More details from Viz about Neon Alley!
At an Anime Expo panel this weekend, Viz revealed a few more details about its new venture “Neon Alley,” which we first wrote about last week. If you need a refresher: Neon Alley is Viz’s new anime streaming service, which will be providing a network-style lineup of anime and related content around the clock via a “major videogame console” for $6.99/mo.
The attached video is a (well made, I must say) trailer premiered at the panel. So far, the anime that will definitely be on Neon Alley are:
- Berserk
- Bleach
- Blue Exorcist
- DeathNote
- Inuyasha & Inuyasha: Final Act
- Kekkaishi
- Lagrange: The Flower of Rinne
- Naruto & Naruto: Shippuden
- Nura: Rise of The Yokai Clan
- Tiger and Bunny
- Vampire Knight
- Zetman
In terms of additional content, Viz reiterated that Neon Alley will feature martial arts movies and behind-the-scenes content, and will also have anime shorts, OVAs, music videos, and anime news. A big announcement at the panel revolved around Neon Alley’s news features: they will be provided by Anime News Network! ANN was there at the panel, and said that some of the anime news you can expect on Neon Alley will be information about upcoming conventions, and news from Japan.
Viz also announced that it will be partnering with other industry members to bring content to the network. As we have reported, the main partner at this time is Aniplex, who will be sending the dub of Blue Exorcist over to Neon Alley to premiere. However, Viz representatives also mentioned that talks are open with other industry leaders, so Neon Alley may be seeing more non-Viz content as well!
Viz representatives also answered the burning question generated by the original announcement: “what will happen to Viz’s content on other services, such as Hulu and Adult Swim?” Thankfully, the answer is that such content will remain. According to Viz, the purpose of Neon Alley is to provide fans greater access to dubbed, uncut anime content, not to replace any existing services. You will still be able to access Viz content in all of the ways that you already do, and the premieres of anime such as Blue Exorcist and Inuyasha: Final Act on Neon Alley will not prevent them from later being aired on blocks such as Adult Swim should the network chose to pick them up.
Regarding the details of subscribing to Neon Alley, Viz confirmed that the price will be $6.99/mo. The network will also have limited commercials similar to Hulu. Viz says that the reason for the limited commercials is that it’s the best way to keep the monthly price affordable for fans, as they are trying to strike a balance between the best content and an affordable price.
Unfortunately, the platform via which Neon Alley will be available was not announced at the panel. We’ll have to stay tuned to see which “major videogame console” Neon Alley will debut through.
~Fushi
