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Amazon Prime Video Removes Interspecies Reviewers Anime

Amazon Prime Video has removed both the English-dubbed and English-subtitled versions of the Interspecies Reviewers anime from its service. The listings for both versions of the anime are still available, but the anime is not available to stream.

The AnimeLab streaming service announced on Sunday that it is continuing to stream the series in Australia and New Zealand. The service said that upcoming episodes will be delayed due to "adjusting [its] sourcing of materials."

The Wakanim service based in France is also continuing to stream the anime. However, its Nordic division stopped streaming the series with English subtitles in the Nordic region on Saturday.

Funimation removed the series from its streaming service on Friday, stating, "After careful consideration, we determined that this series falls outside of our standards." The company stated it decided to take down the series altogether instead of altering the content.

Sony Pictures Television had announced in September that it and Aniplex consolidated three Sony-owned anime acquisition and distribution companies — Funimation based in the United States, Wakanim based in France, and Madman Anime Group based in Australia — into one joint venture. Funimation moved its streaming content to AnimeLab last month and will close its FunimationNow service in the region on March 30 to give users "access to hundreds of more titles in one place."

Interspecies Reviewers premiered in Japan on January 11, and is slated to have 12 episodes.

Yuki Ogawa (FLCL Progressive, Miru Tights) is directing the anime at Passione. Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Dropkick on My Devil!, Girls' Last Tour) is in charge of series composition. Makoto Uno (Witchblade, The Qwaser of Stigmata, High School DxD Hero) is designing the characters. Kotone Uchihigashi is composing the music. Voice cast members Junji Majima, Yūsuke Kobayashi, and Miyu Tomita are performing both the opening theme song "Ikōze☆Paradise" and the ending theme song "Hanabira Ondo."

Yen Press licensed the manga, and it describes the story:

Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder! From elves to succubi to cyclopes and more, the Interspecies Reviewers rate the red-light delights of all manner of monster girls…the only thing is, they can never agree on which species is the hottest!

The manga ran as a special one-shot in Kadokawa's Monthly Dragon Age magazine in July 2016, and the company is also publishing the manga in compiled print volumes. The manga won the DLsite Award in Da Vinci Magazine and Niconico's Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards.

Thanks to kenno20081 for the news tip.

Source: Amazon Prime Video (link 2)