A synopsis of 16 sites where you can watch cartoons for free (all available for free)

Hyou| 2022-11-28
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There are so many places on the vast Internet where you can watch anime without having to pay for it.

On the other hand, some of them can become inaccessible due to broken links or video removal, or, like Anitube, which went out of business in 2018, suddenly cease operations and become inaccessible.

For this reason, in this article, we have "researched and verified" in great detail the sites where you can currently watch anime for free, and would like to summarize our findings.

We have also introduced a number of sites that are not well known in Japan, so please take a look at them.

The number of animations uploaded, upload speed, site features, ease of use, etc. are also included. For your reference

The following is a list of sites where anime can be viewed for free.

List of sites where you can watch anime for free

1. Himawari Video

Himawari Video is a fully Japanese-language site affiliated with FC2. It is characterized by "flowing comments" similar to Nico Nico Douga.

The greatest feature of Himawari Video is the "comments flowing on the video".

The greatest feature of this site is that the amount of information is simply doubled by the complementation of "animated videos" and "comments," and new discoveries can be made. Some of the commenters are supplemented by people who have read the original work and are familiar with the anime. The most significant benefit is the discovery of previously unknown information. (It is also important to note that some comments are rather intriguing.)

However, there are cases where people post spoilers or make comments that are nothing more than trolling. In such cases, you can use the "NG function" or hide the on-screen display of comments completely.

The entire site is easy on the eyes and has few advertisements. Another key point is that by using our own ranking system, you can quickly see which anime is popular at the moment. This is an even more important point.

Additionally, on the right side of the main page, you will see your search history and viewing history. From here you can easily retrieve anime videos.

Himawari Video and Nosub are the only sites specializing in anime, which we will discuss in more detail later, but they are known for using a feature called "sink remarks." Therefore, both sites are considered to have special value due to their rarity.

2. Nosub

Nosub " is a site that was closed in the past but was revived in 2018 and, like Sunflower Video, is characterized by "flowing statements."

Nosub differs from Sunflower Video in that there is no "comment box" on the right side of the video player, there are twice as many ads as Sunflower Video, and the size of Nosub's site is considerably larger than that of Sunflower Video.

Initially, the comment box placed on the right side of the player seemed like an afterthought, since the comments are played instead of the video. However, although at first glance it is of little practical use, it actually helps to prevent information from being lost.

Furthermore, the NG settings are much simpler than those of Sunflower Video, and the possibility of instantly hiding offensive comments is a key feature.

However, because of its limited scope, it does not receive as many comments as Sunflower Video, which is unfortunate because it lacks excitement.

When we checked over 30 other sites, Nosub was the only one with no ads at all.

The lack of pop-up ads in particular really disappoints and frustrates a lot of people, but we give it a 9 out of 10 on this point.

A major drawback is that certain videos require Adobe Flash Player certification in order to view them.

Incidentally, Nosub does not strictly refer to them as "comments" but as "quips." (not important).

3. ANIMEGG

ANIMEGG" is a site that streams the latest episodes of Japanese anime in 1080p high quality.

However, as for pop-up commercials, they are not overly bothersome, as they do not reappear once displayed. The site as a whole has a reasonable number of advertisements.

Video loading speed is also quite good for an overseas site, and even 1080p videos may be played without additional waiting time.

Since video loading time depends not only on your own connection speed but also on the amount of traffic on the site you are accessing, this is an advantage of ANIMEGG, which is still not very popular.

It would be quicker to use the search bar at the top of the page or to search from the top page itself.

Note that the list of updated animations is a bit confusing, as there are no thumbnails, just a string of titles.

Note that there are two types of animations, "SUBBED" and "DUBBED," and "SUBBED" has Japanese audio, so you should check to see if English audio is available.

Whether the 1080p quality setting can be selected or not is determined by the video.

4. B9GOOD (former B9DM)

B9GOOD (formerly B9DM) is a Chinese language site that supports Japanese, has a large number of users in Japan, and distributes anime movies and original video animation (OVA).

In fact, it is one of the most famous free anime viewing sites and was known as "B9DM" in the past, but has now been renamed "B9GOOD.

It is hard to believe that a Chinese site has such a large amount of Japanese anime, most of it in high quality. The site is here.

The site itself is very user-friendly, with every detail translated into Japanese and search results displayed in Japanese.

