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NEWS: K-ON! U.K. Blu-ray Release is Cancelled




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fathomlessblue



Joined: 28 Mar 2012
Posts: 383
Location: Manchester, UK
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:18 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, a lot of these 'unforeseen circumstances' regarding Crunchyroll's UK output this last year, huh. It would be nice there were any journalists out there with the clout to actually gets some actual answers from the the company, but given that they're content to rely on local distributors to spit out nondescript pr vomit on their behalf, they must be feeling quite indifferent right now.

I know the local blu ray forums are full of speculation about whether CR is deliberately pulling back releases, or if its a case of genuine incompetence regarding the local team knowing what they have the rights to. Given that we're only a month or two out from Re:Zero S2 collector's edition being suddenly pulled from pre-order in the exact same manner, I could believe in either scenario.

It's funny that we're barely a week out from that ANN column talking about the importance of physical libraries, where I discussed this exact trend occurring. It'd be nice to see a serious editorial talking about the problems the community is facing right now.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5484
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:49 pm Reply with quote
I have not brought a single title from Manga UK since... Well since they were Manga UK. They seem to have really gone downhill since CR brought them. And it's a shame really because they are one of the oldest western publishers of Anime that are still around, they even predate Funimation.
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lilitu93
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Joined: 05 Jan 2018
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 2:22 pm Reply with quote
To Anime Limited’s credit, they did refund me right away. I’m hoping it’s just the license has expired or is expiring too soon to make it worth it, as that way Anime Limited or MVM could pick it up. It might be the license is due to be renewed anyway. I know it was on HiDive in the US and may still be available there, but I think the Sentai release is out of print as well.

It is somewhat concerning though that Crunchyroll UK is this disorganised on releasing blu rays, though. Apparently they’ve got several titles that have been approved by the BBFC but no release dates past October 2nd, so I do have to wonder what is up with them. Seems strange to spend the money to get them approved and then never release any of them, but who knows what the problem is.
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finlands-beret



Joined: 31 Oct 2011
Posts: 44
Location: UK
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 3:14 pm Reply with quote
Having bought Manga UK's blue box Blu-ray release only two years ago (back when they were still just under Funimation), I did think it strange that Crunchyroll would release it again.

Hearing now that other CRUK titles are being cancelled as well... I had wondered about the lack of Q3/Q4 releases from them.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1089
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 3:27 pm Reply with quote
Yeah I just have no faith in Crunchyroll anymore. The only UK releases from them I got are Attack on Titan S4P2 and Log Horizon S3 to complete those collections, but I don't think I'm getting any other ones.
It's a shame though, a complete K-ON! collection sounds appealing.
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XCalliope



Joined: 29 Jun 2023
Posts: 110
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 4:36 pm Reply with quote
Remake when?

Or at least sequel.
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fathomlessblue



Joined: 28 Mar 2012
Posts: 383
Location: Manchester, UK
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 4:44 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
I have not brought a single title from Manga UK since... Well since they were Manga UK. They seem to have really gone downhill since CR brought them. And it's a shame really because they are one of the oldest western publishers of Anime that are still around, they even predate Funimation.


To be fair, Manga wasn't in a great state for 2-3 years before the buyout, with a lot of complaints being levied at disk qc quality, near frequent delays & just generally poor communication.

It was initially hoped that the Funimation/Crunchyroll switchover would improve things, especially given the majority of their current disks seem to be region AB, meaning they can be played in both regions, so you don't have to shell out twice on authoring two sets of disks.

Instead they started cutting back on releases, first with more cult titles like Heike Story & Sonny Boy, and now with seemingly everything that doesn't neatly fit into a shounen, romance or isekai label.

lilitu93 wrote:
To Anime Limited’s credit, they did refund me right away.


AL have always been pretty great with solving problems like this. Their customer service department have always been helpful whenever a problem has appeared on my end.

