Crunchyroll to Host Anime Innovation Tokyo Works

Japan based THINK Corp. has arranged a partnership with San Francisco based online video delivery website Crunchyroll to showcase animation works sponsored by Anime Innovation Tokyo. The Anime Innovation Tokyo initiative launched last year to provide financial and other assistance from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to aspiring independent Japanese animators.

The “Anime Innovation Tokyo” digital channel will be seeded with a variety of trailers and clips from its extensive portfolio of titles, as well as feature several social networking elements, including polls, discussion boards, group membership, and more. THINK Corporation company director Hiroaki Takeuchi said of the arrangement, “We hope that by getting early feedback and gauging preliminary reactions from the overseas market, we can gain an edge in future planning and development – and have some fun interacting with the community along the way.”

It’s a shame that they’re only offering the same trailers that have been previously available on the Anime Innovation Tokyo website instead of full length works. Some of these shorts, like Atsuya Uki’s Cencoroll and Ghibli animator Kenji Itoso’s Coluboccoro look fantastic.

It does seem highly ironic that now another Japanese anime producer – this one even having direct ties to the Japanese government – is patronizing a website that continues to pirate anime with impunity. It’s hard not to believe it’s hypocritical for the Japanese government to complain about international anime piracy while rewarding one of the parties most guilty of international anime piracy.

Source: Anime News Network