Right off the bat the most interesting announcements for me came from Bandai Entertainment. Bandai is finally releasing the original Mobile Suit Gundam with Japanese audio. Amazing that the Japanese audio tracks are no longer impossible to get now. I guess that Bandai has sold enough original Gundam DVDs in Japan that they are  no longer worried about reverse importation cutting into their profits. Still I will be happy to get rid of my dub only DVDs and get the dual audio DVDs I always wanted. Bandai also picked up the Gundam 00 movie and announced the U.S. DVD release of Gundam Unicorn. Some asked if they would be dubbing Turn A or giving a new dub the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Someone else asked if they were going to pick up old robot shows. They said they had no plans to do so which proves that while Bandai might be crazy they are not UTTERLY suicidal. Still overall it was a good day for American Gundam fans. Aniplex and Funimation did not have a new licenses and mostly gave more details on titles they already had. Still no Kara no Kyoukai announcement but I assume we will not hear anything until they sell their insanely expensive DVD and Blu-Ray sets in Japan for a while. Summer Wars is getting a theatrical release from Funimation so if you have not had a chance to watch that I really suggest you check that out. The Crunchyroll panel had to be the most boring event I went to all weekend. While questions were asked and answered I feel not a lot was really said. People asked about things like the manga program and streaming outside of the US but they mostly got variations on “We will see what the future holds.” If I had been more awake I might have been able to ask some good questions but the weekend started catching up with me at that panel. I assume that ANN would have had announcements and future plans for the streaming initiatives at their panel but the whole Oreimo leak debacle scuttled anything and utterly transformed the panel they had.

On the manga Manga front Vertical unveiled two titles. The Book of Human Insects is distinctly one of Tezuka’s gekiga influenced manga just by the cover. Usamaru Furuya’s manga of the Japanese classic No Longer Human which inspired Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei and was featured in the Blue Literature series. Dark Horse picked up two obvious but surely anticipated titles from Yasuhiro Nightow of Trigun fame and Kouta Hirano of Hellsing. I was a little surprised I had not heard of Kekkai Sensen or Drifters but they seem like great choices to pick up considering how well both author’s previous works have done. Yen Press mostly talked about manga adaptions of English books and their new iPad application. I am very curious how their attempt to enter the digital distribution game will work out for them. There has been talk that the Kodansha panel was never canceled but in fact never scheduled in the first place. I think that Kodansha just did not want to spend an hour not answering questions about the death of Del Rey manga but I would have liked them to just come and say that if that were the case.

If this had taken place a few years ago there would have been half a dozen of titles from everyone involved. Even the once seemingly invincible manga companies had less to say then they would have two years ago. But in these troubled times I understand and appreciate the need to buckle down and be conservative. At the same time companies are finding ways to innovate and adapt and hopefully we will see all these companies next year with slightly better news to report as well.

More NY Anime Festival and Comic Con 2010 posts:

NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Tweets
NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: General Impressions
NY Anime Festival 2010: Artist Alley – Making it Big! (guest post)
NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Exhibitors Hall
NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Premieres
NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Panels
NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Minori Chihara

So one of the biggest and most infamous fan-sub sites went too legit to quit. It did not happen overnight but it has become one of the forefront sites to see legitimate streaming anime near simultaneously with Japan. They have a mixture of new shows and old although they tend to put the emphasis on promoting the newer ones. They even have some live action shows. Does this mean that Crunchyroll’s detractors have forgiven them for the mistakes of the past? Heck no. The Internet neither forgives nor forgets. Does that mean that sane people should forgive them and patronize their site? We paid the price and took a look to let you know!

We grabbed the first time offered Anime Membership for Crunchyroll. This essentially means that we could watch certain shows, streaming, just a few hours after their Japanese release. We also had access to many older titles in their entirety. Without the membership people would have to wait about a week to view said episodes. Many things were added and taken away through the experiment and things certainly changed over the course of the three month period as Crunchyroll became more accustomed to their new program.

Month 1 – January

Well, Crunchyroll’s website design hasn’t gotten any better. I often have to use their search function to find shows, when they should be easily accessible in the index portion. This also brought up another issue of not knowing all the shows and perks allotted to the paying members of the site. About halfway through the month members were able to watch older shows ahead of non-paying members. For example, where most have to wait a week between episodes of Captain Harlock, we were able to access the entire show. But we found this out quite by accident, one day it was just there and we were able to deduce the reasoning behind it. They could really use a members area on the site where all this information is updated and available. There is no mention of how long titles are going to be streaming. Some of their previous series that streamed are now only available for download. However, as a paying member it would be appropriate for us to be able to watch those shows streaming. As far as the quality goes, I have had good luck. Most video go up to 480P but I mainly watch in just high quality for ease. And the speed of the streams is very quick. I watched various titles and had little if any problems with anything.

