Watching Anime Videos and Anime TV Series On Demand

The Japanese infiltration into American animated programming began with the first few anime English-dubbed programs in the 1960s and 1970s. A show like Astro Boy, which began airing in 1963, had such a space-age quality to it, not just from the subject matter but from the animation style itself, that American audiences were fascinated.

As series trickled into North America, one or two at a time, no one knew that eventually anime videos and anime TV series would mushroom into a huge entertainment industry all over the world.

When DVDs began appearing on the scene, many converted their favorite anime collections from VCR to DVD. This new technology made it even more possible for anime videos and anime TV series to diverge into separate spheres, yet they did remain intertwined to a large degree.

The number of anime broadcasts on television skyrocketed in the 1990s and this prompted more purchasing of anime videos, which in turn encouraged more television exposure. The two media formats fed into each other.

It took the growth of the internet, however, to make anime videos and anime TV series almost independent of each other.

In the twenty-first century, video streaming technology now threatens to replace media formats like the DVD almost completely, as anime fans begin to watch their favorite series on computers, their cell phones, and computer components plugged into television screens. Wherever there is a screen, a distributor can stream anime completely independently of any television schedule.

This has added to the woes of many TV networks, yet it has given anime fans control of what they view, and when and where they view it.

To read Watching Anime Videos and Anime TV Series On Demand