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NEWS: Sony's Funimation Global Group Completes Acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T

I guess we can only wait and see how this goes. Hopefully with their powers combined they'll finally have a working player.

I feel bad for Sentai in this situation, as it is now they were barely getting licenses with ecchi shows, massively obscure ones like Getter Arc and Tsukipro, or sequels like Non Non Biyori. Now they have to compete with both Netflix and a FuniRoll conglomerate.

Kanpai! FuniRoll or Crunchymation?

I feel bad for Sentai in this situation, as it is now they were barely getting licenses with ecchi shows, massively obscure ones like Getter Arc and Tsukipro, or sequels like Non Non Biyori. Now they have to compete with both Netflix and a FuniRoll conglomerate.

First off, my heart goes out to everyone at Funimation or Crunchyroll who will find their position duplicated due to the merger. That's got to be a really tough place to be in right now.

Secondly, much like the Funi-roll partnership a few years back, it will take a while probably until we even see a unified streaming service, so I see no point in jumping ship or anything right off the bat, and I'll maintain both subscriptions I have for now. Very curious how this is all going to shake out.

Some things I hope for:
- Translation rates at least skewing more towards Funimation's standard than Crunchyroll's + more of those translators being credited. I know Funi employs both in-house, salary translators and contractors, but beyond that not so much. Even less so with this merger.
- More shows getting blu-ray releases & dubs. Or really anything besides just sitting in Crunchyroll's library for years.
- Good lord, a better streaming site/player. Speaking for myself, thankfully I don't usually have issues with playing video on my apps, but there is a reason almost everyone makes fun of Funimation's service. Yes, there's very little competition which normally doesn't mean you should expect any quality improvements, but this is also the best opportunity Funi will ever get to crack down on improving their service with tons of potential new users and money coming in from the acquisition. I think on some level they have to know how bad their reputation is when it comes to that, and know that if they don't make changes now, many new consumers will never give them a shot because the other alternative is simply piracy. Not a competitor they could try and one-up in the future.

Some things I am concerned about:
- Whether or not the decrease in competing licensing fees will have at least one positive effect when it comes to over-production with 40+ shows being produced every single season.
- Pretty much all dubs being produced by Funi or commonly outsourced ADR studios (Sound Cadence, Kocha Sound, etc...). Don't get me wrong, I love plenty of Funimation's dubs, but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear dubs from studios like Bang Zoom, SDI, etc... or never hear certain actors in anime again outside the occasional Netflix show. I would actually love to see Funi open an LA branch for ADR once studios fully re-open (although even a percentage of their dubs going union feels like way too much of a pipe dream unfortunately).
- What will licensing in territories outside of NA, UK, Australia, or countries covered by companies like Wakanim, etc... look like?
- Just uhhh the Sony monopoly in general

I don't work in the industry, so obviously I won't know what's going to happen. The best I can do is wait and until more is revealed and listen to industry people I do trust (who I'm sure will make their opinions well-known because I'm sure everyone's going to have an opinion on this given how much of a game-changer it is).