US anime industry moving into online digital distro.

With more people than ever making use of high-speed, broadband internet connections, the anime industry is gradually catching up with the digital revolution by increasingly introducing legal, pay-to-download services.

The latest US companies to jump on the bandwagon are FUNimation and Manga Entertainment. Specifically FUNimation have hooked up with iTunes to offer (dubbed-only, 640×360 pixels / 16×9 wide screen and DRM protected) episodes of Desert Punk, Samurai 7 and Speed Grapher, while Manga Entertainment will be working with Bit Torrent enthusiasts Azureus and their new (currently in development) Zudeo software to release the likes of Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll over the web.

It’s worth noting that all of the above is relevant only to US residents, though should these tentative steps into the realm of online digital distribution prove successful, it would be fair to assume such a system could eventually role out in the UK too.