How to Turn Off Autoplay in Crunchyroll

While many streaming services have popped up in recent years, Crunchyroll has been carving its niche for more than a decade. Focused on east-Asian animation and live-action TV shows, Crunchyroll provides mostly the major anime and drama series from Japan.

Thanks to their licensing deals, you can even watch the so-called “simulcasts.” Short for “simultaneous broadcast,” it means that as soon as an episode airs on its native TV station, you can expect it to appear on Crunchyroll in a matter of hours or even less.

Available for multiple platforms, the main feature of the Crunchyroll’s app is the player that allows you to stream the content. And this player has some quirks.

Autoplay Issues

When Crunchyroll released the update to their streaming app back in 2018, it turned out it was missing a couple of features. One such feature was the ability to turn the Autoplay function off. With the next episode instantly starting as the previous one ends, users have practically no time to react to the episode they just watched.

To the dismay of many users, the lack of this option spoils the watching experience quite significantly. For example, if you want to read the comments section for that episode before moving to the next, you’ll have to make a mental effort to do so. Otherwise, when the next episode starts, you’ll have to unnecessarily fumble with player controls to return to the previous one.

Why Is This Important?

To illustrate just how annoying that can be, here’s an example. As the episode’s final seconds come to play, you’re usually about to witness a cliffhanger that connects with the next episode. Such a scenario implies there’s some pretty tense drama going on leading up to the end. If you’re interested in the show, chances are your eyes are glued to the screen as the plot unfolds. There’s no way you’re thinking about stopping that Autoplay before it kicks in. And even if you do, that would spoil your immersion in the show’s final super-tense moments.

Crunchyroll did acknowledge that turning the Autoplay off isn’t available anymore, and they believe they will fix it in one of the coming updates. Without any predictions when that may be, users have been waiting for well over a year for the feature to come back.

Workaround to Turn the Autoplay Off

Until Crunchyroll fixes the issue, there are ways to stop the next episode from playing automatically.

If you’re using the Google Chrome browser to get your daily dose of anime, then there’s a solution for you. When you search Chrome Web Store’s extensions, you’ll bump into apps such as “AutoplayStopper” or the bluntly-named “Disable HTML5 Autoplay”. These extensions will allow you not only to prevent Autoplay on Crunchyroll, as well as on other websites, such as YouTube, Vimeo, or Daily Motion.

If you’re using Mozilla Firefox, you can disable the Autoplay in the browser’s settings. To do so, follow these steps:

Open Firefox.
Click the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner.
Click “Privacy & Security” in the menu to the left.
Scroll down to the “Permissions” section.
Here you’ll find the “Autoplay” option.
Click on the “Settings…” button next to it.
Here you can set how the Autoplay option should behave by default on all websites. If you want it to stop the next video from playing, choose the option “Block Audio and Video.”
Click “Save Changes” to confirm your selection.

Thanks to this workaround, now you’ll have the Autoplay disabled.

Crunchyroll Content

With that missing Autoplay functionality solved, now you can focus on what matters the most – the content.

According to the recent Crunchyroll’s Analysis, action, drama, and comedy dominate the space, with 54% of these titles evenly distributed across the three genres. Their analysis looks at the top 100 shows of the decade available on the platform. Half of the top 100 titles are based on manga comic books, while 25% are original content.

If you’re looking for some great, recently released anime t, here are the eight 2019 titles that found their way to the top 100 of the decade:

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
STONE
Dororo
Kaguya-sama: Love is War
Promare
The Promised Neverland
Sarazanmai

To pique your interest, we’ve prepared some quick info on three shows from the list.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin

This iteration of the Mobile Suit Gundam sci-fi series shows for the first time how this revolutionary weapon came to be. Following the ace pilot Red Comet and his sister Sayla Mass, you’ll see the tragic events that led to the One Year War against the Earth Federation.

Dororo

This action-adventure series follows young Dororo, an orphan thief, and Hyakkimaru, a malformed ronin with great powers, as they navigate Sengoku Japan. Right before Hyakkimaru was born, his father made a pact with supernatural forces, sacrificing his son to claim the throne. Trying to undo his father’s wrongdoings, Hyakkimaru needs to kill 48 demons to get his ruthless father off the throne.

The Promised Neverland

The twelve episodes of the first season covered the first 37 chapters of the source manga material. Set in 2045, this fantasy horror show tells the story of a group of super-smart kids who live in a near-perfect orphanage.

Once they venture outside the orphanage’s grounds, they uncover the dark truth about this place. Trying to do everything they can to save the rest of the children, they ultimately set in motion a daring escape.

Enjoying Anime

With hundreds of titles in their catalog, Crunchyroll is a one-stop-shop for all things anime and Japanese drama. Now that you know how to disable Autoplay, you can enjoy your favorite shows at your own pace, without being pushed into a new episode when you want to take a break.

Do you find this advice useful? What are your favorite anime shows on Crunchyroll? Please share your experiences and recommendations for the shows in the comments section below.