I wasn’t actually looking for anime when I opened the Microsoft Store. I was poking around the Windows themes because I felt like changing up my PC a little, and then something familiar appeared among the usual entertainment options.
Tower of God. Not a random wallpaper uploaded by somebody using an anime screenshot. An actual Tower of God Official Theme, developed and published by Crunchyroll, LLC.
Naturally, I clicked it.
Then I noticed another anime theme. And another. And suddenly my casual attempt to change my desktop background had turned into me digging through Microsoft’s theme section to see what Crunchyroll had been putting there.
These are actually official Crunchyroll themes
The first thing I wanted to know was whether these were genuinely official. There are plenty of places online where you can download anime wallpapers, themes, cursor packs and all sorts of other desktop customisation. Some are great. Some make me very reluctant to click the download button.
This isn’t that.
Looking at the additional information for the Tower of God Official Theme, it lists Crunchyroll, LLC as both the developer and publisher. It falls under Personalisation > Themes in the Microsoft Store, and the theme itself is free. The Tower of God theme was released on 12 August 2026 and is only around 1.2 MB.
That tiny file size started making considerably more sense once I looked at what the “theme” actually contained. But before we get to my disappointment, there is probably one rather important question.
What Is a Windows Theme?
When Microsoft says “theme”, it doesn’t necessarily mean the kind of complete desktop makeover I had in my head.
Windows themes are essentially groups of personalisation settings that can be saved and applied together. Microsoft describes themes as combining things such as desktop backgrounds, window colours, sounds and other elements. Windows also gives you separate theme settings for the background, colours, sounds and mouse cursor.
So a Windows theme can be more than a wallpaper. That’s the important part. You can go to: Settings > Personalisation > Themes and choose between the themes installed on your PC. Microsoft also lets you browse for additional themes through the Microsoft Store.
A theme can therefore help tie together several parts of your desktop. Your background can change, Windows can use different colours, and there are settings available for sounds and your mouse cursor.
Which is why seeing the words Tower of God Official Theme got me rather excited.
Imagine what you could do with that. And then I opened it.
What Do Crunchyroll’s Anime Windows Themes Actually Include?
The Microsoft Store description reads: “Take your desktop display to the next level with wallpapers from Tower of God.”
And that word – wallpapers – tells you most of what you need to know. The Tower of God theme contains two images from the anime. One is a muted shot of Khun, while the other has Baam using his powers with that wonderfully bright electric-blue aura.
That’s it. Two images.
What caught me off guard was that I had read Official Theme and imagined considerably more than an official slideshow containing screenshots.
Windows can already cycle through multiple images as a desktop slideshow, including allowing you to choose how often those images change. Packaging two anime screenshots into a theme is certainly convenient, especially if you want official images without hunting them down yourself, but I can’t help feeling that Crunchyroll stopped at the easiest possible part of the idea.
At first, I wondered whether Tower of God was simply an unusually small theme. Then I started opening the others. The Crunchyroll themes I found are surprisingly consistent. Different series. Different characters. Different colour palettes. The same basic formula kept appearing: a very small collection of anime stills packaged as a Windows theme.
Several of the listings I checked explicitly confirmed that they contained two images, including Tower of God, Maebashi Witches, Killing Slime, Boy-Girl Friendship, Anne Shirley, The Beginning After the End and Teogonia.
Which Anime Have Official Crunchyroll Windows Themes?
The next surprise wasn’t what the themes did. It was which anime have them.
Tower of God is probably the least surprising title I found. The Beginning After the End isn’t particularly shocking either. But then the Microsoft Store started offering me Anne Shirley Official Theme, Killing Slime Official Theme, Boy-Girl Friendship Official Theme, Maebashi Witches Official Theme, Teogonia Official Theme and Bye Bye, Earth Official Theme.
And I just kept thinking: these are the titles you chose?
I don’t mean that as an insult to any of the series. In fact, it made the whole discovery more interesting. If you had asked me to guess which anime Crunchyroll would use to push official Windows themes, I probably would have started naming some of the biggest series on the platform.
I would not have confidently answered: “Obviously Anne Shirley and Teogonia.” Yet here we are.
