Crunchyroll and Funimation to end Content-Sharing Partnership November 9

 

…Honestly, I saw this coming as soon as I heard Sony bought Funimation last year. I knew a split would be inevitable. Crunchyroll released an official statement Thursday saying in part “Funimation has decided to go their separate way”, meaning their new parent company wants to steer Funimation in a different direction. Crunchyroll’s parent company being bought by AT&T this past summer may be another factor to the 2-year partnership suddenly coming to an end as well. FunimationNow will be leaving VRV but will be replaced by HIDIVE, a new streaming provider that launched last year that provides Subbed and Dubbed Anime. Crunchyroll will continue to carry Anime it gained licensing rights to from the Funimation partnership such as Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia. Same for Funimation and Anime they gained licensing rights to from Crunchyroll such as Black Clover and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

I have been hearing rumors of uncertainty within Funimation since Sony bought the company last year. Funimation, which does English Dubs in North America for Anime recently got into streaming before it partnered with Crunchyroll. They also hold the license for the English Dubs of some of the most well known Anime over the last 20 years including Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super and Naruto Shippuden. Funimation used to also hold the license for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood but when the license expired, they did not renew.

Funimation failing to renew the license for various other English Dubs this year they once owned is both concerning and an inconvenience for those looking to legally get physical or digial media. I think I mentioned this at the time but I planned to buy FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood during Anime Boston 2018 but couldn’t because the license expired a few weeks earlier so they could not sell it. If you bought episodes digitally, you can still redownload those episodes. You just can’t buy new episodes until the license is either renewed by Funimation or someone else buys the license and distribution rights are renegotiated.

Those with a VRV Premium subscription can relax: The only change is Funimation will be replaced with HIDIVE. That’s it. Presumably, your premium sub will be extended to HIDIVE once their partnership with VRV becomes official. For those who are wondering, Anime currently airing on Toonami and FunimationNow’s catalog are unaffected. Same with anime currently available in online stores for digital download or physical purchase. Those with just a Crunchyroll Premium subscription (Crunchyroll does have a separate Premium system if you don’t want VRV) are not effected at all. I will assume more info will come in the very near future from both Funimation and Crunchyroll or VRV so we’ll see.

…I will say the same thing I said in regards to my previous post about DramaFever’s sudden shutdown though. Folks need to pay attention to what is going on behind the scenes and at the corporate level and more so after what happened with DramaFever and Neon Alley. Change is constant so it’s very important that you keep yourself up to date on stuff going on.

 

DramaFever suddenly shut down sometime last night

Going to DramaFever, you will see this message:

My reaction was the same as when Neon Alley was bought by Hulu: Disappointment, disgust and anger.

My feelings were justified when I checked a few websites to find out the reason behind the shutdown. I wasn’t aware of this but Warner Brothers (now Warner Media) bought DramaFever two years ago. One of the site’s cofounders left after the buyout was finalized last year. There is speculation spreading that Warner Media bought DramaFever never planning to allow the service to continue because of the licensing costs alone. Apparently, the U.S. licensing costs jumped from $800,000 to $1 Million per season after the buyout was completed. DramaFever’s library of mostly Asian Dramas was likely another factor in the shutdown. It is fair to say DF’s model was not sustainable so…yeah. Still, the immediate shutdown with no notice was a bad move.

It is no secret the Media Giants based in the U.S. have been buying into streaming services that carry programming outside the U.S. Yes, the same content providers who LOL’d at Netflix 15 years ago are have been desparately trying to buy into the industry in recent years. Sweet irony. The networks are late to the party and have learned that these days, most Americans just don’t want to be bothered having to tune in every week to watch new TV episodes. Likewise, most also do not want to have to keep buying movies they’ll only watch once or twice. Why do either when you can just watch them on demand via streaming services?

