Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Did Crunchyroll and Funimation Divorce?
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 506 |
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Full-agree, seriously. If you don't speak French or Tagalog or anything, why are you complaining about something being made that you can't even use in the first place? Because it's "money that could be spent elsewhere"? There's only so much anime made every year, Funimation can't just decide to license more shows unless they start making original content or co-productions with Japanese studios. Also, hi, Puerto Rican here. A lot of fans in Puerto Rico got into anime during the '00s courtesy of shows that got dubbed into Spanish. ADV and Bandai put effort into releasing dubs for shows like Burn Up Excess and Saber Marionette J. They weren't great shows, but those Spanish dubs make a world of a difference. At some point, Funimation's expansion is going to have to involve them making stuff that isn't for you, and you're going to have to manage with that. It's nobody else's problem but yours if that's not good enough for you. There are plenty of other people that'll buy Schoolgirl Milky Crisis' Finnish-dub. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 4848 |
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Did Funimation ever say what anime titles are leaving both Crunchyroll and their site because of the deal expiring? They said certain titles would not be returning to either site but I haven't seen a list yet of what those titles are. And has anyone explained why neither Funimation nor Crunchyroll would be able retain those titles?
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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FUNimation will dub things into other languages if they or their superiors feel they can turn a profit out of it. As for me, I'd love to see them dub things into other languages, as that makes things more accessible, and I am always all for accessibility.
AT&T is an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) company, meaning it sustains itself and grows as a company by buying up other companies that it considers useful or it deems a threat to itself (such as its near-acquisition of competitor T-Mobile, which branded itself as an anti-AT&T and still does). AT&T is already a huge company, one of the biggest in the world, so the timing is definitely based on market factors. AT&T's acquisition of Otter Media, I would guess, is a response to Comcast aggressively buying up entertainment companies, most notably Universal Studios. The way the Universal Studios theme parks, under Comcast, have drastically expanded and diversified in their attractions, as well as the way they've handled the movie studio (and DreamWorks), suggests they want to be a major force in the entertainment business. This is a field that AT&T had no hand in prior, and I'm guessing the execs at AT&T were scared Comcast would outdo them, so they decided to go into the entertainment business too. (If this sounds bizarre that the AT&T people would feel threatened by this, Pepsi almost shut out Coca-Cola in the 80's by buying up a large number of food companies, albeit it was combined with the New Coke debacle. The Xbox line, as another example, is theorized by some analysts to be a way for Microsoft to defend itself as a company against Sony due to rumors of Sony attempting to make its own operating system to compete with Windows. The Xbox systems would hence be a way to slow Sony down such that they'd never make that OS.) I have no idea what AT&T will do with Crunchyroll. AT&T's style is to leave companies it buys alone for some time, maybe a year or so, then slowly change it, bit by bit, until it more closely suits what they want. This is AT&T's normal practice with buying up other phone companies, like Cingular, for example. It's like a corporate version of reshaping others into one's own image. It is a real shame. Comcast treats its acquisitions with the utmost respect, and actually pays through the nose to elevate them to heights higher than they could have been on their own while keeping their own identities. (They're just as scummy as any other company when it comes to telecommunications though.) AT&T, on the other hand, just wants everything it buys to become like itself. But AT&T, thus far, has only bought up other telecommunications companies. There's no template within AT&T for Otter Media, and Crunchyroll with it. They might do what Tencent did with Riot, at least initially, and leave it alone for it to turn a profit in the way only they can. That's my best guess, as AT&T is currently not a company with the knowhow to run an entertainment department, and I'm sure the bigwigs know it. |
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Inverti Herikawa
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Are you guys serious? The majority of Americans speak English as their first language; there's no real benefit to be gained in making other foreign language dubs that isn't English. Many Americans don't speak any other languages other than English. Your McDonald's analogy makes zero sense.
Also, they include the original JP track in all their releases because some of their consumers only want to hear the seiyu, and are not interested in the dub. After all, anime DID originally come from Japan; some fans just want to watch anime in their original language. Eng dubs are produced because there's fans like me that would rather watch anime in a language they understand. See? Dual audio releases are always a win-win situation for both sides. Foreign dubs? Whatever. It's not America's duty to supply foreigners what they want. They could do it themselves if they really want anime dubbed in their language. As long as Funimation continues to be based in America, and has no foreign branches outside of it, foreign language dubs aren't happening. And I would prefer for it to stay that way, because I mainly support Funi for their Eng dubs, and I couldn't care less if foreigners aren't benefiting from it. They could either learn English or Japanese, or both if they want it so bad. Funimation shouldn't have to spoonfeed them at all. If Funi were to produce foreign language dubs, where do they draw the line? Italian, French, Spanish, German..... all that money wasted when those dubs aren't what their primary consumers are asking for. Resources need to be spent where it's due - and if you ask me, it shouldn't be on foreign countries. Lastly, there is NO evidence to support ANY claim that Funimation will be shifting their focus on the production of foreign dubs. For 2 decades, everything seems to support that Funi's priority is producing more and more Eng dubs. Tell me that I'm wrong. More English dubs. Priorities should be placed on the production of English dubs. As far as anime is concerned, anything else that isn't the original JP or Eng can just go crash and burn for all I care. |
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TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1872 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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When did they every say that? I can think of only 3 titles that applies to. One was formerly a Funimation title, but was on CR from Aniplex (but for some reason was still removed at the same time), and two others were titles Funimation's rights for had expired earlier this year (and therefore probably should have been removed from CR at the same time). |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9849 Location: Virginia |
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Inverti Herikawa
Fortunately, you don't have a say in this matter.
