Vuze Blog

Anime on Vuze

We are thrilled to announce that Vuze is now the exclusive platform for Neko Rahmen, an anime series about an entrepreneurial cat, Taishou, who runs a small ramen shop in Downtown Tokyo and Mr. Tanaka, his only real customer. It’s a very funny and unique series. What’s especially cool is that each episode has been produced by a different creative talent, so you get to see wildly different styles of animation and storytelling from episode to episode, while still on a consistent larger story arc.

Neko Rahmen also marks the first time Vuze has taken on the responsibility of subtitling content. It’s also the first piece of licensed anime programming on Vuze available without DRM. And yes, it’s totally free to watch and own thanks to ad-support.

For the anime industry it’s also a first in many ways. Right now anime online is either licensed from the local DVD distributor (like ADV Films, Geneon, Viz, etc.) or is unlicensed. It’s very hard to find examples of online video platforms licensing content directly from the Japanese producers. We were fortunate to work with a ground-breaking animation company, Think Corporation, based in Tokyo, that allowed us to translate and offer Neko Rahmen outside of Japan. This is the first time that a major animation company has allowed something like this.

So check out Neko Rahmen and some of the other free anime series on Vuze like Girls High, Bubblegum Crisis and Vampire Princess Miyu.

And if you have any thoughts on the content post or a comment on the video, shoot us a note. We definitely want to know what’s on your mind.

-Erik
Content Licensing

Notice Anything Different?

You may have noticed something a little different on Vuze. New outfit? No. Different hairstyle? Nope. Improvements to the navigation and sorting functionality? YES!

We have refined the top-level navigation. You can now more easily browse by content type, directly via categories by clicking on the down arrow to scroll the lists, or simply by clicking on the main video, audio or games tabs to view featured content. Also be sure to check out our extensive content collection by browsing the Channels section, which has not changed.

We have also made some changes to the left-hand vertical filtering functionality. We replaced it with a horizontal, more streamlined and intuitive inline filter bar just above the thumbnails. You can now browse via the pre-set filters. Start with the simple filters, which provide the best view onto content, or click the options button to the right to expose the advanced filters and fine-tune your preferred view.

We designed these changes to provide better, overall structure for our navigation functionality. With these changes, you will be able to get to the content you are looking for quickly and effectively, as well as better navigate once within our content collection.

We’re making more improvements to the navigation features in the coming releases – each new set will build upon previous functionality to add depth, accessibility and discoverability for an improved user experience. Enjoy.

Feature Update

Hello, Vuze Community! Here at Azureus, we’ve been busy this summer making improvements to Vuze, the world’s most popular hi-res entertainment platform. After months of programming and testing, we’re excited about our latest product enhancements which focus on universality: Vuze is for Everyone. Everywhere. Anytime.

Technology – our embedded player which enables instant media player; no more stumbling around with finding the right player. You can also start watching as you’re downloading - no more waiting until the file is complete.
Community and communication – improved community features make it easier than ever to comment on and rate content, as well as share previews on myspace, facebook, personal blogs, etc.
Worldwide distribution and monetization – our Open Platform allows users to create, distribute and monetize their own high-quality digital content in the global Vuze community in over 100 countries - all with just the click of the mouse.

And in terms of content, Vuze has partnered with great content providers, like Showtime, PBS, GONG, and Ministry of Sound, to give you more of the content you love. No matter what your taste, Vuze has content for you, and we’re bringing more, great content to the platform every week.

Just a few suggestions to get you going:

* Check out Dexter – One of the best written shows out there. Creepy (in an intelligently seductive way) and cool.
* Anime fanatics! – we have a wide array of well-known (as well as ready to be discovered) anime content: Votron, Fencer of Minerva, Ghost in the Shell, Legend of Himiko, etc
* HD, HD, HD… we love our HD. Watch this stuff and you may never go back to standard def again!
* We hand-pick selections we think our users will enjoy in our Featured Content section - check back often as the content rotates frequently.

Keep in mind we’ve got a few more tricks up our sleeves for the next few releases. All will be revealed in due time. As always, we welcome general feedback and comments about the site at feedback@vuze.com

In the meantime, enjoy Vuze!