First Impressions Of OceanVeil's Beta Release

Written by Eoghan O'Connell on 21 Mar 2025

I recently wrote an article which functioned as a Q&A for the then upcoming streaming service OceanVeil. On March 11th, OceanVeil was finally released in what OceanVeil themselves are calling a beta. Given my previous coverage, it was already a given that I was going to discuss my first impressions of OceanVeil but I must confess that it hasn’t immediately grabbed me. I was originally planning to include a list of different shows I’d recommend on the service for anyone looking to subscribe but I have, thus far, held off on actually subscribing due to some of the issues I have. Instead, I decided that I’m going to cover how OceanVeil works, what I like and dislike about it so far and some recommendations on how it can improve over the course of the beta.

What does it look like?

I thought we might start by taking a look at the website itself as well as how to navigate it. Upon entering the site, you’ll be greeted by the option to either create a free account or to become a “Deep Diver” by subscribing. Curious to see what it has to offer before making any commitments, I set up a free account and was then taken to the front page.

The UI isn’t terribly different in appearance compared to streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, with a carousel at the top rotating through different series and shelves below which categorises titles such as Romance, Young Adult and BL. I must admit that the top shelf titled “Pick Up” confused me a tad in its meaning but it’s a fine front page overall.

However, at the very bottom of the page is a banner which reads “Dive Into Secrets” with the word NSFW in the background. Clicking it will prompt a pop-up asking if you wish to access the adult content. Selecting yes will bring you to a new page similar to the first, only now we can see the mature titles and the shelves read “Pick Up”, “Mature”, “Premium”, “Romance Mature” and “BL”. Again, this is fine although there is one aspect that I do wish to discuss later when it comes to improvement, but it is when we enter one of these shelves that we see an oddity with the website’s design. Upon entering the Mature shelf, I am brought to a page where the titles are organised in rows of four. However, a strange choice is that several titles have their individual episodes listed separately. Taking My Stubborn Sister-In-Law as an example, there is one listing for episode 1 and another for episode 2. This is an…odd decision. I honestly don’t see any benefit to listing them separately and it creates more effort for the consumer to switch from episode to episode if they have to exit a page to find the next.

Additionally, their choice on how previews work also seems similarly bizarre. It seems the way most of them work is that, if you’re not a subscriber, you can see the first thirty seconds of the NSFW anime for free which at first seems sensible. However, this results in some oddities , as seen with Energy Kyouka!! where the preview is simply thirty seconds of logos and Japanese text. While it would take more work, I think a mini-trailer would work better as a preview than their current method, particularly when it comes to informing you about what kind of content you should expect.

On that note, the inclusion of tags would probably prove beneficial, both for navigation as well as communicating what the series contains (something that can be VERY important for some series).

Finally, they have a menu where you can check your account settings, which consist of whether or not you’re subscribed, the ability to change your email or password, to logout or to delete your account, and a customer support page that has an FAQ as well as some contact information.

Overall, the site is serviceable and cleanly designed, but I do have a few suggestions. Beyond the issue of listing episodes individually, the carousel banner is far too large on my 1440p monitor, with the shelves themselves being tiny in comparison underneath. Looking at the website on my iPad, a similar although much less egregious issue crops up when the screen is horizontal but, notably, the site looks considerably better when the screen is vertical. This tells me that the website has been designed with phone users in mind with computer and iPad screens suffering as a result, something I’d urge them to correct over the course of the beta.

Finally, the last thing I want to draw attention to is that banner at the bottom of the page. I had been told that access to the adult content would be hidden but the banner seems very much out in the open to me. This, of course, would be perfectly fine if the service’s target audience was specifically adult fans, but they’ve spoken before about acquiring more “family-friendly” titles for the main page so it seems odd to have the adult content access so blatant. You are able to switch between adult content and non-adult content in the menu with the prompts “Secret” with an arrow pointing down and “General” with an arrow pointing up, something which I think is a nice touch and I think it would, in my personal opinion, be better to remove the banner from the bottom and to leave the menu button as the sole way to switch back and forth. Also, if the service ever wants to attract the mainstream audience, I would also recommend some way to lock the adult content so that younger users are safe from accidentally entering, perhaps including the option to lock it behind a password or something similar.

Observe how large the banner is compared to the Continue Watching shelf beneath it on my 1440p monitor.

What content is currently available?

The most important part of any streaming service is the content. Streaming services live or die by their content and, considering how competitive the streaming market is these days, it’s of vital importance that OceanVeil can deliver. Prior to the release, they noted their intention to have a variety of content available ranging from shonen titles through to adult series. However, they did also clarify that their catalogue would be limited during its initial release with the intention of expanding it throughout the coming months. I’m okay with this but there is one aspect that I feel is immediately lacking in this beta. However, let’s start by looking at their mature titles first.

As might be expected, since OceanVeil is run by WWWave Corporation, what seems to be most if not all of WWWave Corporation’s titles are available with some noteworthy examples being Overflow, Adam’s Sweet Agony and F**ked By my Best Friend. Additionally, they also have several third-party titles as well such as Hitozuma Life: One Time Gal, My Stubborn Sister-in-Law, Secret Wakana and Niplheim’s Hunter among others. While not a large catalogue, I would consider it to be respectable for the initial launch. However, I don’t think the same can be said for the general catalogue.

As far as I can tell, the General catalogue only contains the shortened, censored versions of WWWave Corporation’s own anime series. I must admit that I was a little taken aback by this. With the tantalising promise of anime series that have never been officially released outside of Japan before, I must say that I found myself a little disappointed since I was hoping to see at least a couple of titles represented in this initial release. It’s also worth noting that OceanVeil have recently partnered with Ascendant Animation to produce English dubs for their series with Everything for Demon King Evelogia, The Titan’s Bride and Fire in his Fingertips: My Childhood Friend is a Firefighter having already made their English-language debuts.

How much does OceanVeil cost?

A free account is available but, as can be expected, this seems to offer limited functionality with the ability to navigate the website and to watch the shortened, censored versions of WWWave Corporation’s anime as well as to check out the previews of NSFW titles. To access the adult content, you must currently pay a subscription with the cost currently being $12.99 a month. Now, I have seen some pushback from people over the cost with OceanVeil themselves responding;

“I think everyone will say the price is too high. We understand it is higher than other services, but we are a high risk business with adult content. So there is an up-pricing involved in the fees we take on for producing said service. Unfortunately.”

Now, this seems understandable but I also empathise with those taken aback by the price. With such limited content currently available, I was hoping that there would be an early-adopter discount or some other benefit until the catalogue was expanded. This, in addition to the dearth of third-party general titles, is the primary reason why I am not currently subscribed.

What do I recommend to OceanVeil?

OceanVeil is a service that I think holds a lot of promise. However, I am a little concerned over my first impressions and those of others that have tried the service so far. If OceanVeil is to succeed in this competitive market, I’d suggest that they focus on fixing the issues with the UI such as episodes being listed individually, expand their general catalogue offering in addition to their adult catalogue and possibly find a way to either reward or reassure early adopters that the subscription price is worth it.

OceanVeil has potential and I want to see it succeed with its ambitions, but I can say that I’m currently feeling mixed about this initial release. I fully intend to return and cover OceanVeil again, perhaps when it’s finally out of beta or if I think it has significantly improved to the point where I could recommend it. In the meantime, if you’re curious to check out OceanVeil and provide feedback, you can setup a free account on their website and follow their social media on their Discord, X, Reddit and Facebook accounts.