Episodes of multiple highly anticipated anime series have been leaked online through anonymous message board and content piracy websites, Anime News Network confirmed Tuesday. Sites including 4chan and BitTorrent were found to have unreleased material from the new Ranma ½ , Dan Da Dan, Netflix’s Terminator Zero and Season 3 of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, as well as the feature film Gekijōban Mononoke: Karakasa. Some of these videos have scheduled fan expo premieres, and more than one is set to screen on Netflix.
However, fans may as well wait for the official releases. ANN points out that the leaks are low-res, and are further muddled by blurred watermarks and timestamps.
Worst hit is Netflix’s Terminator Zero, which is imminently due for release on August 29. All episodes of the show, produced by Skydance Animation and Production I.G, have been leaked. The series is set within the cinematic Terminator universe and follows new characters in the epic battle between humanity and the conquering AI known as Skynet.
Episodes 1, 3 and 4 of the rebooted Ranma ½ were leaked. Based on the hit 1980s-90s manga by Rumiko Takahashi and featuring returning voice stars from the original anime series (1989-92), the new version is directed by One Piece veteran Kōnosuke Uda, produced by Shogakukan Shueisha Productions with animation by MAPPA (Vinland Saga, The God of High School). The first episode is slated to World Premiere at Anime NYC on August 24, at a screening presented by VIZ Media and Hot Topic. The broadcast debut is set for October 5 on Nippon TV / Netflix.
Dan Da Dan will also premiere the first three episodes of its English-language dub version at Anime NYC, and will launch worldwide on Netflix in October. Crunchyroll has also picked up the series for streaming. The leaked episodes are numbers 3-6. Produced by Science SARU, the opening trilogy of eps. is getting a package theatrical release as Dan Da Dan: First Encounter with global release dates in Asia (August 31), Europe (September 7) and North America (September 13, through GKIDS).
The first episode of the third season of isekai adventure Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- has been shared out with a watermark indicating it screened at Japan Expo in France last month. The series is animated by White Fox and streams on Crunchyroll.
And all of Gekijōban Mononoke: Karakasa was leaked. Internationally titled Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain, it is the first in the new multi-film project based on Toei’s Mononoke series, which is itself a spin-off of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales. The movie opened in Japan on July 26; no international release dates or distributors have been announced. The film is produced by Twin Engine with series director Kenji Nakamura at the helm.
[Source: Anime News Network]
