CrunchyRoll Scores a Pretty-Fisted Slam Dunk Digi-Adventure
…Or something. Just got a press release from CrunchyRoll announcing that the site has now partnered up with anime giant Toei to release some of the company’s biggest anime titles: Pretty Cure, Fist of the North Star, Slam Dunk, and Digimon Adventure.
All of these series will be available on CrunchyRoll starting October 27th, and if I’m reading this right, they’ll be available for free streaming and $1.99 per download-to-own episode. (It only mentions price for DTO, anyway.)
Full press release after the jump.
SLAM DUNK! CRUNCHYROLL TEAMS UP WITH TOEI ANIMATION
Online Media Distribution Giant and Leading Animation Production Studio
Begin Online Streaming, Subscription and Download-To-Own of Many Titles
San Francisco, CA and Tokyo, Japan (October 27, 2008) — One of the most
prolific animation production studios, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., is
partnering with online media distribution giant, Crunchyroll, to provide
streaming, subscription and download-to-own options for some of the several
popular anime titles to begin October 27, 2008. More information can be
found at www.crunchyroll.com
“A partnership with Toei Animation is fantastic for Crunchyroll and the
anime industry in the U.S. and international markets,” states Mr. Kun Gao
Crunchyroll CEO, “it is great validation to have one of the oldest, largest
Japanese animation studios using our platform to bring anime to a much
larger audience and monetize through new digital channels.”
Toei Animation Co., Ltd.’s Mr. Kanji Kazahaya, Director of International
Department, states, “we are excited and thrilled to be working with
Crunchyroll on developing our digital business. We believe that digital
distribution holds the potential to improve the economics of our studio
rather than weaken it and Crunchyroll is a great company to work with
because of its reach and unique approach to end users.”
Toei Animation Co., Ltd anime titles that will be available (October 27,
2008) on Crunchyroll include: DIGIMON ADVENTURE 02, FIST OF NORTHSTAR,
PRETTY CURE and SLAM DUNK.
Title Synopses:
DIGIMON ADVENTURE 02 (デジモンアドベンチャー０２)
3 years after the adventure of Tai and his friends, a new enemy Digimon
Kaiser appears in the Digital World and he is out to control all Digimon.
The powers of Digimon Kaiser prevent Agumon and other Digimon from
Digivolving, causing a big scare. In this pinch a new generation of hero
arrives, it’s the Veemon! Veemon is able to combine with DigiMental and
create a new type of Digimon that has never been seen before. Tai calls upon
Daisuke Motomiya, a kid on his soccer team to the Digital World and to fight
along with Veemon. What kind of adventures will this new pair run into, but
more importantly, will they be able to save the Digital World from the
Digimon Kaiser?
Download-to-own: $1.99/episode. Catalog Number: AWDVD-0805
FIST OF THE NORTH STAR (北斗の拳)
“You don’t even know you’re already dead!!”
The year is 19XX – war has turned the world into a nuclear wasteland.
The oceans have dried up, the land scorched, and it appears as though all
life has gone extinct. However, humanity had survived these harsh
conditions, only to relapse into society where violence dominates.
In this world of mayhem, a drifter in possession of a lethal fighting style
known as the Divine Fist of the North Star wanders through the arid desert.
He is Kenshiro, and on his chest he bears 7 wounds as he treks through the
wastelands to rescue his lover Yuria who has been kidnapped by Shin, his
former friend. Along the way he takes Bat and Lin under his wing as they
continue their journey. With the ruins of earth as the backdrop, many come
in the way of Kenshiro as he tries to find Yuria in this epic saga!
Download-to-own: $1.99. Catalog Number: AWDVD-0806
PRETTY CURE (ふたりはプリキュア)
Nagisa Misumi is an outstanding athlete and daring girl that doesn’t take
to studying but has a very strong sense of justice. She is one of the most
popular students in her class.
Honoka Yukishiro is an honor-roll student always boasting the best grades in
her class. At first glance, she may seem rather stuck-up, but actually she’s
just a bit spacey.