It makes me want to know how these are being chosen. Are they tied to current Crunchyroll licensing? Is this being used as another small promotional avenue for newer anime? Are more established series coming later? Or did somebody simply get handed a collection of promotional screenshots and told to start making Windows themes?
Crunchyroll isn’t the only publisher doing it
While browsing, I also found an RWBY Official Theme from VIZ Media. It also confirms that using Microsoft’s theme system for licensed animation isn’t exclusively a Crunchyroll experiment.
Calling them themes feels generous
This is where I think the whole thing becomes a missed opportunity. Tower of God already has such a strong visual identity. You have the blues surrounding Baam and his powers, Khun’s cooler colour palette, character symbols, logos and plenty of imagery that could be adapted specifically for a desktop.
Microsoft’s own theme settings provide room to work with backgrounds, colour, sounds and the mouse cursor. Windows can also automatically select an accent colour based on your background, or you can choose one manually and apply it to elements such as window borders and, depending on your Windows colour mode, the Start menu and taskbar.
Crunchyroll did not need to completely reskin Windows to make these feel more intentional. I would have loved to see:
- Several wallpapers rather than just two, preferably with artwork actually composed for a desktop rather than just screenshots pulled directly from the anime.
- An accent colour chosen specifically for each series.
- Custom sounds where licensing and Windows allowed for it
- A simple themed cursor set
- Alternative light and dark wallpapers so the theme could work with different desktop setups
- Artwork that deliberately leaves usable space for desktop icons instead of hoping a screenshot happens to work
Imagine applying Tower of God and getting a dark Baam wallpaper, electric-blue Windows accents and another image designed specifically for your lock screen.
That would feel like an anime Windows theme. Two screenshots feel more like an official wallpaper pack that happens to have been installed through Windows Themes.
Why Official Anime Windows Themes Are Still Worth Having
Despite complaining about what they could have been, I am glad I stumbled across these. One advantage is obvious: you know exactly where the artwork came from.
I don’t have to dig through Google Images, work out whether something is official art, accidentally save somebody’s fan art without knowing who made it, or download a mystery theme file from a site I have never heard of. I can grab it directly from the Microsoft Store, and the publisher information tells me Crunchyroll is behind it.
There is also something rather fun about finding these anime sitting among Microsoft’s other official entertainment themes. In the same section where I was seeing SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park, My Little Pony and Apple TV themes, there was Baam staring back at me.
The anime selection may be strange, and the execution may be basic, but I genuinely want to see where Crunchyroll goes with this. Mostly because now that I know official anime themes are an option, I want them to actually theme my PC.
Are Crunchyroll’s Windows Themes Worth Installing?
Finding them has unfortunately created another rabbit hole. The next thing I want to do is actually install several of these themes and see whether there are any differences between them beyond the screenshots advertised on their Microsoft Store pages.
- Do any of them change the Windows accent colour?
- Do they all simply behave as slideshows?
- How well do the screenshots actually work once you have icons, folders and a taskbar sitting over them?
- And, perhaps most importantly, which one survives on my desktop for longer than ten minutes before I change it again?
Because if Crunchyroll is going to give me an official anime-themed Windows Themes, I am apparently going to explore.
I tried to install the Maebashi Witches Official Theme however I am still waiting for it to download…I started on Sunday. I will update when I get it sorted ~
Official Theme vs My Own Anime Wallpaper Setup
The funny thing is that I already have my own version of an anime Windows theme. So, for now, I think I will stick with my own version: one random folder filled with anime wallpapers and screenshots, set to rotate through them, with my Windows colours matched around whatever is currently on screen.
It is considerably less official, probably far more chaotic, and somehow still feels more like a proper anime theme than two screenshots in a Microsoft Store package.
I would absolutely try one of these again if Crunchyroll starts doing more with them. I like the idea behind Crunchyroll’s official themes. They are free, easy to apply, come directly from an official publisher and give fans a safe source for anime desktop images. I just wish the execution went further than a couple of stills. Give me custom colours, better wallpaper sets, artwork actually designed for a desktop, or anything that makes the theme feel tied to the series rather than simply containing screenshots.
Until then, my random folder with hundreds of wallpapers and screenshots and my matching colour system still feels more like a proper theme.
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