It used to be difficult or expensive to go back and rewatch older anime. We had to go to the trouble of purchasing DVD or Blu-ray sets, which were either expensive or weren’t easily available, or hope that a local or cable channel would broadcast a rerun of the specific series.
Thankfully, online streaming has made it much easier and more affordable. In addition, several platforms, such as Viu, have added several classic and long-running anime to their library of content. This gives old fans and potential new ones a chance to either re-experience their youth or find out why some of these older shows are held in such high regard.
Here are four classic anime that are currently available on Viu for you to check out or rewatch:
Slam Dunk
https://www.viu.com/ott/ph/en-us/vod/370414/Slam-Dunk
Year First Aired: 1993
Slam Dunk was one of the most popular anime of the ’90s and one of the shows that many kids who grew up during the time watched and talked about with their friends at school, alongside the likes of Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho), Sailor Moon, Flame of Recca, and many others. It follows the story of Hanamichi Sakuragi, a high school delinquent who ends up joining the Shohoku High School basketball team. Although he initially joins as a way to impress his crush Haruko Akagi, Sakuragi eventually realizes his love for the sport as well.
While Slam Dunk only lasted for 101 episodes and concluded well before reaching the end of its source material, it’s still regarded as one of the best and most popular anime of the ’90s. It was even recognized as the reason for the increased popularity of basketball among the Japanese youth during its time. Slam Dunk’s appeal is that it’s able to hook those who aren’t necessarily fans of the sport. Just like Sakuragi, many viewers realized their interest and eventual love for basketball as progressed through the show.
Slam Dunk is an anime that anyone and everyone can watch and enjoy, if not for the sport but its characters and story.
Rurouni Kenshin
https://www.viu.com/ott/ph/en-us/vod/422626/Rurouni-Kenshin
Year First Aired: 1996
Rurouni Kenshin, popularly known as Samurai X in most places outside of Japan, was another incredibly popular show back in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Samurai X follows the journey of the atonement of Kenshin Himura, a wandering samurai known as Hitokiri Battousai, during the Boshin War of Japan’s Meiji Era. To repent for all the lives he took during the war, Kenshin dedicated himself to wandering around the country, protecting the weak while vowing never to kill again.
Many people at the time had two significantly different experiences watching Samurai X as it was localized by two companies, Sony Pictures and Media Blasters. Each company had a different approach to how the show’s script was translated, which led to significant differences in its tone and wording. While Sony’s version came first, the one by Media Blasters became the more widely available and seen one. Samurai X was rerun numerous times across several television channels and even spawned a feature film and several OVA (original video animation) productions.
Rurouni Kenshin masterfully blends romance, comedy, and action into a fascinating historical character drama that anyone can enjoy.
Detective Conan
https://www.viu.com/ott/ph/en-us/vod/371180/Detective-Conan
Year First Aired: 1996
Detective Conan is one of the longest-running anime in history. It’s currently in 16th place for the most number of episodes, with 1,038 episodes aired at the time of this writing. It has also spawned several spinoff titles, over 20 feature films, live-action adaptations, and over a dozen video games. Also, the franchise’s success, popularity, and cultural significance have caused Gosho Aoyama’s hometown of Hokuei to create several tourist attractions based on the series, promoting itself to be Conan Town.
Detective Conan, also known as Case Closed in the west, follows the adventures of a high school student and genius detective Shinichi Kudo. After being ambushed by the Black Organization crime syndicate, he is force-fed an experimental drug meant to kill him but instead, a rare side effect occurs and he’s turned back into a child. Shinichi then takes on the pseudonym Conan Edogawa to hide his true identity and continues to solve cases under his new persona while trying to find an antidote for his current condition.
While watching over 1,000 episodes may seem daunting, Detective Conan’s episodic structure makes it easy to enjoy at your own pace.
One Piece
https://www.viu.com/ott/ph/en-us/vod/377214/One-Piece
Year First Aired: 1999
One Piece is another long-running anime, positioned just behind Detective Conan in the number of episodes. It’s also one of the world’s most popular manga and anime. One Piece is currently the best-selling manga in history and is known as one of the “Big Three” of Shonen Jump, a weekly manga magazine, alongside Bleach and Naruto. As of March 2022, One Piece has published over 1000 manga chapters and released over 1000 anime episodes across its over 20-year history.
Its story follows the journey of Monkey D. Luffy on his quest to find the titular mythical treasure, One Piece, and earn the title of the Pirate King. Luffy meets and befriends many people throughout the series, some of whom join him on his adventures as part of his crew, the Strawhat Pirates. Together, they journey across the world’s seas to pursue their dreams while encountering various characters and groups, like other pirate crews, bounty hunters, criminal syndicates, the World Government, and more.
One Piece and its over 1,000 episodes offer an amazingly epic story worth taking the time to experience.
These are just a few classic anime that people should check out on Viu, along with many other more recently-released shows. Viu regularly updates its anime lineup with both new and classic shows so subscribers can keep up with the latest anime and rewatch and catch up on old favorites. Viu also has a library of compelling shows and movies, from Korean and Japanese dramas to Filipino-dubbed shows so subscribers will never run out of content to keep them entertained.
Smart’s Giga K-Video promo lets subscribers watch up to 1GB of Viu content for as low as PHP 14 per day. To avail, download the GigaLife app now.
