Interest

Public Dragon Ball Super Screenings Draw Thousands in Latin America

Saturday marked a major event for Dragon Ball Super fans worldwide as Ultra Instinct Goku squared off against Jiren. The decisive battle is taking center stage in the last few episodes before the show takes a break as a new GeGeGe no Kitarōanime will take its timeslot starting on April 1.

Funimation organized a watch along party on its official YouTube channel, meanwhile excited viewers mashed their refresh button as Crunchyroll went down for the count, seemingly from increased traffic. In Machala, Ecuador, the battle was treated like a major sports event as over 10,000 fans gathered for an outdoor, public livestream hosted by the government.

Similar screenings were held in the Ecudorian cities of Santiago and Veracruz, San Miguel in El Salvador, and Juárez, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí in Mexico, and more cities in Latin America.

While the screenings were open to the public and organized by local governments, they may not have been authorized through Toei Animation. The company issued a statement prior to the Saturday premiere.

Official Announcement.

To the viewers of Dragon Ball.

We have become aware of plans to exhibit episode #130 of our series Dragon Ball Super in stadiums, plazas, and public spaces across Latin America.

Toei Animation has not authorized these public showings and does not support or sponsor any of these events nor do we or any of our titles endorse any institution exhibiting the unauthorized episode.

In an effort to support copyright laws, to protect the work of thousands of persons and many labor sectors, we request that you please enjoy our titles at the official platforms and broadcasters and not support illegal screenings that incite piracy.

Sincerely,

Toei Animation Inc.

Local governments, like San Luis Potosí, Mexico, began advertising the screenings earlier this month.

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua mayor Armando Cabada stated that the screenings would go ahead because they were non-profit, but other screenings were cancelled after organizers could not get permission from Toei Animation.

UPDATE: Crunchyroll's Portuguese-language account wrote on Monday that the streaming service and Toei want to work with organizations looking to public screen the companies' content and to contact Crunchyroll via Direct Message (DM) on Twitter.

[Via TorrentFreak (Andy) ]