Fukunaga also stated about the reason behind the partnership, "The problem is, the market was fragmenting up a bit – you had other players coming in, [like] Amazon [and] Hulu ... The issue with some of those big players is that they're maybe not as concerned with the fan experience as Crunchyroll and Funimation." He added, "working together ... [Funimation and Crunchyroll] can provide a better experience ... that really works for the fans."
My concern is that the existing region locks on many Funimation shows will remain in place. The news articles do not seem to address this, perhaps deliberately.Funi have a huge catalogue of older shows, something CR was sorely lacking, so having those in there, even if sub only, sounds amazing, and for CR streaming shows to be getting broadcast dubs is also great for those who like them.
I don't think it's too likely they'd change, since that'd probably have more to do with Funimation not having UK rights in the first place. Cowboy Bebop was one of the shows being added to Crunchyroll and it's still not available to the UK (I'm not sure if Anime Limited have the UK streaming rights for that but presumably Funimation don't either way).My concern is that the existing region locks on many Funimation shows will remain in place. The news articles do not seem to address this, perhaps deliberately.
Jerome:
Crunchyroll, Funimation Announce Partnership to Share Content Via Streaming, Home Video, EST http://po.st/Kurq0I via @po_st #Funiblinked
User #1:
Whats your thoughts? i wanna talk about it, but something bugs me
Jerome:
It's called a virtual monopoly. It'll **** up a bunch of studios and will speed up the demise of boxed product.
User #2:
Do you think the demise of the boxed product is inevitable? Is it a monopoly or a consolidation of power? Or both?
Jerome:
It's the insatiable demand, the impatience and the disruption of new technology. You can hardly argue that CR has carefully curated it's offering when it's trying o simulcast 45 series a season? It's overwhelming for fans. It makes them much more selective about ownership, but anime licensing is/was powered by box product sales. And those sales used to have long tail. SVOD does not generate the same revenue. Well! It has for the past several years as CR and Funi paid stupid money for licenses. Now the entire industry is dancing to one global platform's tune, but MGs will tumble.
User #3:
Around half of the ~40 simulcasts I watch per season I'd like to own, but most don't warrant expensive CEs.
Jerome:
I'm just bitter because CR don't reply to my emails. It's a great move by fans. It'll shake up the Japanese a bit.
User #4:
May I ask what MG means?
Jerome:
Minimum Guarantee. The advance. It's what you pay up font for tension. Japanese licensors only really expect to ever see one payment, especially with SVOD. Overages are when you recoup the advance and start paying percentages on top make a new anime series for $200K per episode and sell it to Funi or CR for global at same price. Then all the money you make in Asian territories is pure profit after marketing and other costs is deducted. This is what's been happening since 2013. Now that CR and Funi have united it means MGs can start coming down as they have no real competition. You think Netflix want to carry more than half a dozen series a season? Amazon only really cares about having anime exclusives in Japan. It's only a matter of time until they start gunning 4 Asian territories too. Piracy and the greed of the industry has birthed a monster.
Don't expect @funimationnow to last. I reckon it'll fold by this time next year. They entered the market too late. This JV shows they lost.
We've paid over seven figures in overages on half a dozen license. Manga has been a great license partner and yet we get treated pretty shabbily by a number of Licensors. I think we are a nuisance because we keep proving there is still a lot of value and volume of sales in DVD and Blu-Ray. SVOD Is great for poor quality anime and with over 200 seasons a year, there's an awful lot of poor anime out there.
I thought it was Ponycan that Andrew had had trouble getting to respond to emails, rather than Crunchyroll?Absolutely fantastic news for fans. More access to anime with fewer hoops to jump through and both companies taking advantage of the brand recognition of the other. This feels like a very important step in fighting back against the plague of illicit streaming sites with more name recognition (tsk) and a lot of the annoying contradictions inherent in how both companies license streaming titles in a weird patchwork of regions at the moment. It also means being able to watch next season's shows on my preferred player and presumably getting more anime for the pittance I pay each month. Not seeing a downside at all other than the lack of competition, which frankly is something I actively want with simulcasting since you're screwed when a bad company gets exclusivity to a good series and locks it away on a terrible platform. If competition means I get less access to simulcasts then by all means, merge together to provide me a better service.
Didn't Andrew have trouble getting CR to reply to his emails back in the past? Keep working at it, Jerome. I quite like some of the 'poor' titles, so I have to support this great trend towards getting fans the anime they want to watch :s
R
I thought it was Ponycan that Andrew had had trouble getting to respond to emails, rather than Crunchyroll?
Free! was one of the first batch of shows CR were confirmed to be releasing on BD & DVD. Alongside Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Gintama, Myriad Colours Phantom World, Twin Star Exorcists and something else I have now forgotten.Jerome is a bit of a glass half empty kind of a guy...
This is brilliant news. If there's one thing that anime streaming needs, it's a 'monopoly' and getting Funimation's shows on CR means one less subscription, while Funimation retain the dubs for their own portal, assuming, probably quite rightly that dub and sub fans are mutually exclusive.
As for the physical distribution agreement with CR, the way I read it, it's only for those shows for which CR have home distribution rights, and nothing is going to change for Sental, MVM and Manganimatsu in terms of the shows that they release. The ones probably feeling dicked by this move are Diskotek, who have released CR titles in the past. But hopefully this means that Season 1 of Free will get its Blu-ray release.