Forum - View topicNEWS: Crunchyroll, Funimation Announce Partnership to Share Content Via Streaming, Home Video, EST
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Covnam
Posts: 3726 |
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Well, at least now we know how Crunchyroll is going to be doing those home releases. Glad to see they're partnering up with an established company rather than trying it on their own.
Looking forward to buying more Gintama |
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TheAncientOne
Posts: 1879 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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I'm not so certain about that. Media Blasters still get paid and get publicity for their titles. I would expect Funimation might be the more reticent party, as they are providing publicity and funding to a direct competitor for home video licensing (albeit not much of one). I also don't see Aniplex having a problem with it. They had already provided Funimation with the Durara dub. Given that Aniplex is far more of a competitor to Funimation for home video licenses (or more to the point, buyer dollars) than Media Blasters, I guess they wouldn't be so reticent about displaying Media Blaster's titles after all. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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If they already know which ones, then they are already overdue in making said list public. It would make sense that they are still negotiating a transfer, but when all is said and done it would be nice to know what will happen when said contract expires, would Crunchy have first dibs on renewing subtitled streaming rights? it or is this just an excuse to keep shows like One Piece? Will this affect ongoing negotiations for sequels like AoT 2 or Super Dragonball? |
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Primus
Posts: 2779 Location: Toronto |
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I never said they were high budget productions. You asked if it was possible for those two shows to go on as long as they have if they were produced under union conditions. I said yes. They're both shows that air on TV in multiple countries. Even if that doesn't bring in much revenue, the shows are just commercials for related products. The main point of Pokemon USA assuming complete control over the franchise was to cut out the middleman. They did the exact same thing with the TCG and Wizards of the Coast. It's the same exact thing Aniplex of America is doing. The same exact thing Daisuki is trying (and failing) to do, etc. Though, in the case of 4Kids and Pokemon, IIRC there was some nastiness over unpaid home video royalties with the Japanese production companies. |
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getchman
He started it
Posts: 9127 Location: Bedford, NH |
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I'm not entirely sure what you are saying here. Do you believe MB's dubs will move to Funi or stay on CR? |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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Yeah, the unsustainably high licensing costs are probably part of the reason why we've seen Sentai not only cut back on simulcasts, but also on dubbing. If you're spending $2 million on certain 13 episode series, there really isn't much money left to invest in dubs, packaging, and marketing. However, if this does eventually lead to lower licensing costs, or some Japanese companies turn more to Sentai, Viz, or even Discotek, it could end up being a positive for them in the long term. If prices go down, they could start acquiring more new shows after a while, and it could free up more money for production of dubs. Honestly, the home video market perhaps looks a bit bleaker in some aspects. Yes, anime home video sales are still increasing, but is the increased size of the market going to be enough to support Funimation potentially doubling their output during some months? That's really hard to say. One of the big problems with the last anime bubble was that simply too many new releases were coming out every month, and often companies like ADV or Geneon would even have multiple releases during the same week. There's a big potential for market cannibalization here. I have a very, very strong feeling that Sentai will be releasing more premium sets over the next year. Not only will help differentiate their products in the market, but they also produce more revenue per unit, and in turn, higher profits. Not to mention, in a few cases they've allowed them get around the bluray hold back period that some companies insist upon, as the Japanese companies also get more revenue from their percentage of the sales. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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That is a good question. I suspect for CR nothing will change even after getting into the home video business. Simulcast versions remain and older shows from other publishers would be the home video versions. Free! has not been replaced with the home video version even though they have the rights for example. Funimation will likely want to retain this state of affairs too. It does make me a little worried about CR-owned home video releases, if they are truly getting the home video versions and any extras. As far as detecting which version a publisher is using, there is a set of automated tools to check for differences in each frame of video. While censorship differences or extended episodes will be the easiest for a human to detect, if there are none, the corrections that are always made for home video will be the evidence. |
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Mr. Oshawott
Posts: 6773 |
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I see the partnership of FuniRoll as largely beneficial. More English versions appearing alongside subbed content is always a good thing! I wonder how the other companies (minus Aniplex and Pony Canyon) will react to the changing forces of the anime world...
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Vizo
Posts: 169 |
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This seems like a smart and productive move. No complaints here. I really look forward to simuldubs!
