Japan's First Anime Information Site for Overseas Fans “ANIME NOW!”

The Tokyo-based Anime Consortium Japan Inc. will begin offering anime-related information to overseas fans through their “ANIME NOW!” website (http://www.anime-now.com/), starting on June 22 (Wed). This website is the first of its kind, providing information about Japanese anime straight from Japan to fans overseas, and is expected to attract over one million active monthly users with various services.
[Anime Consortium Japan Inc. is located in Tokyo's Minato-ku, CEO Shin Unozawa.]

Service summary

Video streaming services are becoming more prevalent throughout the world, with Japanese animation in particular being highly acclaimed for its high quality artwork and complex world settings. In spite of the huge following anime receives on a global scale, there has never been a site that actively distributes the information fans are hungry for in their own languages, straight from Japan. ANIME NOW! will utilize the affinity that anime fans share with the Internet to provide various types of anime-related information in English, bringing them news hot off the presses as if they were living in Japan. In addition, ANIME NOW! will guide fans to legitimate streaming services in their own countries, to protect works of anime from the distribution on illegal websites.

■ Service details

• Quickly provide the latest anime information
  Basic information such as summaries, cast member details, etc., will be provided in English for the anime being shown in Japan. Also, information about legitimate animation streaming sites will be provided for each show.
  
• Provide Japan-exclusive information from producers, production sites, etc.
  With the rising popularity of Japanese anime, demand has risen for information about the creators from the production sites, the producers, etc. ANIME NOW! will take advantage of its Tokyo locale to write stories on the anime production sites and creators, etc., to provide behind-the-scenes information to fans. This will also popularize the creators and increase the value of their works.
  
• The White List
  There are many illegal sites in other countries, which stream pirated versions of anime, and a lot of viewers don't realize these sites are illegal. The total damages are estimated to be in the range of 300 billion yen (roughly 2.8 billion USD) (according to the Content Overseas Distribution Association, 2014).
  Therefore, ANIME NOW! will feature a “White List” of legitimate distribution sites for fans, along with information that will helping them to determine what is legitimate and what is illegal. This will improve fan literacy on such issues, put a stop to missed business opportunities, and will contribute to the elimination of illegal websites in an effort to preserve Japan's unique subculture of anime.

As with movies and games, the value of Japan's animation culture is rising annually on a global scale. ANIME NOW! will also function as a venue for promotions and information that transcends national borders, contributing to the expansion of business opportunities related to subcultural exchanges and anime.


<TOP Message> Shin Unozawa
ANIME NOW! is a Tokyo-based provider of Japanese anime information to fans around the world.
Its purpose is to spread basic and behind-the-scenes information about anime on a global scale, which would otherwise be easily obtained exclusively by fans in Japan.
The site will offer various articles that are of interest to viewers of Japanese animation, allowing worldwide fans to transcend national, cultural, and linguistic borders. This is something you don't want to miss!



[About Anime Consortium Japan Inc.】
Anime Consortium Japan (ACJ) offers the simultaneous streaming of new anime shows in Japan (distributed in a format that disregards the Japanese time difference), as well as past titles in multiple languages through their website "DAISUKI.net". The website also sells anime-related and digital content to worldwide fans. Thanks to support from the Cool Japan Fund Inc., ACJ is now making efforts to spread Japan's animation culture and increase the number of anime fans across the globe.

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