#Get a Look at the NEW Funimation App for iOS

[immedtech]

Sony wants to turn your PS4 into an anime box after buying Funimation

Japanese animation has exploded in popularity over the past few years, thanks to increased availability on streaming services like Crunchyroll, Hulu and Amazon. It was popular enough for Funimation, which specializes in translating anime for American audiences, to launch its own service in 2016. It's no surprise that larger media companies came looking for a piece of the pie, with Sony grabbing a 95 percent majority stake in Funimation this week.

For the most part, localization companies like Funimation pay a licensing fee to an anime producer for the rights to a particular title. The company then takes whatever steps it needs to get the show ready for Western distribution, like subtitling or dubbing it in English. In the past distribution mainly meant physical media -- VHS, DVD and Blu-ray -- with a small number of shows even reaching broadcast or cable networks like Toonami and Adult Swim. But the rise in streaming services means that companies can no longer rely on moving product or selling television rights. They also need to push their content on a site like Netflix or Amazon.

Unfortunately, those services have increasingly been going directly to Japan to source their anime. After all, Funimation and its ilk are essentially middlemen, taking a cut of the potential profit. By making deals with the producers themselves, streaming sites can lower costs and sign more-favorable contracts, including exclusives and longer licensing terms.

With the bigger streamers flexing their muscles and snatching up shows at outrageous prices, niche anime providers like Crunchyroll and Daisuki have struggled to stay afloat. Crunchyroll's parent company recently expanded into other genres with its new service VRV while Daisuki will shut down completely in October. Right now Crunchyroll relies on partnerships like the one it struck for Funimation's catalog, but the deal with Sony could disrupt their mutually beneficial dynamic.

It makes a lot of sense for Funimation to sell out to Sony Pictures Television: The larger company has extensive reach and can put Funimation titles in more places. With more money at its disposal, Funimation also has a better chance of securing hot anime licenses. Popular titles often inspire crazy bidding wars. With Sony's backing, Funimation is now on more-equal footing with other streaming companies.

The sale also puts Funimation in closer contact with Aniplex, Sony's anime division. While the Funimation deal doesn't explicitly involve the production company, there's still the possibility of the two firms working together going forward. Sony executives like CFO Kenichiro Yoshida already have their eyes on leveraging that connection, using Funimation as another distribution vehicle for its content. Anyone who's ever used PlayStation Network has probably noticed how Sony films get prime positions in the PSN store; Funimation's iOS, Android, Windows and Xbox apps are a prime place to promote Sony-owned and -licensed content to gamers outside the PlayStation ecosystem.

In Sony's earnings announcement this week Yoshida referred to Funimation, Aniplex and PlayStation as part of a group, with the PS4 at the center. The PlayStation division is Sony's biggest moneymaker, but it needs strong content to stay that way. Unfortunately, the movie division is still losing cash, and PSN's first original series, Powers, failed after two seasons. Meanwhile Funimation is an entertainment brand that has proved itself over 23 years. It brings not only a fresh infusion of marketable content to the Sony ecosystem but also the tools to sell to a young, tech-savvy audience.

- Repost from: engadget Post

#ITlive #engadget #Sony wants to turn your PS4 into an anime box after buying Funimation

[alpha-copy-alpha]

Top 6 Anime Sites to Watch for Free Online Anime

Anime has now become one of the best and most popular kinds of media entertainment. It is one of the hand-drawn as well as computer animations that were derived from Japan. The anime word stands for animation in the Japanese language, and it indicates all kinds of animation, no matter the arts, are computer-generated or created manually with traditional methods such as hand-drawn animation. When the terms anime spoken outside of Japan, it rather indicates the special animation that is created in a Japanese disperse animation style that is mostly known for colorful visuals, psychedelic characters along with remarkable themes.

Now many of the youths are showing intense curiosity in the anime series and movies. In case you are also one of those who are desperately looking for free anime sites, then here are the top 6 places and websites where you can stream anime without paying a single penny. So what’s the wait? Let’s go.

1. Crunchyroll.Com

It is presently the best place to stream a plethora of anime; whether you wish to search for a particular one, Crunchyroll has got your back. There are no hard and fast rules to create an account in order to start your shows, but yes, you can create an account if you wish to track your watching activity or when you want to continue your shows next time. When a user creates a free account on it, he can easily check the history, add any series to watch later, and do many other personalization settings that are worth considering it is a completely free service.

