An uncertain future for Sentai Filmworks

[TThomas]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Mentioned it multiple times before, but imagine seeing a thread like this today. People were worried about Sentai licensing too much anime in 2012.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs....php?t=1027448

They were licensing more than FUNimation, and bolstered Crunchyroll (streaming service) rather than Anime Network Online (HIDIVE's predecessor). When CR decided to pursue home video rights, dub stuff, and compete against FUNimation, that's when they got bit in the ass. They got bit in the ass again when they bolstered CR again with HIDIVE rather than pushing HIDIVE more after the FUNimation partnership ended, only for FUNimation to later then buy Crunchyroll and give VRV and HIDIVE the boot.

My personal opinion on this:
Sentai made the same mistakes that Funimation did...

They didn't expand internationally & multilingual:
e. g. Crunchyroll started in Summer 2012 with Spanish subs for Latin America, Funimation in late 2020 & Hidive? never took it seriously
So they left markets that didn't have much competition to Crunchyroll alone...

Whilest Hidive was technically available in many other terriories, most titles - even including simulcast -weren't and even those that were usually didn't include local translated subs. They even could have done partnerships with local companies...

[snowmint]

I will never forgive Sentai Filmworks for not dubbing Tokyo Mew Mew New into English.

[GeoffOliver]

I don’t think Sentai’s very hypothetical closure would be the total end of the Houston dubbing scene. Sentai Studios dubs stuff for other companies too, most notably the recent [adult swim] originals.

[CSmith79]

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

I don’t think Sentai’s very hypothetical closure would be the total end of the Houston dubbing scene. Sentai Studios dubs stuff for other companies too, most notably the recent [adult swim] originals.

Yeah but that's even fewer and further between than Sentai dubs. Things don't exactly look too bright for Sentai Studios. If REMOW buys Sentai from AMC then REMOW can help breathe some new life into Sentai Studios (assuming they choose to keep it). Alternatively maybe Sentai Studios can be sold by REMOW to Crunchyroll and it becomes an additional dubbing studio for them, kind of like how ADV Films had two studios (one in Houston and another in Austin).

[Gowho]

All this cheerleading for REMOW and they don't have one show worth watching aside from the co-produced Hell Teacher Nube reboot.

They don't need Sentai, they have Viz with the Shueisha connections.

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by CSmith79

Yeah but that's even fewer and further between than Sentai dubs. Things don't exactly look too bright for Sentai Studios. If REMOW buys Sentai from AMC then REMOW can help breathe some new life into Sentai Studios (assuming they choose to keep it). Alternatively maybe Sentai Studios can be sold by REMOW to Crunchyroll and it becomes an additional dubbing studio for them, kind of like how ADV Films had two studios (one in Houston and another in Austin).

That’s a lot of hypotheticals. What makes you so confident that company is going to buy Sentai?

[TThomas]

REMOW is kinda huge in Latin America - and given the fact that Sentai sits on a ton of Anime licenses for Latam they currently don't use (at least to my knowledge) something should be done.
Either sublicensing (Netflix, Remow,...) or setting up Amazon Channels...

But outside Latam REMOW is acting weird and a role modell, e. g.
- outsourcing an English dub to Brasil
- locking a series for several months to only Samsung TVs & Phones in the US
- setting up contracts that prevent streaming services to fix issues with subtitle quality

And honestly:
What's the point in giving "Miru: Paths To My Future" a 2 weeks exclusive Samsung TV & Phone distribution window even for countries where the app required to access the show on these devises isn't even available?
Well, it would be even stupidier if it was a show that anime fans actually cared about.

[Misioon_Odisea]

Originally Posted by TThomas

REMOW is kinda huge in Latin America

I'm Latin American, but I haven't ever heard of this "REMOW" - From the sounds of it, I might just as well hook up to a VPN and subscribe to HIDIVE instead. To be honest, I could frankly care less about local availability of Anime here as long as I can secure disc copies of the series I'm interested in or care about.

[TThomas]

Originally Posted by Misioon_Odisea

I'm Latin American, but I haven't ever heard of this "REMOW" - From the sounds of it, I might just as well hook up to a VPN and subscribe to HIDIVE instead. To be honest, I could frankly care less about local availability of Anime here as long as I can secure disc copies of the series I'm interested in or care about.

Sorry for the confusion: You might be more familiar with their streaming service "Anime Onegai" than the actual name "ANIME REMOW LATAM, S. DE R. L. DE C.V. "

[BigOnAnime]

Should be noted, to my knowledge not a single REMOW-exclusive title has been released on home video here, so there's that to keep in mind.