They did very little overall site redesign when they first introduced the membership program and made their commitment to go legitimate. The only major change I could see was that however they stream their shows now trips the firewall at work so I have to watch anything on Crunchyroll at home. It’s sort of obvious that each animation companies has their own rules about how you can watch, download, and purchase their titles on Crunchyroll. Some shows are immediately available for everyone while other are available to members then slowly unlocked for non-members. Also the options and price to buy episodes to download varies from series to series although they are usually $1.99 each. I wish they would give members a discount on downloads especially for really long series like Fist of the North Star. I would also like to see the ability to buy “box sets.” Essentially a discount if you buy all the episodes at once. Once again it seems the only viable way of buying something like Fist of the North Star. As it stands, it would cost $302.48 to buy all 152 episodes of it! I would have watched more shows in January but I was in the middle of watching Patlabor and Turn A Gundam neither of which are short. I sampled a little and then decided to wait to finish what I was watching to throw myself fully into Crunchyroll for February.

What was watched between the two of us in one month: Time of Eve 1-3, Fairy Musketeers 1-6, Captain Harlock 1-6, Natsume Yuujinchou 1-14, Tower of Druaga 1-4
at the special price (about $7.00 for the month):
$0.22 per episode
at the normal price (about $13.00 for the month):
$0.41 per episode

Month 2 – February

I definitely like the new site design. It makes things easier to find but it is still not immediately obvious what shows are available to watch. Simultaneous release shows are usually prominently displayed though. The problem is when they throw a full or older series up. They only publicize it when it first goes up. If you don’t log in when they are talking about it, it’s easy to not know. I did notice an odd problem showing up for me. Sometimes when I pause a show the episode will stop streaming and I will either have to move the progress bar or reload the episode to start watching it again. I started February with throwing myself in Captain Harlock. The sub seems pretty well done and I don’t remember seeing anything that seemed terribly off. It was fun to be able to view a classic whenever I wanted to. I found it odd that they would put on 40 of 42 episodes of Harlock up. Similarly, there are only two of six episodes of the Sakura Taisen New York, NY OVA. It just doesn’t make sense. Also they made mention that they were going to put up the first three episodes of Air Master but when the time came they never put it up. I really wanted to watch Air Master!

Thank the lord the website has finally gotten an update! I wouldn’t say it is perfect, but it is atleast an improvement over that cluttered space they had for so long. However, since the site update, I have been having strange problems with the player. Most of the time the subs falling off to the right. I have tried it with the different resolutions but they are always off center. This isn’t a problem unless the line is long, even then I can usually figure out what it says. But that doesn’t make it okay. Equally strange is the missing progress bar as well as the play/pause buttons. So when I watch a show I better damn well not have to get up for any reason! I am using Firefox on my MAC, Hisui hasn’t had a problem on her PC. I sent a video problem message hopefully this will not continue through March.

What was watched between the two of us in one month: Tower of Druaga 5-8, Captain Harlock 7-40, Sakura Taisen New York NY OVA 1, Eyeshield 21 1, Gintama 1-2, Fairy Musketeers 7-11.
at the special price (about $7.00 for the month):
$0.15 per episode
at the normal price (about $13.00 for the month):
$0.28 per episode

Month 3 – March

Continuing the trend from last month, I still had video problems. When watching in plain ole High Quality I am still experiencing the same subs off to the right problem. When watching higher than that the problem is fixed, however the subs are slightly cut off along the bottom. That problem was preferable. I am stilling not seeing a play bar or buttons. And I just got the latest Firefox so have no idea what the problem is. Nothing has really changed for me from last month on the site. No major site updates or making changes or bettering it.

Well the miracles of miracles occurred and Crunchyroll started work at work again which is always nice to have something to watch during lunch. I still can’t watch Tower of Duraga at work  because for some reason they won’t load the subtitle stream but all the other programs work fine. I decided after I finished Fairy Musketeers I would move onto the monster that is Fist of the North Star. They also added six new shows which were a good mix of fresh from Japan and some older shows but nothing like the classics like Harlock. I was a little sadness that the episodes of Air Master never went up when whatever deal they had seem to fall through.

