Anime Limited Presents Screen Anime, An Online Film Festival for UK & Ireland Viewers

This is pretty cool, if it's easy enough to get it on my TV I'll likely sign up anytime there's a film I'm interested in (probably sign up for Penguin Highway).
 
Exciting stuff! I’ll probably wait to sign up for when there’s something I haven’t seen/own (since I’ve got Promare on pre-order, own Penguin Highway and seen Patama), but it’s nice to see a service like this pop up. :)
 
Demelza said:
Exciting stuff! I’ll probably wait to sign up for when there’s something I haven’t seen/own (since I’ve got Promare on pre-order, own Penguin Highway and seen Patama), but it’s nice to see a service like this pop up. :)
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It’s only £4/month, just support it anyway. That’s what I’ll be doing
 
Yes with coronavirus and a recession looming I know what I would cut back on if I have to anime.,, as now this makes 5 (I count Netflix cos Dorohedro next week) services for anime no longer amazon though.
 
Wait so it's an Anime Limited subscription streaming service?
Do they even have the rights to that many?
Will the stuff currently on e4 be dropped from that? Or ever show up? (I'm looking at you SAO & Persona 5).
It'll be interesting to see what they do with this.
 
I'm currently wondering what language option(s) will be included in the titles, as I can't seem to find any information regarding that, unless I'm not looking properly.
 
Jon O Fun said:
With a yearly pass? 🤔
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Basically, Screen Anime isn't being positioned as a competitor to Crunchyroll/Funimation/etc. So the goal isn't to grow into a beefy library, but to highlight a select few titles in a similar way to Scotland Loves Anime, just every month instead of once a year. I'd say, think of it like the Nintendo Switch when CR/Funi are the PS4/XB0, I guess.

I'd be totally up for The Girl from the Otherside @Peachy. I saw it at SLA last year, and it was sublime.
 
It's confirmed that the films will be released in both Japanese and English, where available. A Twitter user (another_shiro) asked them about English dubs for the four films, and Screen Anime confirmed that if an English dub is available, they'll screen them in both subtitled and dubbed formats. This will be good for both dub fans as well as original language fans like myself.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1262682123732955138
 
Joshawott said:
Basically, Screen Anime isn't being positioned as a competitor to Crunchyroll/Funimation/etc. So the goal isn't to grow into a beefy library, but to highlight a select few titles in a similar way to Scotland Loves Anime, just every month instead of once a year. I'd say, think of it like the Nintendo Switch when CR/Funi are the PS4/XB0, I guess.
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I think the problem is the lack of info on the actual website.
Reading through the article you guys put together, physical card (ooooh), exclusive discounts at the web shop + cons, and listing the films available it's a lot of info, maybe bang that on the official site next time?
I think looking at it in a Switch and XBone/PS4 way is slightly wrong as well as looking at it as an online Film festival. It's more in line with an old school Fan Club or even a Patreon at a stretch.
Either way I'm intrigued.
 
I think, to me, the best way to describe this project is that it's basically Scotland Loves Anime, but without the travel costs and you can watch it at home with dub and sub-options available. Sure you may not have the cinema experience (unless you have a mini theater room) but this is the step in the right direction in terms of getting the newer properties available in legal form. Sure it may only be available for one month but that alone might be enough to satisfy licensors who don't want their titles out there for too long for many reasons like piracy.

If Andrew Partridge is able to, Screen Anime would make a good opportunity to present Aniplex theatrical films and Sentai theatrical licenses that would generally not get a wide screening, so for instance adding Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel III. Spring Song and Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul would, in my opinion, spark a massive interest in the festival since UK folks would have had to pirate or import the Japanese/US version otherwise. The latter would eventually land on HIDIVE but given the current situation, Screen Anime would make up for the long wait.
 
