Where to watch/read anime/manga/light novels legally

[Nosebleed]

List of Legal Anime, Manga & Light Novel Sources

Figured this topic might be useful to be pinned in this section.

The plan is to list down legal sources where one can watch anime and read manga/light novels and support the industry as much as possible instead of using illegal sources.

If you wish to contribute to the list, please post in the thread or PM me so it can be added.

Other mods are free to edit the list as well, although I would appreciate it if you could check the box that shows you edited it.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't use every single one of these sites so I can't provide personal experience for all, so please do read each site's ToS/FAQ before using it and make sure it will work for you, I only be giving a brief overview of each site.

If you have any experience with any of these sites and want to give feedback to other members, please do make post about in the thread.

Anime

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Streaming Sites

This might be a good place to start to see if the series you want is even available for streaming.

• Crunchyroll (Subscription based. Usually tends to have most of the recent shows. Offers subs in multiple languages)
• Funimation (Subscription based. Offers English dubs for a lot of the recent anime)
• Daisuki (No subscription needed. Streams worldwide with possible restrictions)
• The Anime Network (Subscription based. Streams worldwide I think? Possible restrictions)
• Hulu (Subscription based. Streams in the US only)
• Netflix (Subscription based. Streams in some regions depending on the show)
• VizMedia (Hulu based so same thing as Hulu)

Non-english streaming websites:

• Wakanim (French, has subscription, non-subscription and VOD offers)
• ADN (French, subscription based)

Both My Anime List and Anime News Network have also recently partnered with some of the above sites to stream on their site as well.

Buying Anime

There are several sites and stores across the globe that probably have some anime in stock, so you should always check your local retailers first. Also check anime databases like MAL or ANN for the official licensing companies as those are usually the ones in charge of providing the product directly to their consumer.

The most useful sites tend to be Amazon and RightStuf.

AmiAmi also tends to have the most recent blu-ray releases, often the limited editions as well. Note these are strictly in Japanese.

You can also use Amazon Japan if you have a proxy or a forwarding service that can get you your stuff.

Manga

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Before you do anything, Manga Updates is an awesome database to find information on the publishers of any given manga/manwha/manhua/light novel, including webcomics (something a lot of other databases leave out) so you might want to look up the title you want there first and foremost to see if it's been licensed or where it's being published.

Digital Manga

• Crunchyroll (Subscription based. Usually up to date. Available worldwide. Has an iOS/Android app)
• Book Walker (Commercial. Offers Light Novels too. Has an iOS/Android app)
• Book Walker JP (Same as the above but offers only Japanese manga and light novels. Has a bigger catalog though)
• Kodansha Comics (Commercial. Offers lots of both digital and physical manga)
• Comic Walker (No subscription needed. Is often out of date though)
• Comic Walker JP (No subscription needed. Much more up to date but offers only Japanese manga. Also has links to purchase)
• Viz (Offers usually both digital and physical versions of their manga, usually through Amazon)
• Shounen Jump (English simulpub of Shounen Jump. Available in English-speaking countries only)
• Amazon (Commercial. Amazon often tends to offer digital editions of the manga in their catalog)
• Amazon JP (Only Japanese manga, usually the most recent stuff. You'll need to have a Japanese amazon account)

Physical Manga

• Amazon (Usually people's number 1 site for purchasing both physical and digital manga)
• Book Depository (Free shipping to a lot of regions. Is also a regular book store)
• RightStuf (For some reason the manga is under "Graphic Novels)
• Kodansha Comics (Offers lots of both digital and physical manga)
• Seven Seas Entertainment (Has quite a wide range of retailers)
• Amazon JP (Only Japanese manga & books. Usually the most recent titles are on Amazon JP and amazon does ship manga and books internationally)
• Honto (Only Japanese manga & books. Ships internationally, often said to be cheaper than amazon JP)

Light Novels

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The subreddit /r/lightnovels has a very extensive list of upcoming releases with several purchase links so feel free to bookmark that page and follow the sub if you're interested in keeping up with the latest stuff.

I would once again heavily recommend checking out Manga Updates to see if the light novel you're looking for has been licensed in English, and if so, by which company, before you start googling away.

Light Novel Licensing Companies

• Yen Press
• Vertical
• One Peace Books
• Tokyo Pop

Most of these companies end up selling their books through third parties like Amazon or Book Depository

Region Restrictions

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A lot of these publishers, mainly anime streaming sites, often have restrictions depending on the region you live in. However, you can always use a VPN service to change your IP address to the respective country where the service is available, which more often than not tends to be the US. Some sites only require your IP address to belong to that region during the sign-up process while others always require you to have that IP address when viewing their site.

"But isn't VPN illegal?" you may ask. Yes, in theory changing your IP address is illegal, however you're supporting the industry by purchasing or watching/reading from any of these sites, so I think most people would agree that it's a lesser evil for a greater cause.

Edited January 1, 2016 by Down
added a few things

[DarkZedge]

I myself us Crunchyroll and do recommend it, they keep on expanding their anime and manga list with old and the new series and it's not all that expensive. plus HD streaming and i haven't had a problem this far with it's service.

That being said, thank you for the tips on the other sites, i'll try em out

[Down]

Great thread, it's gonna be useful.

I added a "non-english streaming sites" category, put there the french sites I know. Also added honto.jp for jp books/manga, and amazon.jp does ship internationally for books/manga, only softwares can't be shipped afaik.

[Nosebleed]

amazon.jp does ship internationally for books/manga, only softwares can't be shipped afaik.

Huh, did not know that. Does it also let me buy digital manga on my kindle then?
When I signed up for an Amazon account on kindle I accidently didn't change the shop location so it's stuck with Portugal and doesn't let me change it unless I enter an address of the country I want to change to.
Thing is, it's a regular Amazon account, I can't login on Amazon.jp with it so I'm not even sure how kindle works with that stuff.
Any tips?

