Funimation Streams Several New Series
FUNimation typically adds a few dozen new episodes to their video website every week, but this past weekend it really felt like they were stepping things up & adding some really cool new stuff, as can be made apparent in the most recent This Week in Free Anime & Manga posting.
Several new titles that have been added feel surprising to have legal & official access to for the first time ever. One of them is the first two episodes of Slayers Revolution. As an old fan of the original Slayers series, I was thrilled to have the classic come back for two new seasons in the modern age, & now the first two episodes are streaming- completely free & legal. It also feels amazing to get free legal "Spice & Wolf" for the first time as well, with the first two episodes for that also going live this weekend.
Another such series is the first two episodes of "Strike Witches," a show that I'm still (pleasantly) surprised that FUNimation ever licensed. Funi has said that their DVD release for the series will be completely uncut, but I have to wonder if they'll be using the uncut version for streaming on their site or if they'll use one of the two edited versions that aired on Japanese TV & Crunchyroll last year. We wont know until the next set of episodes go live next weekend, as uncensored loli nudity was only added beginning with the second DVD.
The addition of "Strike Witches" is also notable because this really is the first time the series is completely available for free (legally) for viewing at anytime. When Crunchyroll & YouTube began simulcasting the series last year, the streams were only free for a mere 10 hours after they aired in Japan. After that, you had to pay to download each episode in order to watch them. But now, we can finally get legal "Strike Witches" for free.
Another Gonzo series that was simulcasted last year, "Tower of Druaga," began streaming its English dub episodes. This is the first time an English version of the series can be heard, since the first DVD set for the series is still a little ways away. Since Druaga was one of my favorite series from last year (it did star KENN as the main character, fresh from the end of GX after all), I'm greatly enjoying rewatching the series dubbed in English.
There were more new dubs added as well. The first 4 English episodes of "Ah! My Goddess" were added, along with the first 4 dubbed episodes of "Bamboo Blade" (another series I'm excited to hear in English for the first time), & the first 4 dubbed eps of "Higurashi: When They Cry." FUNimation was also (very) slowly releasing the dubbed episodes of "Vandread" to their site, but this weekend they finally just went all out & added episodes 5-26 up all at once.
Speaking of adding series in bulk, the entirety of the "Romeo X Juliet" series was put online all at once as well. Yup, all 24 subbed episodes are now up for you're viewing pleasure. The final notable new item that was added this weekend was both parts of the "Gunslinger Girl OVA." Of course there were a bunch of other new episodes for other shows added as well, but all the really noteworthy ones have already been mentioned. You can start watching all this amazing greatness & more here:
http://www4.funimation.com/video