Since the original Anitube is no longer accessible, the two sites closest to the size and scale of Anitube are B9GOOD (formerly known as B9DM) and KissAnime, which will be discussed later.

The only drawback is the constant advertisements that appear from time to time.

5. KissAnime.ru

"KissAnime" is one of the largest free-to-view anime sites in the world, with 700 million page views (pv) per month.

In mid-2018, the government warned against three sites by name: "Manga Village," "Anitube," and "MioMio," and the issue became the subject of intense debate. However, this site called "KissAnime" is the second most influential site after them in terms of the number of accesses.

In any case, the site has a large number of works, upload speed is fast, and there are very few broken links due to the use of numerous upload servers located overseas.

However, there are a few drawbacks. For some time now, image authentication has been required before viewing videos, and this process has become very tedious.

In addition, a ridiculous condition has been added: if you visit the site with ad-blocking software (Adblock) installed, you will be "banned" and unable to view videos for a certain period of time.

Therefore, it is not flattering or easy to use, and I personally use it only when I have a choice and the video is not uploaded to another site.

6. Aniwatcher

Aniwatcher has an exceptionally low number of "broken links" on its website due to its large number of preliminary links and fast upload speed.

The site has a four-column list of animations with thumbnails, making it very easy to find the specific animation you are looking for. This is one of the most remarkable qualities of this site.

There are similar sites that list only titles without thumbnails, or that are broken down by work, but since anime has such a strong visual impact, thumbnails are absolutely necessary.

Another drawback of this site is that the pages appear cluttered because all information is displayed on a single screen, and the site is not as user-friendly as other sites.

In addition, in order to view a video, the user must press the play button three or four times, which we consider to be a tedious process. This is done to display the ads.

However, as of January 2019, this site is not well known, especially in Japan, and we do not believe that it will ever play second fiddle to the site known as "Anitube."

In addition, since this site has nearly 20 links to each anime, it is unlikely that a broken link will prevent you from watching an anime on this site, unless something happens to you.

7.AnimeFreak.tv

The user interface (UI) is more than official: AnimeFreak.tv is a "website with specialized features.

This AnimeFreak.tv site boasts 40 million page view (pv) hits per month, second only to B9 in popularity.

The video viewing page on this site is notable for its wide variety of features.

For example, in addition to the official "autoplay" and "auto-next" functions, there is a "darkening" function that darkens the screen around the video and blocks out unnecessary information. This feature is also available.

In addition, all episodes can be accessed from the "See All Episodes" section of the video page, which has an elaborate presentation.

You can also access an anime at any time by registering it in your "Watch List" (like a favorite), and you can also check the "Rate" (rating) of that anime.

The "rating" is almost always a foreigner's rating, so it is interesting to know how foreigners rate the anime.

I also found it practical to be able to access the anime of the current season (e.g., "Winter2019") directly from the top page and quickly examine them in list format with thumbnail images.

The second thing that personally bothered me was that although there were relatively few ads, they were prominently displayed, and when playing an anime, in-stream ads (the type of ads often seen on Youtube) would appear, which was a bit depressing. This was my second personal concern.

On the other hand, I don't think it bothers me that much because I don't have to watch the whole thing and it only takes a few seconds to skip it.

I didn't feel any major pressure to watch this section alone, as there are very few pop-up ads.

Note that we do not recommend using the "watch list" feature, as it cannot be utilized without first logging in.

8.9ANIME

Similar to "AnimeFreak.tv" in the previous section, this site has special features not found on other sites in our comparison.

For example, there is a "light-off" feature that dims the area around the video player and an "autoplay" feature that automatically plays the next video in the playlist when the player is left unattended.

9. Dailymotion

Dailymotion is a site that allows users to upload all types of video content, including animation.

Because of its high name recognition, a great many people know the name of this site, even those who do not usually watch anime.

This site is also used by many other reach sites in Japan because it is difficult to delete animation videos. This is one of the reasons for its popularity in the country.

On the other hand, it is not as if video content can never be deleted. Rather, it seems that there are "videos that are easy to delete" and "videos that are hard to delete."

If there are videos that you really want to keep, you can "download and save" them, although it is not recommended. However, it is honestly unclear what criteria are used to determine this.

