off switching. I had to cancel my annual subscription and ask for a refund, so I'm not exactly looking to go back either.

I may have to hit cancel for now, let the subscription run out on May 2, then resubscribe via the app until everything is fixed. There's no point in using a partially available service when the other one works fine.

I'd have hoped that these issues would have been found and weeded out during a closed internal test. I'm not quite sure why we're seeing these issues, but I'm assuming it is due to the incredible amount of shows and movies that have to be verified one by one.

It would be easy to assume some would slip through the cracks, but the anime that I'm noticing are broken are either popular franchises or part of the most recent anime season.

Dragon Ball Z is still trapped with only Japanese audio, but at least it has English subtitles. It should be in English, because it is on the main app, but it isn't.

Journal With Witch is an amazing recent release about processing grief and has always been a subbed anime. The problem is that English subtitles aren't available for whatever reason.

Up until Tuesday, as I write this, because I checked yesterday, You and I are Polar Opposites was showing as only having the first ten episodes available. You couldn't watch episode 11 and 12 in spite of them having aired and being shown in the app.

I'm aware that they're fixing these issues. I'm very excited to see Crunchyroll as an Apple TV Channel and will absolutely subscribe that way, even though it'll be $20 more expensive per year.

But one month on, this is bordering on inexcusable. Had I known the rollout would take this long, I'd have held onto my previous account a little longer.

My advice today is to check the Apple TV app listings for your favorite anime and see if they show proper episode listings and languages. I don't think it'll be much longer before all of the issues are resolved, but if I'm paying full price, they shouldn't have been this present for this long anyway.

Given the evolving nature of this problem, I hope they can have it fully resolved by May 2 so I can maintain the Channel subscription without interruption.

A minor problem

One other notable difference in the experience. Like when buying dubbed anime on the Apple TV Store, the dubbed anime in the Crunchyroll Channel lacks text translation for on-screen Japanese lettering. So, if a character looks at a sign or a text on their phone, you won't get that helpful hint of what it says without enabling English subtitles.

The problem with enabling subtitles is then you get the full English direct translation subtitles that don't match what the localized dub is saying. So, you have to choose between not knowing what a text message says on a phone or having non-matching subtitles on the screen.

Of course, the sub folks will say "just watch it in Japanese." That does have its place with some anime, but the last few years of English dubbing has been quite revolutionary. The performances in My Dress Up Darling and You and I are Polar Opposites make the shows feel completely different from the Japanese version.

Also, not every anime bothers with the on-screen text translation, and I believe some of it is baked into the Crunchyroll app player and won't appear in the Apple TV Channel. I looked for a few examples and only found a few rare instances of on-screen translation appearing.

I think Apple should come out with a feature that is separate from subtitles that live translates on-screen text. Perhaps it could even work as a second screen feature that shows translated text on your iPhone screen.

For now, I've been taking the time to photograph text that I really want to know what it says and use the translation feature.

No one to blame

This isn't meant to point fingers or try to get someone fired. I'm writing it more as a PSA to those that might discover the Apple TV Channel and consider switching to it.

I doubt Apple could have done anything to make this easier, nor could Crunchyroll. Perhaps they could have held off public release of the Channel until everything was verified, but that may not have been cost-effective. Sometimes, you just have to pull the trigger and fix problems on the fly.

I'm happy to see such a prominent streaming service make its way to Apple TV. I hope more can follow, because that app and its Up Next system are the best I've used out of any other option.

When you're watching an anime that works, the integration of the Apple TV Channel is perfect. Crunchyroll has a notoriously odd app that I've never liked navigating, so having everything laid out Apple TV style is an improvement.

Apple should still consider a complete tvOS redesign that makes the Apple TV app the primary interface with tabs for games and apps. Think PlayStation's software organization. However, I doubt the company will bother.

WWDC is coming up fast. I wonder if we'll hear anything interesting about Apple TV, its services, or the app itself.