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Answerman - Is Anime Streaming Consumer-Friendly Right Now?

... it required coercion from companies like FUNimation for them to even realize streaming is a major thing.

The last point I feel is the most important one: When you first get into something, you're really excited about it and you want to consume as much of it as you can. Your appetite is insatiable. An entire season of anime as it comes out might not be enough. After some time, unless anime is your true passion, and you click with it like few other people in the world, you stop getting so obsessed with it. The novelty will have worn off, you'll eventually get your fill, and there will probably be something else that will catch your interest. This sounds like something you've experienced, and I think this is an experience most people will have gone through, if not for anime then for something else. (With me, it was Sonic the Hedgehog. With a classmate of mine, it was Jurassic Park.)

Whatever it is you enjoy, once you've been consuming it for long enough, you start learning what it is you like and dislike and you become more selective. Or you might find that you just didn't like it as much as you used to and drop it entirely. I'd say the majority of the people who post here are of the "more selective" category. They've watched enough anime to find what they're truly drawn to and what they just watched back when they were younger because everything was new and exciting.

The thing that saddens me is that Funimation could have started streaming a decade before (obviously with a much lower quality) since the technology already existed (anyone remembers the realmedia codec?) and they had the right connections, but lacked the vision.

Objection! It was Crunchyroll (the pirate that went clean) which convinced production committee of selling them streaming rights, Funimation was like microsoft on the internet (late to the party, but still a major player). Production Committees preferred to work with established companies like funimation (that paid at the time far more for disc printing licenses). The thing that saddens me is that Funimation could have started streaming a decade before (obviously with a much lower quality) since the technology already existed (anyone remembers the realmedia codec?) and they had the right connections, but lacked the vision.

I’ve been reading this thread and the discussions it brought, but this comment that you wrote here has made me want to write something of my own now. For what it’s worth, I would like to say that even with the solid evidence that you provided, I personally think that there will still be some people who won’t become more selective after consuming the medium for a long time. For me, I’m 19 years old as I write this and I’ve been watching anime since March 28, 2013. I initially only watched harem, romance, and ecchi anime because I thought that was all I wanted from the medium. After branching out into other genres for anime, however, I quickly discovered that there’s so many other things it can do and provide me with that nothing else can. 4 years later, I still have plenty of obsession with it and I’m grateful for that. If anything, I grew less selective for anime, not more. Sorry for the long post and I hope that you didn’t mind me airing out my thoughts.

mangamuscle wrote:

The thing that saddens me is that Funimation could have started streaming a decade before (obviously with a much lower quality) since the technology already existed (anyone remembers the realmedia codec?) and they had the right connections, but lacked the vision.

The Anime Network was another missed opportunity, as they were doing streaming well before Funimation, and doing it legally before CR went legit. Their problem was they started out with a limited selection of older titles (only a half dozen when I first came across their site in late 2007 or early 2008), and didn't try their hand at simulcasts until CR had already shown the way.

And you are one of the people I mentioned for whom anime is one's "true passion." If you've been watching anime for years and have not grown any more weary or selective of it than when you got started, then that's because it's clicked with you quite a bunch. Most people are not like that though

Concerning the possibility that younger fans may be hooked harder, Zac has said on several occasions that the average fan lasts two years.

At least I read on this board some sporadic comments of people that have return to anime after ten or so years of "absence" which in my opinion talks about that vhs/dvd period.

And you are one of the people I mentioned for whom anime is one's "true passion." If you've been watching anime for years and have not grown any more weary or selective of it than when you got started, then that's because it's clicked with you quite a bunch. Most people are not like that though, not even the people posting here. (And there's nothing wrong with either of these--different people are into different things to different extents, and that's all there is to it.)

Me, anime is one of many things I'm interested in. I really don't have the time for them all, nor does every series interest me (and, in fact, most do not), though I am always quite interested in what they're coming out with and what they're about. I grew up in the era of the original Toonami, so I just watched whatever was there. Due to that, and the fact that western animation was and still is one of the things I'm into, I never actually had an insatiable phase for anime. I have had one for a number of other things, so I understand the feeling.

TheAncientOne wrote:

mangamuscle wrote: The thing that saddens me is that Funimation could have started streaming a decade before (obviously with a much lower quality) since the technology already existed (anyone remembers the realmedia codec?) and they had the right connections, but lacked the vision. The Anime Network was another missed opportunity, as they were doing streaming well before Funimation, and doing it legally before CR went legit. Their problem was they started out with a limited selection of older titles (only a half dozen when I first came across their site in late 2007 or early 2008), and didn't try their hand at simulcasts until CR had already shown the way.

And was an "a la carte" optional cable channel in some markets, which most providers either didn't carry (remember when channels advertised you to ask your provider to pick it up, and say "I want my MTV!"?), or were now (ahemcomcast) putting on insanely high tiers in order to subscribe, hoping to make more money off the big Premium channels like HBO.