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is currently offered in Spanish. Portuguese, German and French as well as English on Crunchyroll. Since CR doesn't do dubs I have to assume that this was a product of their association with Funimation. Regardless, Funimation is now a part of Sony. If Sony wants them to stream globally in multiple languages, Funimation will do so. |
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matt78
Posts: 250 |
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I thought one of Sony's stated goals was to make Funimation a global brand. |
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Inverti Herikawa
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Whatever. I don't need to be a part of Funimation to make reasonable assumptions about the company's modus operandi, and how they'll continue to operate in the near future.
Funimation doesn't make foreign dubs. I don't know nor care where those foreign dubs are produced, or who produced them. But it's definitely not Funimation. Funimation's main priority will always be satisfying their main consumer base, which is the mass production of Eng dubs. That's a fact that you cannot deny. |
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Melon.and.Grape.Soda
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I don't think Funimation, an American company, is going to produce other language dubs tbh. If anyone is going to produce other language dubs, it's foreign dubbing companies. Not Funimation.
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9849 Location: Virginia |
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@Inverti Herikawa
If you are that convinced, there is no point in additional discussion. @Melon.and.Grape.Soda I doubt that Funimation will be actually making foreign language dubs in their own studios. If they are made, they will likely be contracted to studios in the appropriate countries. However, if made they will likely be streamed under the Funimation name. Many Funimation licenses include streaming (and possibly home video) rights to a lot more than just North America. If they can figure a way to monetize that it would be silly to just leave the additional money on the table. The purchase of Funimation by a branch of Sony changes everything. Nothing is set in stone and even plans made now may not come to fruition. We will just have to wait and see. |
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Jonny Mendes
 Posts: 997 Location: Europe |
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Funimation belongs to Sony, so everything comes to what Sony want to make with Funimation. If Sony want Funimation to make dubs in Klingon language, Funimation will have to make them, also. Memo to Funimation staff from Fukunaga:
Full text: variety.com/2018/digital/news/funimation-ends-crunchyroll-anime-licensing-deal-sony-1202984211/ From what i understand, Sony want to make Funimation grow up to become a global streaming company, so there are 2 ways. 1- Subs in all languages of the markets they will enter 2- Dubs in all languages of the markets they will enter They will go both ways because the anime sub market is bigger but using also dubs can increase even more the number of people they want to reach. If Funi /Sony will produce those subs/dubs in America or in other countries is up to them, but is always better to use translators and voice actors from those countries. As a future global company you can be sure that they will have to produce multi language subs and dubs. Last edited by Jonny Mendes on Wed Nov 21, 2018 1:13 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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When Funimation acquires a show, they generally get the rights for the entire Western Hemisphere, along with several other markets. That happens to include a lot of Spanish speaking territories. If they want to continue to expand their company, it makes sense to exploit countries that they already have rights in.
Sentai and Crunchyroll are both already producing Spanish language dubs. I don’t see why it’s such a stretch to think that Funimation could follow others leads in this area. Not to mention, Texas has a very large number of Spanish speaking residents. If you’re going to produce a Spanish language dub, it’s one of the best places to do so. If they start doing other languages, I imagine those dubs would be easier to outsource than produce in house. However, Spanish should be more a question of “when” rather than “if.” Not producing any foreign dubs goes completely against Sony’s stated plans in buying Funimation in the first place. You don’t turn something into a global brand by largely ignoring countries that don’t speak English. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
Posts: 4848 |
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Primus
 Posts: 2772 Location: Toronto |
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Crunchyroll commissioned SDI Media to produce dubs for a select handful of shows through their various international offices. This is identical to how they had Bang Zoom, Ocean/Blue Water and Studiopolis create English dubs for shows like Mob Psycho 100, Gintama, Kiznaiver, Bungo Stray Dogs, Kabaneri, etc. Internationally, it looks like most of their dubbing effort is going towards Brazil, where there's a Crunchyroll branded TV block on a local broadcaster airing BR PT versions of Black Clover, Bungo Stray Dogs and Re:Zero.
Given AoA's sub-only releases and re-releases from other distributors still command high price points, no. They just operate on a low volume, high margin business model aimed at collectors. The anime releases put out directly by Sony Pictures typically weren't overly expensive. I think the "worst" were those Blood+ box sets from a decade ago. |
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 506 |
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Boy, you must be a hit at parties! I had just posted above you how important ADV and Bandai's Spanish-dubs for shows like Saber Marionette J and Burn Up Excess were for Puerto Rico's anime fanbase during the boom years (fun fact: the US owns Puerto Rico, and we speak Spanish down here, and there are four million of us that don't live on the island). If you can find those old discs, you can still hear those old dubs. Those dubs were my first exposure to a lot of shows that were formative to me and every other fan I went to college with. You're being quite hypocritical if you argue for the importance of dual-language releases and add on, "Just not those other folks, let them rot". |
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