アニ・ノート

I interrupt the unboxing and fighting with a leaking crack in a cultured marble in order to report that rumors of BOST’s demise were exaggerated, apparently. The only downside I see is, with other studios not giving their stuff to BOST to sell they will be more and more joined at the hip with GONZO, which is not terribly healthy… BTW, good thing I haven’t wrote any fanfics for Strike Witches. They are going to create a whole new canon, can you imagine the disappointment in case of a conflict?

Omo wrote about that exclusive PS3 rental for $4. I don’t think he made any new points: simply put, Sony can take their time-limited rentals and their obscene DRM and stuff it up their ugly butts. I’m linking it only because the topic is important.

I would not touch this stuff with a 3.3m pole, but for those who are into this kind of thing, there’s a well-researched post at Nigorimasen dealing with Direct2Drive, Amazon Unbox, and such. This looks like a good time to remind everyone that BOST sells anime without DRM. Their biggest issue is, they have no content with a wide appeal. Druaga, nice as it is, does not aim to be anything great. The [in-]famous show without pants appeals to niche viewers as well. And the remainder is even less appetizing. So the fate of DRM-free anime is hanging in the balance.

Omo writes at length on the perennieal issue of Internet vs. anime (I just cannot make myself to call it “digital distribution”, because obviously DVDs are quite digital without Internet). It’s quite good despite the length, RTWT. Just one note:

[…] to pull down some pant-less, flash-based video every Thursday night.

The whole idea behind Strike Witches release at BOST is to provide a DRM-free download-to-own anime. It’s not merely something flash-based (although, IIRC, their earier release, Keitai Shoujo was flash-based).

I’m done with Strike Witches and I’m going to celebrate. The episode 06 wasn’t anything special, but it was nice.

The blog resolution does not give this eyecatch justice. And of course, frozen wastelands is the stereotype used here, only made cute.

Sanya at night (episode prologue).

Is this Ford Trimotor or Ju-52? You can barely make Sanya above the airplane making aileron rolls. {UPDATE: Steven says: “It’s definitely a Ju-52; the Tri-moter had a high wing.” But of course. What was I thinking?}

A rare close-up of Miss Hartmann.

Sanya.

Miyafuji, Yeager, Luccini.

Miyafuji, Juutilainen, Litvyak. Check out the hair models.

Strike Witches without fanservice? Impossible! BOST version is sadly censored. At least ep.06 wasn’t all about camel toe unlike some other episodes.

Position lights on Striker units is a nice touch.

Charles Johnson, call your office. Someone is using achronical proportional fonts again.

I never stop being amazed at the ability of Strike Witches to avoid prop strikes in scenes like this.

The grand finale.

BTW, the episode has hooks for a political/suspense/military story, presumably to unfold in the second half of the season. Sounds like a perfect time to jump ship.

ANN claims that Crunchyroll is to provide “a download-to-own (DTO) option without digital rights management (DRM).” If things go like that, members of the Mania.com/aodvb/ community are going to have an apoplexy. I’m happy to see it though, on the balance. I’m a fan of what is apparently known now as DTO-DRM (with iTunes being DTO+DRM, I guess?).

Unfortunately, the “clean” provider BOST (where I bought my Strike Witches) seems to be left out, and it may be a major failure for them. They were late with the announcement of the Strike Witches deal too, but we’re just several days away from the October 2, and so they have very little time to catch up. I’ll be watching them like a hawk and be ready to defect from those Crunchyroll pirates if possible.

Animenation editorizes on the topic of anime gradually receding from American mainstream entertainment, and specifically the broadcast TV. John is aware that TV is becoming less and less relevant:

Actually, what we may be seeing now is a transition from anime on television to anime broadcast online. Vuze, Youtube, BOST TV, Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Joost, among others, are all now making significant advances in substituting for, and replacing traditional television broadcast.

So, here we have a diverse field. I started with BOST, due to their unabashedly anime-centric model and idealism, including DTO-DRM. YouTube is the leader of shorts, dwarfing every other participant, working to monetize (and perhaps lifting the length limit). They have no DTO. Crunchyroll is Mos Eisley of anime, trying to legalize. Their criminal past gave them enough name recognition to crush BOST (also they are cheaper). Hulu is the epitome of ad-supported, free of charge, video. In anime, they are a newcomer even against BOST, but they have experience in killing and burying mainstream American TV. I know almost nothing about Joost, except that they send mass promotional e-mails to bloggers like me. And about Vuze I know nothing period (well, I do know that they are connected to Azureus somehow). John declined to name iTunes, Amazon Unbox, and Netflix. Anyone wonders what may be common among them? Maybe being massive retail empires… DRM running amok… strange proprietary formats and software? One way to the other, conventional giants aren’t fairing well so far, but they are always around, bidding their time.

P.S. Woops, we both forgot about Veoh, who cannot decide if they want to be Youtube or Crunchyroll.

Not all Autumn series have started, but some have. Most conspicously, Crunchyroll have streamed Linebarrels, apparently subbed by BOST, yet it’s not available on BOST itself. What gives?

Chou-chun mentioned in the hints thread that they “are finalizing a few minor points on the next show, but we should be able to tell you more within this week.” So, the beginning of the next week, perhaps.

I hoped for Time of Eve, but no such luck, I’m afraid.