If you live in the U.S., it can be hard to know where to find legal anime of new series as they come out. The upside is that it is much easier to find legal anime now than it has ever been. I remember a time when to find anime you had to lurk in just the right corners of the nascent internet.
Now with major players like Crunchyroll, Netflix, Funimation, Viz, Hulu, and even Amazon getting into the anime game, life is good. Unfortunately, for some of us hardcore simulcast fans, it can still be a challenge to know where and when to watch legal simulcasts. To help out I’m publishing my list of legal anime links.
This is nothing more than a list that shows when a simulcast is expected to start, who claims they will carry it, and (if I can confirm one) a link to some of this season’s anime. Check back throughout the summer because I will be updating this list throughout the season. Remember—watching legal anime demonstrates that there is an audience here for it, which means more companies will make the leap.
Disclaimer: None of these synopses were written by me. They all came either from LiveChart.Me or Crunchyroll.
Island
When: Live Now – Sundays 10:30am EDT
Status: New Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “The island of Urashima sits on the ocean far, far away from the mainland. The island is so lush and beautiful that one might mistake it for paradise, but the people there are trapped by a complex past and long-established traditions. Long since abandoned and all but forgotten by the mainland, the people of the island are ready to give up hope. But then, a young man named Setsuna who calls himself a ‘time traveler’ washes up on the island. Setsuna has lost all of his memories except for a certain mission that he must fulfill. On Urashima, he meets three girls, Rinne, Karen, and Sara, and begins to work toward changing the island’s future. The story of a young man and the three girls he meets on an island full of mysteries and exclusive customs is about to be unraveled…”
Hanebado!
When: Live Now – Sundays 12:00pm EDT
Status: New Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “Despite her great potential, Ayano Hanesaki would rather avoid badminton than play it. But, when she meets Nagisa Aragaki, a third year who spends every waking moment perfecting her game, she’s inspired. Encouraged by their coach, Tachibana Kentarou, Ayano and Nagisa will hit the court and rally against opponents and rivals with amazing skills!”
Calamity of a Zombie Girl
When: Live Now -Tuesdays 12:00pm EDT
Status: New Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled)
Synopsis: “On a university campus where most students are out for summer vacation, five students sneak into the library storage to look for treasure. What they find are two sets of female antique mummies from Italy. One of the members, Sayaka rips open one of the mummies and takes out a stone, empowering the mummies to have super strength and eternal life. Having stolen their ‘stone of life,’ the two mummies awaken and ferociously attempt to retrieve what was once theirs. The only way for the students to escape this situation is to find a way to kill the zombie girls… but will they be able to survive?”
To Be Heroine
When: Live now – Saturdays 9:00am EDT
Status: Continuing Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled)
Synopsis: “Everyone around Futaba expects her to grow up and become an adult, and she’s lost the ability to keep herself mentally balanced. At the bottom of her heart, her childish self is still there, and still strong. One day she wanders into another dimension, a world where the light has been lost, and darkness rules. The people there exist as babies wearing only their underpants. The clothes they wear can be summoned as powerful fighters called SpiCloths. In this world, a battle was being fought between light and darkness…”
Kakuriyo – Bed & Breakfast for Spirits
When: Live Now – Mondays 10:30am EDT
Status: Continuing Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “After losing her grandfather, Aoi inherits his ability to see spirits known as ayakashi. Taking it all in stride, she takes to feeding the ayakashi until one day, an ogre appears demanding she pay her grandfather’s debt. His price? Her hand in marriage! Refusing this absurd offer, Aoi decides to work at the Tenjin-ya—a bed and breakfast for the ayakashi—to pay back what her family owes.”
Banana Fish
When: July 5th
Where: Amazon Prime Video subtitled (NoitaminA block)
Synopsis: “Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of ‘Papa’ Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash’s older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa’s insatiably ambitious hands—and it’s exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure–hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx’s acquaintance…”
Steins;Gate 0
When: July 5th
Status: Continuing Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed.)
Synopsis: “An alternate ending to Steins;Gate that leads with the eccentric mad scientist Okabe, struggling to recover from a failed attempt at rescuing Kurisu. He decides to give up and abandons his lively scientist alter ego, in pursuit to forget the past. When all seems to be normal, he is seemingly pulled back into the past by meeting an acquaintance of Kurisu, who tells him that they have begun testing a device that stores the memory of a human and creates a simulation of them with their characteristics and personalities. Okabe begins testing and finds out that the simulation of Kurisu has brought back anguish and some new unexpected tragedies…”
Isekai Maō to Shōkan Shōjo no Dorei Majutsu – How Not to Summon a Demon Lord
When: July 5th
Status: New Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Sakamoto Takuma is so powerful that he is lauded as the ‘Demon Lord’ by other players. One day, he is summoned to a world outside his own—but with the same appearance he had in the game! There, he meets two girls who both proclaim themselves to be his Summoner. They perform an Enslavement Ritual to turn him into their Summon… but that’s when Takuma’s passive ability <> activates! Instead, it is the girls who become enslaved! Though Takuma may be the strongest Sorcerer there is, he has no idea how to talk with other people. It is here he makes his choice: to act based on his persona from the game! ‘Amazing? But of course… I am Diablo, the being known and feared as the Demon Lord!’ So begins a tale of adventure with an earth-snakingly powerful Demon Lord (or at least someone who acts like one) taking on another world!”
