The terms of the arrangement are that paid monthly Crunchyroll members ($3/month is the going rate) will get access to subtitled streaming episodes of Shippuden an hour after it airs in Japan while non-paying members as well as Joost and Hulu users seeing the same episodes a week later. It is not clear whether those paid CR members will be allowed to download versions of those episodes, high-quality or otherwise. The first episode to be distributed will be the one airing January 8th and should be episode 90. (See the Viz post for projected Japanese airdates.) Since Shippuden currently airs at 19:30-19:57 JST Thursday and will likely keep that timeslot, the quicksub version should appear one hour later at 3am PST/6am EST/1100 UTC that same day.

What may be the more important aspect of this story to Crunchyroll’s future is the “decisive transition” (press release) from user-submitted to professional-provided content. By the same day this new partnership launches, all user-submitted videos will have been removed from the site and many users will likely have leave for other haunts, not caring enough to stick around a place where a significant amount of fansubs of anime and Asian dramas once resided but no longer after Jan. 8th.

Co-founder Vu Nguyen remarked in his keynote address at Anime Expo this year that the amount of illegal downloads of Tower of Druaga and Blassreiter dropped by a significant amount as they legally premiered online in conjunction with GDH and that they will strive to find a balance between the desires of their audience and advertisers’ requirements while aiming to become an interactive experience built around content, not merely a venue for anime or other videos. An community thrives based on the quality and strength of its users and while the company may feel better about itself for assuming a no tolerance stance on user uploads (by disabling them entirely), their good intentions will, and may have already, leave many of their frequent, yet infringing users with a misplaced feeling of betrayal and abandonment and only time will tell if Crunchyroll will recoup its lost user numbers. High profile series like Naruto Shippuden and Gintama will certainly help them in offsetting an expected dropoff.

First let’s look at the “within a week of broadcast” component: Viz said in its release that “beginning January 15th the latest episode…will be available for free viewing…within days of its original airdate in Japan” with subsequent quicksubs appearing on a Thursday schedule. As of this posting, 84 episodes of Shippuden have aired so far in Japan, the latest premiere occurring on Nov. 13th. Taking into account that the regular schedule may take a break for Christmas and New Years’ Day, as those holidays fall on Thursdays this year, episode 90 would likely be the ‘latest episode’ once the 15th rolls around unless the translations for #91 are already ready in time of compete against raw viewership (and Crunchyroll’s base of paid subscribers).

(Projected Japanese Shippuden airdates:
11/13 - #84; 11/20 - #85; 11/27 - #86; 12/4 - #87; 12/11 - #88; 12/18 - #89; 1/8 - #90; 1/15 - #91)

The other half of this budding online initiative is a batch availability of eight subtitled episodes each Friday beginning on Jan. 2nd “until the series eventually catches up to the current third [sic] season”. (Shippuden is currently in its fourth twenty-six episode season but who’s counting?) That eight episodes a week rate means that the batch containing #89 through #96 would debut online on March 20th. The use of the word ‘until’ implies that the batch uploads would halt after the catch has been completed so I hope Viz keeps their more advanced episodes online all along, meaning that the first 109 episodes will be online by then (#99 would’ve been posted the day before on Mar. 19th).

I figured I would track when the regular series might finish its initial run on American TV. This past Saturday, November 15th, saw the airing of episode 203 out of 220 on Cartoon Network so if the pace of one episode per week continues, episode 220 would air on March 14th, 2009. The accelerated “11 volumes in three months” manga release schedule laid out by Viz confirms what was suspected a few weeks ago based on Simon & Schuster and Amazon listings.

There is no question that this is a smart move by Viz in order to divert views and traffic away from Dattebayo and scanlation sites in order, as ICv2 described, “to garner the promotional and advertising benefit of distributing new episodes on its own site, rather than ceding it to pirate third party sites” as well as to stave off any ill effects from scan-hosting sites by tightening the gap between Japanese and American manga volume releases.

