Spring 2010 Simulcast Overview
We're now well into the Spring anime season in Japan, with nearly all the new shows having begun already. Unfortunately, the amount of officially simulcasted new series for international viewers can be counted on one hand. A far less number than the amount of simulcasts we were getting last Spring season. The first announcement actually came from the Anime Network, who announced their first ever simulcast anime series to be "Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao." The series streams the same day it airs in Japan, & is viewable to anyone who signs up for a free registered account- in HD, no less!
After the Anime Network made their announcement, all eyes turned to Crunchyroll to see how many series they'd be simulcasting this season. Things were already looking bad when two of their longest running titles- Shugo Chara & Gintama- were both ending in March after hundreds of episodes. The Shugo Chara one wasn't a surprise, as it was known that the third season would be shorter than the previous ones & that the original manga had come to an end. But the Gintama news was quite surprising. Series director Yoichi Fujita actually announced at a Gintama event last month that "Gintama is absolutely not over. It hasn't even begun yet! It will definitely return." He said that once more manga material gets published, it'll allow them to have more material to work with & they'll most likely get back to making new episodes. For now though, no more episodes are airing.
In terms of returning shows though, Naruto Shippuden, Fairy Tail, Reborn, Kaasan- Mom's Life, Yumeiro Patissiere, & Durarara all move forward with new simulcasted episodes each week. & depsite the fact Crunchyroll is still claiming they're streaming more than 50% of anime airing in Japan, they were only listing six new shows to be added to their site. The first was Stan Lee's Heroman, which admittedly is pretty cool. But it's pretty much downhill after that.
The next was Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao... yes, the same series that Anime Network was already simulcasting. Though with Crunchyroll in order to watch it for free you have to wait a week after the episodes air. & you don't get it in HD. But a point for Crunchyroll is that you don't have to sign up for an account to watch it! The third series is the yaoi series Uraboku. Not only does the fact that it's a boys-love story make it less appealing to many anime fans, but since it's a Kadokawa series that means all the episodes will be removed 30 days after the series completes. The fourth & so far final simulcast is the third season of Koihime, Shin Koihime Musou- Otome Tairan. Considering Crunchyroll already has the first two seasons, the only thing surprising about that one was how long it took them to officially announce it.
& yeah, so far that's it. We dropped from six simulcasts to four somehow. Crunchyroll is listing one more series as TBD, & who knows, maybe it'll turn into two again. But it's also possible that the sixth series wasn't a true simulcast at all since they also announced that CR is now streaming the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. They had originally listed it as one of their simulcasts, but have since redacted that & list it as a catalog title. The first four chronological episodes are up right now, & the rest of season one will follow shortly. Season 2 will also be added later this year, along with the two Internet series Haruhi-chan & Churuya-san. It's nice that we'll finally be getting official subs of season 2 after Kadokawa's short-lived attempt at it. & having access to the two Internet series again is really awesome as well. & who knows, maybe they'll get the movie as well! Still though, these aren't simulcasts & shouldn't have been listed as ones.
So who knows when we might be getting more simulcast announcements, or even how many it might be. One? Two? Maybe more? Maybe zero? The only series left to start this season in Japan are the two noitaminA series, & Crunchyroll has never simulcasted a noitaminA series in the past. I would be surprised though if the current Anime no Chikara series "Senko no Night Raid" doesn't get simulcasted, considering they got Soranowoto last season. We'll have to wait & see, though.
Sources: http://www.crunchyroll.com/lineup
http://www.theanimenetwork.com/myblog/181-Straight-from-the-Rising-Sun-Anime-Network-to-Simulcast-Ichiban-Ushiro-no-Daimao