Satsuriku no Tenshi – Angels of Death
When: July 6th
Status: New Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “13-year old Rachel awakens to find herself trapped in the basement of an abandoned building. Without any memories, or even a clue as to where she could be, she wanders the building, lost and dizzy. In her search, she comes across a man covered in bandages. He introduces himself as Zack and he wields a grim-reaper like sickle.
A strange bond is struck between them, strengthened by strange, crazy promises…
These two, trapped in this strange building, don’t know why fate has placed them there. But they will work together desperately to find a way out…”
Harukana Receive
When: July 6th
Status: New Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “When high schooler Haruka moves to Okinawa, she finds herself enamored with the beach right outside her front door and resolves to form a volleyball team with her cousin, Kanata. However, because she’s so short, Kanata gave up on volleyball ages ago. Can Haruka get her to take up the sport again in time for the junior tournament?”
Hataraku Saibou – Cells at Work!
When: July 7th
Status: New Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled)
Synopsis: “Strep throat! Hay fever! Influenza! The world is a dangerous place for a red blood cell just trying to get her deliveries finished. Fortunately, she’s not alone… She’s got a whole human body’s worth of cells ready to help out! The mysterious white blood cell, the buff and brash killer T cell, the nerdy neuron, even the cute little platelets—everyone’s got to come together if they want to keep you healthy!”
Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria – The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar
When: July 8th
Status: Continuing Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “Some urban legends are best left untested! Yuuto Suoh gets more than he bargained for when he joins his childhood friend Mitsuki Shimoya in testing out an urban legend. When he uses his phone to take a picture of himself with the local shrine’s divine mirror, he is whisked off into another world—one heavily steeped in the lore of the old Norse myths. Using his knowledge gained from school and from his solar-powered smartphone, he has the chance to bring the Wolf Clan, the same people who cared for him, to prominence, all while earning the adoration of a group of magic-wielding warrior maidens known as the Einherjar.”
Jashin-chan Dropkick – DROPKICK ON MY DEVIL!!
When: July 10th
Status: New Series
Where: Amazon Prime (Exclusive Streaming)
Synopsis: “Jashin-chan Dropkick is a violent slapstick comedy about a delusional gothic lolita, Yurine, who summons a demon girl with the tail of a cobra, Jashin-chan.
They’ll have to live together until Yurine finds a way to send Jashin-chan back to hell, or until Jashin-chan kills Yurine.”
Phantom in the Twilight
When: July 10th
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled)
Synopsis: “The story takes place in London, at ‘Café Forbidden,’ a mysterious café that only opens at night. The protagonist is a girl who is in London to study abroad. She meets the handsome men who work this place where the guardians of the boundary between the human and shadow world gather.”
Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes – Holmes of Kyoto
When: July 10th
Where: Crunchyroll
Synopsis: “There is an antique shop in Kyoto’s Teramachi Sanjou shopping district. High school girl Mashiro Aoi unexpectedly runs into Yagashira Kiyotaka, the son of the shop’s owner, and ends up working part-time at the shop. Kiyotaka is called the ‘Holmes at Teramachi Sanjou,’ and he and Aoi solve odd cases brought to them by various clients.”
Overlord III
When: July 10th
Status: Continuing Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “When a popular MMORPG is scheduled to be shut down permanently, veteran player Momonga refuses to log out. As NPCs begin to develop personalities and minds of their own he decides to put his skills to use as the game’s new overlord.”
Happy Sugar Life
When: July 14th
Where: Amazon Prime (Animeism block)
Synopsis: “High-schooler Matsuzaka Satou has a reputation for being easy, but one day her lifestyle of sleeping with one boy after another comes to an end. It happens when she meets the child Shio, for whom she is convinced she feels true love for the first time. Satou may seem sweet and innocent, but there is nothing she won’t do to protect their life together, including committing murder. But from where did she acquire the little girl, and how long can their ‘Happy Sugar Life’ together last?”
Boku no Hero Academia – My Hero Academia (Season 3)
When: July 14th – Saturdays 5:30am EDT
Status: Continuing Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “Izuku has dreamt of being a hero all his life—a lofty goal for anyone, but especially challenging for a kid with no superpowers. That’s right, in a world where eighty percent of the population has some kind of super-powered ‘quirk,’ Izuku was unlucky enough to be born completely normal. But that’s not enough to stop him from enrolling in one of the world’s most prestigious hero academies.”
Grand Blue
When: July 14th
Status: New Series
Where: Amazon Prime (Animeism block)
Synopsis: “A new life begins for Kitahara Iori as he begins his college career near the ocean in Izu city, full of excitement for his new life. He will be moving into his Uncle’s diving store ‘Grand Blue.’ There he finds the beautiful ocean, beautiful women, and men that love diving and alcohol. Will Iori be able to live his dream college life?”
Shingeki no Kyojin – Attack on Titan (Season 3)
When: July 23th
Status: Continuing Series
Where: Crunchyroll (subtitled) and Funimation (dubbed)
Synopsis: “Known in Japan as Shingeki no Kyojin, many years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls—but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill—or be devoured!”
There’s a Lot More Out There
While this isn’t a complete list, it should be enough to get your summer started. Please keep in mind that often if a series is in season 2 or 3, the previous seasons are likely available on the same streaming service as the newest season. Summer is a great time to binge watch a good anime series. Think of it like a movie marathon—with more bathroom breaks. I will be updating this list as this season moves forward so check back periodically. It’s going to be a great summer for anime-niacs.
