RetroCrush Review (2024)

Anime is a broad label, as much as you may immediately associate it with specific tropes. No matter the subject, a show or movie falls under the animen umbrella as long as it’s a cartoon from Japan. And like any art form, anime has changed over time, with its various eras carrying different creative vibes that have influenced later generations. RetroCrush is a video streaming service dedicated to these old-school favorites, tapping into nostalgia and a general fandom that appreciates anime from the 1990s (and earlier). Unlike the bootleg VHS tapes that American anime lovers bought back in the day, RetroCrush is free and legal, even if its premium tier is somewhat disappointing.

(Credit: RetroCrush)

What Can You Watch on RetroCrush?

RetroCrush is an anime streaming service with a curated collection of classic shows and movies. Think of it as the Criterion Channel for the anime set. Curators Will Chao and Mary Gibson scour anime from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (along with a handful of newer shows that fit the style), looking for new selections. Even if you can’t name an exact show from these eras, there’s a distinct visual and storytelling groove to this older content that’s missing in more contemporary fare. That's a reason why vaporware, the hipster music phenomenon, pulls most of its aesthetic from this material.

RetroCrush’s focus on vintage anime means you won’t find much of its library anywhere else, especially in America. There are no original shows, but it’s tough to care with this many exclusives. Movies and shows include 1963's Astro Boy, 1989’s City Hunter, 1983’s Golgo 13, 1982’s Space Cobra Adventure, and 1984’s Urusei Yatsura. Either you’ve never heard of these, or you’re incredibly passionate about them. There’s no middle ground. You can feel the tasteful human touch that went into deciding which particular shows to include. There's even some Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh. During a cursory search, the only movie I found on a competing service was 1994’s Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.

However, even with its many exclusives, RetroCrush’s library is small compared to other anime streaming services. At launch, RetroCrush claimed 100 series and 40 features. That includes a mix of subtitled and dubbed content. Since then, we've seen new titles added and others disappear, so the library doesn't seem much bigger. Compare that with Crunchyroll, our Editors’ Choice winner for anime streaming, which has more than 1,300 subs and plenty of dubs after absorbing competitor Funimation. General streaming services have anime collections, too. Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion are the two crown jewels of 1990s anime available to stream on Hulu and Netflix, respectively.

How Much Does RetroCrush Cost?

The main difference between RetroCrush and its rivals is that it’s free. That’s pretty rare among anime-specific services. The closest thing I could find is Toei’s YouTube channel, which shows classic Tokusatsu programming. Other services offer free tiers with interrupting ads and limited libraries. Amazon Prime Video ($8.99), Disney+ ($7.99), HBO Max ($15.99), Hulu ($7.99), and Netflix ($6.99) don’t even have a free tier, just trials for their paid subscriptions. To get the most out of Crunchyroll, you’ll want to pay for a subscription for $7.99 per month.

RetroCrush is ad-supported, but during my testing, I found those ads surprisingly and thankfully infrequent. Typically, I saw one minute of catchy K-pop commercials at the beginning of a show. After that, I watched an entire half-hour episode of a show, such as Bubblegum Crisis, without interruption. Compare that to fellow free streaming service Xumo, which makes viewers sit through constant ads to enjoy its limited on-demand library.You don’t even need to make an account to start watching RetroCrush's catalog.

RetroCrush now offers a paid tier at $4.99 per month, but like its sibling service Midnight Pulp, the free version is the way to go. The paid tier removes ads and unlocks access to exclusive uncensored titles, but it doesn't beef up the library that much or add significant premium features, such as community tools or additional accessibility options.

Unfortunately, I noticed the limitations of RetroCrush’s free model in other areas, most immediately with platform support. For example, RetroCrush only supports web browsers, along with Android, Amazon Fire TV, iOS, and Roku devices. Sadly, you can’t watch RetroCrush on your video game console, even though there’s probably a lot of overlap in those audiences.

