Amazon Prime has launched its first branded channel "Anime Strike." The channel offers more than 1,000 series of episodes and movies ranging from seinen classics to exclusive shows broadcasted in Japan.
Currently, the Anime Strike channel is only available in the United States particularly to its Amazon Prime members with a price of $4.99 USD per month after a seven-day free trial. Offering a same-day-as-broadcast series from Japan, Anime Strike will feature recent series like "The Great Passage," "Scum's Wish (Kuzu no Honkai)" and "Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga (Ao No Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen)."
Older anime hits like "Paprika," "Tokyo Godfathers," and "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker" will air on the channel. As per Amazon, shows on the channel will be refreshed weekly.
"With anime in particular, there's a strong, passionate audience that is underserved by traditional pay TV," said Michael Paull, Amazon's VP of digital video and head of Amazon Channels worldwide, as reported by Variety. He added that in the coming months, Amazon is planning to launch additional branded subscription VOD channels.
Also, the company has signed an exclusive US streaming deals for several anime series including "Scum's Wish," "Onihei," "The Great Passage," "Vivid Strike!" "Crayon-Shin Chan Gaiden: Alien vs. Shinnosuke," and "Chi's Sweet Adventure." Amazon Prime also offers a 30-day free trial with a price of $99 USD per year after the trial period.
Following their Anime Strike channel's debut, the company has recently announced that it will add more than 100,000 jobs in the United States. Jobs vary from software development to warehouse work to make their deliveries faster.
Through their recent press release, it says that the company will grow its full-time US workforce by more than 50 percent to over 280,000 in the next 18 months, Reuters reported. However, Amazon declined to comment on where it would hire the most - for fulfillment work or corporate roles.
As of the moment, Amazon is spending heavily on new warehouse to stocks goods closer to customers and fulfill orders quickly and cheaply. Marc Wulfraat, president of the logistics consultancy MWPVL International Inc. even revealed that at least 16 new US fulfillment centers are in the works for this year and in 2018.
Catch "Crayon Shin Chan Gaiden: Alien vs. Shinnosuke" one of the Japanese TV series airing on Anime Strike below: