(Original publish date: 04/07/2023. Last updated & edited: 13/12/2023)
Ever since Animax ceased broadcast on 1st January 2022, I have looked for alternatives to watch anime. In fact, ever since my house gets home fibre broadband service after that, I can now watch anime online (legally, of course) without having to worry about depleting internet quota.
Although Animax has been relaunched on 1st May this year on Media Prima's tonton online streaming platform along with its sister channel GEM, I honestly never miss or care about it anymore (thanks to LPF and Astro, that is!), as I have found better alternatives to that.
And so, here are the (legal) alternatives to Animax that I've found:
1. DISNEY+ HOTSTAR
If you're an Astro customer who also subscribed Movies pack, Disney+ Hotstar is provided free of charge. Here, they have some of the well-known and trending animes such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Jujutsu Kaisen, and also animes not available in other services I'm going to write later, such as Summertime Render, Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall, Tengoku Daimakyou, and Synduality: Noir. So far, I have finished watching both Summertime Render and Tengoku Daimakyou here, and I enjoyed them.
At least, I can forgive Astro for this. But still...
What I didn't like about this? The latest update (as of the date this post was published) apparently limited the video resolution to 720p on an Android TV Box (I use Google-certified Skyworth LEAP-S1), and I noticed that the video quality was not good and appeared blocky. Back then, before the newest update, there was absolutely no problems for Disney+ Hotstar to stream videos in Full HD (1080p).
Thankfully, that issue has been fixed recently.
The second thing I didn't like about is the fact that some Animes hasn't been updated on Disney+ Hotstar. Kimetsu No Yaiba is still stuck on season 3 (Entertainment District Arc), when season 4 (Swordsmith Village Arc) has already completed streaming on another streaming service called Bilibili. Not only that, SPY X FAMILY has just begun streaming season 2, when Disney+ Hotstar still did not update it.
2. YOUTUBE CHANNELS BY OFFICIAL ANIME DISTRIBUTORS
That's right; YouTube does have official channels by anime licensing and distribution companies such as Muse and Ani-One Asia. However, both of these channels have their own differences.
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First up, Muse Asia. Here, they have familiar shows such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and all the shows are subtitled in English. I also noticed that Muse Asia also streamed Rage of Bahamut: Genesis sometime ago, but it is no longer available. And, yes, some of the animes here are available for a limited time and age-restricted.
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Next up, Muse Malaysia. Similar to Muse Asia, except here the animes they streamed have either in English or Malay subtitles. From what I've seen, the ones subtitled in Malay language tend to be wrongly translated somehow. This channel also streamed Baka to Test: Shoukanjuu with Malay subtitles.
Also, a special mention to:
CARDFIGHTVanguard channel. Here, I watched Cardfight!! Vanguard anime. This channel streamed Cardfight!! Vanguard anime in both original Japanese audio with closed captions, or with English audio, and in 1080p max resolution. Not only that, this channel also streamed videos about the trading card game as well.
Watching free on YouTube does have its drawbacks: Advertisements. While the ads are both short and annoying enough, ads that appear, once finished, also tend to make the closed caption subtitles disabled permanently and also caused the CC option to go missing from the interface, necessitating me to exit and replay the video from start.
Of course, nobody needs to tell me about YouTube Premium, because I already know it!
3. BILIBILI
Finally, what I believe to be the best anime streaming platform available: Bilibili. Here, they have LOTS of animes to stream, and even Chinese cartoons and live-action dramas too. Almost every known Animes are available in Bilibili; Attack on Titan, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, BLEACH, NARUTO, Detective Conan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kimetsu no Yaiba, they have it! In fact, some of these known animes are available to watch for free users too!
There are, however, some Animes that require a Premium subscription to watch. One can opt for either a monthly, quarterly, or annual (yearly) plan. By purchasing a Premium subscription, one can also watch animes in Full HD quality and even 4K quality. Not only that, Bilibili's Premium subscription can also be bought on Codashop, but they only have 1-year subscription, and the 1-month subsctiption option is no longer available (as of 3/11/2023). Back when it was still available, I purchased a 1-month subscription, where I was able to watch trending animes at the time, such as Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu and Oshi No Ko.
Oh, did I forgot to mention that the anime shows there are available for a limited time, too? As of 26th August 2023 when I last checked, I noticed that Bilibili has removed Hayate no Gotoku seasons 1 and 2, Himouto! Umaru-chan and Himouto! Umaru-chan R, SKET DANCE, and The Idolm@ster Side-M.
And speaking of quality, as I used to watch on Bilibili as a free user, 720p on Bilibili is not too bad. YMMV, but I noticed that Bilibili's 720p looks better than on Disney+ Hotstar for some reason.
CONCLUSION
So, there you have it. Alternatives to Animax. Thanks to these, I can safely say that I no longer miss Animax.
RemainUnknown522 Out.
