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NEWS: Disney to Stream Tatami Time Machine Blues, Black Rock Shooter Dawn Fall, Summer Time Renderin

I have a lot of thoughts about this.

Firstly...man, this is so random. Like, I get Star Wars Visions was a success but I thought that would inspire more anime based around properties Disney owns like Twisted Wonderland or maybe more Marvel anime, but instead they're just licensing such random stuff from the perspective of Disney's brand image.

Like, Summer Time Rendering? I haven't read the manga myself but the Main Heroine seems like she's running around in a swimsuit most of the time and it deals with murder and a time-loop with content on par with Re:Zero and Tokyo Revengers. Black Rock Shooter dealt with some heavy stuff. And something in the Tatami Galaxy-verse, a literal sequel, is so random too.

Should we expect this stuff to get censored or edited to fit more with the kind of audience Disney+ is catered towards? Or will Disney be hands-off?

And obviously this seems like an indication that Disney is stepping up into the anime licensing game, which seems like it could be a huge deal.

And how will they be handling releasing this? Simulcast or binge-releases like Netflix complete with dubs? Will fans have to suffer through dubtitles like they did with Star Wars: Visions? Will Disney be doing what they did with Visions and getting a lot of celebrity names in this?

I didn't think the industry could get even more corporate feeling after the acquisition of Crunchyroll, but here we are. Also I worry about if they will have dubtitles. Star Wars Visions had closed caption dubtitles, it did not have a proper subtitle track for the Japanese audio. I thought we were done with dubtitles after the Ghibli movies which got reissued with proper subtitles after Disney lost the rights, but nope.

Between Netflix's complete inability to do subs properly, and FUNimation being nearly as bad with less info, with potential dubtitles from Disney, the future is looking very grim for anyone wanting the bare minimum subtitle presentation. When 1990s DVD subtitles run circles around modern subs, there's a massive problem.

If anything, it's the fact that Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Netflix doing really well that compelled them to dive into the anime industry to this extent.

Pokenatic wrote:

If anything, it's the fact that Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Netflix doing really well that compelled them to dive into the anime industry to this extent.

That's exactly what I think. Some internal data went around and Disney is mad that they weren't making money in this field like the other three. Like so many others, I have my doubts too. But this sudden rush really feels like some higher up executive walks into a meeting one day and was like "Hey! Why aren't we making money from these Japanese cartoons? We already have so many cartoons! Wouldn't hurt to get a few more on our services. I heard they make a lot of money! Get it done before November!" and walks out of the room.

There are a lot of questions to be asked: impact on licensing fees? on physical release? on international distribution? sub/dub/translation? on streaming competition within the industry? on working conditions (bet you not in a good way)? censorship/edits? release model?

Say goodbye to home video releases for any of these. The mouse hates it now and unless this is some case like Amazon where they could have separate rights there's no way it'll happen.

Screw Disney.

And thus kills my excitement for summer time rendering, the show I was looking forward to most.


The selection of anime is so bizarre (Except TW which is their IP), I feel like they just bid randomly on titles just so other platforms couldn't get them.
It's like they saw the success of Demon Slayer theatrically, and then the success of Squid Game and were like "woah! better get in on that game!" and just pulled random titles from a hat.
Time Machine Blues in particular is bizarre because 1. It's a sequel to a Funi title (though I don't know how much you need to have seen of Galaxy to watch Blues), and 2. it's super niche, and, if it's anything like Galaxy, has super fast subs and an art style not very accessible for newcomers. I know Science Saru is getting bigger and they worked on that Star Wars Visions thing but this is just an odd choice to kick off your anime streaming selection with.

I'm also curious about if it will be weekly or binge. I don't have Disney+ so I don't know what they normally do.

Hearing about the dubtitles issue makes me worried too.

ZeetherKID77 wrote:

Say goodbye to home video releases for any of these. The mouse hates it now and unless this is some case like Amazon where they could have separate rights there's no way it'll happen. Screw Disney.

Yeah, my concern too. These aren't big mainstream popular titles so unless they strike a deal with other distributors (which I kinda doubt?), these shows are just gonna disappear into obscurity.

isn't the right to stream in japan separate from the one to do so internationally? if so, i don't see why some people are upset about this?

Yeah, my concern too. These aren't big mainstream popular titles so unless they strike a deal with other distributors (which I kinda doubt?), these shows are just gonna disappear into obscurity.