Fans of older Funimation anime may find themselves in a bind if they want to find Blu-Ray copies of their favorite anime series.
Revealed in a monthly newsletter communication from Robert’s Anime Corner Store, some Blu-Ray videos of Funimation titles have been quietly disappearing from print. It appears as though the Essentials and S.A.V.E editions are the hardest hit. In the newsletter, Robert says, “I have a couple of ideas about what is behind this, and it doesn’t seem to be about license expirations or [re-releasing] older Funimation titles with Crunchyroll box art. I’ll have more on that in a future newsletter, along with lists of titles that look like they won’t be [available] for much longer.”
How Funimation’s Crunchyroll Merger Impacted Anime Fans
One possible reason may be due to Funimation’s recent merger with Crunchyroll in March 2022. At the time, Crunchyroll announced, “tons of shows and movies from Funimation and Wakanim will begin arriving on Crunchyroll.” Aside from older series, new series beginning in the Spring 2022 season would only be available to stream on Crunchyroll. As reported by Anime News Network, new titles will replace the old with Crunchyroll, saying this is due to the company’s process of trying “to unify our home entertainment offerings through Crunchyroll. There may be a period of time when select titles will be unavailable before the SKUs [stock keeping units] refresh and are back in stock for fans to purchase.”
In December 2020, Funimation’s owner Sony Pictures Entertainment revealed that the company intended to acquire Crunchyroll, but it wasn’t until Aug. 9, 2021, that they completed its acquisition of the streaming platform for $1.175 billion. AT&T, the previous owner of Crunchyroll, hoped that the transaction would help reduce its debt, which was more than $180 billion at the time. Tony Vinciquerra, the CEO of Sony, said, “With the addition of Crunchyroll, we have an unprecedented opportunity to serve anime fans like never before and deliver the anime experience across any platform they choose[…]Our goal is to create a unified anime subscription experience as soon as possible.” Fans reacted to news of the merger with mixed feelings.
The streaming platform has over 1,000 anime shows to offer and has over 10 million paid subscribers as of 2022. Crunchyroll announced in March 2022 that it would no longer offer free ad-supported viewing for its simulcast series starting with its Spring 2022 season. Previously, users could watch the ad-supported episodes for free a week after its premiere. Episodes before the spring season will still be free with ads. Viewers can watch episodes from the spring line-up and after via a premium, monthly or annual subscription.
Crunchyroll did not reveal which Funimation titles will no longer be available.
Source: Robert’s Anime Corner Store, Anime News Network
