2008 saw a lot of changes in the Anime market. Some companies shut down, there was a lot of uncertainty among the distributors and fans that Anime might be in trouble. However, that wasn't the case. The market was undergoing a fundamental change in a new direction. The RIAA and MPAA have been battling this change in the music and movie industries, but its a battle they are not and cannot ever win no matter how hard they try.

DVD sales will still exist, there will always be people who want to buy physical DVDs, but there is a growing trend to offer Anime in a whole new way. It started in late 2008 and is expected to explode in 2009. Its Anime delivered Online. It began with an online Anime channel from Europe called Gong. The channel is carried by many cellular TV companies and is carried by the free ad-based online video-on-demand service Joost.com. Then, NBC-Universal started the free ad-based online video-on-demand service Hulu.com which carries several TV series, movies, and began carrying anime first starting with "Speed Racer" and then expanding their library to include "Naruto", "Bleach", "Death Note", "Ikki Tousen", "School Rumble", "Rambling Hearts", "Peach Girl", "Shuffle" and more.

The Anime Network shut down its cable channel to focus totally on cable TV and free online video-on-demand services. Late last year Hulu.com and Joost.com began carrying Anime from Anime Network.

In mid 2008 fansub streaming website Crunchyroll.com went legitimate when they inked deals with a few anime studios to offer subscription based service to show English subtitled anime episodes immediately after they've aired in Japan. For a small monthly fee you can access all of the anime on the website and watch brand new anime before it gets officially licensed outside of Japan with multiple language subtitles. Starting this year, on the 15th, Crunchyroll and Hulu will begin showing, straight from Japan, episodes of "Naruto Shippuden" and Crunchyroll.com will be showing episodes from several other anime immediately after they've aired on Japanese TV as a part of their subscription service.

Current and similar services are expected to grow this year 2009 to expand into a whole new industry. As I said, DVD sales will still have their niche market, but the bunk of anime will be delivered online, on-demand, mostly for free with paid for by advertising, and in ever increasingly higher quality and quantity. This is the future of Anime and its a bright one.

Now if only the MPAA and RIAA would only get the hint that this is their future as well, stop fighting it and start raking in the profits similar services will bring them.