The American distributors of Naruto, Viz Media, will shortly be starting belated but promising provision of Naruto Shippuden episodes streamed simultaneously with the Japanese airing (“simulcast”).
The release schedule begins March 26th with the 101st episode of Naruto Shippuden, airing on Viz’s official site Naruto.com. Episodes will of course be subtitled only, and entirely free. The previous 100 episodes are also available for viewing.
This follows on from the news that long-time Naruto fansubbers Dattebayo have retired in favour of authorised distribution of the series; it seems US viewers at least can now finally enjoy a simultaneous official release (although everyone else still has to use the traditional channels).
The major unresolved issue in their distribution model appears to be the failure to adopt a fully global release system – it appears simultaneous distribution will be limited to North America, meaning the bulk of Naruto fans will still have no official offering capable of competing with the unauthorised releases, which will thus not be going away anytime soon.
It is not clear what restrictions will be placed on the previous 100 episodes, or on future releases, though as of writing they are not visible outside the US, and are provided by Hulu (or Joost in Canada) who are purely a US operation.
This news comes straight from Viz; regarding the issue of regional limitations, we are asking for clarification and will update when we hear back.
In other news, Viz is attempting to close the publishing lag between the Japanese manga and the translated edition by way of a flurry of releases, releasing no less than eleven volumes in just a few months in order to bring the manga more into sync with the Japanese publication schedule.
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I dont like the quality of the streams. Looks like when Naruto was still popular with rmvbs..... ewww.
I will stick to "traditional" methods for the time being until they up the ante with better quality vids.
I totally agree with that. No quality, no deal.
Will crunchyroll continue broadcasting by the way?
I'll let Artefact break updates on this story as he's in contact with Viz. However, I'm assuming that crunchyroll will continue broadcasting on their traditional 1 day later schedule. Crunchyroll does offer higher quality, but if I'm not mistaken, you have to pay for subscription to get it, though lower res versions are free.
Crunchyroll do offer the one day later broadcast, but they also offer the episode for free the following week. You get a week behind, but it's free, subtitled and as far as I'm concerned, pretty decent quality for what it's worth.
Crunchyroll doesn't offer a one-day-later broadcast. They offer a one-hour-later broadcast.
That said, this update from Viz is pretty pointless. Crunchyroll is already simulcasting Naruto and they are able to reach a greater number of people and countries than Viz is able to.
So who cares about Viz's service? If they want to get in on anime streaming, they should broadcast some series that Crunchyroll isn't already showing.
Thanks for the correction. It is a 1 hour delay.
Don't worry, there are plenty of QUALITY in Naruto.
The series does look kinda cool, I have to admit.
Naruto like bleach is good when they focus away from lulz plots and bad humor.
It dose have some of the worst fillers I have ever seen though.
As I keep saying to people, I actually like Naruto and think it deserves its extreme popularity.
But can you enjoy the fillers and dumber eps as much as the series at its best?
I like Naruto I like One Peice I like Bleach, OP is the most lulzy but it has heart and its fiction is silly to start with. Naruto and Bleach try and be more balanced but Naruto got the short stick on crappy fillers, though Bleachs newer one with the loli makes brains hurt >>(oh please god tell me that was filler LOL).
I only pay attention to the manga and games... Problem solved.
Not really the domestic releases are badly translated/localized most of the time :P
I like the fillers more than the story.. as long as they're funny.
Seem to be in the minority though.
the fact is that most of fillers are completely pointless. some of them are funny, ok, but aired during a situation which would require a certain focus.. >_>
The fuck is this news?
I honestly hope no one actually cares about this piece of shit series.
agreed
"...it appears simultaneous distribution will be limited to North America, meaning the bulk of Naruto fans will still have no official offering..."
I could be wrong but are they saying that there are more Naruto fans outside of North America and Japan than in? Seems a bit unrealistic to me :/. I understand that there's plenty of fans in Europe and many other regions of the world, but as a whole it would seem the bulk is actually satisfied. Anyone care to clarify?
World >>>> North America and Japan.
Naruto fans in Europe, Asia, Australia, etc. >>>> Naruto fans in North America and Japan.
