In another case of Japanese companies working directly with an Internet distributor in the States (after, y’know, that major CrunchyRoll coup), Nippon TV and Dentsu have just announced that along with entertainment company Yoshimoto Kogyo, they’ll be providing some Japanese entertainment to Joost, a VOD service created by former Skype creators.

The anime titles are Kaiji and Buzzer Beater, but wait– there’s more! There will also be a channel called Japanese Humor ~Owarai~ which will feature Japanese variety shows, such as Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! and Susunu! Denpa Shounen (at least, I’m pretty sure that’s the right show, assuming that the press release’s Susume! Denpa Shounen isn’t a different show). These shows start in December and will stream for free with commercials, in Japanese with English subtitles, and it’s only going to be available in the US (sorry, Canada).

What I’m not entirely sure of is what this deal means (if anything) in the wake of Dentsu’s intent to sell control of Geneon to Universal. As far as I can tell, neither title is distributed by Geneon, but I’m not quite sure what Dentsu’s specific connection to them (or to NTV) is– they own or invest in a LOT of companies. It could even be that one of their American arms simply brokered the deal; speculation on my part of course.

That all aside, I think it’s good to see some different types of Japanese media make it across the ocean. Hey NTV, we can has jdrama now?

(Via AnimeNews.biz and reader Sam– thanks!)

Geh, I’ve been quiet, haven’t I? @_@ Today’s post is brought to you via my aunt’s computer (read: no Photoshop, hence no pic).

That said, the news moves along without me. In the last 24 hours I’ve gotten word of THREE different digital distribution news items:

1. VIZ has begun offering Bleach, Death Note, and Naruto episodes on JOOST– uncut, subbed episodes, that is. I kinda liked JOOST.

2. CrunchyRoll has announced a new partnership with DIRECTIONS, Inc. who are currently producing the OVA Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve), which I’ve heard is excellent. CrunchyRoll will be offering the first and second episodes starting on October 2nd in North America and Europe. It’ll be available free with ad-supported streaming, and also via DRM-free downloads (which I assume cost money, though the press release doesn’t specify). On top of that, DIRECTIONS will be making use of CrunchyRoll’s Crunchyland as an “additional storytelling medium,” by which they mean that there’ll be Eve merch available as online goodies for the MMO-ish social network. Oh, and did I mention they’re having an online Q&A session with the director of the show, Yasuhiro Yoshiura? That’s in November.

3. 4mations.tv, a “YouTube for animation,” has also launched. So, y’know, if you make your own anime at home, there’s a place to put it.

Whew.