Kokul’s World

Recently Viz Media, a North American anime and manga distributor announced that the popular Naruto Shippuuden series will be subbed and streamed for free (ad-supported of course) from their website. While this is big news in itself that Viz is embracing the internet as a new distribution means, the more interesting quirk is the fact that they will be streaming episodes that have aired in Japan with only one week after their air date. Now this is a huge step forward for anime companies as a whole, who often have large delay times between Japanese airing and DVD release and North American release.

Honestly, this is a great effort on the part of Viz to explore new distribution channels and to see how they can give anime fans cheaper and easier access to their favourite anime. If this succeesd, then Viz and other companies will more likely take a serious look at doing this for more series that are currently airing. Eventually, it may be possible that a fan does not have to download illegal fansub versions of their favourite anime, and have a cheap and easy alternative to view it through legal means, without the need to wait several months for a North American release. One of the biggest indicators that this is creating a buzz among the fansub community is from a recent announcement from Dattebayo, a fansub group that currently subs Naruto Shippuuden, that they will stop subbing the series once Viz gets their stream up and running. Having fansub groups support this just underlines the important fact that this may be a great step forward.

North American production houses and distribution firms for TV shows and movies may want to keep a close eye on this one and follow suit if it is successful. It may just open a new era to the way we see our movies and shows, and just may be appealing enough for viewers to turn away from piracy.