It has some paid subscription-based services as well, and the user then can access more content, including an overabundance of categories such as shojo, seinen, and shonen. It is indeed the ultimate website for addicted anime fans.

Furthermore, the service has created its application as well for various operating systems, whether it be Android or iOS. So in case you wish to access the content right at your disposal easily, you can download and install the app right on your smartphone.

2. Funimation.Com

When it comes to competing with the Crunchyroll anime website, Funimation is another platform that stands a pretty good chance to yield Crunchyroll’s traffic. It has a pretty insane approach in the history of the anime industry. You might have heard before about it in case you are an anime fan because the service has been popular. It is best for finding the anime that you may not get somewhere else since it has an ultimate collection, and every kind of anime can found here. Moreover, the app is available for Android and iOS, as well.

3.  Hidive.Com/Free-Episodes

It is a newbie site for watching anime online for free, and it offers a great selection of the anime shows. However, the collection is too small when compared with popular channels such as Crunchyroll and Funimation. The best thing about this site is it offers a free episodes section where you can access the free anime content online using your internet browser. Hidive is not a wholly free site as once you finish all sample anime videos, you will be prompted to take its 14-day free trial, and then you will be charged 5 dollars a month.

4. Anime-Planet.Com

It is one of the best places to stream free anime anywhere and anytime. With has a collection of more than 45000 episodes, the service is wholly legal. The source of the service is Crunchyroll, but you will find the unique and fresh content on the site as well. Its center of attention is offering recommendations based content to its users, and it is one of the most apparent reasons for its popularity.  

5. Gogoanime

In case the services mentioned above aren’t satisfying you, then give Gogoanime a shot since it is also one of the best services when it comes to stream anime for free. The service is also pretty famous and has a great standing before anime fans.

6. Chiaanime

Last but not least, Chiaanime is also a great site to grab your favorite buzzing anime characters. In case you can’t access the above-listed sites for a reason or another, just try it. Chiaanime won’t let you down, no matter what kind of categories you are looking for.

Wilder Zayn  is a self-professed security expert; he has been making the people aware of the security threats. His passion is to write about Cyber security, cryptography, malware, social engineering, internet and new media. He writes for Mcafee security products at mcafee.com/activate.

source: Top Anime Sites to Watch for Free

#Top Anime Sites to Watch for Free #mcafee.com/activate #www.mcafee.com/activate

[deliciouslydecaffeinatedcup-blog]

Hoping to observe more anime, yet not certain where to think that its on the web? Look no further. These four sites make anime more open to the overall population than any time in recent memory — and they're totally lawful! Three out of the four are even free.

Anime, Japanese energized TV shows and motion pictures, has detonated in prevalence as of late, and an ever increasing number of individuals outside of Japan are finding this great combination of narrating, craftsmanship, music, and activity.

A couple of years back, we surveyed a portion of the best anime locales on the Web, yet circumstances are different and you would now be able to discover a great deal of anime through these magnificent standard sources.

The Best Anime Sites On The Web

The Best Anime Sites On The Web

Read More

CrunchyRoll

CrunchyRoll is at present the leader of lawfully gushing anime. You can watch recordings without a record, or make a free record to monitor what you've seen and add new shows to your line. CrunchyRoll offers paid participation designs other than the essential free alternative.

CrunchyRoll-Web

They have a magnificent choice of shows from One Piece to Sword Art Online, despite the fact that it is feeling the loss of some enormous names like Fullmetal Alchemist. In any case, this ought to be your first stop when looking for anime.

CrunchyRoll additionally has manga, the funnies that huge numbers of the animes depend on, and a decent measure of Asian shows and Asian popular music recordings. Alongside a news area, discussions, and a store, the entire site is only a great group for anybody intrigued by any type of Asian media.

CrunchyRoll-Android-1

They've an iOS application and an Android application that are accessible for nothing , and the applications, while very negligible, unquestionably take care of business.

CrunchyRoll additionally has different gadgets very much secured. Moving up to the $6.95 every month anime enrollment design will dispose of the video advertisements, permit spilling on every single accessible gadget including amusement consoles, Roku, and Apple TV. You'll likewise get quick email bolster, rebates at the store, access to full HD streams, and have the capacity to see demonstrates that day they're circulated in Japan. They additionally have a $11.95 every month arrange for that gives you access to all the manga and Asian dramatizations on their site too. Look at their enrollment designs and sink into 12,000 hours of anime, Korean show and real to life titles they guarantee.

