Watch Viz Anime for Free at Joost

Posted in Manga News on September 23, 2008 by Johanna

Viz announced today that their popular anime series Naruto, Death Note, and Bleach will be available online in uncut, subtitled format at Joost.com. They’re promoting it as “legal, secure, and high-quality”.

I’m unfamiliar with Joost, billed as the “world’s first broadcast-quality internet television service”. Based on the press release (excerpted below), they’re pushing social networking as a unique feature and a plus to build the audience.

Episodes will be made available for free at www.joost.com with new installments being added regularly. With Joost, NARUTO, BLEACH, and DEATH NOTE fans will be able to watch these shows in their web browser while interacting with others in the Joost community. Whether they join or form fan groups around their favorite characters, or add their own comments to their favorite shows, Joost’s unique social features help a larger audience find and discover these hit shows.

It won’t be available immediately; Joost has announced that it won’t be until next month that “all video will be viewable on Joost.com using a standard Flash player.” Until then, it requires a plugin … which only works on limited combinations of systems and browsers.

I tend to think that it’s a better idea to announce this kind of thing when interested readers can go check it out, instead of saying “it’s coming soon”. After all, you never know what snags may arise between now and then. I would have liked to have seen some of the episodes… in another month, I’m not sure I’ll remember they’re out there.

Similar Posts: Watch Viz Anime for Free at Hulu § Amazon Unbox Expands Anime Offerings § Naruto Shippuden Episode Runs Same Day in US and Japan § Viz Selects Warner Distribution § Viz Dominates Graphic Novel Sales

5 Comments

  1. Ralf Haring
    09/24/2008 at 1:21 am

    Joost is the next venture for the two guys who created Kazaa and Skype.

  2. You readers can go watch Naruto and Death Note on Joost NOW – they just have to use a small plugin for the next 2-3 weeks until the plugin goes away and Joost is 100% flash. Bleach will be available on Joost very soon as well.

  3. Ralf, that’s certainly a great track record!

    Kate, not if they, like me, use a non-Intel Mac. My Powerbook’s still working great and up-to-date, but their plugin is only coded for PCs and Intel-based machines. Looks like Linux users are left out, too.

  4. [...] Viz has announced that it is posting subtitled, uncut versions of some of its licensed anime on Joost. As many of you probably know, the US anime industry has been struggling to compete with fansubs (bootleg fan subtitled versions) of anime, which are widely distributed through BitTorrent and sites like YouTube. I think including Viz’s content on a site like Joost is a good step toward an answer, though I think any true solution will need to find a way to reduce the wait for official licensed versions, which currently is measured in months and years. (Fansubs, in contrast, are available in days and sometimes even in hours.) [Via Comics Worth Reading] [...]

  5. [...] you don’t want to wait for Joost to get their plugin ready, you can also watch the same Viz anime series — Naruto, Bleach, and [...]

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