10. AnimeShow.tv

The website layout is very well organized, the upload speed is fast, and the image quality of the website "AnimeShow.tv" is of a very high standard.

In our research and checking of over 30 websites, we found that this particular website has what we consider to be the "ideal website layout."

As you can see from the image displayed above, the site is organized in a very orderly fashion.

First the popular content is displayed, then the new content, and on the right sidebar, the currently airing anime are briefly listed in alphabetical order by series name only, making them easy to see.

The rest depends on the person, but perhaps to make it look beautiful, the px of the text is set small, and as a result, people with poor eyesight may feel a little stressed.

By the way, advertisements are the biggest disadvantage, but the problem is not the "quantity" of ads, but their "quality.

In particular, many ads that include a content rating R, which can be found on the individual work pages, can make it difficult to concentrate. If the display is not maximized, it may be difficult to concentrate.

Please note that pop-up ads may also appear.

11. GoGoAnime.to

GoGoAnime.to is a strange site that has many users from overseas, despite the fact that many of its anime are from Japan.

Even with videos containing Japanese-language audio, there are a significant number of people from overseas who use sites like this one, which are based overseas and handle anime-related video content.

The "GoGoAnime" site provides English subtitles, so it is possible that people are watching anime with subtitles in the same way that Japanese people watch Western movies.

The site's basic functionality is comparable to other sites, and it also features regular uploads of the latest episodes of currently broadcast anime series.

The drawback is that many advertisements are visible. We found it annoying to have to close the ads before watching videos on the site.

You can also watch anime on a mirror site using a different domain name, GoGoAnime.io. You can also watch anime on this site.

12. SayMove!

Like Himawari Video, this site is linked to FC2, giving it a sense of security.

The entire site is written in Japanese. Also, the "comments" are natural and flowing. And there is a wide variety of videos available in addition to anime.

In addition to these features, loading time is fast, and the site's interface is easy to understand and simple to use.

On the other hand, however, some aspects of the site seemed inadequate for the original purpose of watching anime, such as fast deletion of videos (broken links) and an excessive amount of illegally uploaded videos other than anime (secondary productions).

13.AnimeNova

    AnimeNova

AnimeNova is "the "original" site of the mirror sites described below.

It takes very little time to post the latest episodes of anime, and although there are many advertisements and occasional lags in loading speed, the site is surprisingly simple considering the content it hosts.

Watching an anime is a simple process.

1. to watch an anime, click on its title

2. exit any ads covering the video player.

3. to start watching, press the play button.

These three steps will allow you to watch the video.

Ads will appear in the video again if you pause it, and may continue to appear in the future even if you close it.

14. AnimePlus

Note added on November 15: Basically closed. After accessing, you will be redirected to gogoanime.

AnimePlus was the first site to mirror AnimeNova's content.

It appears to be a little slow to load, but this is likely due to the various servers used for each film.

However, the most important parts of the site, such as how to watch the videos, are the same, so please continue on to this previous section.

15. Anitube.biz

Anitube.biz" is one of the "Anitube" mirror sites that supports Japanese and Portuguese.

Among the many "Anitube" mirror sites, "Anitube.biz" is one that supports Japanese and Portuguese.

The design is reminiscent of the old version of "Anitube", but it has an automatic translation function to Japanese for users accessing from Japan. In addition, the site is structured specifically for Japanese users, and all uploaded anime can be viewed in Japanese.

The fact that 70% of the users are Japanese is a benefit of the Japanese familiarity with the name "Anitube.

The quality of the anime available on this site varies from poor to non-existent, depending on the video, but even so, all of the anime we checked were in standard 360p quality.

Not surprisingly, the standard definition (SD) of today's anime is remarkably grainy, and honestly, we cannot deny that we preferred to use other sites for this.

Note that if you have ad-blocking software (Adblock) installed, the message "AdBlock Detected" will appear on the entire screen. However, in contrast to "KissAnime," the actual video content may be viewed without problems, so please feel free to use this site.

16. bilibili

The site "bilibili" is quite famous in Chinese society, so much so that it is not at all inaccurate to say that it is "China's YouTube" if we compare the two.

It offers a wide variety of Japanese content as well as anime, but since the site is written in Chinese, it is difficult to find the material you need.

Furthermore, the video content is basically cut off, making it difficult to watch the whole thing.