funimation.com
Funimation is a large streaming site that hosts thousands of shows. It has grown into a large business and sells everything from anime stream memberships, anime DVDs, BluRay, and other merchandise.
Funimation is proud to employ people who relate directly to the anime viewership. This way of connecting with the audience is very effective in providing exemplary content. Funimation has always been a leader in providing high quality anime entertainment.
Funimation is a company that has been around for many years. They are based in the USA and have a lot of ties to Japan. They have worked hard to ensure that their viewers are satisfied.
Website Design
Funimation's website design is sleek and modern. The main color is a white background with a splash of purple and other bright colors. The website has an appearance that is likable and easy to use.
The company logo is the Funimation name in a laid-back text style, with an easy-to-remember o in the title. The smaller version they sometimes use for their app is purple with a smiley inside circle on the front page of their website.
The home page of the site prompts you to start a free trial of their premium membership. As you scroll through the anime slideshow, attention is drawn to the center of the page, where popular and recently added anime are recommended by genre.
Content
Funimation, an anime streaming service, has several membership options available to viewers. The premium membership is $7.99 per month and provides features like downloading shows for offline viewing, five concurrent streams, and free shipping on items above $20. The free account is more restricted in what shows from the library can be watched, with ads being a major issue.
An entire shop full of anime-related merchandise is available on the website. Some of the items are exclusive to Funimation and cannot be found elsewhere, like rare Funko Pops. The website offers t-shirts, collectible figures, and many more things.
Another exciting part of Funimation is their blog. They frequently answer questions about your favorite characters and update it regularly with a variety of fun topics.
Desktop & Mobile Accessibility
Funimation does an amazing job of making both the website and app's navigation smooth. There are no glaring flaws with either version. The optimization is impressive, but we shouldn't expect any less from one of the most well-known streaming companies on the web.
Shop has a variety of different stores that the user can visit. The search bar is at the top and provides quick access to popular search terms.
The desktop browser version of the site is streamlined with a prioritized menu across four categories: What?s New, Discover, Shop, and the search bar. What?s New has upcoming anime release days and scheduled events listed along with recommended blog posts from different genres. Discover offers users suggestions based on their interests such as location and store type. Shop contains different stores that the user can browse through such as clothing, games, and books. The search bar is located at the top of the screen and provides quick access to popular terms.
It would be helpful to have more control over the playback speed and subtitles.
The mobile application for the site FunimationNow is called. It works similarly to the website and has a cute animation on startup. The startup has a nice animation and lands you on the same slideshow from the desktop browser. The app prioritizes your watch history and prompts you to continue watching where you left off. Tapping the top left home button reveals the same horizontal menu from desktop, but instead is vertical on the app to save space. It would be helpful to have more control over the playback speed and subtitles.
Positives
They also have a great selection of anime shows to watch.
There are many benefits to choosing Funimation as your streaming service. One reason to do so is because of the website's large scale and the number of employees who work on it diligently. They also have an abundant selection of anime shows, some of which are world-renowned.
The genre organization is great for sorting through shows. There is a current breakdown of genres that includes shonen, shoujo, psychological, comedy, sci-fi, fan-service, romance, drama, fantasy, action/adventure, a slice of life, and horror. A small library of live-action can also be found.
The recommendation system Funimation uses is simple but still useful. It isn't like the complex Netflix system, but it makes base suggestions from your watch history. Sometimes it hits the mark, and sometimes the shows are big misses. In my case, it has convinced me to watch shows I hadn't heard of that turned out to be pretty good.
The premium plus membership is the basic membership. It is a pretty sweet deal for only $7.99. Sometimes Funimation offers deals on merchandise that are only available to members, as well as special events. Other significant highlights are ad-free streaming, offline access, and the option to stream up to 5 screens at one time.
Negatives
There are a few things that could be considered problems with this website if you're not subscribed to the paid membership. Another problem is that sometimes it can take a few clicks for something to fully load. Navigation on the main page is phenomenal, but once you're streaming a video it can get a bit trickier.
Some users experience a slow load time on the web browser which makes it difficult to engage with specific actions. After clicking for the third time, this can become frustrating.
Navigation in the show's main menu is inconvenient for users. After watching an episode, they have to exit the stream and go to videos to skip ahead which is the only option after the stream ends.
The potential downside of Funimation's Premium Plus membership is that it costs $7.99 monthly, while their Plus Ultra membership costs $99.99 annually. This additional membership tier offers all of the benefits of Premium PLUS, but also includes two free rentals per year, free shipping on all orders with no minimum purchase, and an annual anniversary gift. While these extra perks are significant and definitely make the jump to Plus Ultra worth it, they are essentially worthless without further added benefits.
Improvements Needed
There isn't much development needed for this site because it is already awesome. However, Funimation could enhance user experiences by doing a few things.
Several users have noticed that the response time from clicking on an option compared to when the site takes them to their virtual destination is not great. Working on better web browser response times would be a great way to make the website even better.
Getting to your desired episode on the show's website is easy. However, once you are on the episode page, your options are limited. Ideally, a dropdown menu could give viewers the option to skip around in episodes. Not everyone wants to go in chronological order of the show. It would be beneficial not to have to go to the main menu, back to shows, then episodes when it would be much easier to select from one page.
The Premium Plus Ultra Membership is not worth the extra money. The benefits are not worth the additional cost. Funimation should try to come up with more perks to make being a Plus Ultra member more valuable to customers.
Summary
Generally speaking, Funimation is a great anime streaming website. It offers many positive features, including a large amount of dubbed content and continuous host of subbed content. The website is enjoyable to use, making it a great choice for anyone looking for anime.
There are some minor issues with the site that keep it from being an all-star. The free content is good, but the constant ads are frustrating. Additionally, upgrading to Premium Plus costs a small fee, but Funimation still hounds you to try the underwhelming Premium Plus Ultra.
Funimation is a popular anime streaming site that offers excellent features. Their mission is to provide the best streaming experience for their viewers, and they have always been committed to providing quality content. They are a great example of how successful a company can be if it incorporates passion into its work.
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