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NicoNico to Stream BLOOD-C, Uta no Prince Sama Free in English (Update 2)
posted on by Egan Loo
Starting next month, the online video service Niconico will stream the anime series BLOOD-C and Uta no Prince Sama (Uta no Prince-sama— Maji Love 1000%) overseas, right after the first broadcast of each episode in Japan. The overseas streams will be available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Niconico.com is the English version of Nico Nico Douga, the popular Japanese website known for its user-submitted videos and live streams of events. Its signature features include scrolling comments that users can superimpose on top of videos (although the comments can be switched off by the viewer).
Niconico is working to stream more anime titles outside Japan soon.
The manga creator team CLAMP is developing the story and original character designs for BLOOD-C based on Production I.G's Blood: The Last Vampire film. Tsutomu Mizushima (xxxHOLiC) is directing the project with creative supervision by Blood: The Last Vampire planning assistant and Blood+ director Jun'ichi Fujisaku. Nana Mizuki will play the lead role of Saya Kisaragi in the planned television series and movie.
The BLOOD-C television series will premiere on July 7, and the film version will open next year.
The Uta no Prince Sama television anime adapts Broccoli's 2010 PSP romance game franchise of the same name for female players. In the slapstick romantic comedy, a girl goes to a school for the performing arts with boys who are budding idols.
Yuu Kou (Chrono Crusade, Loveless, Monochrome Factor) is directing the anime at A-1 Pictures Inc. Tomoko Konparu (Kimi ni Todoke, NANA, Nodame Cantabile) is supervising the scripts, and Mitsue Mori is adapting Chinatsu Kurahana's original game character designs for animation. The cast of the anime is the same as the cast in the games. The Uta no Prince Sama anime will premiere in Japan in July.
Niconico already announced that it is hosting live streams every day from both Anime Expo in Los Angeles and Japan Expo in Paris this weekend, similar to the live streams that it has been hosting from Sakura-Con in Seattle for a few years. It will also have a presence at Comic-Con International in San Diego later in July. At Anime Expo, Niconico is holding a stamp rally with the Japanese anime company Aniplex.
Image © 2011 Production I.G, CLAMP/Project Blood-C TV
© UTA☆PRI PROJECT
Update: Each episode will be free for one week. After that, there is a one-time subscription fee of US$0.25 for all episodes during the ongoing beta period. This US$0.25 fee for membership covers not just these two anime, but also covers all of Niconico's membership services, such as the ability to stream live from your own camera-equipped computer onto Niconico's site. The streams for the two announced anime will be English-subtitled.
Update 2: Niconico confirmed with ANN that its streams of both anime series will last longer than a week.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history