Anime So, Crunchyroll has acquired Bleach

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Back in [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/index.php?/topic/44260-the-state-of-anime-in-the-us-and-abroad/]this thread[/url] I discussed how if anime distributors weren't prepared to embrace streaming or online legal downloading as a method of dissemination for their product then they might as well embrace their own financial destruction. I'm not sure how many people followed it or supported it but in the last few weeks Crunchyroll launched a campaign to secure Bleach for legal simulcast and fansubbing from Japan, suffice to say they have been successful in that regard and now Crunchyroll has two of the three main WSJ animes in it's possession.

Taking a slightly larger view of things I curious to see just how far CR want to go in bringing in new licences, how long before we see One Piece and the Jump triforce is complete ? I'm also tentative to view this as akin to the beginnings of iTunes (or maybe the beginning of large scale acceptance for iTunes) in that hopefully we're going to see a lot more licences become available like this and anime fans are better able to support those production companies financially. Currently I'm on a free trial for Crunchyroll but I'm more than likely going to continue with paid membership when that expires. (The one thing I would like is for a slightly better looking translation for Bleach, haven't really been watching Naruto to judge its sub by comparison).

Other OBer's thoughts and opinions ?[/size][/font]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Just to put it out there, [b]One Piece[/b] is already being simulcast (same week for free, even) on FUNimation's website.

In any case, I definitely think this is the way to go for revenue as far as anime is concerned. Few networks have been willing enough to take chances by airing anime in the first place, and it's just stupid to expect the fans to buy something they don't know if they like yet, so DVD-only is out of the question. If a company doesn't want to buckle under the weight of their own accusatory victim stance (Lookin' at you, BANG ZOOM!), they're going to have to provide a sample, at least. Personally, I think Hulu is the perfect place for this, since it makes shows available for free with limited commercial interruption. The fans can preview a series they want to watch and the companies still get ad revenue, so everyone wins.

I'm not much a fan of Crunchyroll's subscription service, particularly since you can get the same kind of service legally and for free free elsewhere, but it's another valid way to get your fix while the company still gets their money, so it's another solution, I suppose. It's kind of like Netflix in a way, since as a pay-by-month service, the only limit imposed on you is how much you yourself take the initiative to watch. In any case, there are ways to save the industry and they're readily available. If the companies provide them and the fans are willing to use them, we should start seeing a turnaround.[/font]

[Kei]

[font="Tahoma"][color="#000080"]It's definitely possible for the companies to cater to what the fans want (instant access) and still get what they need (revenue). Like Anise said, Hulu is one of the better ways to go about this, since folks get anime with little commercial breaks and the companies still get ad revenue. CR would be a decent service if their Flash player weren't so terrible. D:

But what really gets is that people always complain about anime not being on TV, but when there is anime on TV (with [adult swim] and the AniMonday block on SyFy), no one watches it. The companies (both the animation/licensing companies and the network) see this and will write it off as a loss. They're looking for shows that keep people watching their channel and if they go to the trouble of getting hold of a series, then playing it and have no one watch it after you've begged for it for so long, what does that say to the companies? "I don't really care about this, but thanks for playing." And they'll move on. This is what happened with Toonami, Miguzi, and any other CN block you can think of. Just watching the Numbers Game on the Saturday block shows that anime is losing ground again. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was the only show that made the Top 3 since I've been watching it and replays of The Boondocks and the other American shows have kept it out of the listing for a few weeks now.

