I’ve finally taken found the time to make a list of the anime direct download sites reviewed here at Anime Field, and sort them according to type. For example, some sites are classified as distro sites (fast sites that serve the latest episodes), while others are classified as archive sites (slow and large sites), or forums (anime forums that offer direct downloads in exchange for forum posts).

I’ve also updated the A-Z Anime Downloads Page (now simply known as Sorted By Anime Series over at the sidebar) up to the alphabet R.

Neither list is complete yet, but hopefully, they’ll still be of use.

Anime direct download sites that provide .rmvb episodes serve a distinct audience – people looking for really small episode file sizes (perhaps due to a slow connection, e.g. dial-up) and can tolerate the concomitant drop in quality.

So, if you happen to be part of this audience, feast on Teh-Anime.com:

1) Teh-Anime.com

• Speed: Quite Fast (tested on a couple of Dual episodes)
• Content: Episodes from ongoing (e.g. Higurashi, XXXHOLiC, KIBA) and completed series (e.g. Karin, Paradise Kiss, Suzuka, REC, Blood+)
• Update Frequency: Quite Frequent
• Video Format: .rmvb (LQ to MQ)
• Note: Hassle-free site, i.e. no forum posting or registration required to download episodes.

In today’s post, we’ll be continuing our journey into the great, big world of IRC with a pack list of another large XDCC bot:

1) F_B|zen’s Pack List

• Usual IRC Nickname: F_B|zen
• Usual Locations (IRC Server and Channels): #froth-bite @ irc.rizon.net
• Content: 260+ episodes from ongoing (e.g. RAY, Strawberry Panic, Magical Pokan) and completed (e.g. Mahoraba, Shuffle, Maico, Final Approach) anime series fansubbed by Froth-Bite.
• No. of Download Slots: 50
• Update Frequency: Frequent/li>
• Video Format: .avi (HQ)

Zzz… It seems Malaysians (my fellow countrymen) and Singaporeans (my A-Levels brethren) are abusing anime direct download servers yet again, and Mr. PC has threatened to ban IPs at a national level if this continues. Nooo…

If you ask me, I’d say that there really isn’t any reason to use so many connections to download anime. If you want to download multiple episodes, why not just download from different sites? Even if you wanted to use multiple connections for a single episode, you could still use multiple sites, as I have explained here (of course, I’m still not sure how ethical this is, as seen by the comments section on that post).

I also suggest looking at IRC as a viable avenue of downloading anime. If you want to max out your connection, just use direct download sites and IRCs concurrently. There is just no need to max it out on DDL sites alone.

So… that ends a Public Service Announcement by Anime Field. Hopefully, Mr. PC’s warning will jolt any abusers out of their evul ways.

This may not be the very first doggy-focused anime series ever, but it is my first doggy-based anime series since American and UK cartoons don’t count. So, I didn’t really know what to expect from the series. Light hearted comedy? Or an anime series fit only for those still in primary school (eeks… a little harsh)?

But after watching the first episode, my interest was piqued, and I thought I had another potentially good light-hearted comedy series (with some plot) on my hands. One that would fill in those dead boring hours, and just maybe end up being interesting enough to watch during “prime anime time”.

The characters were okay enough. The series features a sometimes mature, pretty street-smart, male dog (with a girlfriend dog that has a huge imagination and lurvs melon pan) as the lead character.

Besides other dogs, we even have the kind, cute and shy teenage mistress plus her equally shy boyfriend as supporting characters in this “ordinary life of a dog” anime series.

Yet, the next couple of eps were rather boring. Jokes were being reused and a plot line wasn’t appearing – though it is probably unfair to judge based on this since the series, given its comedy roots, was always going to be episodic in nature. The below average animation quality didn’t help either.

So, overall, I can’t say it has enough appeal for viewers to watch each and every episode. But certain episodes might just be good enough to slot in right after an episode of Higurashi no Naku Kori ni to avoid having dreams (nightmares?) of killer lolis in your sleep.

P.S.: Copied the last phrase from somewhere. Can’t seem to remember where though.

Back to our traditional anime direct download site feature, we have Fansubwired.com offering direct downloads of a few ongoing and completed anime series. Nothing particularly special here, so let’s go straight to the point:

1) Fansubwired.com

• Speed: Quite Fast (tested on KIBA Ep. 4 only)
• Content: Episodes from ongoing (e.g. KIBA, MAR) and recently completed series (e.g. Mushishi, Mai-Otome, Initial D 4th Stage)
• Update Frequency: Frequent
• Note: Hassle-free site, i.e. no forum posting or registration required. Cookies have to be enabled though.

We’ve seen XDCC pack lists on this blog before, e.g. those for Aone, Shinsen-Subs, and Anime-HQ bots. That was when I first tried introducing IRC as an alternative means for downloading anime (that is, an alternative to direct download sites).

Months of referrer logs later, a cool suggestion (plus some pack lists) over at comments and some positive responses over email lead me to believe that there is demand for features (a.k.a. reviews) of not only anime DDL sites, but also anime XDCC bot lists.

So, here’s today’s. Oh yeah, to ease detailing, cross-referencing and searching, I’ll be featuring individual XDCC bots (meaning that webpages with multiple XDCC bot lists could be featured multiple times).

1) Toybox’s Packlist @ www.animorc.net

• Usual IRC Nickname: Toybox
• Usual Locations (IRC Server and Channels): #nanashi @ irc.rizon.net
• Content: Episodes from ongoing (e.g. Eureka 7) and completed (e.g. Ichigo Mashimaro) anime series fansubbed by Nanashi.
• No. of Download Slots: 10
• Update Frequency: Frequent/li>
• Video Format: .avi (HQ)

As you can see, I’m not rating XDCC bots on their speed. I’d love to actually, but most XDCC bots give crap speeds to South-East Asian connections (like mine), so I don’t think my personal experience would be useful at all. I will state though if the bot is an edu-exclusive bot (high speeds to university connections only).

Edit: Urghh, the post title makes little sense. Too late I guess.

Another contribution by Rainy here. This time it’s an anime direct download site that serves episodes from series fansubbed by Doremi and Eclipse.

Yes, I know we’ve already seen a Doremi-dedicated DDL site a few days back, but this one seems to serve more current stuff (e.g. Simoun, Strawberry Panic, Today in Class 5-2).

1) Lordneon.co.uk

• Speed: Quite Fast (tested on Today in Class 5-2 OVA1 only)
• Content: Episodes from ongoing and recently completed series fansubbed by Doremi (e.g. Mai-Otome, Simoun, Mai-Hime Specials) and Eclipse (e.g. Fate-Stay Night and Shakugan no Shana)
• Update Frequency: Frequent (based on the fact that they have Strawberry Panic 3)
• Note: Hassle-free site, i.e. no forum posting or registration required.