Amazon Launches An Anime Streaming Service

Amazon has launched its own curated anime streaming service, called Anime Strike. A subscription for this service costs $4.99 per month and additionally requires a $100 yearly Amazon Prime subscription.

Anime Strike features a selection of what Amazon describes as “serious anime,” a lot of which is from the seinen genre. This genre includes anime geared toward teenage boys and young men. There are currently over 1,000 anime movies and episodes available (via The Hollywood Reporter) and Amazon says that more episodes will be added every week.

Critically acclaimed films Akira and Paprika are available alongside popular action series like Akame Ga Kill, Rurouni Kenshin, and High School of the Dead. Anime Strike also has exclusive streaming rights to certain series, such as The Great Passage and Scum’s Wish.

To create Anime Strike, Amazon executives leveraged its existing agreements for Amazon Video and also acquired new content to create a library that will be added to on a weekly basis.

Michael Paull, VP digital video at Amazon also told The Hollywood Reporter that the service could eventually feature original content produced via the Amazon Studios arm, which last spring announced a lineup of 12 originals, including anime, for Amazon Japan.