News

NicoNico to Stream BLOOD-C, Uta no Prince Sama Free in English (Update 2)

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 Nico Nico Douga, the popular Japanese website known for its -submitted videos and live streams of events. Its signature features include scrolling comments that s 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 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 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.

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 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 hip covers not just these two anime, but also covers all of Niconico's hip 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.