[CSmith79]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Should be noted, to my knowledge not a single REMOW-exclusive title has been released on home video here, so there's that to keep in mind.

Should REMOW buy Sentai then they'll have someone to release their stuff on home video for them.

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by CSmith79

Should REMOW buy Sentai then they'll have someone to release their stuff on home video for them.

A company wouldn’t need to buy another label to release their titles on home video. They could either do it themselves or make a distribution deal with someone (Crunchyroll did this for years with almost every anime label in existence before FUNimation purchased them).

[CSmith79]

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

A company wouldn’t need to buy another label to release their titles on home video. They could either do it themselves or make a distribution deal with someone (Crunchyroll did this for years with almost every anime label in existence before FUNimation purchased them).

They indeed can do that but the question is a matter of will.

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by CSmith79

They indeed can do that but the question is a matter of will.

I dunno. I think you got way too absorbed in this very specific hypothetical. There’s zero indicators that this is going to happen. I wouldn’t waste much mental energy entertaining it.

[TThomas]

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

A company wouldn’t need to buy another label to release their titles on home video. They could either do it themselves or make a distribution deal with someone (Crunchyroll did this for years with almost every anime label in existence before FUNimation purchased them).

Remow did already with e. g. Nokotan & Your Forma in Germany - however both also including at least some digital rights to recoup the dubbing fees.

Originally Posted by Jackson_H

Crunchyroll shouldn't be allowed to renew licenses indefinitely just to retain streaming rights. If they only want streaming then renew just that. Let Sentai or another company bid on home video rights if Crunchyroll doesn't care to do anything with physical media.

Crunchyroll has a bunch of ongoing home video deals with Plaion Pictures Italy, Selecta Vision (Spain), Animoon (Germany) and if I'm right also Anime Ltd (UK/US). Sadly this deal does not include let's say "popular classics" for English-speaking territories.

Also, given the estimated revenues of $$$ Millions of Crunchyroll, these home video deals are likely less than 1 % of the CR revenue.

[Vorige]

So a thread based on nothing but supposition and conjecture with an over dramatic OP.

I know this is a niece area of a message board dedicated to the already growing niche of physical media, but this is sad.

[Jackson_H]

Wishful thinking but in the near future hopefully home video rights can be offered separately. It's more convenient to have everything included (streaming, home video, merchandise) but if a company is doing nothing with a license on home video; especially older titles that's objectively a bad look for the Japanese rep who had to be convinced (besides drinking parties) that the American rep is the right guy to entrust the license to

Sentai would probably love to release a bunch of older titles like Gantz, Kanon and Utawarerumono on Blu-ray if Crunchyroll/Funimation didn't still have some claim to them

As someone who likes basketball it reminds of the new NBA broadcast deals not that long ago. Why renew the primary package with ESPN/ABC without entertaining other offers when objectively majority of viewers hate the presentation and coverage from this network.

Ideally NBC should've gotten the A-package, Amazon Prime the B-package and ESPN/ABC the C-package.

Crunchyroll shouldn't be allowed to renew licenses indefinitely just to retain streaming rights. If they only want streaming then renew just that. Let Sentai or another company bid on home video rights if Crunchyroll doesn't care to do anything with physical media.



On the subject of sports there are a lot of athletes who like anime. Sometimes you see a company or IP do a collab for promotion but it usually ends there.

More complicated but if Sentai really wanted to shake things up they'd convince some of these rich athletes to invest with the understanding that they'd be funding original anime productions but keeping mostly handsoff to let the Japanese creatives do what they do best. Could each get an Executive Producer credit (sounds fancy but is actually meaningless) if any have entertainment aspirations after retiring

Being part of the production committee to help fund sequels or full adaptation remakes means having North American licensing rights too.

50 athletes each contributing 50k could fund a 2-cour show. 50k is a lot of money to the average person but not a huge sum to individuals making millions per year. They've probably spent more on other hobbies or vices


When Gen Fukunaga rebought Funimation from Navarre he had his own investor group that included some millionaires IIRC

[CSmith79]

Originally Posted by Jackson_H

Wishful thinking but in the near future hopefully home video rights can be offered separately. It's more convenient to have everything included (streaming, home video, merchandise) but if a company is doing nothing with a license on home video; especially older titles that's objectively a bad look for the Japanese rep who had to be convinced (besides drinking parties) that the American rep is the right guy to entrust the license to

Originally Posted by Jackson_H

Crunchyroll shouldn't be allowed to renew licenses indefinitely just to retain streaming rights. If they only want streaming then renew just that. Let Sentai or another company bid on home video rights if Crunchyroll doesn't care to do anything with physical media.

