AkiraBlaid is the standard anime direct download site, bar one aspect. Instead of reencoding into .rmvb to save HDD space and bandwidth, they’ve chosen to reencode most of their anime using the H.264 codec on harsher compression settings compared to the original fansubbers (I’m presuming here, correct me if I’m wrong) - leaving files in our favoured .avi format.

There is still some quality loss, though very slight (reencoding will cause quality loss, even if the settings used do not). Thus, if you are the type that must have the very best, you might want to turn away.

1. AkiraBlaid

• Speed: Above Average
• Content: 6 ongoing (e.g. Ergo Proxy, Naruto, Bleach, etc.) anime series and 1 OVA (Hellsing Ultimate).
• Update Frequency: Above Average
• Video Format: .avi [MQ to HQ (not the usual HQ due to slight quality loss from reencoding)]
• Note: Free registration required (e-mail confirmation not required). Most anime episodes there have been compressed into .zip files, so you’ll need to use software like WinZip to uncompress them. Although the file sizes of most episodes are small (sub-100mb), they are not in .rmvb format. They are still in .avi but have been reencoded using the H.264 codec on higher compression settings compared to the original fansubbers (I presume) - with little quality loss. However, perfectionists looking for top-of-the-line encodes should probably still stay away.

Here’s another .rmvb anime direct download site. It has a pretty large collection of anime series, but as a result, download speeds seem to have suffered a little.

Nevertheless, with updates occuring on an almost daily basis, you’ll find that for a .rmvb site (which needs to re-encode episodes it decides to serve), some of its ongoing series are pretty up to date.

1. Say Anime!

• Speed: Above Average
• Content: 7 ongoing (e.g. Ouran High School Host Club, Air Gear, etc.) and 22 completed (e.g. Mouse, School Rumble, Maburaho, Midori no Hibi, etc.) anime series.
• Update Frequency: Quite Frequent
• Video Format: .rmvb (LQ to MQ)
• Note: Free registration required (e-mail confirmation not required). Download accelerators not supported (tested on GetRight and NetTransport), but resume support still available (tested using Firefox’s in-built download mechanism).

Endracion e-mailed me a couple of days back with an almost complete write-up on this anime direct download forum, so I really only had to check on a few nitty gritty bits + do some verification to write this post.

One does wonder then why it took me so long to get this published. (-..-)

1. Boontan.net

• Speed: Unknown (I didn’t check it out myself since I didn’t want to make 10 forum posts, but Endracion, one of the forum’s admins, says download speeds vary from 200kbps to 900kbps)
• Forum Posts Required To Access Downloads: 10 posts
• Forum Posts Required Per Download: None
• Content: Around 35 ongoing (e.g. Chevalier, The Third, TOKKO, etc.) and 6 completed (e.g. Karin, Shakugan no Shana, Onmyou Taisenki, etc.) anime series.
• Update Frequency: Frequent
• Video Format: .avi (HQ), .mkv (HQ)
• Note: Free registration required (e-mail confirmation not required). 10 forum posts required to access downloads section. Up to 3 simultaneous connections allowed for non-donators. Donators media available, but it is strictly optional.

Here’s a hassle-free (as in no registration or forum posting required) anime direct download site.

Although they do serve some .avi (high quality) anime episodes (from what I can see, only for recent episodes of Bleach and Naruto), most of their content consists of zipped .rmvb (or is it .rm?, my download from the site hasn’t finished yet so…) (download finished) and .rm anime episodes, as well as (non-zipped) anime movies.

1. Red Clouds

• Speed: Average
• Content: 3 ongoing (xxxHolic, Bleach and Naruto) and 10 completed (e.g. Lain, Basilisk, Fruits Basket, etc.) anime series, plus 19 movies and OVAs (e.g. Cowboy Bebop, Ninja Scroll, Armitage 3, etc.)
• Update Frequency: Average (based primarily on New Releases section)
• Video Format: .avi (HQ), .rmvb (LQ to MQ) and .rm (LQ to MQ)
• Note: Hassle-free site, i.e. no registration or forum posting required to access downloads. However, most anime episodes there have been compressed into .zip files, so you’ll need to use software like WinZip to uncompress them.