It’s a good read if you want to get a sense of how some of the roles were not much of a challenge (Vic Mignogna’s Tamaki, Luci Christian’s Honey) or were “hardly unique” in the case of Monica Rial’s Renge. I concur with the “recommended” verdict of a “solid effort” after sampling some illicitly uploaded dubbed episodes on a certain video-sharing site. FUNi, I would advise you start clamping down on those out of pure business interest since they may detrimentally affect your box set sales to a certain degree!

Some of you may recall the reissuing of Clamp School Detectives on DVD was kind of a surprise announcement during Bandai’s Fanime 2007 panel. Oddly enough, this is not the first delay for Ghost Slayers Ayashi since being announced at Otakon 2007: September 9th was the date given for these releases during the company’s panel at this year’s Fanime.

Bandai has not given an official explanation for the delays but I suspect ensuring the quality of the authoring process could be a factor given frequent reports of defective discs, like a AOD member who complained in August about receiving at least 12 defective discs from Bandai releases since late 2007, and of course that one week from last January where many of their releases had issues playing correctly. Better to delay the releases to fix any emerging problems than to risk worsening their reputation among heavy buyers. Another factor may have been increased attention in working on Gundam 00, which is debuting on Sci-Fi Channel’s Ani-Monday block on the 24th.

Yes, the anime and tokusatsu producer-slash-distributor is listed as one of many partners involved in this project (unclear if it is specifically Bandai Visual, Sunrise or both) so I have a little excuse to write about this. Frankly, there aren’t many juicy details except that Nico reportedly has 9.3 million Japanese (and secret foreign?) subscribers and commands either 2.3 or 2.9 million daily unique users, depending on whom from TNMG is trying to impress people. Simon Godden, President of e-learning service Teacher Tom Japan, thinks “this [deal] is a home run” so it must be great, right? Um, it guess it would be nice if you wanted to leave streams of comments on top of official music videos and foreign content as well as the swath of Touhou, IM@S, and Miku MADs that currently inhabit the site.

At any rate, you can read the entire release after the jump to get a few more optimistic quotes from executives focused on expanding the global reach of their managed brands.

Japan`s Leading Interactive Video Platform, Nico Nico Douga, collaborates with World On-Demand to Develop an Innovative New Media Offering

11/11/2008 — TOKYO, Japan: The New Media Group, K.K. (TNMG) parent of the World On-Demand IPTV platform, today announced the signing of a landmark deal that aligns its increasing portfolio of global content offering with Nico Nico Douga`s broad reach into the domestic Japanese market.

Nico Nico Douga, Japan’s leading online video community site, currently holds 9.3 million Japanese subscribers, drives 2.3 million unique users a day, and has already passed YouTube in Japan to become one of the most visited sites in the Japanese web space. World On-Demand is the leading IPTV provider of alternative global content in Japan, carries over 130 Television channels from around the world including E! Entertainment, the BBC, Star TV, GMA, and Zee TV, and is geared primarily to serve the TV needs of foreign populations in Japan.

“It seems an unlikely match, but both sides see tremendous potential here,” said Randy McGraw, President of TNMG. “Both of us are convinced that the Japanese domestic market is starving for more high brand and high production value content from around the world, much of it never having had any distribution here. This is just a first step to get it all in play. World On-Demand has been selected as one of only 20 “Official Providers” precisely because we are “a taste of everything else” for mass market consumers and because we are carving out this position in Japan and East Asia for the long run for ourselves. Japan is a tough place to gain a foothold if you`re a foreign provider, but our company is a gateway now for big brands like Eurosport, Sky News, Aag, B4U Music, GMA, Zee TV, Trace TV, the Australia Network, VIVA, Taj Sports, Moonscoop, and a growing list of quality brands to come here and find a home.”

The new service that the two partners will launch in December will allow Japanese consumers with a Nico Nico Douga account to be exposed to and enjoy selections of branded content geared to their hobbies and interests, as well as the invitation to subscribe to the full array of content through the World On-Demand service.

