Japanese Nintendo fans are able to download digital manga on their Wii and their DS for a few weeks now. The DS service, called DSvision [JP], requires a special hardware add-on to view episodes of Japanese anime series downloaded from the DSVision web site.
Now am3 [JP] and DaiNippon Printing are planning to launch a service that makes it possible to watch full-length animated features on the DS. The service will go live next Wednesday, initially offering downloads of the theatrical version of the Pokemon anime series and is, again, Japan-only.
DS owners can download anime movies on their PC and transfer them to microSD memory cards, which are then inserted into special carts to be used in the DS. It will also be available to buy microSD cards with pre-loaded content ($28).
The companies will add new titles over time and ultimately hope for 200,000 downloads of anime movies yearly. As of now, downloading one movie costs $4.80.
am3 and DaiNippon Printing will cooperate with two Japanese telecommunications companies to promote their new service.