In this day and age, anime has become widely available on the Internet. From legal ones (such as Netflix, Crunchyroll, or even YouTube) to illegal ones, anime streaming sites has become a favorite for anime fans to enjoy their favorite shows. Ponimu Indonesia (short for Portal Animasi Unggulan) has stepped up into this industry, claiming to be “the number one anime streaming portal in Indonesia”.
After several months in preparation, including a promotional campaign on social media and in the Creators Super Fest event back in May 2018, Ponimu has finally gone live in the 31st of July, 2018. Let’s take a look at what it’s like and what they bring:
Homepage
Ponimu’s homepage shows the recently added episodes, as well as the most watched shows in the Popular Show category. Users can also check out their anime catalog in the Shows tab, or if you’re interested in how Ponimu works and want to keep updated on their activity, there’s the Blog tab that directs you to the news archive. There’s also a Line Sticker Shop link to get Mumu (Ponimu’s mascot) stickers to use in LINE chats.
Subscription
At the moment, Ponimu has two subscription plans: 30 days Standard Package for Rp 49000 (about US$ 3.4), and a 90 Days Pack for Rp 135000 (about US$ 9.35). Both offer full access to Ponimu’s features, ad-free viewing, as well as HD quality up to 1080p resolution. Subscribers can receive a reward after subscribing for a certain amount of days. Ponimu also offers a free trial package for 3 days. Payment methods are currently available via virtual account transfer at select banks (BCA, BNI, BRI, Mandiri, Maybank, Permata) or via convenience store chain Alfamart.
Anime Catalog + Media Player
At the moment, Ponimu currently has two TV anime and one anime film available at launch: Project Itoh: Empire of Corpses, Eden of the East, and Polyphonica. Even so, Ponimu plans to roll out more shows and film in the future, including Mari Okada’s latest work, Maquia.
In the anime page, users can watch the trailer for the anime and drop a review below the About section. Clicking on the Episodes tab brings the user to a complete list of episodes available. Interestingly, staff names in the shows’ descriptions can be clicked, but they are yet to link to anything, making their purpose still unknown at this time.
For each episodes, users can also comment in the comment section provided below the synopsis. Video quality is available up to 1080p + auto option. Transition between different qualities is seamless, without having to reload the video from the beginning again. Audio output can only be set on “on” and “mute” only, though, without volume adjustment control. Ponimu uses Indonesian language only for their subtitles, but they’re also considering an option for English subtitles.
On a technical aspect, Ponimu stated that one anime episode on a 720p quality will take up to 400mb data, and users will need at least 1mbps internet speed to watch seamlessly. Also, it’s worth noting that all of the anime on Ponimu’s website is not available to be downloaded freely, only the trailer is allowed. Ponimu also sets age restriction to it’s anime, which blocked users who are below the specified age rating for a given anime to view the anime. Currently, the age ratings given to the launch titles are 13+ for Polyphonica, 17+ for Eden of the East, and 21+ for Project Itoh: Empire of Corpses.
Afterthoughts
With their simulcast feature, as well as professional translators in their team, the future of Ponimu is looking promising in Indonesia. Of course, being its first day of launch, there are some hiccups found throughout Ponimu’s website. For example, some of the episode thumbnails took a bit of time to load, not to mention the preview sometimes shows the placeholder image instead of the episode thumbnails. Another problem found is giving user rating causes the video to reload.
Ponimu’s small font size could also be troublesome for some users with bad eyesight, especially when trying to register for the first time. For users who are mostly on the go, Ponimu’s mobile app is still under development, so they may need to stick to the mobile web for a while.
Aside from that, Ponimu is clearly shaping up to become the leading service for anime streaming service in Indonesia. A forum is also under development for Ponimu so users can interact and share their favorite anime. With their vision to unite anime fans across the country and potentially making Indonesia a promising market for the anime industry, Ponimu is certainly heading in the right direction.
The Indonesian Anime Times | by Videtra Reynaldi with contributions from Dany Muhammad