“This collaboration aims to provide a simple way for 2.9 million unique daily Japanese users to watch promotional material and share information - in Japanese language and from a Japanese cultural perspective - and to form community and discuss both big brand international channels and lesser known special interest content in a way not seen in Japan before,” said Kei Yamada, from the TNMG Marketing Department and manager of the Nico- Nico Douoga relationship. “It will be a good vehicle for brand building, market access, and “instant market research” plus enjoyable for us Japanese more interested than ever before in new global content.”

“I think this is a home run,” said Simon Godden, President of Teacher Tom Japan, an innovative e-learning platform that is also partnered with World On-Demand to deliver English language learning modules to Japanese subscribers. “Promoting great foreign brands and great e-learning content and reaching millions of Japanese users on a daily basis, is going to encourage Japanese users to come to the World On-demand platform, have a look around, and find things like Teacher Tom e-learning that interests them, and subscribe.”

Joining 19 other official providers on the Nico Nico Douga platform such as MTV Japan, Avex, Bandai and Livedoor, World On-Demand is uniquely positioned as the alternative content provider to the Japanese mass-market, and will continue to expand its role linking providers to video based communities in Japan.

About The New Media Group, K.K. – TNMG is the leading digital media platform developer and operator in the Asia Pacific and Oceana regions. Partnered with the world’s leading media and technology companies, TNMG owns and operates World On-Demand (the region’s most comprehensive IPTV platform) and MY-World Communities (a leading portal for the advanced formation and management of online communities and their personal media). TNMG also owns Media PayÔ, an electronic payments gateway for East Asia and Australia that utilizes every electronic wallet and conventional payment method available in those markets from minor branded affinity cards to cash collection at over 45,000 distribution points. Founded by executives in the media, technology, and financial communities, TNMG is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and maintains network operations facilities in Japan, Australia, and the U.S., branch offices in Sydney, Australia and Shanghai, China, and a development center in Chennai, India. The team at TNMG invites everyone to visit www.TheNewMediaGroup.net to learn more about what the company is doing. We accept communication in Japanese, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish, Hindi, Tamil, and Urdu.

After trying to catch up on Heroes last night, I looked up Peter Petrelli’s actor Milo Ventimiglia on Wikipedia and saw that an anonymous user added a strange entry to his filmography on October 11th, namely that he could play Ban Mido in a 2010 Get Backers live-action film that is supposedly “in negotiations”. I have not been able to find any information online about a director, screenwriter, or other actors to substantiate this claim so please take this as a DEEPLY UNFOUNDED RUMOR and probably someone emulating Anime Insider’s Casting Call column…badly.

The only other set of edits made on the entire site by that user were performed three days earlier, when Christian Bale’s entry was altered to include an “in negotiations” Batman Concludes film with a 2010 release date. This misinformation was removed on October 21st, followed by an false addition of The Dark Knight Returns for 2011 by another user on Oct. 25, which was removed later that day by a superuser. There have been no official details revealed about a third film in the Batman reboot series aside from Warner Bros. President Jeff Robinov hoping it gets released by 2011 among many tent-pole superhero and other big-budget films over the next few years.

This blog can be found under “little of everything” (i.e. miscellany) accompanied by the following, as of this writing:

When you don’t feel like watching anime for a while, CalAggie is here to deliver all the news! Not once has he blogged a particular episode or review any movies (or so blissmo thinks), so this is definitely the place to be if you just want to be updated with all the latest gossip in the Anime World. CalAggie is also an awesome guy himself, who started a Podcast a while back but is also willing to join the Podcast at Yukan if he can too. CalAggie is brilliant at wording his thoughts and his blog is really pretty. He also had an old blog some time back, and this is now his new one! CalAggie is a man searching to fill in his spare time.