Netflix

Netflix is the main alternative on this rundown without a free form, however Netflix is justified regardless of the $7.99 a month for moment gushing. My most loved part about watching anime on Netflix is that you can switch consistently between viewing with Japanese sound and English subtitles to watching the named rendition with English sound. Named or subbed? You choose.

Netflix-Web

Discovering anime on the site is as straightforward as tapping on Watch Instantly and after that tapping on Anime. While Netflix's determination is entirely great, it likewise does not have some huge names like One Piece. Be that as it may, a Netflix membership supplemented with a portion of alternate administrations on this rundown make for an entirely total anime gathering.

Netflix-App-1

It has a strong Web rendition and Windows 8 application (read our survey of the two Netflix devices), and in addition applications for iOS (our audit), Android and even amusement consoles and shrewd TVs. The Android and Windows 8 applications have been smooth and snappy as far as I can tell, and Netflix completes an incredible activity of isolating shows into pertinent classifications and afterward prescribing comparable ones to you.

Netflix Showdown: Windows 8 Modern App Vs. Work area Version

Netflix Showdown: Windows 8 Modern App Vs. Work area Version Netflix is an incredible administration, however clients on Windows 8 have different choices for getting a charge out of it. Would it be advisable for you to run with the cutting edge styled Windows 8 application, or the work area variant open in the program?

Read More

Hulu

A standout amongst other alternatives for staring at the TV on the web, Hulu likewise ought to get some kudos for having an extensive variety of anime content. Like CrunchyRoll, you can either watch appears without a record or make a free record for following what you've seen.

Hulu Plus versus iTunes versus Netflix versus Amazon Instant Video: Which Is Best?

Hulu Plus versus iTunes versus Netflix versus Amazon Instant Video: Which Is Best? Hulu. iTunes. Netflix. Amazon Instant Video. The backbone of online film and TV. The new influx of home media. The suppliers of interminable amusement in which pants are not really required. They are the contenders...

Read More

Hulu-Web

You can discover anime from the primary page by clicking More and after that clicking Anime. Since I more often than not like to watch named appears rather than subbed appears (sorry), I discover Hulu a touch of lacking on the grounds that it isolates named appears from subbed appears and has a considerably bigger subbed choice. All things considered, there general gathering is gigantic and changed in numerous kinds, so you should investigate.

https://androidcurry.com/anime-flv-apk/

Hulu-sub-name

The paid form, Hulu Plus, will set you back $7.99, and keeping in mind that it doesn't evacuate advertisements, it gives you access to more substance, enables you to stream in HD, and enables you to utilize Hulu Plus on your cell phones, diversion reassure, or keen TV.

Hulu is formally just accessible in the US, yet don't stress, there are some simple approaches to get to district blocked media.

VPNs Are Old: Better Ways to Access Region-Blocked Video

VPNs Are Old: Better Ways to Access Region-Blocked Video Internet clients outside of the United States are hindered from getting to the abundance of gushing video and music content accessible to Americans. Indeed, even Americans are denied of worldwide administrations like BBC iPlayer. Looked with this,...

Read More

YouTube

Discovering anime on YouTube can be somewhat trickier, yet it's certainly out there. YouTube has an Animated TV Shows segment, with some anime, yet this additionally blends in a considerable measure of American kid's shows and children appears.

In any case, there are authentic transfers to be found. Daisuki has posted every one of the 25 scenes of Sword Art Online on YouTube, and Funimation has transferred both Fullmetal Alchemist and its change that stays more genuine to the manga, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. You can look at Daisuki and Funimation's channels for more anime from them, however your speediest method for discovering anime on YouTube is with a straightforward hunt.

YouTube-Funimation

YouTube doesn't have a significant number of the upsides of alternate administrations, similar to a group worked around Asian media or consistency with subtitles, however it is free and broadly known and utilized. On the off chance that an anime you'd get a kick out of the chance to watch can't be found on any of the administrations specified previously, attempt YouTube.

Conclusion

On the off chance that you adore anime that much, you'll unquestionably be keen on the manga that has motivated them, and we've secured a couple of the best locales to peruse manga online too. Also that Tumblr has a couple of good online journals you ought to take after for some anime-and manga-motivated cosplaying.

