Damn It Feels Good...

…to be right!

One of my previous posts centered around the idea of anime producers and distributors making their shows available—for free—through online video streaming as a means of both marketing and stemming illegal fansubs.

Seems Gonzo, a prominent anime producer, listened and will be streaming two of their newest series, The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk and Blassreiter, with English subtitles on the same day as their Japanese TV broadcast. American viewers will have the options of using three sites (YouTube, Crunchyroll, and Bost), which depending on their setup will either host the show as a free stream or higher-resolution download to own video file.

You can read Gonzo’s full press release here.

Of course, Gonzo’s almost assuredly been working on this deal long before my little post, but I always enjoy seeing my musings become reality…now if I could only find a way to get paid for them!

Still, it’ll be interesting to watch this play out. Both Druaga (based on a video game with little-to-no US fandom) and Blassreiter (whose claim to fame is being co-written and featuring character designs by a popular Japanese eroge company) are essentially ailing sacrificial lambs to the unknown, malevolent deity of online downloading; since neither show would likely have captured much fan attention, they’re appropriate titles to tap while working out the kinks. The real questions are how will Gonzo handle their next big production and what response will the rest of the industry have to this recent news.

The one thing I do hope Gonzo realizes is that—once they stream a show—they’re essentially committed to releasing a DVD in the US. Failing to do so (and relatively immediately at that) will only destroy any progress they’re hoping to make with this venture, because fans will merely migrate back to stealing better quality fansub files if these digital videos are their only access to a series.

Either way, I give Gonzo some “mad props” and hope this works out, both for them and the anime industry in general. Just need to keep my fingers crossed other companies (with shows I actually want to watch) will soon follow suit.

And now to celebrate, some obligatory Caramelldansen: