One little-known fact about Netflix is that it’s home to a lot of awesome anime – most of it with English subtitles.

However, Netflix does have one drawback – it uses geo-blocks to split its content selection into different regional libraries. That unfortunately means not all countries have the same anime selection.

So how do you know which regions have the best English-subbed animes?

We’ll tell you in this quick guide. Also, we’ll show you how to switch to those Netflix regions to watch the shows.

Which Countries Have the Best English-Subbed Animes?

We asked our readers and checked out r/NetflixViaVPN. According to most people, Singapore seems to be the best pick. You have tons of anime on display and English subtitles for most of them.

Other good regions include:

• The UK
• Canada
• India
• Hong Kong

We can confirm that Singapore does indeed have a wide variety of titles. Here’s a quick look at just some of the shows that are in the search results for the keyword “anime” with a Singaporean IP address. And yes, they all have English subtitles.

How to Unblock Your Favorite Animes on Netflix

So how do you watch animes in those regions? It’s not like there’s an option you can select in your Netflix account settings to let you switch to the Singaporean library. Or is there?

Well, not a built-in option, no. But there is a nice workaround – VPNs. They’re online tools that let you unblock geo-restricted content on Netflix (and any other site). They do that by hiding your IP address, effectively stopping Netflix from learning what country you’re from.

Basically, Netflix won’t be able to send your traffic to your country’s content library. Instead, it will send it to a regional library that matches the VPN’s IP.

So, to unblock English-subbed anime from Singapore, you have to use a Singaporean VPN server.

How to Find the Best Netflix VPN

With hundreds of VPNs on the web, it can be hard to decide which one to use. It’s not something you can take lightly, though. Not all VPNs work well with Netflix. And the last thing you want is paying for one only to later find out it has trouble unblocking the site.

To avoid detection, VPNs need to refresh their IP addresses very often. But that’s not the only thing you need for great streaming. The VPN also needs:

• A large server count – A few hundred servers is nice, but over 1,000 is ideal. The more there are, the easier it will be to find locations that match the Netflix libraries you want to unblock. Also, it’ll be simpler to find servers that aren’t overcrowded and are close to your current location (to get better speeds).
• Unlimited data – Bandwidth caps are just annoying. You always need to keep an eye on how much data you have used up before moving on to the next episode of the anime.
• Easy-to-use apps – A clunky UI and complicated setup are no good. You have to be able to unblock Netflix with a VPN quick and easy (without needing tutorials).
• VPN protocol variety – Only being able to use OpenVPN isn’t ideal since the protocol is pretty slow. The VPN should let you use other, faster options like IKEv2, WireGuard, and L2TP/IPSec.

But the easiest way to find a VPN that unblocks every Netflix title you want is to use StreamCatcher. It’s an online library checker that tells you what countries you can watch specific titles from. The devs test various VPNs and their servers to see which ones work best with certain shows and movies.

For example, if you search for Demon Slayer on StreamCatcher, you’ll see you can unblock it with Japanese and Indian servers from NordVPN, or Japanese serves from PrivateVPN.

We tried both VPNs, and were able to unblock this anime without any issues. And yes, we had English subtitles.

Quick Tip about English Subtitles

If you’re having trouble finding English subtitles for an anime, there’s a quick solution you can use: Language Learning with Netflix. It’s a simple browser extension that automatically applies subtitles when watching Netflix.

The extension is only on the Chrome store, but you can add it to Opera too if you use the Install Chrome Extensions add-on.

Why Does Netflix Geo-Block Anime Titles?

It’s not just animes – the site geo-restricts pretty much all of its titles worldwide.

Why?

Because Netflix doesn’t own global licensing rights. If you didn’t know, the company needs to license content it doesn’t own if it wants to stream it on its site. They try to get global licensing rights, but they usually can’t because:

• They aren’t for sale.
• They’re not a profitable investment (not all regional audiences will like them).

The only Netflix titles that are available worldwide are their original shows.  But even then they might have to use geo-blocks if they already sold the licensing rights to different sites and TV networks.

Can You Use Free VPNs?

You can, but we don’t recommend it. If you use random free VPNs you find on the app store, one (or all) of the following will happen:

• The VPN won’t be able to unblock Netflix, so you’ll see the proxy error often.
• The VPN will have bandwidth caps and very slow speeds.
• The apps will be buggy.
• There will be little to no support.
• You’ll have to deal with ads.
• Your device might get exposed to malware.

There are legitimate free VPNs too – they’re usually free versions from a paid VPN. Using them is safe, but again – they might not unblock Netflix all the time, and you’ll have to settle for slow speeds.

Where Else Can You Find Good English-Subbed Anime on Netflix?

Please let us know what other countries have awesome titles with great subtitles. Also, if you know other ways to unblock them besides using a VPN, please mention them.