These are the anime direct download sites we’ve seen in the past week (in chronological order):

1. G2Anime - Anime Direct Download Site
2. RequestAnime.com - Anime Direct Download Site
3. Da-Anime - Anime Hosted on Megaupload
4. Anime Downloads - Anime on Free File Hosts
5. AnimePremium.com - One Free Anime Series for Download Every Month

For more anime DDL sites, you can either check out last week’s wrap-up or jump straight the whole list of anime DDL sites we’ve reviewed.

It seems as if all the paid anime direct download sites are taking the same route in promoting their services. Earlier, we had AnimeGround with their one free anime series (changed every month). Now, we have AnimePremium.com - a relative upstart to the industry - coming in with their own monthly free anime series. But it seems AnimePremium.com has imposed some sort of cap on individual download speeds (though figures are unknown).

Now, any sort of free anime is great for us leechers enthusiasts, but I still think National Anime’s free anime section is a better implementation of this sort of marketing - i.e. recent episodes from a variety of ongoing anime series rather than one completed series, fast 100mbit uplink (unlike AnimeGround’s 40mbit), no individual download caps - and their large subscriber numbers is surely an indication of this.

But who cares about those things anyway. Here’s what we do care about:

1) AnimePremium.com - Free Anime Downloads

• Speed: Above Average
• Content: One full series per month (this month, it’s Full Metal Alchemist)
• Update Frequency: One series per month
• Video Format: .avi (HQ)
• Note: Hassle-free site, i.e. no registration or forum posting required to access downloads. Download speeds have been capped to “average download speeds” - whatever that means. Download accelerators not supported.

Here’s another anime direct download site that hosts its anime on free file hosts. While the site uses a variety of free file hosts (e.g. Gigagone, Up-File, etc.), it seems that they’ve settled on Up-File (which Phantasy:Anime also uses) as their free file host of choice for newly uploaded series.

The site covers quite a large number of currently running series, though many of them have not been updated to the latest episodes.

1) Anime Downloads

• Up-File Speed: Above Average
• Free File Host Content: 7 completed (e.g. Elfen Lied, Escaflowne, etc.) and 17 ongoing (e.g. Prince of Tennis National Championships, Blood+, Bleach, etc.) anime series, plus 3 anime movies (Prince of Tennis Movie, Naruto Movie 1 and 2).
• Update Frequency: Above Average
• Video Format: .avi (HQ)
• Note: Hassle-free site, i.e. no registration or forum posting required to access downloads. Only free file hosts are used, i.e. site does not have its own media server.

Da-Anime consists of a Blogspot blog (more of a site than a blog really) and forum filled with anime hosted on free file hosts (primarily Megaupload actually) that have been uploaded by admins and members.

In practice, it’s similar to sites like RequestAnime.com and Instant Anime, but there is one difference. The site has anime listed on both its blog and forum, where the former is hassle-free, while the latter requires free registration. Of course, you’ll get more anime if you register at the forum.

It has a large collection of anime series and movies (quite a number of rare anime movies there) - especially in their forum - but there is one thing that annoys me. Everytime you load a page on their blog, there’s a pop-under announcement that points you to their forum. While it’s good for people who have no idea they have a forum, there’s really no reason to make it appear on every page load. I feel it would be best to limit the pop-under to once a session.

Update: Edited with new URL to Da-Anime. Sorry for being super late on this.

1) Da-Anime

• Megaupload (Free File Host) Speed: Average
• Free File Host Content on Blog: 65+ completed (e.g. Pretear, Berserk, Gunslinger Girl, etc.) and 3+ ongoing anime series (e.g. Blood+, Eureka Seven, etc.), as well as 25+ movies (e.g. Saint Seiya - Heaven Chapter, Yonna in the Solitary Fortress, etc.).
• Update Frequency: Frequent
• Free File Host Content in Forum: 80+ additional completed (e.g. Read or Die, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, Re Cutie Honey, etc.) and ongoing anime series (e.g. xxxHolic, Ergo Proxy, etc.), plus several additional movies (e.g. Air Movie, Naruto Movie 1, etc.). “Additional” refers to the fact that the content in the forum doesn’t overlap with the blog.
• Update Frequency: Frequent
• Video Format: .rmvb (LQ to MQ), .avi (HQ), .ogm (HQ), .mp4 (HQ)
• Note: Blog is hassle-free, i.e. registration or forum posting not required to access downloads. However, the forum requires free registration (e-mail confirmation required), though forum posting is not required to access their downloads section. The site only uses free file hosts, i.e. they do not have their own media server (or rather, they used to have one for uploaders).