Japanese companies start anime and manga download service for the Nintendo DS

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Dr. Serkan Toto currently works as the first and only Asia-based writer for the TechCrunch network, mainly covering Japan-related technology and web companies for TechCrunch, CrunchGear and MobileCrunch. Serkan also works full-time as an independent web and mobile industry consultant with a focus on the Japanese market. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. Serkan... → Learn More

Japanese interactive content providers am3 [JP] and DaiNippon Printing started DSvision [JP] today, a fee-based service bringing anime and manga to owners of the Nintendo DS. DSvision was announced last year but pushed back a couple of times since then.

DSvision requires a hardware package for $38, which includes a 512mb microSD card, a DSvision card adapter for connection to the DS and a USB reader/writer. Users can download content with a PC onto the microSD card, and watch or read that content on their DS later.

DaiNippon Printing and am3 sell manga, anime episodes and text novels for prices ranging from 94 cents to $9.40 per download. There are 9 novels, 34 manga and 8 anime available at the moment but new content is uploaded every hour. The site will eventually offer 1,000 different titles within a year. DaiNippon Printing and am3 are hoping to win 2 million customers in the same time frame.

Unfortunately, DS owners living outside Japan cannot use DSvision and the site doesn’t mention any plans regarding the possibility of an international version.

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