(Credit: RetroCrush)

RetroCrush on Mobile and the Web

At launch, RetroCrush didn't offer a web version, a basic feature available in other free streaming services, such as Pluto TV and Tubi. However, that's no longer the case. Just go to RetroCrush.TV to start streaming for free from your browser. The recently redesigned web version takes advantage of the increased real estate to pack the page full of potential anime to consider, and lets you easily hop between various browsing options.

Fortunately, RetroCrush’s mobile app is also strong, since it had to carry the burden of initially being the service’s flagship product. On mobile, RetroCrush has a streamlined interface that puts the content front and center. A carousel of highlighted shows and flicks sits at the top, and you browse through a list of everything else below. In addition, you can search for shows in various genres, including Comedy, Crime, Horror, and Romance. If you create an account, you can add favorite shows to your custom watchlists.

There’s no option to adjust video quality on mobile. RetroCrush's web version, like many free streaming services, caps resolution at 720p, or lower in some instances. Considering RetroCrush deals with vintage material, many of the shows have an inherently grainier texture, regardless of the resolution. It’s part of the retro appeal, and shows looked great on the iPhone 11 that I used for testing. Playback quality was smooth over my home Wi-Fi network (which gets 60Mbps downloads). The video player lets you skip forward and backward by 15 seconds. When watching a show, you can immediately skip to the next episode. There’s even a shuffle button for watching something completely random, a delightful exploration feature I praised in Crunchyroll and am glad to see here, too. On the web, you can speed up or slow down playback.

(Credit: RetroCrush)

RetroCrush is a free service, so you can simultaneously stream content on as many devices as you want. In addition, RetroCrush now has a cool, "live TV" feed that broadcasts old content 24/7. However, other features are nowhere to be found such as offline downloads and a store. Still, I would like to see the community features that other services leverage to cater to the passionate anime fandom. Let us leave nostalgic reviews telling curious kids why these old shows meant so much to us.

RetroCrush Accessibility and Parental Controls

RetroCrush lacks parental controls. The service displays age ratings for its content alongside details like episode summaries and cast lists. However, a lot of content was listed as "unrated," which makes sense considering how many 1990s teenagers had their minds blown by what they saw via anime. Since anyone can watch anything just by downloading the app, there's no way parents can stop that salacious cycle from repeating itself.

RetroCrush's accessibility options are similarly sparse. If a show is available subbed and dubbed, you can't switch between them on the fly. The two versions are treated as two separate listings. You can turn on English closed captioning when watching dubs. However, there's no way to adjust the font size or color when watching subs. I suspect that RetroCrush is using the same subtitles that were baked into the original releases, and the company's nobly trying to leave this older content relatively untouched for preservation's sake.

Can You Watch RetroCrush With a VPN?

Protecting yourself with a VPN is a no-brainer when going online. However, you always take a risk when mixing a VPN with a streaming service because they often don't work with each other. Streaming service companies seek to block VPNs that spoof your geographic location in order to preserve international licensing deals. Again, old-school anime fans should be accustomed to battling these legal challenges.

RetroCrush is only available in the United States. I could stream when I used ProtonVPN's mobile app to connect to a US-based server, but when I connected to a server outside the country, I couldn't. Be aware that using a VPN in the future could lock you out of all streaming as companies become savvier and more aggressive about blocking traffic.

RetroCrush Is Classically Cool

Anime streaming services are niche by nature, and as far as niches go, specializing in incredibly entertaining classics is about the best one RetroCrush could've carved out for itself. We always wanted a paid option to boost RetroCrush even further, but now that it's here, the paid tier doesn't offer enough to make it better than the free option—if anything, it makes us appreciate the free option even more. Ultimately, Crunchyroll is our Editors' Choice for anime streaming services thanks to its massive library across multiple channels and genres that offers the broadest selection to animation enthusiasts.

For more on streaming, check out five reasons why you may want to ditch your video subscription andkeep cable, read how streaming has ushered in a newtrash TV golden age, and learn why companies mustpreserve their streaming catalogs. Finally, check out our recommendedstreaming video guidesif you don't know what to watch.