Gonzo continues its attempts to push the Japanese anime industry forward with digital distribution, and even gets Kadokawa to join them. Unfortunately, the newest news doesn’t involve English-language anime…at least for now. That said, Watch.Impress reports that Gonzo and Kadokawa Shoten announced at Interop Tokyo 2008 that they’ll be collaborating to offer free previews of some of their works– including the entirety of Romeo x Juliet –via BitTorrent.

The downloads will require BitTorrent DNA (Delivery Network Accelerator), and apparently it’ll be offered streaming as well as downloadable. The downloads are a solid 720p size, and Windows Media Video format. The website is here.

I’ve poked around with it, and the streaming stuff is only available to those in Japan. I tried downloading the program to see if the same was true for downloads, but I couldn’t get it to install– not sure if it’s because I have Windows Media 10 instead of 9, or if it’s because I’m not in Japan, or what– I’m willing to bet the downloads are Japan-only as well. (Edit: reader Kuromitsu confirmed that the downloads are only accessible in Japan.)

Still, it’s nice to see someone like Kadokawa embrace something other than their YouTube channel. Kadokawa Pictures USA was part of a mass deal with BitTorrent back in 2006, and in Japan they actually offered up the first Mushi-uta ep and a Rental Magika promo back in December ‘07, but this is definitely the biggest move we’ve seen from them on the digidistro front– it looks like they’re offering the entirety of Girl who Leapt Through Time.

The list of shows available is:

Kadokawa Films:
- Tenkousei: Sayonara Anata (roughly “Transfer Student: Goodbye to You”) - HD
- Southbound - HD
- Veronica wa Shinu Koto ni Shita - HD
- DIVE!!
- One Missed Call

Kadokawa Anime:
- Mushi-uta 1st ep
- Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo! 1st ep
- Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)
- Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun (can’t tell how much of it)
- H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~ 1-2
- Rental Magika 1-2
- Kiddy Grade (can’t tell how much again)
- Chou Gekijouban Keroro Gunsou 2 - Shinkai no Princess de Arimasu

Gonzo:
- Romeo x Juliet (all)