5 Amazing Stand-Alone Anime Movies Perfect for a Friday Night (No Prequel Knowledge Needed)   You've had a long week. It's Friday night, and you want to watch an incredible movie. Anime has some of the most critically acclaimed films in the world, but it can be hard to know where to start. This list is designed for one thing: to give you a fantastic anime film that works as a 100%...

The “curse of video game adaptations” is a real phenomenon. For decades, most anime based on video games were, at best, 20‑minute commercials and, at worst, rushed adaptations that stripped away everything that made the original great. But that has changed. In the modern era of streaming, creators have had the freedom to take the lore and world of a video game and build something...

A Beginner's Guide to Anime Terms: 15 Words Every New Fan Should Know   When you start watching anime, you will encounter words and phrases not commonly used in English. Some are Japanese terms used for their specificity, and others are words created by the international fan community. This terminology may seem confusing at first, but it is easy to learn. This guide defines 15 of the most...

The Piracy Problem: Why Is It Still So Hard to Watch Anime Legally in 2025?   It is late 2025. The anime industry is a multi-billion dollar global phenomenon. More streaming services exist than ever before: Crunchyroll (which absorbed Funimation), Netflix, HIDIVE, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video are all competing for a piece of the market. And yet, a problem persists and, in some ways, has...

The Re-Rise of Sports Anime: How 'Blue Lock' and 'Haikyuu!!' Made Sports a Global Phenomenon   For decades, sports anime (or "Spokon") was a fundamental but consistent genre in Japan, with classics like Slam Dunk and Captain Tsubasa. Globally, however, it was often considered a niche. Today, in 2025, that has irrevocably changed. The sports genre now competes in global popularity with the...