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Crunchyroll Safety Guide for Parents

What parents need to know about Crunchyroll, the anime streaming platform, including mature-tagged content, the account-age versus profile-age gap, and Discord crossover.

Official age

16+

We recommend

13+

Developer

Crunchyroll LLC (Sony)

Risks

4

In-app purchases

Overview

Crunchyroll is the largest dedicated anime and manga streaming service in the UK, owned by Sony. The catalogue includes children's titles like Pokemon and Bluey-equivalent slice-of-life shows, family-friendly action series, and mature-rated titles intended for adult viewers. Mature titles carry an in-app tag and are gated behind the profile's stated age. The account holder must be at least 16 in many regions; below that requires parental consent. The crucial setting is the profile age - within one account, an adult can set up a profile for a younger child, and that profile is then filtered. A large third-party Discord community exists around individual series and the platform; Crunchyroll does not moderate those servers.

How children use it

Children watch series they already know from school playgrounds and YouTube - Pokemon, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia - and progress to longer-form titles as they grow older. Many keep a watchlist, follow simulcasts of currently-airing seasons, and read the manga adaptations through the linked Crunchyroll Manga catalogue. Older children and teenagers join fan Discord servers to discuss episodes the day they release. A growing subset use the platform as the gateway to the wider anime community on TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram, which can quickly surface fan-art and edit content well outside the BBFC age rating of the original series.

Main risks

Recommended privacy settings

Profile Age

Location: Account -> Profiles -> Edit -> Date of Birth

Set to: Set to your child's real age

Profiles set to a younger age automatically hide titles tagged as mature. This is the single most important Crunchyroll setting.

Mature Content Filter

Location: Account -> Parental Controls -> Mature Content

Set to: Off for under-16 profiles

Hides mature-tagged titles from the catalogue, search, and the recommendations row entirely.

Profile PIN

Location: Account -> Profiles -> Edit -> Profile PIN

Set to: Set a PIN on the adult profile

Stops a child switching from their own filtered profile to an unfiltered adult profile on the same account.

Comments

Location: Title page -> Comments toggle

Set to: Hidden

Crunchyroll comments under episodes are not heavily moderated. Hiding them avoids spoilers, fan-fiction prompts, and arguments.

Subscription Auto-Renew

Location: Account -> Subscription

Set to: Reviewed monthly

Crunchyroll has a Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan tier. Make sure the chosen tier matches the family budget and is renewing on a card you control.

Parent actions

essential

Create a separate child profile with the correct date of birth and set a PIN on the adult profile so it cannot be opened by the child

Time: 10 minutes

essential

Open Parental Controls and confirm mature content is filtered for the child profile

Time: 5 minutes

recommended

Talk through which series are on the watchlist and check the BBFC or Common Sense Media age rating for any that look mature

Time: 15 minutes

recommended

Agree a rule about joining external Discord servers tied to a series - and link to /apps/discord for those settings

Time: 10 minutes

Related app guides

If you need to report this

In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.

Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Resources

Last reviewed: 2026-06-14

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