As for other region sites, I initially thought about having stuff by region, then I remembered I don't know anything about other regions (or even my own).
Probably a good idea to have nonetheless so people in their respective countries can find stuff in their language as well.

[Zidan209]

I know 1 anime site which has also an other hentai site. I just checked the legal disclaimer so they are 100% legal.

Yeah and ofc, the sites: [link removed] that was the anime one

And the one with hentai [link removed]

Edited January 1, 2016 by Nosebleed
Links removed

[Decay]

@Zidan209 Yeah, no, those sites are definitely not legal and their legal disclaimers are full of shit.

[Zidan209]

Well at least they fked up with the law and said that they are not responsibile of any complains or something

[Nosebleed]

@Zidan209 that's just a typical streaming site that hosts a bunch of mirrors, all the legal disclaimer says is that they don't host the videos on their site and thus they're not theoretically liable for anything, nothing else.

[Down]

Huh, did not know that. Does it also let me buy digital manga on my kindle then?
When I signed up for an Amazon account on kindle I accidently didn't change the shop location so it's stuck with Portugal and doesn't let me change it unless I enter an address of the country I want to change to.
Thing is, it's a regular Amazon account, I can't login on Amazon.jp with it so I'm not even sure how kindle works with that stuff.
Any tips?

In order to buy on amazon.co.jp's kindle store, you need to use a japanese vpn/proxy once (but only once). Go to amazon.co.jp with a proxy/vpn, buy a book (for example you can take a free book like 人間失格) in Kindle版 that you'll forward to your kindle app, and then you should be able to buy books and manga on the japanese kindle store even without vpn/proxy later.

I registered my amazon.co.jp account on the kindle app when I did that, so I don't know if it'll work with your portuguese account but you can always try it out.

[Katakana]

I found many manga sites.

[nope]

:3 Thanks for the websites!

Edited January 16, 2016 by Down
illegal sites

[Down]

3 hours ago, Katakana said:

I found many manga sites.

[nope]

:3 Thanks for the websites!

These are all illegal websites... This thread is meant only for legal offers.

[Okarin]

What about the scanlation webs? Are they legal?

[Rilarion]

Thanks, its really useful and I'm sure some people including me will contrubute more to the industry.

[pual]

If you like LN's you might also want to check Qidian InternationalWuxiaWorld for chinese / korean novels. Korean novels are usually in game worlds while chinese ones have cultivators  and may require some googling for daoist terms.

EDIT: holy I misread the year.

Edited August 1, 2017 by pual

[HataVNI]

@Zero Mr. Zoll VN.InfoAnother job for you to tell the people. What has risen up in the last ~ 6 years? I'm excited to know. It's probably WAY too much.

[Zero Mr. Zoll VN.Info]

1 hour ago, HataVNI said:

@Zero Mr. Zoll VN.InfoAnother job for you to tell the people. What has risen up in the last ~ 6 years? I'm excited to know. It's probably WAY too much.

Whew. This is a task that is extremely complicated. In general, the popularity of anime and manga has increased extremely, but also light novels have become more and more famous. Although they are even more unknown than manga, especially through titles such as Mushoku Tensei or Classroom of the Elite, LNs are becoming better known, at least in English. In Germany there is the problem That many publishers say that LNs are too niche to license. Egmont, Carlsen and Manga Cult try side story LNs to well-known shonen Franshises such as Demon Slayer, Naruto or the Shinaki works. However, you can't say how in their eyes a real LN series would sell like Mushoku and or Classroom of the Elite. Only Tokyopop actively brings out LNs but have some problems that they do not follow as with Overlord or KonoSuba. It is said that their plan is filled with LN series until 2027. Anime can be seen how the market rises and rises. Sony bought Crunchyroll while Crunchyroll bought VIZ Media Europe and VIZ Media Switzerland 3 years earlier. Kadokawa is getting more and more insane. 2021 Per season 30 New Comer titles and per year there will be 2 new-comer more. In addition, there are the sequels where year after year some come where you thought there will never be a new one like classroom of the Elite or devil is a part timer. 

 

[Plk_Lesiak]

Maybe its just me, but I feel the all-around trend is consolidation rather than new stuff popping up? The English-speaking sector, with Crunchyroll and Funimation merging, seems more consolidated than ever (and honestly way more convenient than it ever was). And with Crunchyroll adding more language version for their subtitles, they make the potential local companies even less likely to rise and be profitable when it goes to anime streaming.

Maybe manga is a bit different, as the licensing costs are not as prohibitive, translation isn't as expensive as with LNs and there's still a somewhat-viable market for physical copies... But the earie part about the list in this thread is that it mostly got out-of-day by companies fading away than more stuff popping up.

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

But the earie part about the list in this thread is that it mostly got out-of-day by companies fading away than more stuff popping up.

Does not seem to be true for LNs. There are quite a few of companies missing in the list. They did get a lot more popular in the recent years.

[Plk_Lesiak]

21 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Does not seem to be true for LNs. There are quite a few of companies missing in the list. They did get a lot more popular in the recent years.

Yeah, that makes sense, considering LNs are likely cheaper to license and very labour-intensive when it goes to translating. I imagine just like VNs, they are niche enough and with thin-enough profit margins that big companies are simply not that interested in scooping them up.

[Mist Ephemeral]

For legal digital manga and light novels, you can sporadically find bundles of such on Humble Bundle, Groupees, IndieGala and Fanatical, and all the manga I've seen being sold in their bundles were DRM-free. DLsite also sells manga, both SFW (e.g. shounen; albeit usually with DRM) and NSFW (DRM presence needs to be verified for each title individually). And MediBang has some manga on Itchio, although most are smut.