Otaku no Podcast » streaming

Cool Find: How to register at Nico Nico Douga

Donald Burr — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:24:51 +0000

Nico Nico Douga is a sort of Japanese YouTube, and is one of the most popular video sharing sites in Japan. It’s a hotbed of otaku-related video sharing activity, and you can often find fun fan-made anime- or video game-related video content on it. (There’s tons of other weird, wild and wacky Japan-related video content on there as well, of course.) One unique feature that NND has over other similar sites is that when a user comments on a video, rather than the comments appearing as one long list below the video, comments are instead overlaid directly on top of the video, and furthermore can be synced to a particular time in the video. The whole effect is rather akin to VH1’s Pop Up Videos.

While the website is in Japanese, it isn’t really that difficult to find and view videos. (“see shiny looking video thumbnail? click on it.”) Registering for the site is another matter entirely, and unless you have a fairly good grasp of the Japanese writing system, you’re out of luck. Until now, that is. This excellent video from the folks over at Ichiro-Style (a site that I honestly hadn’t heard of until today) shows you the step-by-step procedure for registering, including translations of all the prompts. Wonderful!

So why not head over to Nico Nico Douga today and try it out for yourself? Registration is free (there are paid Premium accounts that give you certain unknown added benefits, but registering for one of those requires a Japanese credit card). All you need is a working e-mail address where you can receive the validation e-mail. Of course, if you’re afraid of spam or whatnot, you don’t have to use your regular e-mail address; you can always set up a free Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or heck, even a Hotmail account.

Crunchyroll for iPad: It’s Here!

Donald Burr — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:06:30 +0000

A while ago I wrote about the (then new) Crunchyroll app for the iPhone and iPod touch, with a note saying that they were working on an iPad app that would be out soon.

Well great news – the Crunchyroll app for the iPad is finally here!

This one kinda slipped in under my radar, mostly because I’ve been busy with other things, but also because, rather than updating the already-existing iPhone app to add iPad support (which I would have noticed – I’m pretty obsessive about checking my apps for updates), they chose to release a completely separate app for the iPad (it’s impossible to keep up to date with the latest and greatest app submissions).

And what an app it is. Video looks beautiful, and scrolling through the large movie poster-style thumbnails of the various shows is fun. Unfortunately the app is still plagued with smaller-than-ideal subtitle size, but they are working on it.

The app, like their iPhone app, is of course free. Go grab your copy today!

Crunchyroll app now available in Boxee

Donald Burr — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:09:30 +0000

Boxee is one of my favorite media center applications. Available for the Mac, Windows, Linux, and AppleTV, Boxee presents an excellent “10-foot interface” ideal for use on a Media Center computer – that is, a computer hooked up to a large-screen TV, projector, etc. It makes it really easy to watch/listen to your movies, TV shows, photos, and music, both from your computer/local area network as well as from various sources online (TV networks that stream their own content, Hulu, Netflix, etc.). It also brings a unique social aspect to your media consumption – you can follow other Boxee users and see what they’ve been watching and what they recommend.

Even if you don’t have a Media Center PC, Boxee might still be a good program to have, since it can automatically retrieve metadata on your video files (album/cover art, titles, actors/directors/etc.) and will organize your movies and TV shows (TV shows organized by season and episode number, etc.). It can also decode practically every video, audio, and image format under the sun.

Well, this must have happened sometime a while ago, as I haven’t been paying much attention to Boxee. Recently they released a new beta (now freely available to anyone who signs up at the Boxee website – their beta used to be invite-only but is now open to the public). And when I went into the Boxee App Catalog, I discovered to my delight that everyone’s favorite streaming anime site Crunchyroll is now easily watchable through Boxee – a Crunchyroll app is now available in the Boxee app catalog!! You can watch any of the publicly-available streams, or, if you have one, you can log in to your Crunchyroll account to watch any of the non-free videos you have access to – including HD streams!

Want to get in on the action? Head on over to the Boxee website to sign up for a free account and download the free Boxee software. Then, from within Boxee, go to the App catalog (the “Apps” icon, duh) and download the (also free) Crunchyroll app!

BTW, if you are a Boxee user, please feel free to follow me – I’m “dburr” on Boxee.

