Now here we go, finally some news that piqued my interest. On August 6th it was announced that several Japanese anime studios have come together to create a new way to deliver anime to the west through a YouTube channel known as AnimeLog or AniLog. According to YouTube it was actually created on the 12th, and a trailer was uploaded on that same day. I’ve got three points I want to discuss here but I’ll post the trailer and the channel’s description first for context.
Description:
Animelog or Anilog was launched with studios Toei Animation, Kodansha, Nippon Animation, Tezuka Productions, Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, and Shinei Animation providing anime titles for the initiative.
This aims to post free content for fans to watch with official subtitles so they aren’t forced to torrent episodes.
1. Free, You Said?
Okay, so let's get into it. Apparently the goal is to put anime on this channel for free and with official subtitles for other languages, English of course being included. Right now there is nothing uploaded besides the trailers that is accessible to Westerners. I’ve seen reports that a couple of older anime are available right now for Japanese people and I went to the Japanese channel to verify. I can’t view them because of my region but they DO in fact appear to be on the channel. The point is that these anime are supposed to be completely free and a high quality viewing experience rather than seeing 500 “want to bang SAKURA right NOW??? CLICK HERE” ads that illegal sites always have. After all, the description even makes the point that they don’t want us torrenting episodes and would seemingly rather us watch direct from the source. This is all very epic.
2. Begone, Censorship
A big reported point for the studios seems to be to stop the censoring of content. As we all know, depending on who gets the license in America the end product can end up being ridiculously different from the original production. Think 4kids! and Yu-gi-oh. If you slap part of the Japanese from the channel’s about page into Google Translate, you get this:
＜視聴者の皆様へ＞
一部の作品におきましては、表現的に不適切と思われる個所がございます。
しかし、作品が発表された当時の時代背景と作品の歴史的価値を尊重し、また差別的な意図をまったく持っていないことなどを踏まえ、当時のまま配信しております。
何卒ご理解を賜りますようお願い申し上げます。
Some of the works may be inappropriate in terms of expression.
However, we respect the historical background of the work at the time it was announced and the historical value of the work, and we have no discriminatory intention at all, so we are delivering it as it was.
We appreciate your understanding.
The main takeaway is to expect the work to be delivered in its original form.
3. Wait, what anime?
The biggest point of confusion surrounding the announcement seems to be what anime will be offered. I’ve seen many articles claiming that this will be aimed at families and older audiences who enjoy the classic shit. There’s definitely some credibility to this as Astroboy is plastered on the Japanese channel banner alongside some other older titles. At the same time though, the English channel trailers and subsequent videos seem to blow that theory out of the water... One Piece, Demon Slayer, Fate, Attack On Titan, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Kill La Kill, Noragami, Digimon (2020), Vinland Saga, Hunter X Hunter, Megalo Box, Full Metal Alchemist, Inyuasha, okay fuck I’m tired of typing. A lot more anime were shown that I didn’t even recognize but that covers a good mix. Old anime, new anime, somewhere in between, they all seem to be planned for release. Only time will tell what actually becomes available and how quickly it does but there certainly are a ton of big names in the lineup.
I never count my dicks before they cum, so I strongly advise everyone to keep their hype meter in check. That being said, I’m willing to be optimistic and state that IF this massive collaboration proceeds as planned (3000 anime planned to be uploaded by 2022) this may change the way we watch anime forever. I will watch its career with great interest. Are you checking out AniLog? Do you think this collaboration will succeed? Put your wallet away, and leave a comment below!
**Note: The reason it's so hard to get accurate information about this project is because people immediately started creating fake accounts and pretending to be AniLog to upload anime and get views. Some of the information in this article may be slightly off as I realized this late, however I'm confident that the vast majority of information is accurate. AniLog has stated that they are working to attain verification so it's easier to find their TRUE channels (both English and Japanese). Regardless, I'm under the impression that the trailer linked in this article is to their official English channel but I will change it if it's discovered to be a fake.
