Why I'm Already Considering Cutting Amazon Prime In Japan And Switching to The Japanese Hulu

In this article, I'll weigh the pros and cons of both Amazon Prime and Hulu. But I'll tell you why I'm thinking about keeping Hulu.

Amazon Prime

Okay, yes, I JUST made an article on why I was in love with Amazon. I also made an argument on why you should get Amazon Prime in Japan. Well... I've already changed my stance a bit.

Cons

The reason why I have already changed my mind is because of the selection. Yes, Amazon does have Supernatural, The Big Bang Theory, and Nickelodeon's Rocket Power. I absolutely love all of these shows, and I was super surprised to see Rocket Power. The problem is that these shows are all dubbed. They are all dubbed in JAPANESE, and no you can't change it back to English. I didn't even know that there were some shows with dubbed versions, so this opened my eyes a bit.
I was getting ready to watch the sixth season of Supernatural with my husband, they have only five seasons on Netflix, go figure. So, I was preparing to watch Supernatural, all geeked. I turn it on. AND... It's in Japanese, sigh. The same thing happened with Rocket Power and The Big Bang Theory.

Pros

I do love Curb Your Enthusiasm, and they have Sex and The City, but is that enough to keep Amazon Prime? If you love HBO tv shows, then maybe Amazon is great in that regard.
With Amazon, you are not only getting the video portion, but if you order a lot, you can choose your delivery date... Most of the time. Amazon Prime in Japan is also fairly cheap. It's about 500 yen, or a little less than 5 dollars. It's not a bad price, but I want to watch TV shows lol.

The Japanese Hulu

Now let's get to Hulu, I recently signed up for the free trial. I signed up because I got tired of Amazon Prime after only a few weeks. I'll tell you the pros and cons that I have seen of Hulu so far.

Cons

Okay, let me first complain about the amount of time that you have for the free trial, two weeks. TWO WEEKS. Why is it that in the United States, you get a full month as a free trial? Streaming services really are unfair in Japan.

The next con that I noticed was the price. After the mere two weeks that they give you for a free trial, the price is steep, at a little over 1,000 yen. Which is about 10 US dollars. If you're from the US, you know dang well that Hulu is NOT that expensive. But it's Japan, so everything cost more. I've also noticed that they have NO anime that is subbed or dubbed. All of the anime is in Japanese and has Japanese subtitles. Which as I stated before, really irked me about Netflix.

Side note: When I first moved to Japan, Netflix had more anime in English. It had since changed.

Pros

NO COMMERCIALS. I think the reason for the price is because there are no ads while watching the videos. I get it, why would I want to pay and STILL watch ads. Which is my complaint about the American Hulu, but I also don't want to pay so much money. They have enough money; I wish they would stop being so greedy. But anyway, that is a pro. There are no pesky commercials on the Japanese Hulu.

Another pro is the selection. They don't have so many American shows, but they have enough to keep me satisfied. They have The Big Bang Theory, from season 1, unlike Netflix. On Netflix they have The Big Bang Theory, but only from season 5... When the show stopped being as funny. So, they have that, and The New Girl, I LOVE The New Girl. They also have seasons 1-11 of Supernatural. They have Bones, Castle, you can ACTUALLY watch The X-Files. They have Doctor Who, Catfish, and There's Something About Mary, which is one of my all-time favorite films.

Conclusion

Now, I'm not sure which one to keep. There are some shows that I want to watch that are on Amazon. For instance, I want to start watching Sharp Objects, and I love Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, is that enough of a reason to keep Amazon.

On the other hand, there are a plethora of shows I want to watch on Hulu, even if I have seen a lot of the episodes. But the price of Hulu makes me think twice. I just wish Netflix was great again, then all my worries would be abolished. Maybe I'll power through Sharp Objects, then be done with Amazon. I'll have to see.

Good luck on choosing the best streaming service for you. I hope you can make your decision more easily than me!