The 5 Best Sites to Read Manga Online

The 5 Best Sites to Read Manga Online Manga is a Japanese style of comic books that has turned out to be a major hit the world over. So for fans all around, here are the most ideal approaches to peruse manga on the web.

Read More

What is your most loved method for watching anime on the web? Do these administrations fit your needs, or improve? Tell us in the remarks.

[animeushi]

Many amazing companies attended Anime Expo 2017 this year. One such company that made huge headway in America this year was Lezhin Comics, a Korean webtoon distribution company.  I had the privilege to sit down with James Kim, president of the American branch, and talk about the company and what makes it so successful.

Charlotte: So for starters, could you please tell us who you are and your role in the company?

Kim: Certainly. My name is James Kim, President of Lezhin Entertainment LLC, the English operations side of Lezhin Comics. It’s our first time exhibiting here a Anime Expo. Lezhin Comics is a digital webtoon service optomized for cel phones available on IOS and Android and also available on the web. They are digital comics, and not in the traditional US comics but the digital webtoon, vertical scroll format. We launched in December 2015 and in a little under two years we did see it grow rapidly and saw a lot of fan requests that we come and exhibit. And we listened.

Right now, we have more than 100 comics translated in English. Some of them however are originally written in English to start with so we have even started to import them back into South Korea as well. So we are growing and are pushing out one to two webtoon titles per week so the library is growing very fast.

Charlotte: I am actually an avid follower of Lezhin for at least a year now. I absolutely love the content you put out.

Kim: Oh wow, thank you!

Charlotte: On top of that you guys have a huge fan base here in America and I guess it would be silly to ask why you decided to distribute here but who essentially made that ultimate decision? I feel that we don’t have that luxury of a webtoon subscription service besides Webtoon themselves.  What I am really getting at is Lezhin distributes a lot of hentai and Boys Love and there’s really nothing here for those genres except maybe Fakku! but even then, the Boys Love and yaoi are very scarce legally.

Kim: I guess it was always looking at where the demand was at even before we started out. There were already a lot of our comics being translated by the fans and it was massive. We were surprised like, ‘Wow! So many of our titles are already out there. So the demand is clearly there, why don’t we just jump in and provide the fans what THEY want. So that was a huge reason why we wanted to push the brand out in English. And as you said, when we first launched, we were very small, only having I think 10 titles but now we have over 100 titles.

Back then, it wasn’t this much focused on Boys Love. Right now it’s about 50% but that was also following the same guiding philosophy: seeing where the demand is, what people clamor towards, what is the niche. And definitely what is the demand that is not being met as you just mentioned. We started toying around with the idea of pushing out one title and saying, “Yeah, this is good”, then two and then three then came Blood Bank, Out of Control and then Killing Stalking.

So that is kind of how it happened. I think that will remain our guiding philosophy. We as a webtoon platform, have almost every genre you can think of with different lengths, different pacing and I think that is one of the unique points of the webtoon. It’s experimental. Also with that philosophy, I think we will continue to experiment and see where those demands go and evolve as a platform.

  Charlotte: There are a lot of different series that are on the Korean site that are not in the American one. Is Lezhin planning on publishing all or the majority into English as well?

Kim: Again this follows the same guiding philosophy. One of the things that we do do is look at the new releases that we put out in Korean and see which ones get an immediate following and  if culturally there is something that can mesh with the US audience the we [SNAP] push that out very quickly. In South Korea we have physically hundreds of series so it will take time to bring out them all but we try to push out as much as we can.

Charlotte: Makes sense and quite awesome you you guys. You certainly love your fans and you are very interactive with them but what we did notice, and this is also a question from a reader, why don’t you have a community or forum on your app itself like Webtoon or Tapas?

Kim: Ah yes. Well, we did this for the creators and I guess every culture has it’s own breed of “internet trolls” and what we did find trhat a lot of our creators had suffered a lot of psychological stress from that type of “culture”. And as much as they have the fans who are always there for them, to support and protect them, it can be painful, too.

Charlotte: Yeah I can imagine. I have seen what people say about certain series and creators.

Kim: And we said, “Yeah, we know that there are the pros of having something and the fans can mingle there, too, but we didn’t want our creators getting hurt at all so it was a very calculated decision to not have something like that. We knew it was something that fans would enjoy less but we ultimately did this for the creators.

