Hulu Is About to Lose One of Its Biggest Anime Yet

It looks like Hulu is about to lose one of its biggest anime licenses yet according to new expiration dates popping up on the service. Hulu has been going through a number of changes in the last few years as Disney has been expanding on the new anime originals and licenses that they have picked up. This has meant that a number of cool projects are making their debuts outside of Japan, but also means that it might be more difficult to maintain some of the licenses for franchises that are already available to watch on the Disney+ and Hulu services.

This is the case for the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise as now it’s been listed as expiring in 13 more days from the time of this publication. According to the listings for each of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime releases currently available on the Hulu streaming platform in the United States, these anime are about to removed from the service before March. If this happens, Hulu is about to lose six major Yu-Gi-Oh! series that fans have been able to go back and revisit thus far.

Hulu Set to Lose Yu-Gi-Oh Anime Series

The current Yu-Gi-Oh! anime releases set to expire on Hulu in 13 days from the time of this publication (according to streaming listings) are as such:

• Yu-Gi-Oh!
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL
• Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

While these selections might not be each new season of Yu-Gi-Oh! currently out today, but these are the first six seasons in the long running franchise. These are the most fondly looked back on releases in the trading card game anime overall, so their potential removal from the service is going to be a rather big deal. Especially so since these are the only Yu-Gi-Oh offerings currently available for streaming with Hulu as well with both their Japanese and English audio releases.

There could be a chance that these Yu-Gi-Oh! anime licenses are renewed before the end of the month hits, but as of right now it’s best to go back and check out your favorites episodes before they’re no longer available to watch with the service. This same kind of mass license removal happened with Toei Animation’s Dragon Ball and Digimon shows just a couple of weeks ago, so unfortunately there is a precedent for losing major blockbuster hits like these. It’s best to plan accordingly.

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Why Yu-Gi-Oh Is Special

It’s a shame that Hulu is potentially on the verge of losing so much Yu-Gi-Oh! as it’s one of the most influential anime and manga releases of all time. Not only did Kazuki Takahashi’s original manga start out in a completely different way when it first hit the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, but its eventual focus on a new trading card game helped to launch it to worldwide acclaim on an entirely different kind of level. One where the entire shift to focus on just the game itself helped spawn numerous sequels, reboots and more.

It’s gotten so big than even its first sequel, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, is in the midst of celebrating its own 20th anniversary milestone. The anime is making a comeback with a special remaster of its episodes, but has yet to reveal a concrete release date for this re-release as of the time of this publication. It’s scheduled to debut in Japan some time later this year, but has also yet to reveal any potential release in outside territories. It just goes to show how even the sequels have gone on to inspire all kinds of fans over the decades.