Will this be free to watch or will it require a subscription?
On the GagaOOLala site only episode 1 is tagged as "Free". So it looks that like with other series on the service the full first episode will be free and the rest will be for subscribers.
Do you know when the first episode will air and where I can watch it?
LAPONE have now mentioned (though only on YouTube and their social accounts, not on the programme's website, so I nearly missed it) that the numbered episodes will stream on YouTube (presumably with English subs again, though they haven't explicitly mentioned that) each Friday at 9:00 pm/21:00 JST (so, exactly 24 hours after premiering on GYAO! for Japan), starting with episode 1 on 9 April.
If the second special episode (announcing the rankings of the trainees who didn't make the top 60) was ever on YouTube, I never read about it. But as I've been mostly checking the website and not the Twitter account, it wouldn't surprise me if it was, but the news of that passed by me.
If you can't watch the episodes as they premiere, I've noticed that it's sometimes possible to get around that. When the placeholder video is up, if you turn on a reminder for the premiere, for some hours after the premiere (maybe up to 24 hours, though I'm not sure if it's consistently that or if it varies between videos) you'll still be able to access the video from your alerts. However, this is only possible if the placeholder is put up far enough in advance that you have a chance to set a reminder for it.
You could also subscribe to the channel and turn on alerts for every upload to it, though that might then get you far too many alerts for all the short clips uploaded and make it difficult to find what you want among them.
Even though premiere-only YouTube streams aren't the easiest way of watching the episodes (I wish LAPONE would think to put the episodes on Viki, Netflix or WeTV and make them available for at least a few days), I don't wish for them to be on Dramacool. That site doesn't pay for its content or for the translation and timing of its subtitles (or even credit the source of the subtitles and ask permission to use them), and it doesn't let LAPONE in Japan know that you're watching the programme and that it has viewers worldwide, so that it's worth them continuing to get the episodes subbed for just 24 hours after the Japanese premiere.
At least several months away, I’d expect, as it doesn’t even have a release date set in Japan yet.
Also, there’s that though Sono’s US-produced ‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’ premiered a few months after ‘Red Post’, I can imagine that in many countries the Japanese-produced ‘Red Post’ will be released later, so that distributors can advertise it as “from the director of ‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’”.
That kind of thing is happening now with Cathy Yan’s Chinese-produced ‘Dead Pigs’ getting released in some countries the year after her US-produced ‘Birds of Prey’, though it premiered years before it.
It now looks like it will be on virtual cinema release in the USA and Canada sometime in 2021: https://www.filmmovement.com/the-real-thingI…
It’s a virtual cinema release so won’t be in actual cinemas (as far as is planned) for now, and it’s by an art-house distributor, so wouldn’t have been in a mainstream chain like Cineplex, anyway.
Virtual cinema releases let one rent a new release that’s not hit regular video-on-demand services yet and support a local cinema by doing so, like a purchase of ticket to an in-person screening would do.
At least the most famous art-house cinema in Toronto (the one I can name from it hosting TIFF, though I’m on the other side of the planet) is TIFF Bell Lightbox, so I expect it when it’s released will be on TIFF’s own streaming service at https://tiff.net/calendar?series=digital&list (which has several really great East Asian movies on it currently; ‘Happy Together’ what I name as my No. 1 dramatic, live-action feature for the sake of having an answer, and I really recommend ‘Memories of Murder’) rather than on Film Movements’, but you’d want to check both to be certain.
If you're in the USA or Canada, the movie version will be available with English subtitles on virtual cinema release sometime this year at https://www.filmmovement.com/the-real-thing
I don't know about any other regions outside Japan and French-speaking Europe, but look out for it if any distributors where you are are doing virtual cinema releases – or, even, real ones.
It's been playing around the Americas and Europe in several festivals, generally in editions of them which were available online throughout their home country (and sometimes neighbouring ones) to the public and worldwide for potential distributors and selected critics. It's currently available in the USA and will be in Germany later this month.
Do you know when the first episode will air and where I can watch it?
No, but I'd suggest checking https://produce101.jp/news/list periodically to find that out when it's announced. It won't be for quite a while, I'd expect, as they won't be able to start shooting it till after this first voting period and elimination.
The countdown special will be officially shown with English subtitles on YouTube (available everywhere outside Japan) today (1 February) at 23:00 (11:00 pm) Japan time. But it will only be streamed at that time; it will not available archived.
