With larger-scale legal simulcasting and streaming of anime being only a couple of years old in Australia and New Zealand, it has been great to see how things have grown from a small number of titles to a fairly sizable catalogue of series. Madman Entertainment have led the charge with their AnimeLab video-on-demand services, not only offering simulcasts and streams of newer series, but also a number of their older, classic licenses.
Over the last month or so, Madman Entertainment have generally been releasing one new, older, series on their service each week. This includes Angelic Layer, Buso Renkin and Cat Planet Cuties. The anime publisher have recently noted that several more older series will be appearing on the platform soon, including:
Elfen Lied
Imprisoned under tight military security, Lucy, a genetically-altered human known as a Diclonius, escapes her confines in a wave of bloody violence and brutality. Now lost, alone, and stricken with amnesia, she wanders into a kindly family that takes her under their care, oblivious to the latent destructive power that this innocent-looking girl harbors!
Azumanga Daioh
In Miss Yukari’s English class, every day is an adventure. First off, there’s the teacher herself. A bit of an air-head, she may have graduated from high school, but she sure hasn’t left.
And with the arrival of not one, but two transfer students – one ten-year-old prodigy and one space cadet – it’s going to be an interesting year!
Please Teacher
Kei Kusanagi isn’t your typical 15 year old high school student. He’s actually an 18 year old with a rare disorder that puts him into what he calls, a “standstill”. When he was younger, this disorder left him in a deep coma which stunted his growth for the next three years! Mizuho Kazami isn’t your typical teacher either. She’s actually an alien sent by the Galaxy Federation to observe the Earth! As the sole human being with knowledge of Ms. Kazumi’s secret, Kei must…marry the alien?! Homework, dating, and a gorgeous wife – going to school has never been quite this fun!
To Love Ru Darkness
Rito Yuki had no idea the planet Develuke even existed when their Princess Lala teleported into his bathtub, but now he finds himselft to be engaged to the beautiful girl with a pointed tail. Problem: various aliens are showing up on missions of varying hostile intent. Worse, the girl that Rito REALLY loves is still completely unaware of his feelings!
While no exact date has been announced for each of these series to be available as a stream, if the past is anything to go by, they could be made available one per week. Don’t want to just watch a stream but also own a physical copy of the series? All four the the above are currently available on DVD via the official Madman Entertainment Website.
But that is not all. With a new season of anime hitting television screens in Japan, you might be wondering which series Madman Entertainment have chosen to include as part of their simulcast slate. The publisher have recently confirmed three which will be available through AnimeLab:
Occultic;Nine
The multitude of small, miniscule “discomfort” later develops into a case so large it is beyond imagination… Yuta Gamon is a 2nd year in high school. He runs “Kiri Kiri Basara,” an affiliate blog that rounds up occult forum posts, for a shot at quick money, and challenges himself to the occult night and day to “hack and slash away!” the many supernatural phenomena existing in the world from a scientific standpoint. However, with that blog of his as a catalyst, a group of downright maniacal and insane comrades have gathered about.
BBK/BRNK 2
This is the second season of Bubuki Buranki.
When Azuma Ikki returns to Japan after 10 years, he gets assaulted by a group of armed men and becomes their prisoner. Kogane Asabuki, a childhood friend, saves him with a weapon on her right hand known as Bubuki; a weapon with its own mind.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans 2
Likewise, this is the second season of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.
There was once a great conflict known as the “Calamity War.” Roughly 300 years have passed since the end of this war.The Earth Sphere had lost its previous governing structure, and a new world was created under new systems of government. While a temporary peace had arrived, the seeds of a new conflict were being sown in the Mars Sphere, far away from Earth.Our hero, a boy named Mikazuki Augus, belongs to a private security company called Chryse Guard Security (CGS). The company accepts a mission to escort Kudelia Aina Bernstein, a girl who seeks to liberate the Martian city of Chryse from the rule of one of Earth’s major powers.
However, the military organization Gjallarhorn attacks CGS in order to nip this rebellion in the bud. CGS begins an evacuation, using Mikazuki and the other children as decoys. Orga Itsuka, the leader of the boys, decides to take this opportunity to rise up in revolt and launch a coup d’etat against the adults who have been oppressing them. He gives Mikazuki the task of repulsing Gjallarhorn, and Mikazuki enters battle using the Gundam Barbatos, a mobile suit from the Calamity War era which has been serving as CGS’s power source.
