ani-cli is an amazing command-line utility which allows you to stream or download anime straight from your terminal. Here are some practical reasons why you’d want to do so:
1) Modern Web Bloat!
Avoiding sketchy streaming sites when and where possible is always a plus. Using ani-cli to watch anime uses next to no system resources. Even my 14 year-old Thinkpad can run it like a dream.
2) Efficiency!
Say you’re trying to watch episode 12 of Hyouka. It’s much faster to type ani-cli hyouka -e 12 in your terminal than it is to open a web browser, go to your preferred streaming site, search it, click the episode, and click play.
P.S. - You can set an alias for ani-cli in your ~/.bashrc to something like alias anime='ani-cli'.
3) Stream OR download!
Using the -d flag allows you to download episodes, even multiple at a time which is great for offline play/use without having to torrent.
4) Quickly start where you left off!
The -c flag brings you back to your last played anime, allowing you to quickly jump back to where you last were.
The download and installation steps for ani-cli are available here.
Enjoy this great piece of software! :)
-H