Believe it.
This.
high fives
Because China has fewer Naruto fans than the United States.
Makes perfect sense.
Europe, along with various other regions of the world make up a much larger percent of the Naruto fanbase than the US alone (the article is referring to 'foreign' fans).
Uh... Viz Media USA is an American distributor, hence the "USA".
For the rest of the world, If you wish to have a Naruto simulcast, contact your local anime distributor or congressmen, and SEE IF THEY CARE!
just letting u no but NO 1 cares about naruto ,we simply have alot more anime piraters and its bad 4 busness but if they can slip in some comersials then they will instently get the atention of all thoes anime pirates
If the episodes are "free" then I wonder if that allows all other streaming anime sites to continue using the now "officially" subbed episodes either by embedding or hosting them?
If that's the case I see no problem for non-americans to keep watching the series (of course streaming is low quality but fans are supposed to support the industry with mindless DVD purchasing anyway), and BTW, I am neither a Naruto fan or North American (I am actually Mexican you know), but it seems that Viz might be adopting that business model all other animation companies need to begin with instead of going rampant with lawsuits aganist the internet.
Pretty sure if one were to save the flv from Viz's site, and then post it on youtube it'd get removed for copyright.
They allow free streaming from their sanctioned website obviously to cram as much Naruto content into the pages as they can. BUY DVDS DVDS DVDS etc.
I can't actually view them, but as I understand Hulu are providing advertising.
Viz agrees to a certain percentage of revenue and a fixed CPM rate for each viewer. The most recent reports I've read indicate the rate is variable between $25-30 per ad, which is higher than average, but still less than the average TV rate of $1000-5000 per 30 second ad.
Bad qaulity and bad subbing FTW!
Sorry but qaulity is lost when you translate and localize a show for the drooling masses.
Should we be talking about quality when it comes to Naruto anyway? The show is made for 12 year old boys, isn't it? Who cares?
RasenShuriken!!!
"no official offering capable of competing with the unauthorised releases"
Is Crunchyroll not considered? Because of their one week delay for non-paying viewers?
The way of the future. I believe streaming like this can save anime industry, people have less reason(s) to download digital copies now.
FUCK THEM AND THEIR REGION BLOCKS!
I can't watch vids in youtube and other sites cause they go like sorry this video is not provided outside America...
Proxys exist
Believe it. xD
Its still the end of the world... Think of it... Narutards now have access to the 2nd full of shit season....
yes, belive it!
i feel ashamed when ppl asoceate anime with only naruto and henti and belive they are anime fans 4 watchn only 1 show 4 12year olds
BELIVE IT! (please kill the person that came up with this phrase!!!) (and orange ninjas)
in before naruto: evolution !
Well, it's a nice start but this raises a few issues;
1. Unlikley to get a US TV deal now. The franchaise was killed by the first series fillers and now fans can watch the entire second series, up-to-date with Japan for free online.
2. People will be less likley to want to purchase DVD's now, which make a large bulk of R1 company profits. The reason before was if you wanted Naruto, uncut and subtitled, you had to get the DVD's as there was no other option.
3. What about the rest of the world? Europe makes up a much larger percentage of Naruto fans than America, so they will yet again have to resort to piracy.
yes, but u 4get that most amarican naruto fans cant read sub , they only watch dub so idk if this is going 2 do much agenst the fact most of their target audence is already pirating it in sub
They can't read subs because most Naruto fans read at a 5th grade level.
Simultaneous streaming or not, nothing of value was lost.
LESS NARUTO! MOAR HAYATE!!
+1
The source is actually http://www.hulu.com/naruto-shippuden
That is delayed by a week.
The only reason why I never follow Naruto is because of the long-winded plots and crappy fillers. (and also the fact that I only knew about Naruto at about ep. 100+) Argh, can't believe I still have to download Naruto for my cousin. Its taking a lot of space on my HD!!!! >_>>>> stream
Nuff said.
WTF? Don't tell me the that word got censored? T_T
For what it's worth, I really do like Naruto and feel it deserves attention. Unfortunately, I feel that it gets unfairly treated by people who automatically react poorly to something being popular.