The Oz Anime Series ONLINE!!!

While the film industry at first feared the rise of video hosting sites, they've eventually warmed up to the idea and seen that they can be useful. Hulu, for example, streams licensed content, so you can catch up on your favorite television shows if you've missed them recently. YouTube now streams licensed movies and television shows. And across the pond in the UK, viewers can see their favorites on the BBC iPlayer.

Jaroo, a website that streams animated content, has apparently licensed the PanMedia anime series based on L. Frank Baum's Oz series. I blogged about the series sometime back when I'd been able to see the entire English series. After that, some people asked me to upload it to a file sharing site or send them copies, but now I'm glad I didn't give in, because now they can see the series legally and free of charge.

The series is uploaded at one episode a week, so it should take a year before the entire series is on the site. The site currently has the first several episodes of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" serial, as well as the *cough*terrible*cough* 90-minute abridgement of it.

Oz fans are already asking, "Can an official DVD release be far behind?" The answer still hangs at "maybe." If the series on Jaroo gets enough views, they may consider it. The reason why Cookie Jar (the owners of the English series) didn't release it before is that they didn't feel there was enough of a demand for it. But at least now they have finally released a way for you to see it. Go look!