Why are so many anime not available to watch legally anymore?
I’ve noticed more recently that certain shows I used to watch, or want to watch, are nowhere to be found on any sort of legal streaming services. Especially since Funimation got bought out by Crunchyroll, it’s been exceptionally bad.
I’ve been wanting to start watching a new show and went on a wild goose chase to find Elfen Lied. But Elfen Lied doesn’t seem to be available anywhere: not Crunchyroll, not Netflix, not Hulu, not Amazon, not HBO Max, not even Tubi. So I told myself “Hmm ok maybe let’s watch something else?”
And sure enough the next show I pick, same exact deal. Everything I want to watch or have already watched is becoming almost like lost media. What on earth is going on?!
These are some shows I’ve noticed it most with recently:
-Aquarion (my all time favorite show ever and it’s not available anywhere, even Amazon just says “unavailable due to rights having expired”)
-Elfen Lied
-Noragami (literally was in the middle of watching episode 1 to show it to my boyfriend when Crunchyroll crashed and it disappeared forever)
-Monogatari (at least not the full series, only certain parts are available on streaming services, but there is no way to legally watch the entire show)
-Seraph of the End (only season 1 is available to buy on Amazon, but that’s it)
-Higurashi (the ORIGINAL ones, not the new one)
I could go on and on. The list is never ending. Some shows you may get lucky and be able to buy them on like AppleTV or something, but most others are completely scrubbed from the internet and streaming (unless you use an illegal site). I understand there’s licensing and contracts and whatnot, but it feels a lot more prominent right now for some reason compared to years past. When is this gonna change?! I just wanna watch the shows I like or have been dying to see for a while!
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