What was watched between the two of us in one month: Tower of Druaga 9-12, Fairy Musketeers 12-39, Sakura Taisen New York NY OVA 2, Eyeshield 21 2, Fist of the North Star 43-68
at the special price (about $7.00 for the month):
$0.12 per episode
at the normal price (about $13.00 for the month):
$0.22 per episode

Conclusions

If you want to watch certain new shows as they appear on Japanese television, this has a lot to offer. Shows being the important word here because you need to be watching more than one to justify the price. For older shows it hardly seems worth it. When they are first added you can only watch an episode or two at a time, but just wait and you can watch it all for free. Since they are old, time really isn’t a factor. The quality is definitely high enough and the variety of shows is great. At this point I will continue to use the Crunchyroll site but not subscribe. I will probably revisit the subscription when things change or are updated. Including the ability to download the shows you watched for a discounted fee would be good. Of course if Crunchyroll were to go subscription only I think it would be worth it.

How much you need to buy a subscription comes down to two important factors. How impatient are you and how much free time you have to watch anime online. It’s like a gym membership. Some people are going to work out several times a week and get the most out of their money. Other people are going to show up a few times but hardly ever go again then regret their purchase. And others will never buy a gym membership as long as they live. I got quite a bit out of the membership but I wonder if it was worth the money. If you watch it large blocks or have to watch it the second it comes out but need to be legitimate then it would be worth it. You will get whatever you want as quick as possible. I have enough shows that I legitimately own unwatched that I can juggle enough to wait. So like Narutaki I think that I will continue to use Crunchyroll but there has yet to be a series I so badly need that I would have to pay for a membership. As long as they stay legitimate and keep adding a variety of shows I will pay attention. Streaming video is the best method for good B and C-list titles that would not have commercial viability otherwise. A mixture of new shows and old shows keeps them alive and relevant. Only time will tell how much Crunchyroll will be able to win over their shady past in the eyes of fans.

From what we can tell here is what you can watch on Crunchyroll:
Angelic Layer – BASToF Syndrome – Best Student Council – BLASSREITER – Captain Harlock – Chance Pop Session – Chi’s Sweet Home – Chrono Crusade – D4 Princess – Dear Boys – Digimon Adventure 02 – Eagle Talon – Egg Man – Electric Soldier DOKAN Kun – Eyeshield 21 – Fairy Musketeers – Fist of the North Star – Gad Guard – Galaxy Express 999 – Gankutsuou – Gatchaman – Gintama – Girls High – Gravion – Hayate no Gotoku !! – Japanese Anime Classic Collection – Kaede New Town – Kaleido Star – Kaleido Star: New Wings Extra Stage – Kaasan- Mom’s Life – Kid Kosmo – Kigurumikku – Kite Liberator – Kotetsushin Jeeg – La Corda d’Oro – Primo Passo – La Corda d’Oro – Secondo Passo – Lady Death – Last Exile – Linebarrels of Iron – Magical Angel Creamy Mami – Magical Play – Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness – Mighty Max – Mizu no Kotoba – Najica Blitz Tactics – Naruto – Naruto Shippuden – Natsu no Arashi! – Natsume Yujincho – Neko Rahmen – Neo Angelique Abyss – Neo Angelique Abyss (Second Age) – Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte Z – Pale Cocoon – Parasite Dolls – Peace Maker Kurogane – Peeping Life – Pitekanto – Ramen Fighter Miki – REBORN! – Ristorante Paradiso – Rizelmine – Saiyuki – Saki – Sakura Taisen: Le Nouveau Paris OVA – Sakura Taisen: New York NY OVA – Shangri-La – Shugo Chara – Slam Dunk – Speed Racer – Steel Angel Kurumi Zero – Strike Witches – Sumiko – The Tower of DRUAGA (the Aegis of URUK) – The Tower of DRUAGA (the Sword of URUK) – Time of Eve – Ultimate Girls – Vandread – Vandread The Second Stage – Web Ghosts PiPoPa – Yatler Matler Space Tyrants – Yonna in the Solitary Fortress – Yume Tsukai – Zaion: I Wish You Were Here

Top 5 Shows to watch on Crunchyroll
5. Gatchaman
4. Captain Harlock
3. Time of Eve
2. Tower of Duraga
1. Natsume Yuujinchou