Funimation Entertainment has announced that all 26 episodes of the Witchblade anime series created by Gonzo and based on the comic book series published by Top Cow are now available for downloading via Apple’s iTunes Website.  In a move calculated to get consumers to try the series, the first Witchblade episode will be available to download for free until October 26th.  The Witchblade anime, which was directed by Yoshimitsu Ohashi and adapted for the Japanese market by script supervisor Yasuko Kobayashi, premiered in the U.S. on DVD in September of 2007 and was the best-selling debut TV anime series of the year (see “Witchblade Top ’07 Anime Series Debut”).

Funimation, which recently announced that a number of its anime series will be available for viewing on a dedicated “channel” on the ad-supported Joost Internet TV service starting in November (see “Funimation Launches on Joost”), appears to be aggressively exploring various ways to use the Internet to distribute its anime content, a trend that is underscored by its move to make the well known Witchblade anime available via iTunes.