David Farnor | On 28, May 2020

Anime Limited has launched Screen Anime, a new streaming service in the UK and Ireland.

The subscription service offers a curated selection of films and TV series from its extensive library of Japanese animated movies. Each month, four movies will be available to stream, alongside a TV series and other extra features.

Titles include hotly anticipated premieres such as the wild action sci-fi Promare, classics such as Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise and proven festival favourites such as the upside-down fantasy world of Patema Inverted. Bonus content includes Promare prequel short Side Story Lio and an interview Penguin Highway author Tomihiko Morimi.

Now live in the UK and Ireland, Screen Anime costs £3.98 a month, or £39.98 a year, with a three-day free trial available. An annual subscription also earn members a physical card that can unlock benefits and discounts at Anime Limited’s online store and future conventions. It builds on Anime Limited’s years of experience leading the genre both in cinemas and at home.

Andrew Partridge, CEO of Anime Limited comments: “Ever since founding the annual Scotland Loves Anime Film Festival, showcasing the best in theatrical anime has been a passion for me but how to keep doing that during this ongoing global situation we find ourselves in? The answer was to take the film festival experience online and at the same time address a gap we recognise from fan feedback in how theatrical anime is released to date.”

An online watchalong takes place at 7.30pm on Thursday 28th May, as Screen Anime tries to solve the mystery of Penguin Highway. Viewers can join in with the hashtag #ScreenAnimeParty.

The service is currently available via web browsers, with iOS, Apple TV, Android and Fire TV apps in development. For more, visit screenanime.com.

Here’s the line-up for the first month:

Promare (cert. 12)

Leave your brain at the door and get caught up in the wild ride of Galo Thymos in this over-the-top action fest of vibrant colours and giant robots – Promare has it all.

Bonus: Side Story Lio, a 10-minute prequel short about Lio Fotia, the leader of Mad Burnish.

Penguin Highway (cert. 12)

When cute penguins start waddling into a rural Japanese town, it piques the interest of the ever-curious schoolkid Aoyama in this cute, Studio Ghibli-esque coming-of-age story with dashes of science fiction.

Bonus: Interview with the original author Tomihiko Morimi.

Patema Inverted (cert. PG)

Fall into the sky with the sheer escapism of a topsy-turvy fantasy that will challenge your perceptions. Winner of the 2013 Scotland Loves Anime Jury and Audience Awards.

Bonus: Alternate angles.

Royal Space Fore: The Wings of Honneamise (cert. 15)

Blast off to new frontiers with this landmark feature in anime history, whose English dub features the voice of Bryan Cranston in this debut work of Gainax, the iconic studio behind Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Bonus: TBC

Wolf’s Rain (TV series)

Hunted to near-extinction, wolves disguise themselves as humans and seek a fabled paradise.

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