HBO Max Losing Iconic Anime Series

HBO Max’s anime catalogue is dwindling yet again. Months after dozens of anime titles departed the streaming service, Inuyasha, the anime based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi, is scheduled to exit HBO Max in August, two years after it first joined the streamer’s lineup.

The series’ upcoming exit was revealed in HBO Max’s “Last Chance” section, a crucial lineup featured on its homepage. It was later confirmed via HBO Max’s full list of incoming and outgoing titles for August 2022, the “Last Chance” section lists Inuyasha with a leaving date of Wednesday, Aug. 3. The iconic anime first joined the HBO Max library in August 2020.

Based on the first 36 volumes of Takahashi’s manga series, Inuyasha follows Kagome Higurashi, an average ninth grader whose life gets turned upside down when she gets pulled into an ancient well by a demon, bringing her 500 years in the past to a feudal era. It is there that she meets Inuyasha, a half-demon who seeks the Shikon Jewel to make himself a full-fledged demon. The series follows the two on a journey, alongside their friends, a young fox demon, Shippo; a lecherous monk, Miroku; a demon slayer, Sango; and a demon cat, Kirara, to obtain the fragments of the shattered Jewel of Four Souls. The series aired in Japan on ytv from October 2000 until September 2004 before the English dub of the series aired on Cartoon Network’s nighttime programming block Adult Swim from August 2002 until October 2006.

Inuyasha marks just the latest anime series to get the boot from HBO Max. Although the streamer once boasted a large anime catalogue, beginning in late May and early July of this year, the streamer lost much of that library when it lost the Crunchyroll collection, which included Jujutsu Kaisen, Berserk, Hunter x Hunter, Dr. Stone, The Promised Neverland, and many others. The massive loss of anime titles came after Crunchyroll was bought by Sony Entertainment and merged with Funimation, Comicbook.com reported. Prior to that news, HBO Max Chief Content Office Kevin Reilly celebrated the introduction of the streamer’s expanding anime library, sharing, “Anime is a celebrated, diverse art form with a rich culture rooted in imaginative worlds and vibrant characters. Crunchyroll has centralized these fantastic adventures for everyone to enjoy. This WarnerMedia family collaboration is bringing together an incredible collection of content with a passionate fandom and HBO Max is very happy to expand the reach of this inventive artistry.”

Inuyasha is set to be available for streaming on HBO Max until Aug. 3, after which time it will no longer be part of HBO Max’s content catalogue. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest streaming news.