

I am talking about watching those shows in websites that provide them for
free. I could of course afford to subscribe to paid websites such as
Crunchyroll and the likes, but often I couldn't find the series I wanted to
watch there. The free ones usually host a load of anime and drama titles.

Is watching free anime and Japanese drama **in Japan** considered safe?


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japan streaming-sites
Is watching free anime in Japan safe?


Unless the site you wish to watch on is sponsored and endorsed by the
producers themselves, you can assume they are _not_ safe. Though if you wish
to do a little background check on the website, for example searching "is
`GenericAnimeStreamingSite.com` legal" will do the job (in most cases).

No company wants their content, which could earn them money (like anime is
intended to do) to be pirated. If you're watching on a third-party site which
doesn't give money to the producers (or however they transfer funds to gain
rights to anime), that is exactly what you're doing.

If you wish to be safe, the best thing to do is to subscribe to an official
site, like Crunchyroll, as you said. Of course (as
[Memor-X](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/1587/memor-x) reminded me),
Crunchyroll as well as some others do offer free options, though those aren't
optimal due to the ads. If you wish for the most **hassle free** and **legal**
viewing experience, your best bet is simply to **subscribe** to a site like
Crunchyroll. If affording it is no problem, then that's one of your options.

The other of course, would be to buy the Blu-Ray version, though that's more
expensive.


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In Japan or not, sites other than official sites that provides streaming for
copyrighted/law protected contents are illegal and against the law. Thus, the
answer to your question is no, it is not safe, it is against the law, it is a
crime.

From IT (information tech) point of view, many such sites are actually crap
sites that is full of ads, click baits, and links that will only redirect you
around without showing the content if any. Such sites might also send adwares,
malwares and the like to your computer. It might also be used to stole your
identity. Thus it is also not safe from IT point of view.

If you are in Japan, however, you can watch the anime when it was broadcasted.
This is perfectly legal. In fact, you can also record it if you want to watch
later. AFAIK from anime that I watched, this is also legal. Some anime shows
that recording a broadcasted show is okay. For example, in _Futsuu no
Joshikousei ga [Locodol] Yattemita._ , Yukari recorded a show that is being
broadcasted. In _Doraemon_ , Doraemon and Nobita would often record a show
since it is being broadcasted at the same time as a baseball match that the
father likes to watch.

Of course since it is limited to broad-casted anime only, you won't be able to
watch older animes.


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TL;DR: Yes. It is safe but with a catch.

Streaming services that have a license to broadcast content within Japan such
as Niconico are ideal.

Streaming services meant to distribute anime abroad such as Crunchyroll and
Hulu are also legal to view in Japan. That said, both sites have region
filters because they are not licensed to show many series within Japan. When I
visited Japan in April, 2016 the Crunchyroll's massive catalog was reduced to
less than 20 items that were licensed for viewing.

Other unlicensed methods are both illegal and dangerous. The Japanese
authorities take piracy very seriously. Illegal viewing could land you in
prison for two years, even as a tourist. This includes content posted on sites
without a license to broadcast that content in Japan, YouTube, downloads/file
sharing, screen sharing (RabbitMQ), and using a VPN to get around region
locking on sites with a license to broadcast elsewhere.

Related: [How does online anime streaming work within
Japan?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/28998/how-does-online-anime-
streaming-work-within-japan)


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