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TheAncientOne
Posts: 1879 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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I believe they'll probably move to Funimation.
One potential downside could be the loss of Funimation's current process of replacing simulcast versions of subtilted shows with the home video version for subscribers after Funimation has received those materials. In a topic over on CR where this issue was raised, a CR staff member replied:
While perhaps they were just replying with the standard response about censorship, this makes it appear there is no policy set in place for these updates, as currently happens on Funimation's site. The fact that Funimation also didn't address this in their own FAQ makes me suspect it is the latter. This could mean a return to the old days of "Want the uncensored/final version? Gotta watch the dub or buy it on home video". It doesn't help that Funimation's forums are unavailable, so there is no public way to query them and obtain a response on this matter. (They don't appear to respond to comments in their blog). Last edited by TheAncientOne on Sun Sep 11, 2016 2:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gatherum
Posts: 773 Location: Aurora CO |
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From a dubbing standpoint, I don't see a problem with this: apart from some late 90's/early 2000's gems, no dub by any company other than Funimation has been worth much of a damn (I'm looking at you, Sentai!). Can't say I'm upset at the idea of Funimation dubbing Cruncyroll's back catalog.
Also, it looks like I can finally cancel my Hulu subscription. Funimation was really the only reason I had it. Crunchyroll, it is. |
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Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
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I'm mostly concerned with how this will affect subtitling: will Crunchyroll be responsible for subbing even Funi's shows or are they going to continue shoving their abysmal work down everyone's throat? (I'm under no illusions that CR will go back and fix the catalogue shows)
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TheAncientOne
Posts: 1879 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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Since only CR would be streaming the subtitled version, I expect Funimation would be content to let them handle that burden. Funimation would only need the subtitles for a home video release, and they could always redo or revise them at that point if they were not content with CR's efforts. |
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 1233 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I'm going to remain rather cautious with this news considering when you combine CR and FUNi, you get almost quite literally a monopoly on new anime. You want competition, it's supposed to be a good thing.
Also, Sentai Filmworks is now even more screwed than before. Looks like they really will have to now go become like Discotek and RightStuf and get catalog shows even though those don't do nearly as well as newer shows. Only new titles they still have any real chance at are some TBS ones thanks to their longtime relationship with them.
Also NISA hasn't licensed anything in quite a while, they're pretty much done with anime now. Discotek and Media Blasters stick to older titles, so they're not going to be that affected financially. VIZ Media also is mainly a manga company, they rarely license anime anyway.
As for now, Kadokawa doesn't have as much issue with FUNi. Also keep in mind that FUNi is just distributing these titles, they don't have the actual license (though in this deal they also get to make the design/packaging decisions). Oh BTW, Re:ZERO is NOT handled by Kadokawa internationally, TV Tokyo is handling it. If anyone has been paying attention to the CR show page or the actual episodes... http://i.imgur.com/Kc80C2S.png http://i.imgur.com/3RH6wGs.png So even if in some strange universe Kadokawa wouldn't allow FUNi to just simply distribute the home video release of Kadokawa titles on CR's behalf, it wouldn't affect Re:ZERO because they don't control the international rights.
Also, if anyone has actually been paying attention, this season Sentai has licensed only Momokuri (which recently got its TV airing, it premiered as an ONA in December 2015) and Food Wars! S2. As it stands, next season they may have almost nothing to pick from except sequels. They're now going to have to go and grab catalog titles as that's going to be like their only option save for the occasional TBS title (thanks to TBS's strong relationship with Sentai, though now FUNi is able to touch some of those titles). Also catalog titles while they can sell don't do nearly as well as newer shows for obvious reasons. It's going to be a very hard time for Sentai from here on out. |
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G S Palmer
Posts: 246 |
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I can see one big problem with this other than the effects on Sentai. If/when this partnership goes down the tube, what happens to all the series that were released in the interim? I can only imagine that they will go out of print, unless Funimation is actually the primary home video license holder for most of them. Because since Crunchyroll is leaving that part to Funimation, they would have to start over from zero on their physical releases, and might just decide that it's not worth the bother to go about repackaging (i.e., removing Funimation logos, etc) and reprinting them.
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