Screen Anime - First impressions

Written by Robert Mullarkey on 26 May 2020

A new curated service from Anime Limited launched on the 25^th May 2020 at 6pm called Screen Anime. The new service provides four films and one anime TV series each month, with collection being replaced at the end of each period. At the time of launch the following are available:

Promare
Patema Inverted
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
Penguin Highway
Wolf's Rain

The titles are categorised as:

Premier/Hot New Film
Festival Favourite
Festival Classic
Curious Curation
Series marathon

With regards to pricing, the subscription is either £3.98 a month or an annual payment of £39.98, making the cost less than £1 per film each month, with the option to stream at any time during the month it's available. The cost for rental of films on other platforms ranges from £3.50 to £5.50, making it a great value proposition from the get go, so long as you like the selection presented. As well as the service throws in a free trial of three days. More than enough time to try it out, watch a film and see if its for you.

I decided to try the service on my home PC with Promare, and tested the chromecast functionality with Patema Inverted. The video player is snappy and responsive. It loaded instantly on the website and only took a few seconds or so to connect to my chromecast device. In terms of layout and design, everything is handily kept in one neatly designed page that makes it easy to see at a glance what is on offer. As well as having the titles listed, each language option (either subtitled or dubbed) gets its own video, making it easier to choose and know the exact one you'll be watching. On the site there are also trailers and bonus videos that really help the viewer get an idea of what they'll be watching if they don't have prior knowledge or want to jump in blind.

On it's first day, Screen Anime set a solid foundation for a potentially great service. While lacking paypal support and dedicated apps on other platforms (which have been promised soon) so far I'd say I'm impressed with the site. The service is easy to use, with video loading instantly and no issues during playback. With the videos changing on a monthly basis, there is incentive to use the service and the feeling that you have time to take in everything presented each month (as opposed to the mountains of titles on other services you probably never watch). The service has reminders of what will be coming up in the future too, so if a month isn't for you, you'll have the opportunity to skip a period. For those who want to watch some great anime films or revisit some classics from Scotland Loves Anime, keep an eye on this service.