Anyone who follows anime knows that it takes a year after airing in Japan before being officially released in North America, and even longer in Europe. However, times are changing, anime is spreading, and anime production companies are taking notice of non-Japanese markets. Until just last year, the only way that non-Japanese anime fans could get their anime fix (legally) was to wait until someone licensed the anime and released it in their country, and many anime series never make it out of Japan. This of course frustrated many fans, but a few companies seem to be looking to fix that problem.

In January of 2009, Kurokami – The Animation became the first ever anime to be simultaneously broadcast (within a couple days) in three different countries and in three different languages. It aired in Japan and the United States on the 8th while it aired in Korea on the 9th. The Kurokami anime was produced by Bandai and is part of their effort to bring anime to fans outside of Japan (and make some more profit). Personally, I think it’s a great idea since fans don’t have to wait a year for someone to license an anime and translate it anymore. Whether or not other anime companies will follow suit or if Bandai will do this with other titles remains to be seen considering Kurokami’s popularity (it barely seems to register on radar in the anime community).

Another relatively new form of anime distribution which seems to be gaining acceptance among anime fans is the online streaming of subtitled anime the day after their airing in Japan. Some of you are probably thinking that this sounds the same as pirating anime, but in fact it’s the anime companies themselves that provide the episodes. Last year popular streaming site CrunchyRoll signed a contract with anime production company Gonzo to stream their anime with English subtitles. When I first heard about this, I thought it was a last-ditch effort by Gonzo to make some money. In recent years Gonzo had lost favor among anime fans due to a series of unsuccessful anime titles, but they seem to be doing better now. TV Tokyo also signed on to have their anime subtitled and streamed on CrunchyRoll after seeing the success of the deal made with Gonzo. Now the longest that fans have to wait to see their favourite anime is 1-7 days after being broadcast in Japan, I’m particularly glad that they have several new titles including Natsu no Arashi, Saki, Shangri-la, and Hayate no Gotoku 2.

Right now streamed anime looks to be doing better than the simultaneous broadcasts of Kurokami, but I think that’s just due to a poor choice in anime on Bandai’s part. Hopefully more anime companies will follow suit in the next few years and find ways to get their anime to non-Japanese fans. If a high-quality anime production company like Kyoto Animation ever did simultaneous broadcasts, I would be very happy :)

Related posts:

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Bandai starts promoting Anime on iTunes

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