So, since the internet is seemingly the way to go as far as putting out viewable anime content, I think that working out a more lucrative deal between the stream sites and the anime companies is probably the way to go. If people want the series on DVD, the hits they get will tell them.
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[Gavin]

[quote name='gallowsCalibrator' date='08 June 2010 - 08:18 PM' timestamp='1276024738' post='694880']
[font="Comic Sans MS"]Just to put it out there, [b]One Piece[/b] is already being simulcast (same week for free, even) on FUNimation's website.[/font][/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Ah, didn't know that. As far as I know CR will still let you watch it for free, you just have to wait a week after the initial broadcast.[/size][/font]

[quote name='gallowsCalibrator' date='08 June 2010 - 08:18 PM' timestamp='1276024738' post='694880'][font="Comic Sans MS"]Personally, I think Hulu is the perfect place for this, since it makes shows available for free with limited commercial interruption. The fans can preview a series they want to watch and the companies still get ad revenue, so everyone wins.[/font][/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]My one big problem with Hulu is the fact that it's restricted to the U.S., but yeah if they want to do free sites with ads, or paid sites without them either are ways to go about giving fans what they want while still earning revenue.[/size][/font]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='Kei' date='08 June 2010 - 12:42 PM' timestamp='1276026121' post='694882']
[b]Like Anise said,[/b]
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[font="Lucida Console"]1 F4NCY MY53LF 45 M0R3 0F 4 N474L14 P3R50N4LLY >: D[/font]

[quote name='Gavin' date='08 June 2010 - 02:06 PM' timestamp='1276031189' post='694887']
[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]My one big problem with Hulu is the fact that it's restricted to the U.S., but yeah if they want to do free sites with ads, or paid sites without them either are ways to go about giving fans what they want while still earning revenue.[/size][/font]
[/quote]
[font="Comic Sans MS"]Yeah, I forgot to mention that little hurdle, thanks for bringing it up. Admittedly, it does raise difficulties for those outside of Eagleland (the greatest country... In America.), but it's a bit of an understandable one, since a lot of the ads Hulu circulates are geared towards US consumers and probably wouldn't sell much overseas, like crappy reality TV shows and Axe body spray. Still, it's an issue that's going to affect a good portion of fans abroad and that's a vital market, all things considered. They should focus on getting that covered, for sure. Especially since that means people overseas are suffering from [b]Castle[/b] deprivation, as well.[/font] Edited June 9, 2010 by gallowsCalibrator

[Gavin]

[quote name='gallowsCalibrator' date='09 June 2010 - 11:13 AM' timestamp='1276078383' post='694945'][font="Lucida Console"]Especially since that means people overseas are suffering from [b]Castle[/b] deprivation, as well.[/font][/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]To drool over Stana Katic and grin at Nathan Fillon's antics something like the law will not stop me. (Am eagerly awaiting Season 3) [/size][/font]

[Magus]

Considering how I used to look for Bleach at CR I have to say it's about time, but after hearing/seeing that CR charges a fee, I have to say "why?"

[Kei]

[quote name='Magus' date='09 June 2010 - 02:41 PM' timestamp='1276108901' post='694958']
Considering how I used to look for Bleach at CR I have to say it's about time, but after hearing/seeing that CR charges a fee, I have to say "why?"
[/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][color="#000080"]This, children, is what we call a "clever marketing strategy". If you don't mind being a week behind everyone else, then you can watch Bleach (or any other ongoing anime) for free a week after its original release, but if you want to be on the cusp of new episodes (not to mention get them commercial-free), you're gonna have to fork over the dough. Considering that you only have to pay about $7 USD a month and you get access to all the anime on the site commercial-free, I say it's a great deal, but the spoiled-rotten anime/manga fanbase (as Gome/Vivian put it) whine about that, despite how catered it is to them.

If I could afford a subscription to CR, I would definitely get it, but with the recession and whatnot, it's just not feasible. Perhaps once things recover here in the U.S., people will be more willing to listen.
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[Dagger]

