Crunchyroll Gets Anime Streaming Rival This Week With Over 500 Hours of the Greatest Anime for Free

AMC Networks’ anime streaming service is offering a free preview to attract new customers. From October 22nd to 26th, anyone can watch all of the anime available on the service without a subscription.

Xfinity customers can now enjoy AMC Networks’ HIDIVE streaming service for free for a limited time, thanks to Comcast’s “Free this Week” program. This offer coincides with HIDIVE’s launch on Xfinity devices like X1, Xumo Stream Box, Xumo TV, and Xfinity Flex. HIDIVE, which started in 2017, offers a wide variety of anime – over 500 hours – with both subtitles and English dubbing. Popular shows available include I Parry Everything, Jellyfish Can’t Sing in the Night, From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated, Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty, Loner Life in Another World, Sword of the Demon Hunter, and many more.

HIDIVE Anime Is Free to Stream All Week for Comcast ‘Free This Week’ Program

HIDIVE is a U.S. streaming service focused almost entirely on anime, and its main competitor is Crunchyroll, which is currently the most popular choice for anime fans (as of January 2024). Recognizing anime’s growing mainstream appeal, Comcast and its related companies are committed to investing in the genre and using smart distribution strategies to help more people discover HIDIVE. According to Amy Leasca, VP of Partner Management & Strategy at AMC Networks, “HIDIVE’s consistent delivery of high-quality anime has made it one of our fastest-growing streaming services.”

Beyond its exclusive titles, HIDIVE also streams popular anime like DanMachi (also known as Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?), Made in Abyss, Reincarnated as a Sword, Ragna Crimson, and I’m Quitting Heroing. If you enjoy romantic comedies, you’ll find series such as Teasing Master Takagi-san, The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist, and When Will Ayumu Make His Move? For those who prefer dark fantasy and supernatural stories, HIDIVE offers titles like The Eminence in Shadow, The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, Dark Gathering, and The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy.

If you’re just getting into anime, I’ve found HIDIVE to be a really affordable way to start! Their monthly subscription is around $6.99, or $69.99 for the year, which is a bit cheaper than Crunchyroll’s basic ad-free plan at $7.99 a month. Crunchyroll does have some higher tiers too – their ‘Mega Fan’ and ‘Ultimate Fan’ options give you things like offline downloads and access to a huge library of over 50 games – RPGs, visual novels, and more. And great news for Comcast customers – they’re offering a ‘Free This Week’ event that runs all the way until October 26th, 2025!

Read More

2025-10-22 22:37