The theatrical edit has English subs, according to JFDB: https://jfdb.jp/en/title/9208This is backed up by it…
The movie version (which is only missing at most half and hour from the full TV series) has been English subbed, as I gave evidence for above. It just hasn't been licensed in an English-speaking country yet (or, if it has been, the distributor isn't allowed to announce it yet).
I'm quite sure it will be licensed and released in at least Northern America pretty soon. I know Kore-eda's 'Going My Home' is still not licensed long-term in the English-speaking West, but 'The Real Thing' has the advantage of being considered theatrical and being in the Cannes selection.
The theatrical edit has English subs, according to JFDB: https://jfdb.jp/en/title/9208This is backed up by it…
I don't think it's been released outside of East Asia yet, if it even has been released anywhere outside Japan, barring festival screenings. It's not out in France until July 2021, and that's the only international release that I know has dates for it.
Knowing how art house distribution tends to work, I expect it will start getting releases in many other countries after or around then. Conceivably, because the French release is split into two features, other countries are maybe waiting to be able use the French cut.
This might seem an incredibly long wait by today's standards if you've been waiting for it since the TV broadcast in autumn 2019, but measuring it from when the movie version was premiered in autumn 2020, that's pretty standard, and it's not going to be any quicker with the current situation, which has left distributors waiting out for when they can release it in cinemas, or when enough time has passed that the Japanese rights-holder allows it to be released direct to video.
This and 'Wife of a Spy' (another originally TV drama that's been a success on the international festival circuit in its reworked version for cinemas this same year) will definitely be getting released widely across the world, but it will take time. Unless, that is, either is licensed by Netflix or Prime Video (whether in the full TV series or movie form), in which case they'll drop the news completely unexpectedly just a week before it's added to the service. Going straight to MUBI in many countries also seems a strong possibility; I think in the past they've had Kore-eda's series 'Going My Home' for a limited time.
Your best chance of seeing it English-subbed in either form is to wait for the movie version to show in a festival or be released where you are, I'd say. Which seems quite likely given it has both Koji Fukada's name and the Cannes official selection emblem on it.
The movie version, at least, was played in Tokyo International Film Festival with English subs in October 2020. As it's in the Cannes Film Festival official selection for 2020, it's sure to be released in many countries worldwide, in cinemas or at least on demand.
This is backed up by it being in the Cannes Film Festival official selection, which I'm pretty sure requires having subs in both English and French for it to be eligible, as well as having a cinema release in France confirmed (though this year there wasn't a Cannes Film Festival for it to be shown in there, only a selection of what would have played in one).
Now that it has been subbed, it's possible that other festivals in other countries will play it soon.
If the second special episode (announcing the rankings of the trainees who didn't make the top 60) was ever on YouTube, I never read about it. But as I've been mostly checking the website and not the Twitter account, it wouldn't surprise me if it was, but the news of that passed by me.
The YouTube channel that you'll find the streams on is https://youtube.com/c/PRODUCE101JAPAN
If you can't watch the episodes as they premiere, I've noticed that it's sometimes possible to get around that. When the placeholder video is up, if you turn on a reminder for the premiere, for some hours after the premiere (maybe up to 24 hours, though I'm not sure if it's consistently that or if it varies between videos) you'll still be able to access the video from your alerts. However, this is only possible if the placeholder is put up far enough in advance that you have a chance to set a reminder for it.
You could also subscribe to the channel and turn on alerts for every upload to it, though that might then get you far too many alerts for all the short clips uploaded and make it difficult to find what you want among them.
Even though premiere-only YouTube streams aren't the easiest way of watching the episodes (I wish LAPONE would think to put the episodes on Viki, Netflix or WeTV and make them available for at least a few days), I don't wish for them to be on Dramacool. That site doesn't pay for its content or for the translation and timing of its subtitles (or even credit the source of the subtitles and ask permission to use them), and it doesn't let LAPONE in Japan know that you're watching the programme and that it has viewers worldwide, so that it's worth them continuing to get the episodes subbed for just 24 hours after the Japanese premiere.
Also, there’s that though Sono’s US-produced ‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’ premiered a few months after ‘Red Post’, I can imagine that in many countries the Japanese-produced ‘Red Post’ will be released later, so that distributors can advertise it as “from the director of ‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’”.
