30626


I saw this post about [What was the first anime to come out on
Bluray/HDDVD](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/26013/what-was-the-
first-anime-to-come-out-on-bluray-hddvd) on this site, and I wonder what was
the first anime that **aired in HD**?

I first thought of it is aired in around 2008. For example:

> _Bleach_ started to air in HD in [season 9 (episode
> 168)](http://bleach.answers.wikia.com/wiki/What_episode_did_bleach_started_to_air_in_720p).
> According to
> [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bleach_episodes#Season_9:_The_New_Captain_Sh.C5.ABsuke_Amagai_.282008.29),
> the original airdate of episode 168 is **2008**.  
>

But after hours of researching, I found something about _One Piece_.

> _One Piece_ started airing in HD in [episode
> 207](https://www.quora.com/From-which-episode-is-the-One-Piece-anime-
> in-720p-and-1080p). And again, according to
> [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Piece_episodes_\(season_7\)#.22Escape.21_The_Naval_Fortress_.26_The_Foxy_Pirate_Crew.22),
> the original airdate is way back in **October 31, 2004**.  
>

The recent answer shows these 2 anime ( _Ghost in the Shell: SAC_ and _Samurai
7_ ) were the possible first anime to air in widescreen.

Fun fact: _Samurai 7_ is aired just 4 months earlier than _One Piece_. Does
this makes _One Piece_ the 2nd runner-up? LOL.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-17T13:20:14.600
30604
2017-01-08T04:34:20.887
2017-04-13T12:54:48.953
-1
17814
question
anime-history
What was the first anime aired in HD?


You question intrigued me quite a bit, so I decided to try to solve this
problem. Here is what I found and I would be grateful if anyone can help me
improve my answer!

The first thing I knew was around 2007-2008 was about the time HD started
getting popular in the United States. I used this information to track down a
couple of forums on the AnimeNewsNetwork
[Here](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=37235&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0)
and [Here](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=29452).
These two threads were very useful as they gave the names of "Samurai 7" and
"Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" (aka "GITS SAC" as used in the
thread).

I pulled up the [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_7) page for
Samurai 7 and one part of it reads:

> The series premiered across Japan on the anime satellite television network,
> Animax, as an exclusive high definition CS-PPV broadcast

Now I am not sure if you would like to consider it as aired in HD as it was
"Pay Per View" (aka "PPV"), but it was created in HD based on
[this](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=3127) page
about the series:

> Based on Akira Kurosawa's classic movie, The Seven Samurai. Samurai 7 is
> being produced in High Definition at a price of $300 000 per episode, more
> than twice what an average non-hi-def series costs.

Now the reason I also included "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" is
because in the forums many of the people were also saying that this one was
also HD. I was able to find out that it was also aired by Animax, but cannot
confirm if it was aired for HD.

If GITS SAC was not aired in HD then it would make Samurai 7 the first anime
aired in HD (or at least as far as I can find).

Now I am very weary about my research, as I think there may have been other
anime's aired in HD before these two, and my main concern comes from [this
article](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/1998-09-08) written in 1998.
And the way the users in the threads were talking about HD as it was not
something new, also makes me wonder if there have been anime's before these
two that were aired in HD.

I will continue to do more research and improve my answer as I go. I hope this
answer can help you.

**UPDATE:** I was able to find
[this](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/25975/when-did-the-
transition-from-standard-definition-43-to-widescreen-169-for) question, where
"Toshinou Kyouko" pointed to [this
thread](http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=622815). In the thread "Zalis"
states:

> First 16:9 TV anime: Betterman (Spring 1999), Vandread (Fall 2000)

I am currently trying to find a source that can verify if these shows were
created in HD 16:9 aspect ratio. (Thanks to "Ross Ridge" for pointing this
out.)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-18T06:19:22.423
30626
2017-01-08T04:34:20.887
2017-04-13T12:54:48.523
-1
22762
30604
answer