Better Options To View Anime Episodes

Online streaming of videos has made a big difference for fans of any film or animation genre, but for those eager to view anime episodes, this new technology has been a godsend. In the past, these fans had few options.

They could buy a video or eventually a DVD, or wait for the broadcasting choices of television networks. Given that TV series tended to be geared more toward the young Saturday morning cartoon group, and buying DVDs on a large scale was expensive, there weren't many ways to watch anime free until online streaming was developed.

While the distribution companies wanted to retain their rights, they also began recognizing the value of allowing downloads of anime episodes one at a time. They created a compromise for their fans, realizing that not everyone could buy the DVD of every series that came out.

Several distributors started putting entire series online on newly created video portals, so fans could watch free anime. Yet the fans could also download and own better quality versions for a price. This not only brought visitors flocking to the companies' websites, but served as advertising and, ultimately, incentive for more purchases.

As social networking sites became prevalent, distributors also discovered that these, too, created new ways to provide anime episodes to fans. Several companies, like FUNimation Entertainment in the U.S. or GDH/Gonzo in Japan, created their own branded YouTube channels.

People could watch free anime there, and be linked to the distributor website where they could buy individual episodes or whole series. Between this sort of purchase and the buying of episodes to download even to a cell phone, distributors have found new ways to profit, while giving their fans many different options.

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Finding Anime Online UK For British Fans

The anime online UK situation varies widely from year to year, almost from month to month, depending on a host of factors. For a long time, even as both manga and anime were becoming extremely popular in North America, UK audiences detected only hints of this.

Manga, the Japanese style of comic book, was rarely seen in the country until sometime in 2006, and very few anime series were broadcast. The only solution, for fans of anime, was to watch anime online. And even that wasn't easy at first, until the technology caught up with the growing demand.

There had been a few paltry anime glimmers early on, such as a few series from the long anime list penetrating into kids' television in the UK. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z did make an appearance, but all of those series except perhaps Dragon Ball Z were really tailored for a younger audience.

The only way fans who might have been interested in more complex or adult series could find out about them was through a few anime online UK websites that provided news.

Fortunately, the anime online UK answer to British fans' desire for this type of animation has become much easier to access since the demise of the Anime Central channel.

Video streaming and downloading technologies have advanced in leaps and bounds, and many distributors have now placed entire anime libraries online, on their own video portals or on dedicated channels in places like www.youtube.com or www.joost.com.

It has finally become possible for fans in the UK to watch free anime or even to download and own episodes for a fee. Internet streaming and downloading have finally given UK fans' pent-up desire for more anime a solution.

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Better Websites With Anime Reviews

Anime reviews can be found everywhere on the internet, though the quality and depth of these reviews will vary widely. You might find a fairly small site where the author covers only their favorite anime series, and this can be valuable if you have similar tastes.

But you'll probably want to visit one of the more extensive sites that review a wider range of titles and attempt a degree of objectivity. Some add details about the industry, voice actors and even merchandising, but the most interesting sites are the ones that provide expert assessments of the anime series themselves.

T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews (http://www.themanime.org/) is a prime destination for those who want to learn about individual series. Originally, under the patronage of T.H.E.M., the science fiction and fantasy social group at Arizona State University, this site now operates on its own, relying on donations and operated by many volunteers.

The website does reviews of anime series, but as many of these sites do, it also has regular contributors who cover anime conventions and other events associated with the industry.

One difference between sites for personal anime reviews and those that have sponsorships and attempt to be more professional is that the personal sites might vanish or become inactive, as the authors get too busy or become incapable of maintaining their site.

This is one reason why you should keep many review sites bookmarked for gaining anime news. Before you commit to buying anything, you'll want several different opinions anyway, so taking advantage of all these different reviews can only be beneficial.

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Looking For Your Favorite Anime Download

When people think of an anime download, they virtually always think of the sort of websites where anime episodes themselves can be downloaded onto someone's computer, cell phone or other portable viewing device.

It is true that the main purpose of such websites is to allow people to download anime episodes, whether those are free or purchased through an official online portal.

But even though acquiring actual episodes is the main type of downloading, the vast popularity of anime has given birth to several other types of electronic files that can be downloaded as well.

It's now possible to join mailing lists, either for the major distributors or even news sites, and receive notifications of the latest anime news or the release of new titles. As with so many other types of downloads, these can be sent directly to the person's portable device, or to their email account.

They can also go to news sites or online anime stores and download image files that might contain wallpapers for computer desktop backgrounds, or screen savers comprised of images from their favorite series. An anime download can contain many different types of files.

Fiction might be a different sort of anime download, though it would actually be the rarest form. Most fiction written by fans is stored on large sites created for that purpose, like www.fanfiction.net, or placed on personal blogs on sites like www.livejournal.com.

But some stories, with the author's permission, can be downloaded by their own fans. The most common form of download, though, is either a digital file of general anime information or, of course, the anime episodes themselves. This animation genre is so prolific and so interesting, that it keeps its online fans busy in countless different ways.

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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.

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The Different Styles Of Anime Series

What makes Japanese anime series different from those produced in North America? Both can be richly colorful and take great animation skills to produce. Clearly, the actual styles are different, with many people being familiar with the larger eyes and slightly exaggerated features of the characters in anime.

But apart from the often more lush visual quality of this type of animation, when you watch anime episodes you begin to discover a certain depth, both of plot and character, that you don't see nearly as often in North American animations.

This complexity isn't always visible at first glance, for some anime series. For example, in the Sailor Moon series, the main character was often very silly. Yet Sailor Moon, probably the most beloved anime girl in the world, also had moments of nobility and strength.

The plot of this anime frequently veered between rather fluffy episodes and scenarios where this character or her companions might need to make deep personal sacrifices to save the world. This is a strong feature of anime; extreme silliness in one episode followed by heart-wrenching drama in the next.

Fullmetal Alchemist is another of the anime series with lighter moments, yet the thrust of this popular title is sober and dramatic. Two young brothers must undo the results of committing a terrible taboo of alchemy, while becoming involved with saving their country from destruction at the hands of unnatural alchemical forces.

Series like this and others are among the top anime titles precisely because they know how to balance the lighter, more ridiculous moments with more complex and dramatic plot elements. This intensity and complexity sets much anime apart from other styles of animation.

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