The American comic book with the same name as the anime series, Witchblade, served as the inspiration for the Witchblade anime series. The creators came to the conclusion that it would be more interesting to develop a whole new plot from scratch and populate it with brand-new characters as opposed to adapting the old story. This co-production, which was created by the Japanese studio Gonzo and the American publisher Top Cow, has been given permission to be distributed in the United States. Top Cow is the company that holds the rights to the Witchblade property. The English dubbed version made its debut for the first time in January 2008 on the cable network IFC in the United States. IFC broadcast the show on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 3:30 AM Eastern Time (ET), and the final episode of the series was broadcast on IFC on June 13, 2008. Additionally, users of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network can pay to download episodes of the show after purchasing them from the respective services. Downloads of the first twelve episodes can also be obtained through the Unbox service provided by Amazon. The program is also accessible through the Instant Streaming service provided by Netflix. It was made available for free on Hulu as of June 2011, when it was last checked. The first volume was made available on DVD in September 2007, and as of December 2008, there were six different volumes that could be purchased in the United States and Canada. In addition, there is a complete boxed set that includes all 24 episodes as well as an additional disc packed with bonus content. On November 3, 2009, a boxed set of Blu-ray discs was made available to consumers. The anime was directed by Yoshimitsu Ohashi, who was also the director of Galaxy Angel and Galaxy Angel Z. Uno Makoto, who was the character designer for Stellvia and Love Hina, was responsible for designing the cast of characters.