Many anime distributors have arrangements that allow fans to download anime episodes one at a time for a small price, or even pay to download entire series. Yet not everybody can afford to pay the fee and download even single episodes. However, that doesn’t mean all is lost for these people, when it comes to watching their favorite animation genre. For those who can’t afford to pay, or aren’t that dedicated, there is also a wealth of online anime that they can watch for free.

The first place fans can find online anime is at fan sites that offer free streaming of anime episodes. Despite the furor over illegal anime downloads at such sites early in 2008, some distribution companies actually entered into partnerships with these sites, allowing them to continue to stream anime for free, with videos of slightly lesser quality than the ones that could be purchased. Not every anime distributor does this sort of thing, but people who can’t afford to pay for downloads can certainly find anime series to enjoy from the ones who do.

FUNimation Entertainment, an American distribution company, has probably the most extensive online library of anime. In 2008 and 2009, it acquired most of the anime titles from both Geneon and ADV, and has put many of these online, in addition to a large number of its own titles. Rather than making agreements with fan sites, this company made its own arrangements for allowing its fans to watch free anime. It has placed many titles on streaming sites like www.hulu.com and www.joost.com, but also created its own video portal. From that portal, of course, fans can also exercise paid download-to-own options on specific series.

Much online anime consists of series from a few years ago. It’s not often that the licensing owner of a title allows anyone to watch anime free, at least online, before it’s been for sale on the market for awhile. However, particular titles, like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, for example, are so popular that they are now streamed on select sites just hours after airing in Japan. These exceptions, rather than reducing the likelihood of sales, actually create such enthusiasm that the sales are increased. So even if it seems contradictory, the practice of allowing anime to stream online for free can both make the fans happier and create more sales for the distributors.

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The only way you could originally watch anime was on television, which is hard to believe with the proliferation of anime videos and anime TV series available today. It began trickling into North America from Japan very slowly, and at first was far from mainstream entertainment. It was mostly seen when children’s cartoon programs were shown, and only a series or two appeared, now and then. One early series, still fondly remembered by adults today, was Astro Boy, which debuted in 1963, eventually followed by shows like Speed Racer and Akira. People didn’t realize at the time what an entertainment revolution would result from what was essentially the first instance of free streaming anime.

Things progressed slowly through the 1970s, but began to speed up in the 1980s, both in the case of anime TV series and videos. For one thing, a few more of the series began airing, but another new development made it possible to spread the top anime videos more widely. The invention of the VCR allowed people to view Japanese animation series without being dependent on what the television networks decided to buy out of Japan and air in North America. The crowds who watched this animation genre were still small, but with the new videos, anime was shown more and more in places like science fiction and fantasy conventions, and the interest grew.

The technology of DVDs continued the trend that had begun with the VCR videos, and anime videos and anime TV series began developing a separate existence, yet in some ways remained interdependent with each other. Through the 1990s, anime on television grew exponentially as the wider public “discovered” this unusual and engaging art form from Japan. This fed the interest until people who enjoyed a new series on television would go and buy the anime DVD and, incidentally, discover new series at the same time.

In the 2000s, the television screen was displaced as the only type of screen upon which people could watch film or animation, and the connection between anime videos and anime TV series began to be severed. The internet began the process with video streaming sites, but now even those websites are not the only places anime fans can see their top anime favorites. From cell phones to iPods to game consoles and, yes, TV and computer screens, fans can download and view the episodes they want at any time. Far from being dependent on television schedules, they are now almost completely in control of their own anime viewing.

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Japanese animation is wildly popular all over the world, and for many good reasons. One might think that animation is animation, and that most differences would be merely visual. Yes, anime portrays its characters with exaggerated features, most particularly the eyes, but surely that’s just a matter of a stylistic artistic difference. That may sound logical, but anime series are actually quite different from their North American counterparts. Rather than keeping plots simple and a bit goofy, as American animations frequently do, a large proportion of anime creates complex characters and presents plots that can sometimes be quite dark.

What’s different about many of the best anime series though, is that they often combine scenes that are almost ridiculously silly with plots and episodes that are dramatic or even tragic. So for example, in the Inu-Yasha series, the title character is torn between the unnatural reanimation of his dead lover and the light-hearted high school girl who may be her partial reincarnation. This Japanese animation follows its characters through Japan’s violent past, alternating moments of schoolgirl drama with the drama encircling the tragic life of the dead woman.

Characters in series like the Bleach anime or Naruto (probably the most popular title in the world) have their silly moments too, but these are fewer. In each of these series, the main character learns new martial arts skills, such as Ichigo in Bleach acquiring supernatural fighting skills, while Naruto is learning Ninja powers. But while they might have ridiculous moments in the middle of an episode, these anime series concentrate more on the battles and quests each character must undergo, either to save a comrade, save a village or grow as a person.

Fullmetal Alchemist is another of the anime series with lighter moments, yet the thrust of this popular title is sober and dramatic. Two young brothers must undo the results of committing a terrible taboo of alchemy, while becoming involved with saving their country from destruction at the hands of unnatural alchemical forces. Series like this and others are among the top anime titles precisely because they know how to balance the lighter, more ridiculous moments with more complex and dramatic plot elements. This intensity and complexity sets much anime apart from other styles of animation.

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