Funimation to Acquire Crunchyroll (Crunchyroll to swallow Funimation content)

[Taikero]

Considering Funimation's app is terrible, their payment system is unreliable/terrible (they took my payment fine for months, then suddenly their payment system didn't work for it, and I couldn't fix it/have them try again through the website), and they are a subsidiary of Sony, so we know their security is terrible, well...

It stands to reason that any advantages Crunchyroll has over Funimation now, will begin to disappear. Hopefully Funimation incorporates positive aspects from Crunchyroll, but I expect that much will be tossed aside in the merger, to our collective detriment.

[gloomranger]

It happened…

https://twitter.com/funimation/statu...278994434?s=21

Originally Posted by Funimation

Yay for anime! Funimation and @Crunchyroll are one company today. Now we can start the crazy fun work of bringing our worlds together. → Read more:

https://www.sonypictures.com/corp/pr...chyrollfromatt

[AreaFive]

I currently have subscriptions to both. It will be interesting how they handle such cases.

[vap]

Well, there goes the neighborhood. Somebody really needs to nuke funi/sony/aniplex and send their sorry butts to the bottom of the ocean!! What's a company like Sentai going to survive on-rejects and crumbs that fall on the floor from the table?

[gloomranger]

Originally Posted by vap

What's a company like Sentai going to survive on-rejects and crumbs that fall on the floor from the table?

They’re already kinda doing that.

[InuYashaCrusade]

Sentai could try and compete with Discotek and go for older titles. Otherwise who knows what this means for them.

[BigOnAnime]

Problem is older titles don't make as much money as newer ones, and they don't have as much of an audience for them. Discotek's audience is different from Sentai's.

So, how many layoffs can we expect from this merger because Joe Biden's antitrust division completely fell asleep or got bribed?

[El_Fez]

Originally Posted by neoz

It is the fans that don't seem to get the long term effects of this.
I guess they don't care about the scores of people that are about to lose their jobs anyway. Not that is matters as these people are to cheap to even support the industry yet demand more anime be released.

Yeah, its exactly the same sort of thing when Disney bought Fox and all the comic book guys were going "YES! THAT MEANS X-MEN IN THE MCU!" while I was all "You do realize this is a terrible thing, right?"

Oh well. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.

[MasterAS]

I fear that the catalog titles may get left in the dust, never to see the light of day on home video.

Part of me wishes Mill Creek would release many of the titles FuniRoll shows no interest in releasing themselves, especially considering Mill Creek have a working relationship with Sony, but that's probably never gonna happen.

[GeoffOliver]

I think Sentai will mostly stick with c-list titles and some catalog stuff, and titles where the streaming license went to someone like Netflix or Prime. Even here, Discotek is the clear leader of classic anime catalog titles.

Also, poor Viz got left in the dust after their Neon Alley experiment failed. Now they’re stuck sublicensing streaming to FUNimation. At least they’re mostly a manga company.

[BigOnAnime]

VIZ pretty much gave up on anime after Charlene left. Like she helped them get more active for a few years and now they license stuff once in a blue moon. One of their only potential shows in the near future is the Bleach sequel.

[gloomranger]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

One of their only potential shows in the near future is the Bleach sequel.

That’s also considering Funimation or Netflix don’t snap up the rights themselves.

[BigOnAnime]

Really hope that doesn't happen, especially if it leads to recasting. Bleach is one of the few anime I prefer dubbed. Part of that may be bias as it was my gateway anime nearly 13 years ago and I first saw it dubbed.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by MasterAS

I fear that the catalog titles may get left in the dust, never to see the light of day on home video.

Part of me wishes Mill Creek would release many of the titles FuniRoll shows no interest in releasing themselves, especially considering Mill Creek have a working relationship with Sony, but that's probably never gonna happen.

Not Mill Creek. I've been slowly going through their Return of Ultraman release and the compression is absolutely abysmal.

Mill Creek BD


Bandai BD

[InuYashaCrusade]

Originally Posted by gloomranger

That’s also considering Funimation or Netflix don’t snap up the rights themselves.

I could see Netflix going for Bleach. I hope they don't but it wouldn't surprise me. It'd suck if VIZ got Boruto and Yashahime and ended up without the return of the Bleach anime.

[LexInHD]

Originally Posted by MasterAS

I fear that the catalog titles may get left in the dust, never to see the light of day on home video.

Part of me wishes Mill Creek would release many of the titles FuniRoll shows no interest in releasing themselves, especially considering Mill Creek have a working relationship with Sony, but that's probably never gonna happen.

I think MC's deal with Sony has soured at this point, due to MC's hesitance to actually release what they licensed and in almost all cases, putting out sub-par releases of what Sony made available or putting out discs that still have a ton of Sony copies in circulation. MC has only put out a small number of Sony titles, despite having a huge chunk of catalogue to choose from and the previously unreleased stuff they have put out was done poorly, releasing DVDs instead of Blu-Ray. Mill Creek is just poorly run and the business decisions are apparently made with the "How low (quality) can we go?!" and "How much can we get away with?".

[ps3bd_owner]

Damn. FUNimation is taking over anime in Western countries.

[vap]

As much as I hate "monolithic" companies like sony, etc. I have a much better idea-just watch and enjoy your anime no matter where it comes from. I'm past caring anymore-shit on it.

[BigOnAnime]

Keep in mind the company that releases a title has an effect on how a release turns out and it can affect your enjoyment, like the quality of the translation. Translation errors can drastically alter the meaning of a scene and affect how you react to it, and thus, your enjoyment. Also, who do they typically pick to translate stuff, what's the pay/workload, and how many translators are there? If there's too much of a workload, you'll get rushjobs and thus worse translations. Then there's the video quality (recent example here), the audio quality, how the subs are displayed (you get an objectively worse experience through FUNimation than Crunchyroll with missing information), etc. Things don't look too good as AnimeLab got shut down in favor of FUNimation, and it's reportedly a worse experience, the same will follow if CR is shut down in favor of FUNimation's UI that's more clunky.

[InuYashaCrusade]

Crunchyroll Confirms VRV as Part of Sony Following Acquisition

Crunchyroll confirmed with ANN on Friday that since Ellation's VRV bundle streaming service is a Crunchyroll brand, VRV is also now part of Sony following Sony's Funimation Global Group's acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...sition/.176220