Netflix’s Lifting of Streaming Limits Means Easy (Dubbed) Marathoning

Today Netflix announced that all subscribers, except for those on the bare minimum 2-discs-a-month plan ($4.99/mo), will have no restrictions on how many hours they can utilize the company’s instant watching feature, a move the company likely made to counter the expected announcement of iTunes movie rentals at Macworld tomorrow. Last month, I signed up for the lowest unlimited discs per month plan ($8.99) and thus had eight hours of instant watching per month so now I can see more movies aside from returning a disc and waiting a couple days for the next one to arrive. This news also allows for a more convenient way to watch some anime series in their entirety or at least a healthy dose of episodes. [UPDATE (1/15): Forgot to mention that instant watching still requires IE6 or higher and Windows XP/Vista. Thanks, Scott, for reminding me about the Mac crowd still being shut out from streaming movies on Netflix.]

In a cursory click-through of their listings, one can watch entire series including Mezzo, GitS: Stand Alone Complex, Gilgamesh, Comic Party Revolution TV, Jinki: Extend, and Chance Pop Session as well as large portions of series such as AIR TV (8 out of 13), Air Gear (21 out of 25), Pani Poni Dash (14 of out 26), Saiyuki (25 out of 50), Utawarerumono (14 out of 26 episodes), and Xenosaga (8 out of 12). [It seems that many of these are ADV titles but that may just be a coincidence.] Also some feature films that are available to be watched online include Perfect Blue, Blood The Last Vampire, and Ninja Scroll.

The obvious caveat is that these will be dubbed versions but for those who don’t mind that much, such as myself, this could be a good way to check some series for free if you are already a customer. However, I’m more inclined to use my now-unlimited streaming for movies and TV shows (30 Rock Season 1) since the anime selection is very limited and watching my physical library is a higher priority.

Related posts based on tags:

• The Anime Titles You Can’t “Watch Instantly” After This Week (0)
• Simulcasts of Anime Premieres Reach New Level, But Now What? (2)
• Is Embedding of Full Episodes A Necessary Feature? (2)
• I Was Fine With the ADV-Crunchyroll Deal Until My Eyes Wandered (1)
• GDH To Match Same-Day Streaming Challenge But Will People Watch? (1)