As much as we would like that to happen, there is the issue of how much money would they make. Home video revenues have decreased by a lot and streaming has become by and large the breadwinner for anime companies. So there's much less room for error if a home video release flops and the company doesnt have streaming rights to make up for it. Not helping is how much licensing costs have gone up over the years due to all the streaming arms racing in the latter half of the 2010s. You look at Discotek and AnimEigo and they focus solely on home video and perhaps because of this they have very tight budgets. Personally I do think we might come to an era where streaming rights are indeed separate from home video rights. This was what happened with DanDaDan and Witch Watch where the streaming rights (gone to Netflix and Crunchyroll) and the home video rights (gone to GKIDS) are separate. Even Vinland Saga series could qualify as an example of this.

[InuYashaCrusade]

This recent interview with KADOKAWA Chief Anime Officer, Daijo Kudo, actually mentions Sentai/Hidive as "weakening":

https://animecorner.me/top-anime-pro...s-over-prices/

“To be honest, I think things are a little different now [in regards to increased inquiries for overseas distribution and higher license fees]. Between Funimation, Crunchyroll, and Sentai, the impression was that the distribution rights fees were growing. However, with Sentai’s power as a video distribution service weakening, the composition of the buyers is becoming more like Crunchyroll and then everyone else. As a result, my impression is that more time is being spent on careful negotiations over purchase prices.“

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by DTGee

Looking into this, OP has made at least 2 different posts about this on Reddit, one from a few days ago and one from a few months ago. This all seems to be some autistic personal fantasy of his seeing Sentai to going out of business and getting bought out by another company.

Finally decided to look into this because of how ridiculous this thread is with their wild fantasies, and seems they deleted their Reddit account.
https://old.reddit.com/r/MediaMerger...end_of_sentai/
https://old.reddit.com/r/MediaMerger...tai_filmworks/

Also love that someone has to bring up Bandai Visual USA and Daisuki. JP companies trying self-distribution and falling on their face is nothing new. Look at this 19 year old article.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...ontinues-trend

REMOW is giving similar vibes as the past failures, the most recent being Daisuki and Ponycan USA.

Originally Posted by TThomas

My personal opinion on this:
Sentai made the same mistakes that Funimation did...

They didn't expand internationally & multilingual:
e. g. Crunchyroll started in Summer 2012 with Spanish subs for Latin America, Funimation in late 2020 & Hidive? never took it seriously
So they left markets that didn't have much competition to Crunchyroll alone...

Whilest Hidive was technically available in many other terriories, most titles - even including simulcast -weren't and even those that were usually didn't include local translated subs. They even could have done partnerships with local companies...

I remember they tried international expansion with Anime Network Online, but hardly anyone knew much about ANO, which led to HIDIVE as a rebranding strategy. Doesn't help they put this stuff on Crunchyroll too. When they put stuff on CR, Hulu, and ANO, nearly everyone went to only CR as it was a better value. When CR shifted what it was going to be, that's when Sentai got bit in the ass. CR even went as far as to secure the master license to later seasons of Food Wars! and Haikyu!!, titles that originally Sentai put on CR themselves. Sentai helped CR grow a lot.

Random example of ANO with international streaming.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"RIN-NE 2" Joins Anime Network Online’s Latin America Lineup

HOUSTON, APRIL 28, 2016 – Rinne Rokudo is back on Anime Network Online (ANO), and soon, Latin American subscribers will be able to stream RIN-NE 2 with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

Based on the manga by legendary mangaka Rumiko Takahashi (Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku), RIN-NE 2 picks up where the first season left off with poverty-stricken Rinne Rokudo still desperately trying to make ends meet through a series of (very) odd jobs, including purifying spirits and escorting them to the Wheel of Reincarnation. In between fights with malevolent damashigami, Rinne has to deal with meddling black cats, love struck shinigami girls, and even more romantic misunderstandings with Sakura Mamiya!

Premium subscribers in select countries will be able to immediately enjoy new episodes of RIN-NE 2 every Saturday at 11:00 am UTC with Spanish or Portuguese subtitles. For more information, visit https://forums.theanimenetwork.com/.

https://fandompost.vbulletin.net/for...ge4#post556725

Originally Posted by CSmith79

Yeah but that's even fewer and further between than Sentai dubs. Things don't exactly look too bright for Sentai Studios. If REMOW buys Sentai from AMC then REMOW can help breathe some new life into Sentai Studios (assuming they choose to keep it). Alternatively maybe Sentai Studios can be sold by REMOW to Crunchyroll and it becomes an additional dubbing studio for them, kind of like how ADV Films had two studios (one in Houston and another in Austin).