Mobile Suit Gundam now streaming for free on Crunchyroll!

Donald Burr — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:15:32 +0000

Attention Gundam fans! In honor of the impending Mobile Suit Gundam UC (Unicorn) Blu-ray release, everybody’s favorite streaming anime provider Crunchyroll is not only streaming Unicorn, but is also streaming the original Mobile Suit Gundam series! This stream is available free to anyone in the US, Canada, Europe (excluding select countries) and Russia.

Not familiar with the Gundamverse? (Where have you been??!) Here’s a brief synopsis describing the series. You can also check out the Wikipedia entry on Gundam (but beware – there be spoilers here!)

“U.C. 0079. The rebel space colonies of the Principality of Zeon launch a war of independence against the Earth Federation, using humanoid fighting vehicles called mobile suits to overwhelm the Federation Forces and conquer half of Earth’s surface.

Months later, the Federation has finally developed its own prototype mobile suits at a remote space colony. But when the colony suffers a Zeon surprise attack, these new weapons fall into the hands of a motley crew of civilians and cadets, and fate places a youth named Amuro Ray at the controls of the white mobile suit Gundam…”

And here’s the synopsis for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn:

“The year is U.C. 0096. Three years have passed since the end of the Second Neo Zeon War.

It is said that the Vist Foundation manipulates the Earth Federation and Anaheim Electronics from behind the scenes. Hoping to create a new world, the Foundation attempts to hand over a certain secret to the Neo Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves. This will mean the opening of Laplace’s Box, which holds a great secret tied to the origins of the Universal Century.

The exchange between the Vist Foundation and the Sleeves is to take place at the manufacturing colony Industrial 7. This is the home of the student Banagher Links, who rescues a girl he sees falling through the colony’s zero gravity area. The girl gives her name as Audrey Burne and says she wants to prevent a war, spurring Banagher to step into the conflict surrounding Laplace’s Box—almost as if he is drawn in by his own bloodline.

Based on a story by author Harutoshi Fukui, the newest Gundam work dynamically unfolds against the backdrop of the Universal Century. It all begins with this first shocking episode.”

YARRRRR!! Pirates rejoice! One Piece returns to sail the Seven Seas in streaming form!

Donald Burr — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:22:44 +0000

I know, International Talk Like a Pirate Day isn’t for another few weeks, but I’m sure that once you read the good news contained herein, you’ll forgive me this slight lapse into piratical dialogue.

Avast, ye salty sea dogs! I be bringin’ good news fer all ye One Piece fans out there! FUNimation has jus’ announced that, startin’ August 29th at 9pm CST, they will resume streamin’ One Piece episodes, startin’ wi’ episode 415. Streams will go live one hour after th’ episode airs in Japan. Shiver me timbers!

In order t’ catch up on missed episodes due t’ th’ stream`s downtime, FUNimation has also announced that ‘t begin streamin’ from episode 391, th’ start o’ th’ Amazon Lily Saga, startin’ on August 21. FUNimation will add three episodes daily startin’ at 9:00 pm CDT on th’ 21st, up until th’ simulcast o’ 415 on th’ 29th. Y’ hear that, y’ landlubbers??!

Now grab yer straw hat an’ set a course fer th’ FUNimation video streamin’ site! Full speed ahead!

Enjoy FREE access to premium Anime Network content all day this coming Monday!

Donald Burr — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:17:33 +0000

Apparently this coming Monday is “Lazy Day,” a national celebration commemorating… well, laziness. Although I can’t find any mention of this in any online resource. Still, any excuse to celebrate laziness is fine with me! (Edit: I was able to find one page explaining this holiday.)

But you may want to make one exception in your lazy, do-nothing schedule for the day if you’re an anime fan. Because, to celebrate the occasion, The Anime Network will be making all of its premium online content freely viewable by anyone. Starting Midnight CDT on Sunday the 9th and ending at 11:59 PM CDT on Monday the 10th, all Anime Network premium online content will be accessible to anyone, for the amazingly low price of free. If you’re feeling particularly generous and wish to sign up for paid access to the premium content, you will get a 50% discount on your first months’ worth. (The regular price for monthly subscriptions is $6.95/month.)

You can find the catalog of shows here. Share And Enjoy!