That kind of thing is happening now with Cathy Yan’s Chinese-produced ‘Dead Pigs’ getting released in some countries the year after her US-produced ‘Birds of Prey’, though it premiered years before it.
I expect to see ‘Red Post’ playing a lot more festivals around the world during this time, though. Next up (that’s listed on IMDb at least) is Germany from 26 February: https://watch.eventive.org/wdk21/play/60114b302ba95d006a6b7fe3/60114adb16facc02d5c7fbd6
Virtual cinema releases let one rent a new release that’s not hit regular video-on-demand services yet and support a local cinema by doing so, like a purchase of ticket to an in-person screening would do.
At least the most famous art-house cinema in Toronto (the one I can name from it hosting TIFF, though I’m on the other side of the planet) is TIFF Bell Lightbox, so I expect it when it’s released will be on TIFF’s own streaming service at https://tiff.net/calendar?series=digital&list (which has several really great East Asian movies on it currently; ‘Happy Together’ what I name as my No. 1 dramatic, live-action feature for the sake of having an answer, and I really recommend ‘Memories of Murder’) rather than on Film Movements’, but you’d want to check both to be certain.
In French-speaking Europe it’s out in actual cinemas (to the great relief of bladders thoughout French-speaking Europe, in two parts) from 14 July 2021: https://arthouse-films.fr/films/suis-moi-je-te-fuis-fuis-moi-je-te-suis/
In the US and Canada, the feature version will be on virtual cinema release sometime later at https://www.filmmovement.com/the-real-thing
I don't know about any other regions outside Japan and French-speaking Europe, but look out for it if any distributors where you are are doing virtual cinema releases – or, even, real ones.
Germany will be getting it in Berlin Critics' Week, which runs from 27 February to 7 March 2021:
http://wochederkritik.de/en_US/aljafari-jahson-sunder-pacha-bahri-ghammam-elsalem-sono-godin-pereda-san/
Some festivals are listed on IMDb, but there might be more which aren't, especially if they're in Asia rather than the West:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13245934/releaseinfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3bFarZ1vRI
I'm quite sure it will be licensed and released in at least Northern America pretty soon. I know Kore-eda's 'Going My Home' is still not licensed long-term in the English-speaking West, but 'The Real Thing' has the advantage of being considered theatrical and being in the Cannes selection.
In the meantime, three of Fukada Koji's previous movies are available with English subs in the USA and Canada (in the UK and Ireland there's only 'Harmonium' currently, but 'A Girl Missing' will be in the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme in February–March this year for free):
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/81633-kantai/watch
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/392795-fuchi-ni-tatsu/watch
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/584253-a-girl-missing/watch
Knowing how art house distribution tends to work, I expect it will start getting releases in many other countries after or around then. Conceivably, because the French release is split into two features, other countries are maybe waiting to be able use the French cut.
This might seem an incredibly long wait by today's standards if you've been waiting for it since the TV broadcast in autumn 2019, but measuring it from when the movie version was premiered in autumn 2020, that's pretty standard, and it's not going to be any quicker with the current situation, which has left distributors waiting out for when they can release it in cinemas, or when enough time has passed that the Japanese rights-holder allows it to be released direct to video.
This and 'Wife of a Spy' (another originally TV drama that's been a success on the international festival circuit in its reworked version for cinemas this same year) will definitely be getting released widely across the world, but it will take time. Unless, that is, either is licensed by Netflix or Prime Video (whether in the full TV series or movie form), in which case they'll drop the news completely unexpectedly just a week before it's added to the service. Going straight to MUBI in many countries also seems a strong possibility; I think in the past they've had Kore-eda's series 'Going My Home' for a limited time.
Your best chance of seeing it English-subbed in either form is to wait for the movie version to show in a festival or be released where you are, I'd say. Which seems quite likely given it has both Koji Fukada's name and the Cannes official selection emblem on it.
This is backed up by it being in the Cannes Film Festival official selection, which I'm pretty sure requires having subs in both English and French for it to be eligible, as well as having a cinema release in France confirmed (though this year there wasn't a Cannes Film Festival for it to be shown in there, only a selection of what would have played in one).
It was also played in Tokyo International Film Festival with the English subs, according to https://2020.tiff-jp.net/en/lineup/film/3305NOW01