Have a friend you want to intro to Sci-Fi Anime, but are wondering what a good choice would be to get them into it? Top 10 Gateway Anime Series was posted by Aaron Magulick on his Go Boiano site, and it has the definitive list. And a few of the series listed, like Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are gateways to addict your friends to science fiction as a whole, not just anime, giving you a double edged attack vector. Bet they can’t watch just one!
This week Oblivion hits the big screen, with Tom Cruse returning to the abandoned Earth to extract resources. While there he discovers things that make him think he has been lied to about what is really going on, and who the war over the Earth was with. If you would prefer something a bit more silly, Scary Movie V continues that parody franchise.
Nozomi Entertainment has a channel full of their own Anime for you to stream and enjoy, as does Right Stuff (even though the latter is all silly). This is yet another streaming source that gives you entire episodes of anime programs, although in this case they save the cost of installing, configuring, and running their own video servers by using the YouTube service as their delivery platform. I like the concept, and appreciate it means they get to supply us with yet more free to watch anime from an amazing range of classic productions. I end up buying the majority of my Anime DVDs from Right Stuf, simply because their prices tend to beat everybody else’s by a noticeable percentage. And as with the other suppliers, being able to watch the shows for free definitely helps me remember why they need to be part of my permanent collection.
I have never had a Viz Media paid subscription, so I know nothing about their paid services, it’s quality, etc. But they do put a bunch of stuff on streaming for free, and they have some kick ass programs, including One Piece, Naruto, and Tiger and Bunny, to name a few. Like most everybody else they stream to a number of platforms, which seems to have a bit of emphasis to the X-Box in their case. Like Funimation, they are a distribution house, which means they only carry licensed programs that they can also sell you on a disc. But they have a large enough library of product that they keep constantly updating that you will probably be pleased with the selection.
Funimation is another site that has streaming Anime that I decided to try out a subscription with. Like others, it includes both Anime and live action, and it also has simulcasts, meaning you can see an episode within a short amount of time of when it originally airs across the Pacific. It takes a slightly different approach on its subscription service than some others, in that it only gives you the first one to 3 episodes free on a number of series. If you want to keep watching after that you have to buy the subscription service. Note that that is only for a selection of it’s series, with other shows being available for free from beginning to end, and I haven’t noticed that a paid subscription gives you other advantages, like 720i or 1080P video quality. So while I still currently maintain my subscription, I am thinking about whether I should keep paying the monthly premium. I suspect it will ending up boiling down to what they are willing to add to the lineup each week or month; if I have already seen the ones I am interested in, then we will be finished. At the moment, they have a LOT of shows I am interested in, but they need to keep adding to that library if they want to retain me as a customer.
Crunchyroll was the first streaming video service of any kind that impressed me enough that I got a paid subscription. In part, that was because I didn’t have to hand them money to watch any of the shows or join the online community, which made me feel welcome and included. In part it was because they have a huge library of programming available from a lot of sources, including not only Anime but also live action dramas and even music videos that never get played here, and I wanted to support that so it would continue to be available. In part it was to get the HD video quality, since the free version only comes in standard def. I do have to confess that while I told myself it was also so I could watch my favorite Anime shows an hour after the episode first aired in Tokyo, I only did that with six episodes of a single show just to feel that new-show thrill. I find I enjoy it more if I can watch 3 or so episodes back to back every several weeks, at a time of day that does not involve setting alarm clocks. When you watch enough different shows, this actually works out very nicely. If you are an Anime fan, you owe it to yourself to check out Crunchyroll, and if you like what you see you should at the minimum join the fan based community there.