It's just galling that they're the ones issuing apologies and taking charge, simply because they planned on housing some of the stock. Meanwhile, there's not a peep out of the company owned by a multi-billion business empire that was responsible for the release. I guess the staff became distracted a squirrel or something.

To quote Father Jack - A shower of bastards
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5484
PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 9:21 am Reply with quote
fathomlessblue wrote:
Instead they started cutting back on releases, first with more cult titles like Heike Story & Sonny Boy, and now with seemingly everything that doesn't neatly fit into a shounen, romance or isekai label.
I think that might be one of the main reason why I haven't brought anything from them in awhile, the last titles were Stand Alone Complex, Steamboy and a Blu-Ray upgrade of Cowboy Bebop Movie, as little of it is shelve worthy.
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matt78



Joined: 25 Jul 2015
Posts: 260
PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 11:06 am Reply with quote
Sadly I think home video releases are on the way out. I’ve heard that Disney has already started it by canceling all home video releases in Australia. Won’t be long until that spreads to other parts of the world. Seems stupid to me since a single blu ray release cost more than a couple months of Disney+.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5484
PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 5:40 am Reply with quote
matt78 wrote:
Sadly I think home video releases are on the way out. I’ve heard that Disney has already started it by canceling all home video releases in Australia. Won’t be long until that spreads to other parts of the world. Seems stupid to me since a single blu ray release cost more than a couple months of Disney+.
Being imported media, a lot of Anime is not available to stream, however a good deal of that is available for home release. Baccano! for example is not available to stream anywhere(as far as I know), the only legal way to watch it is on DVD/Blu-Ray.

Lesser known older Anime as well as OVAs and Films are less likely to be streamed. One Blu-Ray I have, Pigtails and Other Shorts, is a collection of one off OVAs that no streaming service would ever bother to pick up.I would not be surprised if over half of Diskotek's releases are not streaming.
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lilitu93
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Joined: 05 Jan 2018
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 11:56 am Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
Lesser known older Anime as well as OVAs and Films are less likely to be streamed. One Blu-Ray I have, Pigtails and Other Shorts, is a collection of one off OVAs that no streaming service would ever bother to pick up.I would not be surprised if over half of Diskotek's releases are not streaming.


Pigtails and Other Shorts was actually streaming for a month or so in the UK, as Anime Limited ran their own streaming service during lockdown for about a year. But it’s not the normal kind of thing to pick up, unless it’s part of a batch of things. It’s too obscure for the general public.

I still buy the series I really want to rewatch (or know I want to watch enough to buy them), so I’m hoping that Crunchyroll isn’t phasing them out in the UK completely. I have a region-free Blu-Ray player, so I can import the US versions, but it’s a hassle and can get expensive.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3543
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 12:27 pm Reply with quote
lilitu93 wrote:
I still buy the series I really want to rewatch (or know I want to watch enough to buy them), so I’m hoping that Crunchyroll isn’t phasing them out in the UK completely. I have a region-free Blu-Ray player, so I can import the US versions, but it’s a hassle and can get expensive.

I don't know if it matters that much, but back when UK was still in EU, me and many others often got our discs through UK, whether released there or first imported there, because we didn't have to deal with Customs or taxes or the like. With UK not in EU anymore, that demand isn't there.
But as I said, I have no idea if that had any noticeable impact on the current situation?
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lilitu93
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Joined: 05 Jan 2018
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
I don't know if it matters that much, but back when UK was still in EU, me and many others often got our discs through UK, whether released there or first imported there, because we didn't have to deal with Customs or taxes or the like. With UK not in EU anymore, that demand isn't there.
But as I said, I have no idea if that had any noticeable impact on the current situation?


I’m sure it’s affected things, both on the manufacturing side as lots of discs were manufactured outside the UK but in the EU, and also exporting said discs to other European countries. With the BBFC, it’s always been more expensive to release discs in the UK, so anything that increases manufacturing costs while decreasing customer demand would make a difference.
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