So, no the networks are desperately trying to get in on the action just to survive. Many networks have already launched their own streaming service in recent years as they move to adapt to the new trends. Services like Netflix and WWE Network do not have free streaming but the tradeoff is there are no ads. Crunchyroll, DF, Viki and Funimation have free streaming but the tradeoff is there are ads and you have limited viewing options. As for why the media giants are buying into streaming services, their bottom line is threatened by the very services they are now turning to just to survive more or less. What’s in it for them? Licensing deals. Remember: Netflix got a long-term exclusive deal with Disney several years back. Not just Disney movies and Disney Channel content but ABC, Marvel and LucasFilms, which are also owned by Disney. That deal set the industry on notice and sent the message on demand services are the future of distribution content. Now they’re looking to get in on it like I said before.

Neon Alley and DF are two of the many casualties of corporate greed and more notable streaming services are sure to follow sadly. I feel for longtime users of the site. The site was indie until two years ago when it was bought by Time Warner, which then completed its merger with AT&T last year to become Warner Media. The shutdown effective immediately was done without any warning or notice to users though the message has promised more info to come “soon” and promises of refunds to subscription holders. I was considering getting a DF subscription down the road but clearly that’s not happening anymore. There were some shows DF held exclusive streaming rights to and the new content they added in recent months is why the sudden shutdown is so baffling. This leaves Rakuten Viki and Asian Crush as the two remaining streaming providers for Live Asian programming in North America.

The silver lining, of course is Asian programming is definitely here to stay. Kocowa, which had originally been a part of DF had been bought by Viki a few years back and took the licenses they had with them to Viki. Viki is the largest provider for live Asian programming and has been for some time. It is regarded to some as the Netflix of Asian programming. I was watching The King’s Woman on DF and fortunately Viki carries it also. I had watched two K-Dramas on DF but fortunately I finished them before the shutdown. Unlike DF, there’s no getting around the Ads on Viki even with an Ad Blocker but I’ve decided to put up with the 5-minute interruption per episode until I can get a paid subscription.

Unlike some folks I know, I refuse to use less legal means for Live Programming or Anime. If I don’t have the money, I’ll use the Free Version. I haven’t watched Crunchyroll since my subscription ended because I know when I do get a new subscription, I can just catch up on the 6 to 9 shows either still in progress or since ended. I don’t want to sit through the ads because unlike Dramas, Anime episodes are 25 minutes long on average. The Ad breaks are harder to not notice compared to live programming, which is 45 minutes on average. At the end of the day most viewers hate ads so…yeah.

Anyways in closing. I do worry the buyouts, takeovers and mergers will drive folks to use less legal means like many do for anime. DF (along with Viki and AsianCrush) provided a legal option for folks to get their fix on Asian programming. Big picture, DF was a drop in the bucket. Its loss will be felt for a while but as far as I can tell, Viki is not going anywhere anytime soon. I’m feeling pretty good about getting an anual subscription–hopefully sooner than later.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly revisits the shared history of Four Iconic Characters

 

 

I’m gonna preface this with major spoilers for the end of Dragon Ball Super as well as the Resurrection F Saga so if you haven’t seen the series finale, you’ve been warned.

 

For those who haven’t seen the Resurection F Arc or the movie of the same name, Frieza is wished back to life by Shenron. Frieza is originally killed by Future Trunks at the start of Dragonball Z’s Androids Saga. Frieza trains in preparation for his rematch with Goku and Vegeta. Frieza admits to having never trained ever in his life but will make an exception for the sake of revenge. He gains a new Golden form similar to Super Saiyan but is ultimately killed again, this time by Goku.

Fast Forward to the Tournament of Power. Universe 7’s team is forced to find a last-minute replacement for their team. With the stakes so high, Goku travels to the netherworld to recruit Frieza. The Warlord reluctantly agrees just so he can leave Earth’s hell. In the Tournament of Power’s final moments, Frieza and Goku sacrifice themselves to help 17 become the last fighter standing. As a reward for helping Universe 7 win the Tournament of Power, Frieza is ressurrected again. The last we see of him, the Warlord reforming his army somewhere.

