Spring 2015 Legal Anime Streaming Thread

I know this is a legal streaming thread and proxies probably are a grey area in that respect, but does anyone actually allow region blocking to stop them watching things?
 
ayase said:
I know this is a legal streaming thread and proxies probably are a grey area in that respect, but does anyone actually allow region blocking to stop them watching things?
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I do, but only because I don't have the time to watch the things I can watch legally streamed to the UK, let alone those I can't. Episode 1 of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun queued up next on CR...

I hope to get to Shirobako by June...
 
ayase said:
I know this is a legal streaming thread and proxies probably are a grey area in that respect, but does anyone actually allow region blocking to stop them watching things?
Click to expand...

I do, but it's sort of out of principle, because I work in the streaming industry (music side of things, not video) and the concept of using VPNs - while completely understandable - sort of flies in the face of a lot of the behind the scenes stuff that goes on and keeps services ticking over.

In my mind, these services - and the licensors - need to learn that we live in a global world now, and putting up geo-blocks like this just feeds the piracy/VPN issue. The point is, customers shouldn't *have* to use VPNs to access this stuff. But equally, we live in a world defined by legal concepts and contracts, and to use a VPN spits in the face of a lot of that - it'd sort of be like me admitting that the industry I work for is crap. It's the same reason I don't use an ad-blocker, because it's basically flicking a finger up at companies that depend on ad revenue for their income. Who am I to say that these companies (and by extension their employees) don't deserve respect / a means of income?

The other reason is just a time/ease of access thing - I shouldn't *have* to muck about with VPNs to view something. When I got my first proper salaried job, I stopped illegally downloading stuff - because that time/means to pay ratio changed. Whereas before I had loads of time on my hands, now I had very little, but I did have the means to pay for the convenience legal services provided.
 
I feel like the only way they'll learn restrictions are pointless is if people just ignore and carry on bypassing them. They'll ultimately have to give up. It's quite amusing to hear the Chinese govt. are trying to ban certain anime - like that'll work. Welcome to the 21st Century, where the free flow of information can't be stopped. The region blocking western companies do isn't really any different imo, it's just about protecting their profits rather than the morals of the nation.

I don't like advertising in general because I don't agree with the idea of pressuring people to buy things (I've worked in sales, it essentially felt like trying to stick yourself leech-like to your fellow humans and suck them dry, which is why I don't think they deserve respect or income. I don't even want to imagine what banking feels like). I can't even stand the internet without adblock, it's a horrible experience.
 
The 21st century is the century of the service company. If you think about it, so many companies exist sheerly as a medium to distribute some form of product to people. All the anime distributors out there - from physical to streaming - aren't the ones making these shows, they're merely a third party that is - for want of a better phrase - creaming a little off the top in return for putting in the legwork the licensors back in Japan don't want to do.

This argument is coming up a lot in the music industry at the moment re. Jay'z Tidal and how the battle between it and Spotify exposes the short-sightedness of the music labels. If they really wanted to be in control, they'd have built their own iTunes or Spotify in-house from the ground up - then they could have dictated what consumers paid and how the music was distributed. But now they're pretty much beholden to the existing services, leading to the current situation where no-one wants to pay for music.

In a way, the anime industry has the same problem. Just look at Sony's attempt with Animax - in an ideal world Sony/Aniplex/Animax would work in perfect unity delivering their shows straight to consumers, but because Animax is so lame, we're in a situation where third parties like Crunchyroll and Viewster rise to the fore because they do a much better job.
 
NEW ADDITION:

Saint Seiya: Soul of God (Saint Seiya: Ougon Tamashii)
Site: Daisuki
Previously unavailable (to the UK), Crunchyroll are also simulcasting the series but only for US & Canada.
 
Viewster will be streaming Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (2nd Half), Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation and Plastic Memories to various territories but not including the UK & Ireland.
 
Good god, still not a thing from Crunchyroll for me. I believe there were 6-7 shows I was interested in too this season. Luckily AlltheAnime have two of them.
 
Viewster said they'd be announcing UK licenses next week (seems a little late considering some shows like Nagato start this weekend) so imagine Crunchyroll could be likewise.
 
NEW ADDITION:

Etotama
Site: Crunchyroll
Previously unavailable

Akio Watanabe handled the character design so I'm curious.

Looks like Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign will be handled by Vimeo and Viewster for the UK thanks to Anime Limited. I assume The Heroic Legend of Arslan will be the same.
 
Well might actually as well start to use those smart features of my Panasonic plasma TV, as Viewster should be on VIERA.
 
Stiivun said:
Well might actually as well start to use those smart features of my Panasonic plasma TV, as Viewster should be on VIERA.
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It is, but it doesn't work properly on my 2010 set. Tried Servant X Service and it didn't get past the second episode without freezing and crashing out. Got a new-ish Smart Blu-ray Player since then, might try it on that.
 
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