The two are 8th graders at the Verone Junior High School for girls. Nagisa
and Honoka each encounter Mepple and Mipple – two mysterious creatures who
came down from the sky one night. Mepple and Mipple have fled from their
homeland – the Field of Light – in order to escape an attack by the evil
force of Dotsuku Zone. These two strange creatures grant Nagisa and Honoka
the power to transform into superheroes called “Cure Black” and Cure White”,
and thus the two girl become guardians of planet Earth.
Using their super powers, the two girls with contrasting lifestyles and
personalities work together to battle the evil enemies sent to conquer Earth
by Dotsuku Zone.
BUT will they be able to save our planet?
Download-to-own: $1.99/episode. Catalog Number: AWDVD-0715
SLAM DUNK (スラムダンク)
Hanamichi Sakuragi, an entering freshman at Shohoku High, holds a record for
being rejected by 50 girls during middle school. Ever since the last girl
turned him down for a guy on the basketball team, Sakuragi’s been
traumatized by the sport. One day, an unsuspecting Sakuragi is approached by
a cute girl who asks him, “do you like basketball?” Sakuragi immediately
falls head over heels for this girl, Haruko, and answers “I love it!”
Dreaming of the day he can capture Haruko’s heart, Sakuragi, who doesn’t
know a dribble from a dunk, begins his training. But Haruko had her sights
set on another freshman, Kaede Rukawa, the superstar rookie. The freshmen
pair and the rest of the Shohoku basketball squad begin their season with
their sights set on a national championship…
His rivalry with the star rookie Rukawa, and the dominating presence of the
towering captain Akagi drives Sakuragi to realize his potential on the
court. With Haruko, and his old up-to-no-good gang cheer him on from the
sidelines things get heated up! But the competition is stack upon Shohoku!
Ryounan High with its superstar player Sendo, top contender Kainan High,
along with Touma High, and the towering Shouyo High — Sakurgai and Shohoku
High need go up against these veteran tourney regulars to capture the title.
Can Shohoku survive with such tough competition? Will captain Akagi be able
to realize his dream of a national championship? For the self-proclaimed
“genius” Sakuragi, the battle has just begun!!
Download-to-own: $1.99. Catalog Number: SSDVD-0604
About Toei Animation Co., Ltd.
With headquarters in Tokyo and sales offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong,
Shanghai and Paris, Toei Animation (Jasdaq: 4816) ranks amongst the world’s
most prolific animation production studios. Toei Animation’s operations
include animation development and production, and worldwide marketing and
program licensing. Since its founding in 1956, Toei Animation has produced
more than 9,000 episodes of TV series (189 titles) and 172 long feature
films as of March, 2007.
About Crunchyroll
Headquartered in San Francisco, California – Crunchyroll is hailed as a
leading online entertainment brand with the largest international online
community and destination focused on Asian entertainment including anime,
drama, music in addition to electronic entertainment and auto content.
Crunchyroll’s distribution channel and partnership program delivers content
to over four million passionate fans worldwide. Crunchyroll is funded by the
premiere group Venrock. More information can be found at its website
http://www.crunchyroll.com.
Tags: crunchyroll, digidistro, digimon, fist-of-the-north-star, pretty cure, slam-dunk, toei
October 27th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I just want to complain about that blog Ani-Nouto, since he doesn’t allow comments, claiming these shows were “poorly selling trash” to test the waters.
Talk about ignorant.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Anonymous: heh. Well, I don’t think they’ve ever been big hits to North American anime fans when compared to the Japanese.
But at the same time, I think they’re all the sort of titles that have serious recognition, which counts for a lot. I’d give good odds that almost any anime fan would look at those four names and think “I really should watch that. Hey, now I can do it easily!” about at least one of them.
For me it’s Slam Dunk. ^_^
October 27th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
wtf? Slam Dunk? Pretty ‘new’ anime. haha
October 28th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Too bad they allowed only U.S. and Canada for DTO.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:02 am
[...] will be offering slam dunk, pretty cure and digimon adventure episodes on their site [...]
December 28th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Perhaps as a condition of their deal, these animes are restricted by region (probably only the US and Canada, as said by Miha). However, even someone who doesn’t know how to work a proxy could easily snag an episode, free of charge and regardless of region, using services like Clipnabber or Zamzar.