…Now, let’s get to the interesting shared history Frieza has with both Planet Vegeta and Beerus. Beerus revealed when he’s first introduced in the God of Destruction Saga while talking to Whis he was the one who told Frieza to destroy Planet Vegeta. It is worth noting Frieza is arguably the second most powerful mortal being in the universe after Majin Buu and this was before he fought Goku for the first time. In the Tournament of Power, it was revealed Universe 11’s Jiren and Top were both more powerful than their universe’s God of Destruction.

A theory I have is Frieza may have been considered as a candidate as a God of Destruction. It’s already been clearly established Frieza has the power to destroy planets without much effort with his Death Ball technique. The technique destroys a planet’s core completely, triggering its immediate destruction. Namek didn’t explode right away because it wasn’t a clean break. Based on the line in the above picture, it’s obvious Frieza has at least heard about Beerus in detail before the events of Resurrection F from his father King Cold. Beerus knows he’s a loose cannon but clearly respects his power. More so given he resurrected Frieza for his role in securing victory for Universe 7 at the Tournament of Power.

Goku, Vegeta and Broly have a shared history most already know: Goku and Broly were born on the same day while Vegeta is the son of King Vegeta, who orders Broly be executed in the original movie. In the new canon storyline, King Vegeta orders Broly be banished to a faraway planet. Shortly after that, Planet Vegeta is destroyed by Frieza.

In Dragonball Z, Vegeta states He and Vegeta are the only pureblooded Saiyans left in the universe. With Broly now being canon, this will be slightly retconned to “Everyone who was on Planet Vegeta died and only those who were away at the time survived”. We do know that Goku’s birth parents–Bardock and Gine–appear in the second trailer along with King Vegeta and Broly’s father Paragus. Goku’s brother Raditz was obviously offworld along with Nappa and Vegeta, who also survived their homeworld’s destruction. I do see this as opening the door to introducing more Saiyans in Universe 7 later on. More so given the Female Super Saiyan is officially canon as of Dragonball Super (Kale from Universe 6).

…Yeah, clearly the groundwork is being laid to introduce more canon Saiyans in Universe 7. Could be interesting and more so since we’ve already the “Evil Saiyans” storyline at the beginning of Dragonball Z. We have also seen the “Evil Saiyan comes full circle” storyline in Vegeta as well so…yeah. We will have to wait and see how things unfold!

 

Viki and AsianCrush: A Pair of Free Streaming Services for Live Asian Programming

 

I remember the first time I saw a live Asian program. I was 10 years old and it was on Cable TV back in 1994. I remember the period being the same year I had open heart surgery and I was channel surfing cable networks. I found a  kids drama that was set in modern-day China. I watched 4 episodes before I fell asleep. When I think about it, it was my first experience with Subs ever. And I liked it. 24 years later, I can now watch all the Live Action programs I want for free using one of the above streaming services.

Crunchyroll used to carry alot of Live Dramas but in recent years, they no longer carry new live-action programming. Crunchyroll still maintains their existing but small library of live programming and there are some must-watch shows including GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka, Dr. Coto’s Clinic, I’m Mita, Your Housekeeper, No Dropping Out: Dropping in at age 35 and Time Taxi.

…If you want alot more Live Asian programming then you can’t go wrong with these three services. Like Crunchyroll, Free accounts have similar restrictions you’ll need to get a premium subscription to remove:

• Intermittent 60-second ads that can’t be skipped
• No HD Options
• Have to wait longer for new episodes of shows currently in progress
• Some shows region locked
• No Multistreaming (Can’t stream for 2 or more devices at the same time)

I plan to start with series and movies that have already aired all of their episodes personally so that’s a non-issue for me. I have also noticed when you stream AsianCrush from a browser, there are no ads. I have the App for both on my iPad but will stream from a browser on my iPad to bypass the ads until I get a paid subscription. The ads can’t be skipped from the App and when watching a movie they’re pretty disruptive to say the least.

Don’t worry, I do plan to post reviews for Live Asian programming I’m watching too. There is more I’d like to say about the explosion of interest in Anime and Live Asian Programming in North America but I’ll save it for a separate post that will also be posted in my new Politics blog.

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