You do realize that ADV Films consolidated Monster Island and Industrial Smoke & Mirrors into one studio, ADV Studios, right? Crunchyroll would see no need for a Houston studio in addition to their studio around Dallas. They ended recording from home because they wanted to make more use of the studio they had recently built.

Also lots of stuff is now simply not being dubbed. Even Love Live! stopped being dubbed, the newest seasons are sub-only and have no Blu-ray release from Crunchyroll.

Originally Posted by Misioon_Odisea

I'm Latin American, but I haven't ever heard of this "REMOW" - From the sounds of it, I might just as well hook up to a VPN and subscribe to HIDIVE instead. To be honest, I could frankly care less about local availability of Anime here as long as I can secure disc copies of the series I'm interested in or care about.

And that sure as heck won't happen with REMOW anytime soon from the looks of things. Not a single REMOW title has seen a home video release here. I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to own Tonbo! on Blu-ray.

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

A company wouldn’t need to buy another label to release their titles on home video. They could either do it themselves or make a distribution deal with someone (Crunchyroll did this for years with almost every anime label in existence before FUNimation purchased them).

This. Heck, Toei Animation had Cinedigm and Shout! Factory distribute stuff for them before. Ex: Digimon Adventure tri. & The Beginning, Saint Seiya, Slam Dunk (dub-only), Zatch Bell! (dub-only)

Originally Posted by Jackson_H

Wishful thinking but in the near future hopefully home video rights can be offered separately. It's more convenient to have everything included (streaming, home video, merchandise) but if a company is doing nothing with a license on home video; especially older titles that's objectively a bad look for the Japanese rep who had to be convinced (besides drinking parties) that the American rep is the right guy to entrust the license to

Sentai would probably love to release a bunch of older titles like Gantz, Kanon and Utawarerumono on Blu-ray if Crunchyroll/Funimation didn't still have some claim to them

You are aware that Sentai has done similar stuff, right? There's a bunch of stuff, mainly DVD-only titles that are streaming-only while the home video release remains OOP. If they had Gantz, they'd end up just streaming it as there's no Blu-ray release in Japan and while they've done Blu-ray upscales for stuff without them, that only applies to stuff they've never touched. Gantz would be treated like Azumanga Daioh (has JP Blu-rays so Sentai could re-release it, but won't bother).
https://www.hidive.com/season/18912

Home video isn't as important anymore. What's more of a bad look is stuff like the Dirty Pair Kickstarter, something visibily fully funded, and nothing has materialized. If sitting on home video rights while retaining streaming was viewed as a massive problem by the JP rightsholders, something would have been done about that by now.

Originally Posted by CSmith79

As much as we would like that to happen, there is the issue of how much money would they make. Home video revenues have decreased by a lot and streaming has become by and large the breadwinner for anime companies. So there's much less room for error if a home video release flops and the company doesnt have streaming rights to make up for it. Not helping is how much licensing costs have gone up over the years due to all the streaming arms racing in the latter half of the 2010s. You look at Discotek and AnimEigo and they focus solely on home video and perhaps because of this they have very tight budgets. Personally I do think we might come to an era where streaming rights are indeed separate from home video rights. This was what happened with DanDaDan and Witch Watch where the streaming rights (gone to Netflix and Crunchyroll) and the home video rights (gone to GKIDS) are separate. Even Vinland Saga series could qualify as an example of this.

Anime home video sales have remained mostly unchanged since the anime DVD bubble burst actually. They'll still move a few thousand units.

Also worth noting, GKIDS is who put DanDaDan and Witch Watch on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...-anime/.211493
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...yroll-/.220388

Originally Posted by InuYashaCrusade

This recent interview with KADOKAWA Chief Anime Officer, Daijo Kudo, actually mentions Sentai/Hidive as "weakening":

https://animecorner.me/top-anime-pro...s-over-prices/

“To be honest, I think things are a little different now [in regards to increased inquiries for overseas distribution and higher license fees]. Between Funimation, Crunchyroll, and Sentai, the impression was that the distribution rights fees were growing. However, with Sentai’s power as a video distribution service weakening, the composition of the buyers is becoming more like Crunchyroll and then everyone else. As a result, my impression is that more time is being spent on careful negotiations over purchase prices.“

Further confirmation that there's a brand recognition problem. People just look at only Crunchyroll, then Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and nothing else, especially now that Crunchyroll and FUNimation merged, what would have been in two separate places is now in just one.

"HIDIVE, what's that?" "Sentai Film-what?"