Crunchyroll Officially Loses Summer 2026's Best New Anime To A Major Rival - MCE Notices | California State Portal

Crunchyroll might be the biggest name in anime, but one of the sites closest behind them is undoubtedly HIDIVE. Not only does HIDIVE get many great exclusives Crunchyroll and other sites fail to acquire, but they’ve even started bringing anime to theaters, so while Crunchyroll might be seen as the prestige streaming platform, HIDIVE can’t be overlooked in the slightest.

Granted, HIDIVE has fallen off in prominence in recent years, most notably in how Oshi no Ko, their biggest exclusive, became a title shared with Crunchyroll starting from season 3, but now and then, they still manage to grab a title that becomes either a cult hit or one of the biggest hits of the season. The summer 2026 anime season is poised to be no different, as surprisingly, it’s HIDIVE, not Crunchyroll, that’s grabbed what’s poised to be one of the biggest and most gorgeous anime of the season, if not the year.

Why The World Is Dancing Will Be One Of The Biggest Anime Of The Year

HIDIVE has officially beaten out Crunchyroll and other streaming sites for Cypic’s The World Is Dancing, and that’s nothing short of amazing. While The World Is Dancing was only announced last January, it immediately received incredible hype for its gorgeous visuals and direction, all of which have only gotten better with each new trailer. Cypic has slowly become one of the biggest studios around, with them even doing the upcoming Kagurabachi anime, and The World Is Dancing looks to be another big winner for them.

What makes it even better is that it’s all in service of an anime about the traditional Japanese theatre art of Noh. Something like Noh would be an incredibly niche art, especially with the story being about the equally niche historical figure Zeami Motokiyo, but the incredible amount of love being put into the production makes it all feel surprisingly engaging; if anything, Noh being so niche will draw even more attention to The World Is Dancing because it’s something people are unfamiliar with, and with that in mind, there’s even more reason to be excited.

The World Is Dancing Is The Perfect Anime For HIDIVE

The World Is Dancing will surely be an amazing anime to watch, and that makes it all the better that it’s a HIDIVE exclusive. While HIDIVE is regarded as one of Crunchyroll’s biggest rivals, the fact of the matter is that they have far less pull and influence, and in recent years it’s become increasingly difficult for them to acquire big titles as Netflix and Amazon Prime have taken bigger stakes in the industry. HIDIVE is in desperate need of another hit, and The World Is Dancing might be exactly that.

10 Fantastic Anime Series You Won’t Find on Crunchyroll or Netflix

Crunchyroll and Netflix are undoubtedly two of the best platforms to watch anime, but even the two titans of streaming don’t have these 10 hits.

HIDIVE might not be the first site people think of when it comes to streaming anime, but whether it’s classics like K-On! and Clannad or newer titles like Dark Gathering and Gushing Over Magical Girls, HIDIVE’s anime library offers some of the best titles a person can ask for, and it only gets better with each passing year. A great streaming site like HIDIVE falling into obscurity would be nothing short of a travesty, but hopefully, The World Is Dancing will be another anime that helps people see how great HIDIVE is.

Between shows like Sparks of Tomorrow, the Ghost in the Shell reboot, and new seasons of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, summer 2026 is filled with tons of anime that are worth getting hyped up about, and with its gorgeous visuals and unique historical story, The World Is Dancing can stand right alongside those great titles and more. Every anime fan should be watching The World Is Dancing this summer, and unsurprisingly, HIDIVE couldn’t be a better home for it.