WarnerMedia’s OTT streaming service HBO Max is finally available in the US. It isn’t officially available in other countries yet but HBO will be looking to roll their service out worldwide as soon as possible. For now, though, those not in the US can still watch hbo max australia by using a VPN. Launching with a slew of originals and a near complete catalog of films from the WB Pictures library, the new service is one of the strongest stream launches we’ve seen in quite some time. Full of returning classics and modern favorites HBO Max’s content on the surface justifies it’s price for access, but it’s UI leaves a little to be desired.

HBO Max is a 2020 over-the-top streaming service, it is distributed by WarnerMedia Entertainment and currently available in the United States at $14.99 a month. 

Editor’s Note: Slight spoilers for HBO Max’s original programming may be present within this review. 

HBO Max is the latest in a long line of recently released and upcoming streaming services from major players within the entertainment industry or outside of it trying to get a piece of the streaming pie. Some of said services know exactly what they are while others are still trying to find or are expected to find their footing within the streaming scene later this year not citing of course the coronavirus pandemic causing an effect. While HBO is a bit pricier than most stream launches one thing I can say is that HBO Max definitely knows what it is and may have already found itself competing with Amazon Prime & Netflix. This is thanks in part to HBO Max actually utilizing the one thing many stream services fail to at launch; a rich library of content. While every WarnerMedia property isn’t on the service yet, what matters is that many of the important properties are such as a slew of DC’s library, Looney Tunes, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and so on. Warner has even gone out of their way to make deals with non-Warner studios for content to be featured on the streaming service something not really seen since Netflix.

THE GOOD: HBO Max while a bit more expensive than your average 30 day streaming subscription has a rather impressive and admittedly bold opening lineup of content for would-be subbers to enjoy. There’s classic sitcoms like Friends and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as well as more modern fair such as Silicon Valley and Rick & Morty. What I really dig about HBO Max’s library is that it feels balanced, no matter what decade you were born in there’s (and I hate phrasing it like this) a little something for everyone. WarnerMedia & AT&T were smart enough to think outside the box and not keep the service 100% locked to Warner content. And what I mean by that is HBO Max has what would be a standard syndication deal on Network TV whereas several series are currently or will be soon having the service as their new secondary home. For example, at the moment BBC’s Doctor Who is here and within the next several days Viacom’s South Park in its entirety and the upcoming additionally renewed three seasons will be coming to the service. While Netflix also features original and outside content, the latter is due to studios having a slight lack of faith in certain properties for Network TV and now with everyone planning on jumping in with streaming its going to be a lot harder for Netflix to have non-original content on its platform. Unless of course they can make some kind of co-rights deal.

One advantage that HBO Max has over other services is the instant access to anime both classic and currently airing in English dubbed and original Japanese audio. Anime has made a second wave of popularity here in the West and like streaming itself everyone is trying to get onboard and grab a piece of it. Unfortunately for competitors, WarnerMedia owns Crunchyroll and VRV of which have nearly every current anime title under the sun thanks to partnerships with anime publishers such as Funimation & Sentai Filmworks (due to HiDive on VRV). This gives a near impossible to match leap in the anime rights game and with the plan to eventually roll everything either infinitely or through dual streaming rights into HBO Max it makes the service even more enticing. While only seventeen anime series is on HBO Max (for now) they were very deliberate in the choices this includes series such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Re:Zero, Konosuba, Rurouni Kenshin, Kill la Kill, and Crunchyroll original In/Spectre (though weirdly enough they chose to opt out of launching with Tower of God). Let’s talk a bit about the exclusive content for HBO Max. It’s honestly a bit barren especially on the scripted programming side, but of the series I’ve seen for the purposes of this review (Looney Tunes & Love Life) they’re some quality stuff which gives me faith in Warner providing future projects with respectable budgets and talents to keep interest going moving forward. Warner seemed more interested in reality & unscripted programming for the launch considering they outnumber the two scripted programs. Which is odd when you take into account WB’s content history. The player is simple enough to use with a few options to toy around with for the best setting for you. Eventually channels for content will be represented by tabs featured in the side bar and bottom of the homepage, this is already done so with Looney Tunes, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, etc.

THE BAD: The UI while clean and simple is kind of just that. It’s a bit too simplistic almost to the point of being a little boring to the eyes, admittedly it does make the service easy to navigate which is likely the reasoning behind it. Though I’m sure this will be changed with updates over the course of the year some pizzazz never really hurt anyone at launch. During the first week while testing HBO Max on a PlayStation 4, iPhone, and laptop I did have some streaming jitters. This should be expected with any launching service, but this was almost immediately eradicated after a bit of playing around with the video player with different shows. It’s most likely ISP getting a feel of HBO Max’s servers for the first time more than anything else.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: HBO Max may not be the most high tech of streaming services at the moment, but it does exactly what most streaming services fail to do out of box; provide quality entertainment. So many services launch with titles that can be enjoyed just about anywhere and while HBO Max is also guilty of this, what it has going for it’s library that feels uniquely HBO Max like is something that’s pioneering compared to the past repetitive direction stream launches have gone. Is HBO Max worth the price of admission? I think it depends on the viewer personally, but in my opinion I think HBO Max charges premium pricing with premium results, at least as far as content is concerned. Otaku Dome gives HBO Max a 95 out of 100