Best VPN for Crunchyroll

As any fan of Japanese manga will tell you, Crunchyroll is the place to be if you want to satisfy your craving for the latest East Asian art. That’s because Crunchyroll is a cool platform that showcases all types of East Asian art, and is especially geared towards promoting it to Western audiences. 

Crunchyroll traces its humble beginnings back in 2006 when it first started out as a university project. Since then, Crunchyroll has grown beyond its initial restrictions as a means of respite for university students, to become the ultimate source of East Asian animation and drama for those who reside within and outside the Asian region.  

One visit to the Crunchyroll online library and you’ll see that it’s not your usual streaming site. Instead of storing libraries of content like BBC iPlayer, Netflix or ABC.com, Crunchyroll scrutinizes each video and piece of content for its suitability to the user. Plus, there’s only one Crunchyroll website that’s accessible to viewers all around the world, which means that you’ll have access to the same content as someone in Germany or the US, for example.

However, there are a few restrictions on some of the content, based on previously observed suitability for a particular region. For instance, you may be able to access most content, and yet struggle to watch some of the videos due to a restriction that has been placed on it for your particular region. That’s why you’ll find a lot of discussions about unblocking US Crunchyroll among online platforms. This basically refers to gaining access to certain Crunchyroll content which has been made exclusively available to US users. 

Why Does Crunchyroll Restrict Its Content

Over the years, Crunchyroll has managed to secure comprehensive agreements with a number of entertainment producers throughout East Asia, especially in the Japanese entertainment scene, where most of its media partners are located. 

That said, Crunchyroll doesn’t have wholesale rights to all the content it gets from these producers, which means that it too is subject to legal restrictions which prohibit the platform from showcasing it in certain regions. Moreover, Crunchyroll is accountable to all of the producers with which it has legal agreements, and can easily get sued for reparations if it doesn’t follow the protocol set out in those contracts.

Otherwise, Crunchyroll has a wide range of highly artistic content from diverse countries such as Korea, Japan, China and the East Asia region. They wouldn’t ideally have to restrict from other regions, but because they can’t risk breaking the contracts they have with their producers, they have to. 

Using a VPN to Unblock Crunchyroll

Now, on to the fun part of the article; how to use VPN for Crunchyroll! Crunchyroll itself has sworn to not break the terms of the agreements it has with its media producers, especially because these agreements have implications for other broadcasters as well. However, due to the fact that Crunchyroll is located in the US, North American users are able to get access to everything in the content library, with no restrictions imposed on their viewing. If there’s a movie or show that you can’t find on the site library, then it’s probably because they’re not interested in featuring it. 

Nevertheless, the US library has the fullest library of content than any other country in the world, but a Crunchyroll VPN is needed in order to access what’s available on the platform if you’re in another region. 

Once the VPN has been installed on your PC, you’ll receive what’s known as a client program. As soon as you turn the VPN on, it’ll give you the option to select your location. We recommend you select a US VPN server so that you can access the entire Crunchyroll library. 

What the VPN software does is it diverts all the requests coming from your computer before they reach the internet. All communication that is based on the internet is conveyed through structures known as packets, so the VPN encrypts these packets, effectively preventing other computers or people from accessing the addresses involved in the two-way communication. 

To keep the information safe from routers, the VPN creates an additional packet where it places the encrypted packet, making it seem as though it’s the outer packet that’s conveying information to your selected server.  

Once it gets to the VPN, the encrypted packet is immediately opened and sent to the Crunchyroll server. Worried that the reply will point back to your computer? Well, you can put your worries aside because the source address contained in the encrypted request packet is always that of the US VPN.

However, it’s important to note that Crunchyroll is privy to your location by virtue of the return address contained in the video request packet, and since your IP address reveals your physical location, Crunchyroll is able to access the source address of all the video requests it gets. So, if it’s not allowed to provide content access to users outside the US, it’ll react to requests according to the source address. It’ll grant access to US-based requests and block everyone else. 

So, choosing a US VPN location ensures that a US source address will appear on your Crunchyroll content request, and you’ll get to watch your preferred content thanks to the VPN server. While it might sound like a long and protracted process, this all happens very fast. So fast in fact that you won’t even notice the diversion of your internet traffic through a third computer, nor any of the encryption and packaging that happens on both ends. But, in order for all this to happen, you need to get a best VPN for Crunchyroll, which is where the next section of the article comes in. 

The Best VPNs to Access Crunchyroll

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) give you access to all Crunchyroll videos, wherever you are. Now, let’s take a look at the most popular VPNs that you should use:

1. ExpressVPN

Not only does ExpressVPN do a good job at overcoming Crunchyroll regional restrictions, but it’s also the go-to VPN if you want to get unrestricted access to platforms like Netflix and the UK’s Ski Go. ExpressVPN is the fastest VPN available on the market. That said, you still have to deal with the fact that Crunchyroll and other streaming platforms are tightening up their VPN detection systems, even creating blacklists of the most commonly used VPN IPs in order to block their access. This makes it harder for VPNs to access these streaming sites across borders. 

The good news is that ExpressVPN is staying ahead of these measures by using stealth technology that evades detection and site access bans from Internet Service Providers. Plus, ExpressVPN offers high-speed processing that gives you great quality video content from Crunchyroll. 

2. NordVPN

NordVPN has earned a spot on this list due to its remarkable camouflage abilities, which enable it to pass through proxy detection systems without a trace. NordVPN’s speed depends on the server you choose; some servers are very fast and some are slower. Similar to ExpressVPN, NordVPN is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means that you can confidently sign-up for any of its available plans knowing that you can get your money back if it doesn’t work out for you. Plus, you can save even further if you open a shared account with friends. 

3. PureVPN

Next on our list is the PureVPN which has been around for quite some time now but is still a great option and is fast too. Thanks to its many years in operation, PureVPN has managed to accumulate over 6,000 servers located in 78 countries around the world which it uses to help route your internet connection. Another awesome feature of PIA VPN is that it still offers impressive speed through all the servers it uses, and you can rest assured that your internet connection will be 100% encrypted for ultimate privacy.

Why Does My VPN Not Work with Crunchyroll?

This probably happens because you’re using a weak or free VPN. Free VPNs don’t work with Crunchyroll. You see, each year, streaming services work hard to upgrade their regional restrictions system and block VPNs because not doing so can affect their bottom line, as their content is supplied through legal contractual agreements. As a result, there aren’t a lot of VPN services able to go through these systems undetected. However, using one of the VPNs in our list above guarantees you undetected access to Crunchyroll.

Which VPNs You Should Avoid?

There are good VPNs and then there are very bad ones. Above, we gave you a list of the best VPNs to use with Crunchyroll. Now we will give you a list of the worst VPNs that you should avoid at all costs.

Here they are:

1. Hotspot Shield

This free VPN has been accused of many unethical acts such as user data mining and HTTP hijacking. These allegations haven’t been proven yet but we suggest you avoid this provider for now until everything is solved.

2. HolaVPN

HolaVPN is based in Israel and operates a Chrome peer-to-peer VPN extension. The provider used to have 50 million users but lost it all after turning its user base into a huge botnet army. So be very careful if you choose this service as your VPN.