d Anime Store (dアニメストア) is Japan’s largest dedicated anime service, with more than 6,000 titles and same-season simulcasts that land within hours of the Japanese TV premiere. Run by NTT Docomo since 2012, it goes beyond episodes: you also get anime-song concerts, 2.5D stage musicals and voice-actor shows, a niche Crunchyroll simply does not cover. It is the cheapest of the major anime services in Japan, which is a big part of its appeal. The interface, though, is entirely in Japanese, and that hints at the bigger hurdle for anyone in the US.
The service is strictly Japan-only, live in just 1 country, so opening it from a US address returns an overseas-access block instead of the library. The fix is a VPN: connect to a server in Japan and the site treats your device as a local one. Be clear-eyed about the cost, though: a VPN restores a Japanese location, but creating an account from the US typically still needs a Japanese payment method, and you pay the inexpensive monthly fee yourself.
d Anime Store actively blocks VPNs. Only certain providers reliably bypass the detection.
| VPN Service | Price | d Anime Store | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 ExpressVPNBEST | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | July 6 | Try it |
 Surfshark | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | July 6 | Open |
 NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | July 5 | Open |
 IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ✓ Works | July 6 | Open |
 CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ~ Partial | July 5 | Open |
 ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ~ Partial | July 1 | Open |
 Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ~ Partial | July 4 | Open |
✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works~ Partial~ Partial~ PartialTakes about 2 minutes. Works on your phone, tablet, TV, PC, or laptop.
d Anime Store is only available in Japan. To access it from anywhere else, use a premium VPN.
d Anime Store is blocked in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in Canada and in New Zealand, plus in 188 more countries. To access it, use a premium VPN like ExpressVPN.
d Anime Store is the anime-only video library operated by Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo, running since 2012 and originally launched as a joint venture with publisher Kadokawa. A single subscription at 660 yen per month unlocks more than 7,200 titles, including simulcasts arriving within hours of Japanese TV broadcast, canonical classics and a long tail of OVAs and short features. No side catalogues, no tiers, just one flat price and a library that is almost entirely Japanese-language. It is one of the cheapest premium services on the market and Japan-only.
5 tips from our d Anime Store testing team · Updated June 24, 2026
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Everything you need to know before subscribing to d Anime Store.
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