Crunchyroll Launches Beta Site in the United States

Crunchyroll is one of the go-to destinations for anime in the United States. The site caters to millions of users who watch their favorite shows online daily, and many of them have been asking for a website makeover as of late. Now, it seems Crunchyroll is ready to tackle the request, and it is doing so with a new beta website stateside.

According to a new update from Crunchyroll, it has pushed forward a beta site that is available to 20% of its premium users. The page will eventually roll out to all premium subscribers and then free users after that. For now, there is no word on how the site will be used internationally, but Crunchyroll users are certainly eager for the change.

"Crunchyroll, the world's most popular anime brand, is unveiling today a new beta experience for Crunchyroll Premium web users based in the United States including a mobile responsive experience, updated homepage, redesigned browse and watch pages, new search capabilities, and the brand new Crunchylists feature," the streaming service said in a new press release.

"Within Crunchyroll Beta, the Crunchyroll homepage has a new user interface, redesigned to fit the needs of the anime community. Users can now enjoy personalized recommendations and navigate seamlessly to their watchlist or to specific show or episode pages, which have all been redesigned to offer an updated user experience. Crunchyroll Beta offers fans improved search and filtering so that fans can more easily access simulcasts, new and popular anime and explore different genres while filtering between subtitled or dubbed anime series. In addition to the new search bar, Crunchyroll will continue to offer curated collections, handpicked by Crunchyroll's anime experts."

According to the update, the beta list will also give fans the curate and label their own anime playlists that others can follow. This will make it easier for fans to group together with their top series by genre, and if you are new to a particular genre, there should be lots of pre-made lists out there to guide your queue. Paired with a sleek black look, the Crunchyroll beta site looks gorgeous, so fans can look forward to testing it out for themselves shortly!

What do you think about this beta webpage? What other features would you like for Crunchyroll to adopt? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.