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NEWS: Bandai Channel to Stream Anime in U.S., Eurasia at Start of 2010

I meant Bandai serious catering only those anime fanatics who watch anime online, and not local populaces throughout the rest of the world. Yeah, seriously.

Is it free?

Are the streams only going to be available directly from Bandai, or will they be on other streaming sites, too?

<...> if anyone is familiar with Bandai's streaming services in Japan, could you answer those first two questions relative to Japan?

DomFortress wrote:

So is that it then? Bandai catering a bunch of anime fanatics by isolating their hobby and interest on the internet? Has their Gundam anime content finally lost their competitiveness in the DVD and Blu-ray market? Is Gundam dead to the rest of the world except in the eyes of its fans?

Gundam as a whole has been dead for years. It's been a basically half-dead franchise in the states since the just after first anime boom. The DVDs haven't been "competitive" for ages. If they were, Bandai would actually be releasing them instead of sitting on them.

DomFortress wrote:

However the issue with streaming quality aside, a sub only anime stream won't make those who isn't an anime fan to watch anime. I've tried, and it doesn't work. Therefore sub-only release of anime won't help the anime fan base to grow beyond its current size, not matter what the content is and how it's distributed. And when there's no growth in fan base, there's no market growth, period.

By that logic, fansubs downloads should not be growing and yet they constantly increase every year. The same is true for streaming media. Clearly you are doing something very wrong here (or are trying with people who refuse foreign media) if you can't convince anyone.

Good lord. You're missing a staggering number of facts and issues here, so I'll try to explain them.

Well aren't you just a swell chap to be with

Is it all that surprising to you that I can manage to not just think like an anime fan, thereby making me an instant majority that's outside of the anime fan base, who are an minority group even in Japan?

DomFortress wrote:

Is it all that surprising to you that I can manage to not just think like an anime fan, thereby making me an instant majority that's outside of the anime fan base, who are an minority group even in Japan?

Yes, fair point. You're doing a great job ignoring facts and logic the way that far too many "normal" people tend to do.

Apparently you would rather assert your supposedly superior objectivity and reasoning instead of demonstrating it. Address the arguments or don't waste our time.

1. Bandai Entertainment has said that they're negotiating to get Gundam 00 and Code Geass out on Blu-Ray. So, there's the answer to your "is Gundam dead in disc format???" question.

2. The U.S. has gotten a DVD release for the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series in English only. It was also released in singles and has yet to be packaged up in an affordable box set. So actually, if the U.S. and Europe get classic Gundam subbed, a lot of people will be very happy with that.

3. You're trying to use anecdotal evidence to prove that online streaming is doomed to failure as a business model? Really? That's not very convincing.

4. Several Gundam anime have not seen a DVD release at all, even in the United States, the most significant one to me being Turn A Gundam. If any of them are streamed and response is good enough, that might demonstrate that there's a market for them. The worst case scenario is that fans get a legal, easy way to see them.

5. This will not be limited to old series. They've already said before that the upcoming Gundam Unicorn was getting a worldwide release, which happens to fit this news very well.

6. As you can see here, the ten languages already include English, French, and German in addition to the native Japanese. Those are all major, and there are six left to be announced. Not only are ten different translations extremely high for an anime, but it's for a simultaneous release on top of that.

You called that the "least amount of language support as possible," which is a fantastic and completely ridiculous thing to believe.

While you're at it, assuming that you bother, two questions. First: By the way, how do you think the anime fanbase grew in America? People were watching subtitles on VHS tapes once upon a time. But you argue that subtitles never, ever grow a fanbase based on nothing but your own personal experience.

Second: What would you rather see them do to market the "right" way? In your ideal world, what gets done? And is this incompatible with that, or can you at least acknowledge that this is generally a good thing?

Quote:

According to ITpro, Bandai Channel is working on a new video distribution system which allows for centralized content management. It plans to roll out the system in Japan in October, followed by America, Europe, and Asia at the beginning of next year.

So it has finally come to this; Bandai will capitalize their Gundam franchise by centralizing the online distribution of the Gundam anime series.

Not only that, they'll do so with the least amount of language support as possible via sub only of 10 languages, while at the same time switching over content distribution of Gundam through online distribution, to anime fans around the world who prefer watching anime online.

So is that it then? Bandai catering a bunch of anime fanatics by isolating their hobby and interest on the internet? Has their Gundam anime content finally lost their competitiveness in the DVD and Blu-ray market? Is Gundam dead to the rest of the world except in the eyes of its fans?

Yeesh, not to sound rude, but you really took a big jump there, reading far more into this than necessary.

You know, I had the nagging feeling that there was going to be someone who would decide to take issue and complain about this news. Lame.
This sounds like good news, because European fans have been saying for a long time that they're being left out of the loop as far as free streams online are concerned. It's good that these fans are now getting a chance to watch anime online, for free, and 100% legally. Let's hope this catches on with other companies.