Funimation to Acquire Crunchyroll (Crunchyroll to swallow Funimation content)

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by Nothing371

my new personal favorite is: "Just get a region-free player (and it solves all your problems)!

That'll make the region lockout on your discs go away forever. Right!?! I picture people sitting in their 1-room studio weeb fortress watching anime with their butts in the same divot every time.

Don't do multiple rooms or travel. We're going to bury ourselves with that one single 1080p player. The Highlander!

For the most part, there wouldn't even need to be a discussion about Region Free players if certain companies didn't price gouge their customers outside Europe. Pretty bad when buying a whole disc player + Region B release is cheaper than a single Region A release.

Personally, I just don't buy those releases. There's enough competition elsewhere for my funds that doesn't require jumping through such ridiculous hoops.

Still a bit concerned that Crunchyroll taking over Funimation is going to increase prices and reduce relative value over time, but in the end I still expect Sentai, Funi/Crunchy, and Discotek to remain mostly reasonable, with Discotek being on the high end of reasonable most of the time.

[Spoofer]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Something to keep in mind, nearly a year later, not a single Discotek limited number release has yet to sell out despite being limited to under 2,500 units.

Which are the limited labeled numbered ones again?

[BigOnAnime]

Something I forgot to add, with streaming, what is declining is the American services that are having to make brand new stuff from scratch which is expensive. Anime streaming is different as you're licensing already made shows which are much cheaper to make, and anime production is largely low-risk because of the production committee system, though the animation studio is usually either not on the committee or towards the very bottom. There's different costs involved for streaming, mainly licensing (minimum guarantee) and localization. It gets more expensive if you add a dub, and not all shows get those (a wise lesson learned from the anime DVD bubble). Even with that and how much more expensive anime is to license now, costs are likely nowhere near what the American companies were making from scratch. The anime streaming bubble has yet to pop like the anime DVD bubble did.

Originally Posted by Spoofer

Which are the limited labeled numbered ones again?

Full list here thanks to Bobo1313 adding "(Limited to [X number])" in the title unless there's one he forgot about.

Aho-Girl (2,000)
Fusé: Memoirs of the Hunter Girl (1,500)
Heart and Yummie (2,000)
Holmes of Kyoto (1,500)
The Princess and the Pilot (1,500)
To Be Hero & To Be Heroine (2,000)

[E_I]

CR laying off 85 employees globally.

https://twitter.com/AnimeNewsNet/sta...266493443?s=20

Apparently, it was about redundancies:

https://twitter.com/Anime/status/162...953655810?s=20

[pikagreg]

How else are they going to fund their giant award shows? They already let a ton of people go in 2020.

[neoz]

I mean we pretty called it when Sony said they were buying it all. Figured they would have to fire people because of redundancy and there it is.

[Crimzon]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Something I forgot to add, with streaming, what is declining is the American services that are having to make brand new stuff from scratch which is expensive. Anime streaming is different as you're licensing already made shows which are much cheaper to make, and anime production is largely low-risk because of the production committee system, though the animation studio is usually either not on the committee or towards the very bottom. There's different costs involved for streaming, mainly licensing (minimum guarantee) and localization. It gets more expensive if you add a dub, and not all shows get those (a wise lesson learned from the anime DVD bubble). Even with that and how much more expensive anime is to license now, costs are likely nowhere near what the American companies were making from scratch. The anime streaming bubble has yet to pop like the anime DVD bubble did.Full list here thanks to Bobo1313 adding "(Limited to [X number])" in the title unless there's one he forgot about.

Aho-Girl (2,000)
Fusé: Memoirs of the Hunter Girl (1,500)
Heart and Yummie (2,000)
Holmes of Kyoto (1,500)
The Princess and the Pilot (1,500)
To Be Hero & To Be Heroine (2,000)

Two things to say. Three of those releases are limited because they are Crunchyroll licensed. Also the head of MediaOCD, Justin Sevakis, was the one who said that in general the streaming bubble has burst. Yes anime is different an cheaper than making it from scratch but it’s says a lot that Sony bought RightStuf Anime to essential have a big foothold in the home video department since that’s the largest stateside dealer in anime and manga. Sony are well aware that streaming only as some companies do isn’t the best decision for maximizing profit. Remember Sony pioneered the Blu-Ray tech as we know it. So them buying RightStuf basically said that physical releases are here to stay. For anime at least.

[BigOnAnime]

Physical isn't what it used to be and isn't as important to the bottom line is my main point. The importance is being overstated by some here when as I've said, most shows are lucky to hit 10,000 units in their lifetime, it's only the super popular stuff that will easily clear that.

As for RightStuf, they stock more than just anime, they also stock manga, which is enormously popular right now, retailers are struggling to keep it on shelves unlike anime. Physical manga releases blow physical anime releases out of the water in terms of sales.

[E_I]

CR has changed their language selection for videos. Instead of using the dropdown menus to select a language/season, language selection can now be done by suing the gear icon and selecting the language you want while the video is playing.

