Anime, For Free? OMFG! I Just Had a Heart Attack.
I am a pretty big fan of anime. I take it how I can get it. Growing up, not having access to a great deal of funds, the main way I consumed anime was through the bad dubs which were aired as Saturday morning cartoons. This was further supplemented when the Toonami block first aired on Cartoon Network. With that, a whole new world of poorly dubbed anime was opened up to me. Granted, my eleven year old mind wasn’t capable of judging voice acting or plot too accurately at that point, but I was still entranced by the magic that these larger than life stories presented to me.
With the advent of broadband Internet and file sharing, my thirst for anime spread to locating whatever meager fan subs I could of my favorite shows, by whatever means necessary. This meant scouring IRC, WinMX, and even Limewire for these little efforts. I rarely was able to watch a complete series of anything, but what I did watch was better than the quality of programming to be found on television. Of course, in the midst of my struggles, Cartoon Network came through again, offering more adult theme animes, and I was again able to enjoy higher quality content, albeit at the cost of crappier voice acting. But it worked, and I was fine with it.
But, again, the problem of getting the newest and greatest content cropped up again. Shows such as Bleach would premiere, and the Internet would a buzz with the latest developments in the storyline, while those of us in the United States were forced to sit through origin stories and filler. So, I once again made my way to the Internet, where things had changed. YouTube had popularized the concept of streaming flash video, and with it, a host of knock off websites offering streaming anime popped up across the map. Actually finding content was a chore, but, to get the best content at the quickest speeds, it was an acceptable solution. And thus, until today, that was how I got my anime fix.
Full Metal Alchemist is a series I am a huge fan of. The storytelling, setting, characters and atmosphere are majestic and timeless. I watched the original series dubbed on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, and watched a streamed copy of the film by ways I described earlier. I learned a month ago that a new series based on the manga series, which diverged from the original anime series, would be premiering. I once again began pondering how I would access the new series content, and did a quick search on Google to learn what the series had in store. Which is when I came across something shocking.
When putting in “Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood” into Google, one of the first results to pop up was the official Funimation page for the series. Nothing unusual, since Funimation is the company which has the licensed rights to distribute the series in North America. But the most shocking part came when I clicked on the link. I was taken to a page which offered FULL, STREAMING episodes of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, available four days after the premiere in Japan. This is insanity. Distribution companies in North America have been notorious for cracking down on streaming copies of content which they hold license to, past, present or future. So, for Funimation to be offering this content, free, streaming, and available within days of initial release…well, it’s pretty damn shocking.
Even more stunning is that Bandai Entertainment has also taken the same path of Funimation, and posted up the ENTIRE first season of Gundam 00 and Code Geass up on their own YouTube channel. Both series are available either dubbed or subbed, which is a huge advance. Considering how tight fisted these distributors have been over their content in the past, these are huge steps forward. More anime content is available free and streaming than ever before, especially with Hulu offering anime content as well. All in all, it’s an excellent time to be an anime fan. One can only hope what nifty stuff have coming in the future.
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