Forum - View topicNEWS: Amazon's Anime Strike Announces Full Spring Lineup, Premiere Dates
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HuuskerDu
 Posts: 93 Location: USA |
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It would help if the UI for Amazon Video wasn't so awful. Subtitles are close-captioned so you have to manually turn them on and off again each time you watch one, otherwise English shows all get unwanted subtitles too On the Roku the subtitles are rendered in a microscopic font that is basically unreadable at any distance from the TV. On the Android the font is rendered pure white with no border so it completely disappears in front of a white background and is again unreadable. On the PC the subtitles are boxed and obscure a good bit of the screen.
The UI is not listing the new shows either. Under the Anime Strike channel guide for 'New Episodes' the new shows do not appear as of this writing. (And of course they not yet listed under 'Popular Shows' either.) If it wasn't for the announcement on ANN I never would have found them. |
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Dranio
Posts: 18 |
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or the fact that you have to pay $5 in ADDITION to the prime membership. I order from amazon once or twice a year. in the case of 2016? once.Even when I had prime years ago I never used the streaming service, since I hardly ever order from amazon now prime is nothing but a waste of money for me. so I would have to get prime AND strike to watch strike, as prime is required for strike. If it was separate and I could pay for strike without having to get prime? I'd pay it, but I am not paying for prime just so I can pay for strike. That Double paywall BS is the complaint. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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You're not "supporting the anime industry"--Unless you've got a Crunchyroll or Funi.com premium subscription, that actually IS licensing the titles and funding new productions. In answer to the "Shady shenanigans" question, Amazon isn't creating a new anime channel to "compete with CR", they're doing it because it's their new business model for '17-'18 and onwards: If you got Amazon Prime for the free shipping, and tried watching the network, you'll notice there's not much non-original programming ON the free Prime network anymore, except the MTV/Comedy Central and PBS reruns they exclusive-dealed years ago, and all that $1.98 public domain offal they were stuck with. The studios have been starving them out on the rest, because they see the subscription-streaming industry as "the Enemy" to Digital Purchase's future, so Amazon (which was starting to become the ghost-town emptiest of the Big Three) has hit on the idea of simply being the channel that sells you OTHER channels: Already it's hard to pick Prime movies without being offered choices of nearly a dozen separately priced micro-content channels, like Starz, Showtime or TED, and lesser ones like Impact, Seeso or Shudder, and the idea is to ultimately turn all of Prime into what cable was, if cable actually had used that "a la carte channel lineup" providers kept promising someday. And now they want to add an Anime channel, pretty much for the end-all reason of "Because HuluPlus has one." |
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1395 |
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I think this is a rather reductive take on the issue. For one, it's not exactly just $5. While there are certainly anime viewers who already had prime accounts (either to utilize the free shipping or to use their movie/tv streaming) there's a considerable number of simulcast fans who primarily (or even exclusively) use streaming services for anime, who didn't already have prime when Amazon first started simulcasting series. For those viewers, the cost for an Anime Strike membership ranges anywhere from $160 to $192, 3-4 times the price of a year's subscription to Crunchyroll, and still considerably more than even a combined CR/Funi membership. Add on top of that Amazon's spotty history with their simulcasts in the US - late delivery of episodes before outright not streaming their single exclusive title for a season with no word on when or if it would be released - and I think there's plenty to be skeptical about Anime Strike. (As a sidenote, Amazon's technical quality is already iffy for me - no option to toggle video quality is irksome and their poorly timed, drifting subtitles are increasingly distracting.) I'm of 2 opinions on Amazon and Sentai's apparent partnership (or whatever you want to call it). On the one hand, more titles is a solid step towards making Strike worth its cost - even if its main legal competitor delivers a similar (or greater) amount of series at a lower price. On the other, Amazon has shown exactly 0 signs of having any real investment in making Strike appeal to any audience but those most dedicated to legally supporting anime. The fact of the matter is that any new streaming service's biggest rival is not Crunchyroll - it's piracy. Amazon hasn't presented any PR to encourage new viewers to use their service over illegal streaming or torrenting sites. Their higher price is a pretty considerable roadblock to convincing people to use their service over theft. They have done virtually nothing to promote any of their titles in any capacity, their best attempt being a starkly updated Twitter account. I'm not one to demand that the companies I purchase from be diehard fans of whatever they're selling. Business is business and all that. But Amazon's done very, very little to make me as a customer feel like they're even interested in what they're selling, or that they have any accurate gauges of the optics of the US anime community at large. And when a big company with deep pockets steps into a niche industry it doesn't really understand, I get nervous. |
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Ozzy4k
Posts: 155 |
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If anyone would be willing to share/ trade with me a Amazon prime account with strike on it or a Canadian account or prime account that isn't us . Which streams all the new anime this season I can offer my funimation and crunchyroll subs that's 2 for one . If anyone has any interest feel free to message me thanks!!
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hickey92
Posts: 25 |
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At least the US is being given an option for these. Sentai have just made it so half of this season's simulcasts are in an unknown state for the rest of the world because they got the North American rights and made the license less tantalising for Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll won't tend to go after rights unless the US is included in them, and Crunchyroll is pretty much the only streamer of anime in most countries. We might not get these at all (legitimately that is). We might get the three Noitamina shows on Prime if it's like last season and we're lucky, but that still leaves the vast majority of them up in the air for everyone outside the US.
