So this idea came about from watching Shin Godzilla as part of WK’s movie club and mentioning wanting to do some add-hoc watch parties in the BL Book Club Thread.
Logistically it’s a bit tricky - there are Viki watch parties which have the prerequisites of a) having an account, b) being in an area where the show is already licensed* and c) if the person running the party has a higher subscription level they may want to stream an episode that others in the party can’t view, which isn’t allowed.
I also have media (and I’m sure others do) that I could share from my computer via something like Discord, but I’m leery of posting such a link publicly as there are Bad Actors on the internet. It’s also not my server, so I must be even more respectful of invites.
So basically, my rough draft idea is this:
When possible and if interest, can do Viki watch parties
Otherwise have the watch parties on Discord
– To get an invite to the Discord I intend to use I’ll ask you have a posting history on the forum already and you have shown yourself a good community member (friendly, helpful, etc).
This is all very brain-stormy so if anyone has thoughts on improvements and tweaks, please let me know.
edit Perhaps this thread could be used to just advertise intended watch times + what will be shared + where it will take place?
*As a completely unrelated side note, free VPNs exist which can route your internet traffic through other countries.
Third option is to announce the movie and let people acquire it themselves. You’d still need discord or something similar, so people can chat about it and maybe have a timer running, so everyone is on the same part of the movie, but you’d not have to dip your toes into a somewhat illegal area by streaming a licensed movie.
If it’s on Netflix or other streaming platforms, you can just have a time to start watching and have people do it on their own. I guess there will be a few seconds of desynchronization, but it’s better than nothing.
I’m personally not keen on ‘everyone press play at the same time’ as I tried that during 2020 and it never quite worked out right So I probably won’t host those but am open to others doing it if they like.
something something VPNs route traffic through other locations…
I’ll shoot you an invite! Thankfully Natively allows DMs which makes sharing private links easier
Also, 2023-10-08T18:00:00Z (I believe this should should the correct timezone for each person) I’ll do a watch party of おっさんずラブ ―in the sky― S1 | L30??, episode 1. There are no subs.
I’m thinking I’ll try to do weekend mornings (your 3am :P) and weekday evenings (your mornings) from time to time. Unfortunately for me most of the Japanese daytime is in my evening/overnight and I’m an early riser, not a night owl
might you know good free ones or is the inevitable choice to buy, I tried to experiment with some but watching something with them is always too much for the free plan
I know people on WK used one for a previous online film festival but searching now I can’t find it @nikoru do you happen to remember what it was? I’m almost positive you also watched that festival/were in that thread
FWIW, if anyone is interested in a paid option I use Mullvad which costs 5€ a month (usually works out to be around $5 with exchange rates). It doesn’t work on Netflix sadly, but then neither did Express.
So far I was in the lucky cohort that could watch the festival movies directly without using a VPN, and I don’t remember any discussions either If I need a VPN I use Tunnelbear, but its free plan of 500 MB/month is not enough for a movie, sadly.
on the internet. It’s also not my server, so I must be even more respectful of invites.
So I probably won’t host those but am open to others doing it if they like.
Count me in. 
If I need a VPN I use Tunnelbear, but its free plan of 500 MB/month is not enough for a movie, sadly.