[Crimzon]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Physical isn't what it used to be and isn't as important to the bottom line is my main point. The importance is being overstated by some here when as I've said, most shows are lucky to hit 10,000 units in their lifetime, it's only the super popular stuff that will easily clear that.

As for RightStuf, they stock more than just anime, they also stock manga, which is enormously popular right now, retailers are struggling to keep it on shelves unlike anime. Physical manga releases blow physical anime releases out of the water in terms of sales.

I concede. You have valid points.

Also if Crunchyroll is reading Release Radiant Season 2, Part 2!

[BigOnAnime]

I haven't even seen Radiant and I also find it annoying they still haven't released the rest. Really wonder what the holdup is. They even put out a Limited Edition for S1. I do see that it wasn't released on disc in Japan, that's the only thing that may be causing problems, but we've seen other shows like that that still get released here, such as King's Raid (this is likely why Part 1 repeated the key art so much, artwork was likely very limited thanks to the JP releases being cancelled).

[Crimzon]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

I haven't even seen Radiant and I also find it annoying they still haven't released the rest. Really wonder what the holdup is. They even put out a Limited Edition for S1. I do see that it wasn't released on disc in Japan, that's the only thing that may be causing problems, but we've seen other shows like that that still get released here, such as King's Raid (this is likely why Part 1 repeated the key art so much, artwork was likely very limited thanks to the JP releases being cancelled).

I didn’t know S2, P2 wasn’t released in Japan yet. Yep. That’s probably the hold up. If you haven’t seen it it’s a very tame, TV-Y7, anime about a teen called Seth who wants to be a great sorcerer but magic users are kind of looked down on for all the trouble they cause. It’s fun and is based on a French manga. The going theory is NHK and Studio Lerche have been waiting to adapt more and not just release filler seasons. Seasons 1 & 2 go through 8 volumes if I remember correctly. There are now 16 volumes with volume 17 scheduled for late this year. So maybe we get word on a continuation when volume 16 drops in April with S2, P2 also being announced.

[Crimzon]

I also want a non limited release of Golden Kamuy season 1. That’s what’s stopping me from buying seasons 2 & 3. A regular release of season 1 was listed on Funimations store when the complete Berserk CGI anime was. Both were pulled later but Berserk eventually got released.

[BigOnAnime]

Most anime is released in singles in Japan, so it likey wouldn't have been a part release. Neither season has a home video release in Japan from what I can tell. Multiple series in the past 5 years or so have had no physical release of any kind in Japan, another recent example being Blue Reflection Ray.

[hkdvd]

All of this shit makes me really glad that I decoupled myself from the whole buying anime fiasco a few years ago. I ran out of space to store physical anime discs and had to find another space effective method to watch it.

[MiaLeeSakura]

sooo reading the last couple of pages, are physicals back in?? I perused this thread particularly because I was wondering with Funimation branding being taken over by Crunchyroll, if Funiroll was gonna focus more on digital/streaming than physical releases, especially with the YYH Anniversary edition selling out before release date, it seemed to me they were slowing down on physical production?

I'm under the impression that Japan is really pushing digital/streaming as well so maybe I assumed Anime globally would begin to lean more that way as well (though I'd say the push towards digital is far larger in the manga market comparatively, in Japan at least)

[BigOnAnime]

This newest slate looked like a more normal FUNimation slate, but with no re-releases, so things don't look great for all the FUNimation-branded releases that are going OOP. Also who knows what will happen to like Yu Yu Hakusho as it's now completely OOP. If they're not going to keep that box set in-print, doesn't look great for the future.

[InuYashaCrusade]

More Crunchyroll recasts:

"Sean Chiplock, Xanthe Huynh Do Not Reprise Roles in Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War Anime's English Dub"

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...glish-/.195074

[darthtoon]

Originally Posted by InuYashaCrusade

More Crunchyroll recasts:

"Sean Chiplock, Xanthe Huynh Do Not Reprise Roles in Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War Anime's English Dub"

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...glish-/.195074

the recording sessions probably conflicted with conventions and other projects

[Girls With Guns]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

This newest slate looked like a more normal FUNimation slate, but with no re-releases, so things don't look great for all the FUNimation-branded releases that are going OOP. Also who knows what will happen to like Yu Yu Hakusho as it's now completely OOP. If they're not going to keep that box set in-print, doesn't look great for the future.

Fortunately for me, I've been collecting physical anime long enough now that I already have pretty much every catalog anime title I will ever want in my media collection. The only titles I buy now are almost exclusively new releases, or older titles that get a new Blu-ray re-release upgraded from DVD, or get a re-release with more attractive packaging. There is almost no older titles left for me to buy in even the biggest sales anymore; that's one of the main reasons I usually end up catching-up on purchasing the latest Aniplex releases during the Holiday sales.

My biggest problem is, I have now totally maxed-out the available storage space in my house for physical anime, with no room to add more shelving anywhere, so I really need to drastically cut back on the number of new releases I buy. So, maybe less physical releases for anime is actually good timing and a blessing for me.