Whether they are nostalgic due to being ‘morning cartoons’ you watched growing up through the likes of Cheez TV or Agro’s Cartoon Connection, or retro icons that you may not have watched until much later, there are many gems from the earlier days of Japanese animation which still hold up even today. If the idea of sitting on the couch this weekend watching some of these iconic franchises from last century sounds like a good one, Madman Entertainment have you covered.
As of today, a a library of older anime favourites is available to stream via AnimeLab, from the original 60s versions of Astro Boy and Princess Knight, to the shows I watched growing up in the 90s and early 2000s. Many of these series are only available to Premium subscribers of the service, and due to localisation trends back in the day, some only come with a single-language audio option (English or Japanese). Not all of these are newly available on the service, but a few of them are.
You can begin watching the different series HERE.
Shows now available via AnimeLab include Kimba The White Lion (1965), Princess Knight (1967), Astro Boy (1963), Sailor Moon (1992), Astro Boy (1980), Dragon Ball (1986), Speed Racer (1967), Wicked City – Remastered (1992), Space Adventure Cobra (1982), Berserk (1997), Rurouni Kenshin (1996), Cowboy Bebop (1998), Initial D (1998), Trigun (1998), Zillion (1987), Bubblegum Crisis – Tokyo 2040 (1998), The Record of Lodoss War (1990) and Yu Yu Hakusho (1994).
Many of the series are ones which have received a home video release by Madman Entertainment or another Australian anime publisher at some point in time. If offering retro anime series proves to be successful for AnimeLab, it would be great to see more older series, even those never receiving a release outside of Japan, finding new audiences on the service.
AnimeLab is an online anime streaming service managed by Madman Entertainment. It’s accessible only to those residing in Australia and New Zealand and offers a basic service free with video quality, dub and availability timeframe limitations. For those looking for access to no simulcast delays, no ads, full back-catalogue access and high definition video can take advantage of a premium subscription membership for $7.95AUD/month or $79.50AUD/year.
