Netflix had previously announced several classic anime series would be arriving on the streaming service throughout 2022 and 2023. Now two of its most anticipated shows, Hajime no Ippo and Monster, are here – but fans are complaining over ‘missing’ episodes.
Both legendary boxing anime Hajime no Ippo and psychological drama Monster arrived on Netflix on January 1.
The former, based on the manga from George Morikawa, originally ran from 2000-2002 for 76 episodes but, as of writing, only the first 38 episodes are available. Even more confusingly, it’s listed as a ‘2013’ release, which was the release year of its sequel series Rising.
Similar issues plague Monster, the anime adaptation of the seminal manga story involving a surgeon who ends up saving a man who would go on to be a serial killer. The taut, tense thriller is incomplete on Netflix – only 30 of its 74 episodes are available to stream.
One fan complained, "Are they really going to drip feed a show that’s almost two decades old at this point?"
Another added, "Are they seriously doing a batch release for a show that's been over for a long ass time? I hate this damn company please stop giving them anime rights."
Netflix, it seems, is set to release some of its anime series in batches. This will be nothing new to fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Fans had to patiently wait for all 36 episodes of Stone Ocean to arrive across 12 months in 2021 and 2022.
