Animax Asia is set to make the world’s first same-time simulcast of an anime TV series with “Tears to Tiara”, premiering on April 6th simultaneously (same day, same time) to the series’ 1.35am (Tokyo) debut in Japan [more on Animax]
With the ease of file sharing (torrents etc.) over the internet, lots of the anime fans won’t bother to wait until the shows are aired legitimately in their local TV channels, but chose to download it online despite the possible legal issues.
Simulcasting is not a new thing; set aside live event telecast, simulcast of TV programs probably popularised a decade ago by the reality show craze (“Survivor”, “Amazing Race” and “Idols” etc) where it’s vital that oversea viewers could watch the shows almost the same time with the original broadcast.
The anime industry has only been testing the idea for the past couple of years though; and Animax’s statement that ToT is the first same-time anime simulcast should be a valid claim, as most of the simulcast anime (and the reality shows) are aired on the same day, but a few hours late.
Tears to Tiara is an anime series adapted from a role playing game, about a young girl’s adventure with a ‘demon king’ that she released from a 1000-year-old seal.
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if they are serious with simulcast, they need to do it more frequent. no need to be same time with japan lah, a week of delay is still acceptable.
illegal download is a plague now, it can’t be stop, not by force. last year some companies are suing singapore downloaders, and the anime/drama fans is so angry about the singapore anime distributor for starting the lawsuit at the beginning. if we have better option, like cheaper dvd and regular simulcast, maybe things can change.
Downloading has probably become a habit for some; there are people who have their PC switching on 24/7 to download the latest anime and drama series, but don’t (or couldn’t) really watch most of them because of time constraint… sometimes it’s like downloading for the sake of downloading.
The internet has changed how the world operates in every field, and the entertainment world is not exempted from it. Unfortunately though, as most industries are benefiting from the net, entertainment industry seems to be moving to another direction…
As you mentioned illegal downloading is almost unstoppable now; the entertainment companies need to reinvent themselves to survive the market, or perhaps innovative enough to embrace the change and make a better future from the net.
i think their press release is missleading. they didnt mentioned clearly that its going to be a simulcast series or not, from their tv promotion it sounds like its going to be a simulcast premiere only but the series is delayed for a week??
I think the one week delay is for another anime, the Full Metal Alchemist? The press release from Animax does seem a bit vague… from my interpretation, ToT’s simulcast is for the whole series and not just the premier.
i have no idea how prevalent anime downloads are in malaysia, but i do know that malaysian subbing voice actors appear to have changed their “diet” from sushi to hamburgers. let’s see if you can search these phrases “kami tak besar dan kami tak kuat; bila bekerjasama semua jadi mudah” and “ketika makhluk asing datang nak mendekatnya, melekat alat di lengan hingga tak terpisah”…
yep, it seems that american cartoons are the new rice bowl of malaysian dubbers. i think i discussed this before in your blog when i responded to an aspiring malaysian seiyuu about the going-ons of the dubbing scene as i see it. perhaps american cartoons are much more stable in biz cos the distributors have extremely stringent, round the world, round the clock copyright controls…they don’t seem to be perturbed by the chances of their cartoons being pirated online even if it’d be half a year from the US premiere before it reaches our shores.
i also think anime could be more vulnerable cos of what has been remarked as increasingly adult content, erotica, complicated storylines and such till not every japanese kid can relate to the anime itself, don’t even get me into foreign kids. i begin 2 wonder what japanese kids prefer overall these days, are they skewed towards local anime or imported toons…yet i can’t find the relevant research papers
It’s difficult to say how prevalent illegal anime download is in Malaysia, but it’s probably common enough to be a concern.
I think Hamburger has always been more important than Sushi for the past few decades. The Japanese cartoons that we used to have are like Doraemons, Pokemon etc… which aren’t really affected by the current trend; on the other hand our local channels rarely bring in the latest animes anyway… so, I think the market is more and less still the same.
Great to see some of our local productions coming up though; I think there’s a long term future for Malaysians who work in this industry.
Lots of the Japanese animes are not targetting kids to begin with; erotica or not, lots of the shows are too complicated for kids as you mentioned. In fact lots of the anime timeslots are set at midnight in Japan (hint: article above)… not sure what Japanese kids usually watch on TV these days, Doraemon or Chibi Maruko perhaps? :)
oh yeah, why haven’t i thought of that – locally-made cartoons are giving a strong fight for the TVR on local kids’ tv, though for some titles the animation quality leaves much to be desired. upin & ipin rawx!
pop quiz!: i gave two malay lyrics in quotes in post #5. do u know where they come from?
hmmm… you already gave the answer above the question?
ok u know they’re american cartoons…i expected u give as the answer the titles of those cartoons in particular :P
Ehh… can’t recall. I’m not the type who remembers movie/drama/whatever scripts well, pretty bad at it actually lol.
ok i’ll give u da answers. very the popular wan.
1. “kami tak besar dan kami tak kuat; bila bekerjasama semua jadi mudah” – wonder pets. very catchy theme song. almost any malay guy in cyberspace knows this song, i guess
2. “ketika makhluk asing datang nak mendekatnya, melekat alat di lengan hingga tak terpisah” – ben 10. hit among young boys, i guess it kicked naruto’s @#$ kaw-kaw cos of the latter’s time-wasting filler eps :P
Ehh… I think I am getting old :p
Hi. I recently have a contest on “Anime Look -A-Like ” I am a girl. Would you be able to recommend a character for me.
SO, ppl in america and europe can waste their shitty time downloading. India has long suffered lack of quality anime. Now things will change. The simulcast is awesome. HD quality with eng subs. the only problem is that due to time difference between japan and india, the shows air late at nighr , someting like 1.35 am.
we never get anything like this in australia.
It’s a matter of time. Animax has set foot in Australia, probably will taken another year or two for them to launch their 24 hour network there.