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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This all really seems to depend on the on where you are using their app. On PS4, the simulcast shows showed up under "New Episodes" immediately, and appeared in the order of most recent addition. The subtitle system also appears to be better, as you can not only adjust the size but also the color. You can choose between black, white, white with a black background, and yellow with a black background. It also appears that they are using subtitle scripts from Sentai, as they are much less prone to errors and obvious mistranslations than the other shows that Amazon picked up. Someone had stated that it appeared that they were using an automated translation tool, but that's definitely not the case with Reset. Of course, it's far from perfect. Their largest subtitle size is still a bit smaller than I prefer. It reminds me of the subs on Funimation's older Bluray before complaints caused them to enlarge and bolden them. Both black and white can be more difficult to read in some scenes due to them blending into the background. The white and yellow on black don't have that issue, but then of course you have black bars behind the text. And unlike Sentai and Nozomi, there is no differentiation in color or text when there are two speakers talking at the same time. I've always preferred yellow subs, like the type that Nozomi and Sentai use, as they are far less likely to blend into the background and easier to read. They both also have the size and location down much better, as does Funimation and CR. I also like when two different colors are used when two people are speaking in the same shot, which is why I've never been a big fan of how CR and Funi do their subtitles. And since the subtitles run on a separate close captioning stream, rather than hard encoded like Anime Network or Hulu, they can be prone to timing issues. About halfway through the first episode of reset, the subtitle starting running about a full second ahead. With only one speaker, or fewer lines of dialogue, it wasn't a huge issue. But it did become annoying during some scenes later in the episode where you had multiple people talking, and doing so more rapidly.I'm a pretty fast reader, but i imagine it would be really frustrating for someone who reads slower or has a harder time following the dialogue. They definitely need to work on the subtitles. Until they get they close captioning system more accurate, I have to question whether or not it may be a better idea to upload the videos with hard encoded subtitles as Hulu, Anime Network, and TubiTV do. Those who are looking to watch them raw may be disappointed, but I doubt many people are looking for raw streams on Strike. Of course, in cases where Amazon is streaming the show worldwide, I guess it just makes sense to upload the raw video and then run the appropriate close captioning stream. I plan on emailing them about the issue to see if they can improve it. I have a feeling that it's not just the Strike titles that are being hit by the close captioning timing issue. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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That's more Amazon's doing than anyone else's. I've heard from a pretty reliable source that the streaming territories for these are completely up to them. As others have suggested, if you want it on Prime in your country, the best thing you can do is email Amazon and request it. |
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captokita
Posts: 75 |
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I'M upset about it because it reeks of nickel and dime. I don't only watch anime, but I watch The Grand Tour on Prime as well. What's to stop them from putting THAT show next behind a new pay wall? That's bull! What am I paying for with Prime then? Shipping? Yes, but it also includes Prime Video, which is supposed to be Amazon's content answer to Hulu and Netflix. Imagine if those both started doing the same thing, you get movies and shows, but wait! You want anime? Weeeellll...... you're gonna pay EXTRA for that bud! Of course the fans are going to tell you to pound sand! It's not entitlement, it's about not wanting to be treated like some Mr. Moneybags with limitless funds for "additional" content that should be included already. Either charge for the anime service alone, and not require the $100 subscription, or don't bother offering it at all. I already sub to CR, wish I had cancelled Funi because their apps are garbage (already annual renewed before the change) I don't feel like paying another $60/yr ON TOP OF my Prime sub thanks. |
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Peebs
Posts: 419 |
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I am a Prime member and I wasn't very happy when they started charging an additional $5 to watch new stuff. Last season they didn't seem to have a lot of titles, but they got 2 sequel and 2 new shows I was planning to watch this season. So now my options are limited for those particular shows and neither is attractive. I already own the first Bahamut on Blu-ray, but do I want to wait that long to see if the show is worth a physical copy? I don't know. I will contact them and lodge a complaint. I seriously doubt it'll have any effect. |
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AwaysAnnoyed
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I like Crunchyroll because they actually stream in my country. And my country doesn't have it's own Amazon so there's no way for me to legally watch these shows. You know, if these companies do not care about the fans further than its nose then why tf should I care??
Give Crunchyroll the shows, since they actually make it available to countries that otherwise doesn't seem to exist in the eyes of Amazon!! EDIT: Contacted Sentai. |
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NGK
Posts: 244 |
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I wonder who here browses #chan sites...
but anons are wailing over this because they can't get ripped subs right awaylike they do with crunchroll 
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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Sentai has no say in the matter, so they can't do much about it. The shows they are able to offer on other sites, they have done so with this season. The one that needs to be contacted is Amazon, but if they don't operate in your country anyway, it probably won't make much of a difference. |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3453 Location: Finland |
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Not sure how they're ripping them, but everything released so far has been out 'there' very fast. I'm downing the Clockwork Planet(region-blocked here) episode 1 to watch right now, and it's been, what, half an hour, since it went up on CR. That is on CR, but so far same thing with Amazon shows. Edited to clarify; To be precise, when it comes to these anime simulcasts on Amazon, the ripping method utilized commonly seems to result in hardsubs so it's likely based simply on screen capture. There are 'pure' rips of a few series (Onihai last season, Saekano this) but the ripped subs seem to have significant timing issues. But give it a little time, I'm sure they'll work out the issues on the latter, Amazon is a new service for anime streams so a few kinks are to be expected now in the beginning... |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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So, the internet-Walmart known as Amazon has begun devouring anime. I guess it was only a matter of time. And just when I was hoping the CR/Funi deal might mean that most anime would finally be available on one service (that isn't part of a colossal kitchen-sink corp). Guess this is why we can't have nice things.
The only show I actually intended to watch this season happens to be on CR, but the way things are going I'll probably have to start resorting to piracy again. I can't support this kind of hyper-monopolization. Steam appears to be branching out from games into every form of digital content they can get their digital hands (no pun intended) on, which is also pretty unsettling. If our legislators had any understanding of technology, this sort of thing would be illegal. |
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