Operating off of the website for ADV's cable channel, The Anime Network, the service is completely ad supported. Up to twenty episodes of any one series, all selections currently range from one to six. For those who love to schedule their weeks, Every Thursday the website will rotate in five new episodes. Subdivided into mood based channels (such as old school, girl power, and giant robots) the list current contains titles such as Ah My Goddess, Comic Party Revolution, and even mostly unloved titles like Gilgamesh. With six episodes available for each of these, a person could easily lose themselves to casual window shopping.

That said, I think I'll do that now. No, wait, must report more. The channel operates off of Flash 9, and uses the moderately awesome (compared to youtube) video resolution of 640x580. There were three commercials in my one sitting, all at logical postions (at the pre-show, post-show, and inbetween.) but as far as commercials go, they were all for anime related things, and thus... considerably more enjoyable then go army or car commercials.

This is a win/win situation for everyone involved. Since the industry is constantly aflutter about fansubs, digital distribution, and immediacy, this might just be the start of something special. I get to check out shows I was only lukewarm about before (Karau Phantom Memory), they get a few ad revenue dollars, and just maybe I'll be inspired enough to pick up said series when I see it on sale. Did I mention that it fills me with all sorts of butterflies when I think of ADV, thats a plus for them too.

For a company renown for its lack of DVD extras, this is one special feature thats hard to beat. Come on FUNimation channel, we're waiting.

[via ICv2]