Celebrate AAPI Month with AsianCrush and RetroCrush on Sling Freestream
In honor of AAPI month in May, here are select titles to watch on AsianCrush and RetroCrush with Sling Freestream!
Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month takes place in May, so now is the perfect time to discover new content starring and created by AAPI artists. With over 335 channels, Sling Freestream has a ton of movies, TV shows, and special events celebrating Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in May. That includes two channels that spotlight AAPI creativity all year long: AsianCrush and RetroCrush.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/HOylp_HVLhE
With a library that “features premium content from Korea, Japan, China, Thailand and more,” AsianCrush has everything from “award-winning films and blockbuster hits to iconic TV dramas and anime. Here are a handful of titles you can watch on-demand this May on AsianCrush. To start watching Sling Freestream right now, click the link at the bottom of this page.
Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds and Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kIOZTYgHQ_s
Between the global success of K-Pop artists like BTS and the critical acclaim for movies like Parasite and shows like Squid Game, South Korea is having a major moment in popular culture. If you’re a fan of fantasy, you’ll love this double feature of Along with the Gods, which is based on the webtoon series by Joo Ho-min. The first film – Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds – became the third-highest grossing film in South Korean history upon its release in late 2017. Its sequel, Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days, was released the following year to massive acclaim.
The Beauty Inside
This 2015 South Korean romcom is actually based on an interactive American web series that starred Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Topher Grace. The high-concept premise is that on his 18th birthday, Woo-jin (Yoo Yeon-seok) wakes up in someone else’s body, and soon discovers that each day, he occupies a different person – young or old, man or woman. The Korean version was so successful, it spawned a TV series and was optioned as an American remake that was supposed to star Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke.
The Assassin
https://www.youtube.com/embed/agX7ffZTGRo
Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien took home the Best Director award at Cannes in 2015 for this slow burning thriller. Set in the final years of China’s Tang dynasty, The Assassin tells the story of Nie Yinniang (played by Shu Qi) – a tale that would be familiar as folklore to audiences in China. According to a poll of international critics, The Assassin was ranked as the best film of 2015 by Sight & Sound magazine.
While AsianCrush spotlights Asian art that has been overlooked in the West, RetroCrush offers a more familiar collection of anime favorites. Titles to look out for this month include:
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kTTMMamcu5c
Not to be confused with the terrible live-action movie or the animated series (or the massively popular button-masher), 1994’s Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie fleshes out the backstory of all your favorite SF2 characters (did you know Ryu was responsible for Sagat’s massive chest scar!?). The English dub of the film also includes a different soundtrack that includes extremely ‘90s artists like Korn, Alice in Chains, and Silverchair.
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer
Based on one of the most popular manga series of all-time, 1984’s Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer is now seen as among the most influential anime films in Japan’s history. The second film from iconic director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), Urusei Yatsura 2 was one of the first films to utilize a “time loop” plot device, in which its characters experience the same day over and over again.
Digimon Adventure tri
https://www.youtube.com/embed/DIocByfDG4s
This six-part film series is the direct sequel to the first two Digimon Adventure shows, and it catches up with the original eight “Digi-Destined” characters in their high school years. If you’re asking yourself, “Are Digimon the same as Pokemon?,” the answer is basically yes, and over the years, the two franchises have borrowed liberally from each other.
To watch all of these movies and a ton of other AAPI content, use the link below to launch Sling Freestream in your web browser, or to download or launch the Sling TV app on mobile!
https://main--sling--aemsites.aem.page/aemedge/fragments/watch-sling-freestream