Reading four mentions of the same online alias in the space of a paragraph makes me want to change it (something I have idly pondered on occasion) but the same pattern appears in many other entries and repetition is supposed increase one’s retention of data with each successively perceived utterance or written token. My reluctance to proceed with such a plan stems from the imagined difficulty of convincing those who know me by my current moniker to mentally shift toward using a different one as a personal identifier.

I used to do episode summaries way back in the days of Part-Time Otaku before moving off of WordPress.com almost two years ago and that practice quickly fell into disarray because I cannot maintain a consistent viewing schedule for the life of me. I have only reviewed two movies in posts: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in August 2007 and Full Metal Alchemist sequel The Conqueror of Shambala in PTO-era November 2006. I didn’t compose a review for Paprika after seeing it in May, for some odd reason, but I would give it a B as a Satoshi Kon fan. I may post reviews for Vexille and Steamboy whenever I get around to watching either film; the same goes for live-action Eastern Asian cinema. (Other foreign films may be considered but they will be assessed on a case-by-case basis). I am humbled on being called “an awesome guy”, kindly accept the compliment that the blog’s design is “really pretty”, and thank blissmo for inclusion in the category.

Regarding the podcast, I have tried to put together solo multi-segment, news-and-community focused episodes since the last one but have yet to produce a single timely one. Perhaps one will get posted this week - I just want to get #4 (title: “Pushing It Out The Door”) over with and move onto #5 and beyond. The main concept for the on-weeks remains Charlie Rose-meets-Internet Superstar as “an anime podcast for people who don’t listen to anime podcasts” (the unofficial, unimaginative tagline) by interviewing bloggers and other personalities I find interesting while the off-weeks will be comprised of more solitary efforts. I have a preliminary list at least twenty persons long of potential guests whom I need to get around to contacting and making arrangements. If you have any suggestions on anything podcast-related or are energetic and interested in being a co-host (don’t know why someone would), send an e-mail to podcast [at] nigorimasen [dawt] com or a message via MAL or Twitter.

P.S. If you haven’t heard it already, IcyStorm and I appeared on Podtoid-san 73 last month and talked about the fall season and other news that was covered on Japanator in the previous week. I haven’t listened it because, well, I was on it but the break music is an acoustic rendition of part of the Nico medley. I hope to formally post my feelings on what I have watched of the current season soon.

Today’s ‘official launch’ of FUNimation’s partnership with Hulu comes 46 days (six weeks, three days) after Hulu’s concise release on September 23rd announcing the launch of a dedicated anime channel. The only new knowledge a reader would gain from today’s release is that Shuffle!, Peach Girl, and Slayers are debuting on the service this week and the rest is needless padding, save for CEO Gen’s heralding Hulu’s wide reach for “offer[ing] viewers a way to discover new shows”.

One would think that FUNimation would consider the initial debut of some of their managed properties on Hulu as, at the very least, a ’soft launch’ and surely many became aware of their presence on the service when they made a big deal only two weeks ago over putting subtitled episodes of Shikabane Hime on there as well as on YouTube, Joost, and their own website.

A prior incident of ‘after the feast’ behavior that occurred earlier this year was Bang Zoom! Entertainment patting itself on the back on June 17th for dubbing Lucky Star, volume 1 of which debuted on May 6th - exactly six weeks before the release was issued. Bang Zoom!’s release was fairly informative as it provided insight into their dialogue methodology and audio hardware specifics (Neumann U87 studio condenser mics, yo!) but surely it would have been more effective if issued to coincide with the first release of their tiring efforts. And what is this six week delay business? I doubt both are giving tribute to the 1982 film involving Mary Tyler Moore, Dudley Moore, and a 12-year-old girl with leukemia played by ballerina and figure skater Katherine Healy.

*sigh* Public relations managers, please be more prompt in issuing your firm’s press releases as part of your duty as producers of promotional material that is subtler than direct advertising and its upfront approach.

