You can watch the first season on YouTube, I think it`s not technically legal, but it`s been around for years and it`s not copyrighted. Surprisingly, the 3 seasons on fb are from a group called hajime no ippo community, I don`t think I want to watch my favorite sports anime illegally again. Not since I now have money and all these other platforms. At a time when availability is becoming an important topic in the media, as large corporations remove entire titles from existence at the touch of a button, concepts such as piracy as monument protection are also being discussed in a new light by authors. If there`s literally no legal way to see a show, should you hack it? Does it hurt a series when it`s finally available after years of unavailability and smuggling? “Neon Genesis Evangelion” was a hit on Netflix when it finally became available for streaming, and for the first time in years, everyone was talking about it. Thankfully, we don`t need to discuss it anymore, at least not when it comes to shows like the legendary “Monster,” as it`s coming very soon to a Netflix near you. And it`s not the only one. According to Variety, Nippon TV has reached an agreement to license 13 of its most popular anime to Netflix worldwide. The best part? They attribute the success of a small show called “Old Enough!” to this new case.
If you haven`t heard it yet, “Old Enough!” is a wonderfully charming and magical, unscripted series in which Japanese toddlers have to run small errands on their own. It`s very funny, cute and has been working irregularly since 1991. Unless you live in a country where the show is allowed (such as France, Taiwan/China, South Korea, and Thailand), you probably won`t find a legal place to watch it. The first season (episodes 1-75 and Champion Road) was allowed at some point in the United States (where there is a dubbed/DVD version for it), but the company went bankrupt or left the anime business. So no other company has re-fired him. At one point, Crunchy had the license to stream Rising on their website when it aired, but I assumed they didn`t renew it since they no longer listed it on their website. I tried Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime. And I haven`t found a single place to see it legally. Edit: I should add that there is also no legal place to read manga online, as Morikawa is anti-digital where he doesn`t want his work published online.
Right now, the only place you can really see it is either on Youtube or on an “illegal” anime site that has it. While the manga remains very popular and successful, the adaptations have been anything but popular. The first anime adaptation lasted only 25 episodes. Later adaptations covered the later parts of the manga with uneven results (the 2016 series, which is the only widely used one, is considered a CGI monster that could not adapt the manga). The licensing agreement for the 1997 show expired in 2012 and has not been legally available in North America since. Edit: I should add that there is also no legal place to read manga online, as Morikawa is anti-digital where he doesn`t want his work published online. The only way to legally read the manga is to make a physical copy in one of the 4 countries where it is legally rented (and Japan). Of course, there is also no legal version in English.
“Monster” is an adaptation of Naoki Urasawa`s manga, which tells the story of a Japanese surgeon in Germany who engages with a former patient who turns out to be a serial killer. The story has been praised for exploring the psychology of the characters and designing a complex chess game reminiscent of Hitchcock`s best thrillers. At one point, Guillermo del Toro even wanted to do a live-action adaptation for HBO. So what exactly does this agreement include? Starting at 2. The first 38 episodes of the popular “Hunter x Hunter” will air in 104 countries. Admittedly, this is only a fraction of the 148 episodes of the series, but still! On that day, “Ouran High School Host Club” will also be broadcast in 190 territories and “Claymore” in 136 countries. Second season too. The third season is on Facebook. Did Morikawa ever give the reason why he is anti-digital? With the decline of print media, this doesn`t seem like a wise choice from a business perspective.
Digitalization could also help boost manga sales. “Berserk” is based on the hugely popular and influential manga of the same name by the late great Kentaro Miura. Set in a medieval European world of dark fantasy, it`s the basis for most dark anime of the past 20 years, inspiring everything from “Attack on Titan” to “Jujutsu Kaisen.” The protagonist, Guts, served as a model for many heroes with giant swords like Ichigo from “Bleach”. Unfortunately I don`t have an answer, but I just want to take this opportunity to say that I`m still sad about how difficult it is to support this manga/anime as an English speaker.