Anime News Network Releases First Streaming Anime Title
Anime News Network, the world’s largest anime web publication, has today released its first full anime video program for legal online streaming: the hit science fiction anime ‘Kite Liberator.’ The show is the first full-length anime to be distributed by Anime News Network’s new Video Player portal, which was unveiled over the summer.
Created by anime powerhouse Yasuomi Umetsu, Kite Liberator follows the life of teenager assassin Monaka, who’s a clumsy and shy girl by day and a mysterious, stealth-like killer by night. When her father, an astronaut on the International Space Station is the victim of a bizarre form of radiation poisoning, he becomes a hideous monster with lethal destructive powers. Filled with edge-of-your-seat action and tongue-in-cheek parody of established anime tropes, Kite Liberator was released on DVD in Japan and North America in March of 2008.
Kite Liberator will be available for free, with limited commercial interruption starting December 9, 2008 in both English dubbed and Japanese-with-subtitles formats.
‘We’re extremely excited to launch our new licensed anime content with Kite Liberator,’ said Anime News Network Editor-In-Chief Chris Macdonald. ‘As one of the top anime titles of 2008, Kite Liberator is a show that our viewers will be excited to check out. There will be many other shows to come.’
The Anime News Network video player offers its users free, high-quality streaming video. Subscribers to Anime News Network’s premium subscription platform get access to even higher quality video, approaching that of DVD. Licensors benefit from Anime News Network’s state-of-the-art content protection technology. The platform debuted with Anime News Network’s self-produced news magazine show ‘Anime News Network TV’ in July 2008, along with the biggest authorized collection of anime trailers on the Internet, now numbering over 400.
Kite Liberator is the first of three anime titles Anime News Network has licensed for online distribution from DVD distributor and producer Media Blasters. The other two include the twelve-part TV series ‘Girls High’ and ‘Ramen Fighter Miki.’ Both of those series will be made available in weekly installments beginning on December 15th. Both shows will be in Japanese with English subtitles.