Made in Abyss was going in cinemas and I assume still will. And initially all these 4 are AL titles I don’t see them not being AL for the foreseeable future cos they have that Shinkai one. My problem is bar WWY and Promare what do AL have that I don’t already own. If they could get funimation films or Eleven art films such as Liz and the blue bird maybe but I can’t see that happening yet. These initial are all AL titles and until I see different I will assume they all will be
 
Just Passing Through said:
Seems like a successful quarantinewhile idea, but once the cinemas open up again, and social distancing is forgotten, I can see the sparkle fading quickly.
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If it serves a purpose of keeping people connected to anime film & engaging socially about it - I'll be very happy! That said - our goal isn't to replace cinemas. One of the biggest complaints I get on film comes mostly in two flavours:

1) Distance: There's nowhere screening the film near me. If you can't travel to a cinema during the run then you have to wait to legally consume the film & engage about it with friends - which is easily 4-12 months (usually more like 6-12) down the line to the next legal window.

That doesn't even include when don't have a nearby cinema that supports anime. The nearest full time cinema to me as a teenager was about an hour and a half away - it still is the closest one to where I grew up that even considers anime. Of the 15+ films I've run in the last 3 years exactly 1 screened there (Weathering With You) - for one weekday night.

2) Scheduling: Even if you do have a cinema nearby, there are countless reasons you may be busy. For every Weathering With You or Dragonball Broly which gets a more "normal" amount of runs - there are 2-4x the amount which get very limited runs due to the nature of cinema programming. Same problem again with missing your one shot to see it for the next 4-12 months there too!

###

So the point of Screen Anime is to give people a legal way to engage with exciting theatrical content and learn about some of the best in original theatrical talent out there regardless. So all our films will follow the same process as we do now. Namely where we can, we'll put them out theatrically - then Screen Anime comes next as soon after as it passes the theatrical holdback and then onwards as usual to homevideo.

Ultimately - right now there is a gap that only illegal means of viewing fill. What we're aiming for here is a way to bridge that gap and it'll evolve over time I'm sure but what I personally want to see are ways for people to affordably engage with interesting Japanese animated film in the coming months especially. Looking forward to welcoming some of your fine selves along for the ride :)!

Hope this illuminates!

Andrew
 
I can watch anime cinematic releases without haing to deal with the people at a cinema?!

Sign me up!

(Just need to get the planning permission to install an imax screen in my house somehow now...)

Real talk though:

The starting line up isn't that exciting as it's not really filling the gap between theatrical and home release, I could quite happily pop any of those films into my BD player now. I would love a service that does fill the gap between cinema and retail though, and judging by Andrew's comment above it seems like this is what they're going for.

I'd kill for a chance to see something like the latest made in abyss film, and as mentioned, my only current legal option is to wait for retail whenever that may be, we all know what I'm actually going to do to see it before then, but having a way to watch the film before I have to resort to that and being able to support it at the same time is a double win in my book.

Also, while I did trash the fact that the opening titles are already out for retail (Edit: in some form or another), it does open up an excuse to re-watch and chat about them here if folks are likely using the same excuse. I'm sure @Professor Irony will thank you for making the simulwatch selections easier.

Couple of questions that I don't really need answers to sell me on the idea, but are rattling around my head anyway:

1. Would releases on here likely beat out JP retail? I just kinda assumed when you said homevideo that you meant UK based.

2. As @thedoctor2016 mentioned, what sort of space does this occupy in terms of licencing? Is it only going to be only AL licenced titles on the service, or can you get away with more like SLA since they're only available on the service for a short time?

3. Would this make shorts more easily accessible in some way? I love me some short films, but they never really make it to most streaming services for whatever reason, and they're probably not that viable for a physical release either considering their length. Stuff like the original Cencoroll, Hotarubi no mori e or even the anime expo shorts don't quite fit anywhere in the current landscape, wondering if they'd find at least a temporary home here?

Does sound an interesting enough experiment for me to at least sign up for the first year though, to see how it goes. Fingers crossed the player/UI isn't awful!
 
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