Both Speed Racer Enterprises and Gonzo are trying online delivery systems to bring anime episodes to fans.

Speed Racer Enterprises have teamed up with Crunchyroll to bring the classic 1960's Tatsunoko anime online.

According to ICv2, the deal is a "strategic digital video partnership" that will offer episodes of Speed Racer to international audiences via Crunchyroll's ad supported, subscription and download-to-own video services.

Cruchyroll has not set a date for when it will start streaming episodes of the classic anime on its website, but it promises near-DVD quality clips of either individual episodes or digitized "box sets" that come with digital bonuses. New episodes of Speed Racer will be added at regular intervals.

Best of all, the streaming videos will not come with irritating Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, so fans will be able to store and duplicate the episodes on their computers, PS-3's or iPod or other portable video player.

Of course the fact that the Wachowskis are bringing a live-action adaptation of Speed Racer to mondoplexes this summer has nothing at all to do with the timing of this agreement.

Gonzo Also Puts Tower of Druaga and Blassreiter Online

Speed Racer is not the only anime going online. GDH, the parent company of the Gonzo anime studio, recently announced that they would make full-fledged, half-hour episodes from two new series, Tower of Druaga: Aegis of Uruk and Blassreiter, available online with English subtitles the same day they aired in Japan. Gonzo is placing their content on 3 major sites: Youtube, Crunchyroll and BOST TV.

Each streaming site has very different methods of delivering their content, ranging from free streaming to pay-for-downloads of high resolution files. These services will start with both series' debut in April, and are only available outside of Japan.

Tower of Druaga is a sci-fi/fantasy series loosely based on the classic Namco arcade game, while Blassreiter is a horror/superhero series set in a near-future Germany, where people who can change into demons use their powers for good or evil.

This move comes out of desperation as the anime companies see declining DVD sales, and fans frustrated with the massive time lag between when a show airs in Japan and when an English dub is available on DVD. This has exacerbated the phenomenon of fansubbing to the point that the practice has genuinely started to hurt anime DVD sales.

For anime producers, fansubbing has become more of a curse than a blessing and they want to find some way of providing "a legal online alternative to illegal file-sharing and downloading," and to "explore new business models that both maximize revenues from content exploitation and savings on distribution costs."

What Does This Mean?

Both Gonzo and SRE are already investing in technology that isn't quite there yet. Broadband connections are not yet fast enough to allow DVD-quality streaming at a convenient speed (and don't even start with high definition). Only technology-savvy types (which, to be fair, includes most anime fans) are capable of setting up computer-to-TV interfaces. In other words, don't be ready to toss your DVD player just yet.

However, these moves aren't aimed at the people who already buy anime on DVD; they're pointed at fansubbers who would be willing to pay for a guaranteed high-quality video and don't want to wait the six-months-to-a-year time lag that anime producers need to make a proper English dub.

Whether this move will convince fansubbers who feel they have a Cthulhu-given right to free animes remains to be seen. But it's good to see anime producers looking outside outside the box when it comes to bringing their product to consumers.

Of course the next question will be if anime producers can look beyond the tried-and-true topics (magic, superheroes, half-naked girls, really big guns, magical half-naked superhero girls with really big guns) when it comes to anime scripts.