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Multinational, Same-Day Debuts of Shippuden, Gintama, Kurokami (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
Thursday marks the first same-day premieres of Naruto Shippūden and Kurokami The Animation episodes in more than one country. Naruto Shippūden is the most popular anime series thus far to stream worldwide within an hour of its Japanese airing, while Kurokami is the first anime to premiere on television in three countries within 24 hours of each other.
Crunchyroll has begun streaming Naruto Shippūden episode 91 with English subtitles to its Anime Membership subscribers worldwide, except in Japan and France, at 6:00 a.m. ET. The same episode from TV Tokyo and Studio Pierrot will stream for free on Viz Media's Naruto.com, Crunchyroll, Hulu.com, and Joost.com for free a week later on January 15. The series continues the adventures of the young ninja Naruto from Masashi Kishimoto's original manga.
Bandai Entertainment will present the English-dubbed premiere of Kurokami on America's iaTV television network at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT — or about eight hours after the Japanese airing. South Korea will follow suit with the Korean premiere on the Anibox network on January 9 at 10:00 p.m., local time. In the original Kurokami (Black God) manga by the Korean duo Lim Dall Young and Park Sung Woo, an ordinary young man gets caught in a conflict being fought by Kuro, a guardian deity who maintains the "Coexistence Equilibrium."
Images © Masashi Kishimoto Scott/Shueisha, TV Tokyo, Pierrot
© Lim Dall Young, Park Sung Woo/Square Enix/Sunrise, Bandai Visual
Update: Crunchyroll's simulcast of Gintama also launches today with episode 139.
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