How to Watch Stan Lee’s Anime Series

Stan Lee’s left an impression on many fans and creators around the world, and he even experimented with anime and manga projects over the course of his long career. But don’t worry if you missed them when they originally aired, you can legally stream them online!

There are two main anime series Lee had a hand in creating, Heroman and The Reflection, and they both can be found on legal streaming services right now. Here’s how you can watch them:

Heroman

• Crunchyroll -You can watch it in Japanese with English subtitles for free with ads or with paid ad-free subscription.

The Reflection

• Crunchyroll – You can watch in Japanese with English subtitles for free with ads, or paid ad-free subscription.
• Funimation – You can watch the English dub for free with ads, or paid ad-free subscription.
• Hulu – You can watch in Japanese with English subtitles with paid subscription.

With an original plot created by Stan Lee, characters by Tamon Ohta, and produced by Studio Bones, Heroman first debuted in 2001. This series followed Joey, a down and out kid living with his grandmother making meager wages in a restaurant. When a special new toy robot comes out, Joey thinks it will change his life but he can’t afford one himself.

He comes across a broken one and tries to fix it, but when it’s hit by lightning it instead becomes a giant robot which helps Joey save one of his friends from danger. Now Joey, and this toy come to life named “Heroman,” have to work together to defeat an incoming alien menace.

As for The Reflection, the series debuted in 2017 and is set in a world where a mysterious event known as “The Reflection” gives people superpowers and thus leads to a world of heroes and villains. Co-created by Stan Lee and director Hiroshi Nagahama (Mushishi) for Studio Deen, Lee himself appears as the mysterious villain “Mr. Mystic.”

Just as he had done with the Marvel properties he had a hand in, Stan Lee also had cameos in the anime and manga he had helped created. While his role is much smaller in Heroman, his cameo as a restaurant regular asking for coffee is much more in line with many of his brief, but hilarious outings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lee was even immortalized as the fierce villain in a manga he collaborated with the creator of Shaman King as well.