kiss-anime.ws
Watching anime has become increasingly popular in our day, and we are very glad about it. With the increasing popularity of anime, the demand for easily accessible and low-cost streams is rising. Thankfully, Watchable provides an impressive selection of quality videos on their streaming website.
Froppy greets us on the home page of Kissanime. Their decision in using the popular My Hero Academia UA student is a smart choice, as it draws people in with the promise of familiarity in video archives. They have chosen a recognizable character, My Hero Academia UA student, which will get people interested in their archive.
Initial impressions about the site are that it is relatively neutral. The history of the website is difficult to track down; information about the creators is scarce. There are a few communities created for tech support but they are not affiliated with the web designers. There are no wow-inducing factors that jump out, besides the cutesy Froppy. The logo is a plain mirrored text image of the brand's name, bland but straight to the point.
Website Design
A dark color scheme on a website can help to reduce eyestrain, improve readability, and save you hours of eye strain over time.
To the right of that is a map.
The navigation on this page is simple. At the top of the page, you will find a menu categorizing main content. The bar offers sister sites that lead to manga, novels, and more. You can find the community-supported discord channel by pressing the reports/ request form to the right of that. There is also a map to help you locate where you are on this page.
You can narrow down your search to specific genres, titles, or even actors.
Another feature worth noting about the Kissanime design is its amazing organization system and search functions. It has a whopping 194 pages of anime, which seems daunting at first, but their search system is fantastic. You can narrow down your search to specific genres, titles, or even actors.
The search bar on their homepage is easily recognizable and placed at the top of the page. If you know what show you are looking for, it is very straightforward to search for it. However, if you are unsure of what you want to watch, you can search for keywords and the results will pull up anything with your keyword in the title.
The organization system of the site is even better than the search functions. The sidebar features a few popular styles that you can click on to sift through. If you go to advanced search, you will find many more options for genres. Not only do they have a category for everything, but it also allows you to check multiple genres that may cross over and finds you any titles that use the combination of the ones you choose. Even strange combinations are simpler to find. I checked off vampire, fantasy, and romance, and quite a few different titles popped up! You can also select an ongoing or completed series to categorize further. This feature is incredibly useful for finding easily binge-able shows! A couple of shows with short series worth looking into on the site are Devil is a Part-Timer! and Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon.
Content
The anime section on this website is staggering! There are more than 9,500 shows available, with subtitles and dubs. Some of the most popular titles I found were Fairy Tail, My Hero Academia, One Piece, Sword Art Online, and even Dragonball. There's sure to be something for everyone on this site.
The quality of the streams is excellent. There are no ad breaks in between shows. The links are updated regularly and the community helps monitor which links crash, so it is helpful for the site managers to fix bugs faster.
Active Voice: Kissanime prominently features anime; however, their sister sites offer related content in different styles. Kissmanga has mangas galore, Novaplanet offers an impressive novel selection, and Kissasian provides quality dramas. These associated sites have a similar feel and style, so they are useful resources if you have any interest in those subjects.
Desktop & Mobile Accessibility
This website is pretty good on a desktop web-browser, but the google chrome experience could use improvements. It's not phenomenal and could use more improvement, but overall the website accomplishes its goal. Navigation is simple, but there are too many ads.
The placement of the ads themselves is not a dealbreaker. Both sides have some massive advertisements that ultimately do not interfere with the flow of the site. However, there is a large block of them in between the top menu and the content of the lists that throws off the flow of the design.
The mobile experience is not well prepared for mobile access. The text on a cellphone browser is incredibly small and causes a lot of eye strain. In addition, the site is not well organized, so it's difficult to find what you're looking for. Zooming in doesn't help because it cuts off some of the words. It's not ideal, by any means.
I would stick to the desktop version if at all possible. While the mobile experience has some positive notes, such as that when you flip your phone to make it fullscreen, it isn't as bad, the sorting and searching are as miserable as pulling teeth with pliers and the actual viewing isn't very good.
Positives
There are a few positive things about using Kissanime as your primary streaming site. The site seems to have a large following, and groups exist on Discord and Reddit for support and general community discussion. The visuals and sound quality are better than expected for a free streaming website.
The biggest benefit of using this streaming site is its vast library. The variety of content on the site is sure to meet any viewer's needs.
The color scheme of the website is very useful for reducing eye strain. Night theme websites can be implemented poorly by not utilizing multiple shades of grey, but Kissanime succeeds in their execution of it. They skillfully use the shades to improve readability.
Negatives
In general, the ads on streaming sites are frustrating. However, they have become common over the last few years and each site has to deal with it in some way. The only issue is that one annoying ad placement pops up between the top menu and the searchable lists. Some of these ads are sneaky and pop up without warning, which can be frustrating.
When you click the search bar, a new window will open exclusively with ads blocked. There may be an app of some sort to block the ads. For more information on that subject, the Reddit or Discord communities would be a useful location.
A weak point on the website is that it is difficult to access content on the mobile version. The navigation on it is lackluster, making it difficult to find what you are looking for.
Improvements Needed
There are a few areas on the website where improvements can be made. One of the biggest issues is the placement of ads. If they were moved to the bottom or top of the page instead of being chopped up in the flow of the design, it would look much more appealing.
Another possible improvement for this site would be a recommender system that helps keep viewers engaged by recommending shows and series based on their past watch history. It is not essential for this site, but it would be fun and keep users active longer.
A mobile application could give Kissanime a significant facelift. With more viewers watching from mobile devices, neglecting to optimize the website could lead to a lack of interest in users. Even if creating an application isn't in the cards for them, they should consider a redesign for mobile browsing.
Summary
Overall, if you are looking for free anime and a great selection, this is a solid starting point. There are no fees attached, so why not give it a try? The surprising amount of content creates endless watching possibilities. The desktop structure of accessing the system library makes the site a contender for one of the best free anime streaming sites.
On the one hand, the pop-up ads are really bad. They're a pain to use on mobile browsers. And it's 2019âwe should be developing mobile apps or making improvements to the mobile browser instead.
The website isn't bad, but it's not great either. It's a good starting point for someone who wants a large quantity of shows to choose from. The site sits square in the middle of other streaming sites when it comes to size and selection.