Viki Site and Crunchyroll Streams Leiji Matsumoto's Ozma Anime Worldwide

Viki adds OZMA.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-03-15/viki-site-streams-leiji-matsumoto-ozuma-anime-worldwide
http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/03/15/leiji-matsumotos-ozma-anime-to-stream-worldwide

Anime News Network wrote:

Viki, a website that streams authorized videos with crowd-sourced translations, will release Leiji Matsumoto's Ozma television anime series worldwide as it airs in Japan. The six-episode science-fiction series is the first major new anime from creator Leiji Matsumoto (Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999) in five years. The anime will premiere on Japan's premium WOWOW channel this Friday, March 16 at midnight, and Viki will stream the series 24 hours later outside Japan.

The story is set on Earth in the future, when abnormal activity on the sun devastates Earth's atmosphere and covers the entire planet in a sea of sand. Sam (Tetsuya Kakihara) pursues Ozma, the mysterious enemy of his brother. One day, Samu encounters Maya (Rie Tanaka), who is being chased by the Theseus army.

Ryousuke Takahashi (Armored Trooper Votoms, Aoki Ryūsei SPT Layzner, episode in The Cockpit) is the chief director, while the actual hands-on director is Takahiro Ikezoe (Slap Up Party -Arad Senki-) at LandQ Studios (with assistance on every episode by Gonzo). Nobuteru Yuki (Record of Lodoss War, Escaflowne, Space Battleship Yamato 2199) designed the characters. Kousuke Yamashita composed the music for the Nobunaga's Ambition game series, the live-action Hana Yori Dango, and Digimon Xros Wars before tackling this project. The Korean band Ftisland is performing the opening theme "Neverland," while Nami Kizuki performs the ending theme "Utagoe."

Crunchyroll wrote:

A new online startup in Viki has announced the rights to stream the forthcoming OZMA anime project from legendary anime producer and director Leiji Matsumoto, which is based off of a 30 year old unproduced script. The series will comprise six episodes which begin airing on Friday night at midnight in Japan, with Viki streaming them 24 hours after initial airing.

What makes this notable is that the stream is truly worldwide, in the sense that the series will be available legally to 200 countries except for Japan and subtitles will be provided by the registered users of the portal, as Viki takes advantage of members that want to translate and provide subs for each language, in effect crowdsourcing the work of translation, much like manga portal J-Comi now allows members to do the same for manga.

Viki has also announced a companion fundraiser campaign that asks viewers of the series to donate to either the Leiji World Summit Charity or another charity of their choosing in recognition of the 3-11 earthquake. As for the series itself, it will span six episodes and features the following staff:

Ryosuke Takahashi (executive director),
Takahiro Ikezoe (director)
Junki Takegami (script writer)

The show’s opening theme “NEVERLAND” is performed by K-pop band FTISLAND, while the closing theme song “Utagoe” is performed by Minami Kizuki. In addition, Viki has also announced the future release of Astro Boy, Black Jack, and The Galaxy Railways on the portal as it continues to add anime titles.

Viki Site link here.

Crunchyroll adds OZMA.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-03-16/crunchyroll-to-stream-ozma-tv-anime
http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/03/16/crunchyroll-adds-leiji-matsumotos-ozma-to-anime-lineup

Anime News Network wrote:

The media distribution service Crunchyroll announced on Friday that it will stream Leiji Matsumoto's Ozma television anime series as it airs in Japan. The company will stream the series worldwide outside of Asia starting on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. EDT.

The six-episode science-fiction series is the first major new anime from creator Leiji Matsumoto (Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999) in five years. The anime will premiere on Japan's premium WOWOW channel this Friday, March 16 at midnight, and Viki will stream the series 24 hours later outside Japan.

The story is set on Earth in the future, when abnormal activity on the sun devastates Earth's atmosphere and covers the entire planet in a sea of sand. Sam (Tetsuya Kakihara) pursues Ozma, the mysterious enemy of his brother. One day, Samu encounters Maya (Rie Tanaka), who is being chased by the Theseus army.

Ryousuke Takahashi (Armored Trooper Votoms, Aoki Ryūsei SPT Layzner, episode in The Cockpit) is the chief director, while the actual hands-on director is Takahiro Ikezoe (Slap Up Party -Arad Senki-) at LandQ Studios (with assistance on every episode by Gonzo). Nobuteru Yuki (Record of Lodoss War, Escaflowne, Space Battleship Yamato 2199) designed the characters. Kousuke Yamashita composed the music for the Nobunaga's Ambition game series, the live-action Hana Yori Dango, and Digimon Xros Wars before tackling this project. The Korean band Ftisland is performing the opening theme "Neverland," while Nami Kizuki performs the ending theme "Utagoe."

Viki, a website that streams authorized videos with crowd-sourced translations, will also stream the series worldwide. Ozma will premiere on Japan's premium WOWOW channel this Friday, March 16 at midnight, and Viki will stream the series 24 hours later outside Japan.

EDIT: And now Crunchyroll has added OZMA to their list. It will be streamed worldwide outside Asia.

I'm definitely keeping my eyes on this, especially when it's a worldwide release and it's directed by the Votoms dude. Thanks!

And it looks like Crunchyroll got its hands on streaming OZMA now too XD.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-03-16/crunchyroll-to-stream-ozma-tv-anime
http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/03/16/crunchyroll-adds-leiji-matsumotos-ozma-to-anime-lineup

Nice. CR finally starts getting some potentially good titles. Cobra was about the only thing I watched on the new CR. I kind of miss the old one where anyone could upload stuff on it.