So you have realized that we don’t have any ads on the site, right?

Charlotte: I’ve noticed but never questioned it.

Kim: Right, and we are getting inquiries all the time to advertise but we really want to help the readers hone in on the experience on reading JUST the webtoon without ads. It’s all about the experience.

Charlotte: That’s really nice.

Charlotte: Back on the subject of Tapas and Webtoon, Lezhin seems to to more popular, at least to me. What sets you apart from other webtoon or comic book apps and subscription services?

Kim: Well one thing you said is we place emphasis on the readers and we try to listen to them and try to bring out more titles and genres that they want. We have Killing Stalking. Some of it is more mature but we still try to maintain the variety as well to increase that reach.

Charlotte: So, this is kind of the elephant in the room question: how are you handling the illegal translations online?

Kim: Well actually I get this question A LOT. So actually we are working with legal partners to try and minimize the damage to our brand. We are taking actions but I guess we ask ourselves internally, “Would it ever be possible to eliminate this type of culture altogether? ” We don’t think so.  I think it is here to stay in one form or another but we believe that if we are top notch and continue to provide the fans what they want, and quickly, and try to show them that this is the real deal. We also have found that on social media that types of readers who act as our brand defenders and say things like, “Hey guys please support the creators” and the like. We find that dual action to be proactive.

Charlotte: You guys are very adamant on supporting your creators and making sure that their work gets out there. How does one actually publish on Lezhin?

Kim: Well there are a few ways. We receive submissions 24/7  365 days a year. But, apart from that we run the World Comic Event which is a contest on Lezhin Comics.

Charlotte: Yeah I’ve seen that prize money!

Kim: [LAUGHS] The Grand Prize money is $100,000 and that money is used to publish locally in the United States, South Korea and Japan. And we do that annually so you will see another one comic up towards the end of the year. Anyone can enter regardless of nationality, occupation, experience in the industry, genre, style. Anything goes as long as it is in scroll format. Just submit two episodes and we’ll review it. That’s been a huge way in publishing content. Our featured title, Killing Stalking was last year’s Grand Prize winner.

Charlotte: What would you say is the ratio on where these submissions come from?

Kim: So buy and large, a huge portion comes from South Korea but we are seeing the global amount of entries increasing. So we hope to be pleasantly surprised by the number of US entries.

Charlotte: Everything is amazing so far. I have one last question: Does Lezhin Comics have any plans to publish physical copies of these comics?

Kim: I can’t say anything concretely, but we are looking into various opportunities. That’s all I can say.

Charlotte: Hmmm. Okay. Well that sounds awesome.

Kim: Also what I can say is that if there are any companies who are interested in co-publishing opportunities, we are also interested.

Charlotte: Well the company escapes me right now but I do know that there is an Italian company who is publishing a physical copy of Killing Stalking–

Kim: It’s J-POP. It comes out next year. They did a marvelous job. We are really pumped and thrilled.

Charlotte: Koogi is certainly popular. I mean, even as we do this interview, she is signing so many posters for a line of fans that wraps around the hall. I did have ONE LAST question about what your most popular title is but… I think we can hazard a guess of what that title might be. Could it be Killing Stalking or Blood Bank considering these two huge fan bases are ALL OVER the internet.

Kim: Oh yeah, definitely. They are our key titles and that is why we invited the creators here for four days of signings. So yeah I would have to say Killing Stalking is our most popular title right now.

Charlotte: So to wrap up, how is it at your first Anime Expo? Your booth has not been empty this whole weekend.

Kim: We are exhilarated and frankly we are quite surprised and we are thrilled to be here. As soon as the floor opened on Day 1, there was a rush towards the booth and we cannot thank the fans enough for their support. And to add, we will be here next year with more surprises, double booth space and triple the content.

Charlotte: Nice! Maybe you guys can opt for a booth up front with Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Kim: Uh, well we will be getting a bigger booth but nothing like that just yet. [LAUGHS]

Charlotte: Well that is about all I have. Thank you very much for talking with me today and I hope you have an amazing Expo!

Kim: Thank you for joining us today.

Lezhin Comics Interview with President James Kim Many amazing companies attended Anime Expo 2017 this year. One such company that made huge headway in America this year was Lezhin Comics, a Korean webtoon distribution company.