Also moving back to a more viewer-friendly time is Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, now at 1:30am rather than 5:30am or 2:30am, but with a caveat: the first ten episodes will be rerun. The first two DVD volumes covering the initial seven episodes were released by Media Blasters yesterday but there is no explicit indication of when future volumes will come out or when newly dubbed episodes will air, although mid-January seems like a good time for new episodes since the run of rehashes will conclude by then. MB CEO John Sirabella said they were “rushing their way through” the series back in August during their Otakon panel.

Other changes involving new episode premieres are Bleach (now on #87) falling back two hours from 11pm to 1am and Shin-chan returning at 2:30am (was at 12am before shelved) picking up where it left off with episode 47.

The three remaining hours from 3-6am will now be occupied by reruns of fan favorites such as FLCL, Death Note, Ghost in the Shell SAC, Cowboy Bebop, Big O, and… InuYasha, all of which are starting from the beginning. The absence of Fullmetal Alchemist in the revised schedule means its latest attempt at reruns has shut down after episode 7, the first major downer in the series.

Overall, re-establishing a continuous five-hour block of anime should increase bleedover viewership and bringing back old standards like FLCL, Big O, and Cowboy Bebop will attract those who didn’t see them during their previous countless airings.

Out of the five manga that debuted in issue 1 of Yen Plus — Soul Eater, Sumomomo Momomo, Nabari no Ou, Higurashi, Bamboo Blade — only Higurashi will have its first volume come out this year with the others making their individually bound debuts in May 2009 or October ‘09, the latter being the case for Soul Eater. While I initially thought that the long delays were part of a “syndicate first, bind later” strategy and still do, I believe Yen Press is purposely holding back Soul Eater’s initial volume release in order to promote it using Atsushi Ookubo’s (the artist’s) prior work, B.ICHI - the same type of cross-promotion appeared at the end of the Japanese 1st volume. The desire to gain more subscribers to its monthly magazine contributes to the delay of all the serialized titles by having readers to consume individual slices from different types of figurative bread rather than eat whole loafs at a time. (Not sure if that food analogy worked…) The monthly meting out of individual chapters should provide an consistent and slightly less intensive workload for those assigned to such projects, which is a good thing for a relatively small operation compared to the more established industry names.

The first volume of B.ICHI came out earlier this week on Oct. 28th (reviews: Tiamat, ComicMix) and the remaining three volumes will be put out on January 31th, May 2009, and September 2009, wrapping up a month before Soul Eater v.1 is supposed to ship. I assume the same translator and letterer are working on both projects but I can only assume since I was unable to find who is working on adapting B.ICHI through preliminary online research. Why are these names so hard to come by?

Anyway, once Soul Eater begins its volume releases next October each successive volume will follow a fairly standard four-month schedule and there is no practical reason for Yen Press to hurry as the 13th manga volume came out in Japan on October 22nd. They could consider ramping up production whenever the anime adaptation eventually crosses the Pacific in the next few years but I would advise reprinting the earlier editions if their on shelf counts run low.

I am not predicting any announcements regarding the anime within the next six months but it is worth mentioning that both Crunchyroll and Animesuki do not offer fansubs or related information on the title - CR because it is “licensed by Aniplex” and Animesuki due to a prior 2004 notice from Media Factory that covered future series. (Strangely, there is no listing whatsoever of the series on Fansub TV.) The animated adaptation is set to end after 51 episodes like another popular Bones series, Fullmetal Alchemist, which also has its manga published by Gangan Comics in Japan and music produced by Aniplex. Whoever is currently following the series better hope its run does not conclude haphazardly or that there may be a second season sometime later.

P.S. The show failed to sufficiently entertain me after five episodes so either I have outgrown contemporary multi-character shonen fare and/or, less likely, there exists some underlying base level of genius that I simply am not comprehending. I enjoy how Death the Kid uses a skateboard (a floating one, no less) but an “enemy” who is actually testing the students, a father trying to impress his daughter, and an assassin who possesses great power yet is boisterious to a fault all contribute my suspension of watching the anime. I may read the manga as it comes out but who knows.