After making episodes of hit anime series available on iTunes earlier this year, FUNimation is further expanding into the digital download market by joining the Xbox LIVE Marketplace next week. Beginning June 12, fans of Japanese animation and gaming will be able to download installments of such series as Samurai 7, Trinity Blood, Gunslinger Girl, and Basilisk.

Samurai 7 is an animated, futuristic retelling of the classic film Seven Samurai from legendary director Akira Kurosawa, while Trinity Blood is based on the serial novels of Sunao Yoshida, which tell of a futuristic, gothic world rebounding from Armageddon as an army of vampires once again rises to test the meddle of the brave defenders of humanity. Gunslinger Girl is an action show based on a manga series by Yutaka Aida, and Basilisk is a popular ninja-horror-action series based on Masaki Segawa’s manga saga, which was in turn by taken from the novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls by Futaro Yamada.

FUNimation Ent. acquires hit anime series from Japan and tailors it for North American audiences. The company manages a full spectrum of rights for most of its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, Internet and home video sales and distribution. In addition to its growing list of new-media outlets, the entity distributes programming via the FUNimation Channel, a 24/7 digital cable channel that is now available to more than 34 million households throughout the United States.