[quote name='Gavin' date='08 June 2010 - 05:06 PM' timestamp='1276031189' post='694887']
[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]My one big problem with Hulu is the fact that it's restricted to the U.S., but yeah if they want to do free sites with ads, or paid sites without them either are ways to go about giving fans what they want while still earning revenue.[/size][/font]
[/quote]
I tried watching FMA: Brotherhood on Hulu, but the video quality was too poor for me to enjoy it much (and I'm far from being a video quality fanatic to begin with). This actually doesn't bother me at all when it comes to watching live action shows on Hulu--I guess clean, crisp visuals matter a lot more to me when the show in question is animated. Especially when it's well-animated. CR subscribers get access to (theoretically) HQ versions of some shows, right? I'd be a lot more interested in subscribing if that applied to all of their licensed content.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]I haven't seen much anime on Hulu, so I don't know how CR compares to that. But considering how terrible DB's video quality was while they were subbing Bleach, I doubt CR could be worse than DB. In my experience, CR's video tends to be about half way between what a good encoder can do with a transport stream from Japanese TV and what you get from encoders who have no clue what they're doing. So, it's not great but still watchable.

To toss a little comparison out there, he's a [url=http://comparescreenshots.slicx.com/comparison/61945]couple shots from Yumeiro Patissiere[/url] showing the difference between a decent encode from .ts source and CR's 480p video.

And I assume you get higher quality video if you subscribe. There's always at least options for SD and 480p on their videos (which is dumb, because 480p [i]is[/i] SD), but the 480p option is only available to subscribers. I'd guess the SD option is encoded in flash video instead of H.264 and/or lower resolution.[/color]

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I can't say for sure about other videos but this week's episode of Bleach was available with a 720p option.[/size][/font]

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]Some videos have 720p options available, yeah. Then again, some of those are just upscales and won't actually look any sharper at 720p. I haven't followed Bleach in quite a while, so I don't know if it ever made the jump to HD.

To tell if something's upscaled or not, take a screen shot (I guess for CR stuff you'd have to use the Print Screen key and then crop it out if you're actually watching it on their site) and load it into something with a good resample function. The bicubic resample in Photoshop works nicely. Resize it to 848x480, then back up to 1280x720 and compare that with the original 1280x720 shot. If the resized one doesn't look any different from the original, it's an upscale.[/color]

[Maully]

[quote name='Kei' date='10 June 2010 - 04:41 PM' timestamp='1276206093' post='695047']
[font="Tahoma"][color="#000080"]This, children, is what we call a "clever marketing strategy". If you don't mind being a week behind everyone else, then you can watch Bleach (or any other ongoing anime) for free a week after its original release, but if you want to be on the cusp of new episodes (not to mention get them commercial-free), you're gonna have to fork over the dough. Considering that you only have to pay about $7 USD a month and you get access to all the anime on the site commercial-free, I say it's a great deal, but the spoiled-rotten anime/manga fanbase (as Gome/Vivian put it) whine about that, despite how catered it is to them.

If I could afford a subscription to CR, I would definitely get it, but with the recession and whatnot, it's just not feasible. Perhaps once things recover here in the U.S., people will be more willing to listen.
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[/quote]
[color="#008000"]I'm not even sure it's so "clever". It's one of many lessons in Capitalism that the Egalitarianism of the web-based information flow seems to have made people forget. Supply and demand seems to have shifted in some minds to demand and be supplied (at no cost). $7 USD isn't bad at all, but I'm in the same spot as you.[/color]

[Magus]

[quote name='Kei' date='10 June 2010 - 05:41 PM' timestamp='1276206093' post='695047']
[font="Tahoma"][color="#000080"]This, children, is what we call a "clever marketing strategy". If you don't mind being a week behind everyone else, then you can watch Bleach (or any other ongoing anime) for free a week after its original release, but if you want to be on the cusp of new episodes (not to mention get them commercial-free), you're gonna have to fork over the dough. Considering that you only have to pay about $7 USD a month and you get access to all the anime on the site commercial-free, I say it's a great deal, but the spoiled-rotten anime/manga fanbase (as Gome/Vivian put it) whine about that, despite how catered it is to them.

If I could afford a subscription to CR, I would definitely get it, but with the recession and whatnot, it's just not feasible. Perhaps once things recover here in the U.S., people will be more willing to listen.
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[/quote]
So after that free week is up then it's back to paying? Good deal or not I'm a rather cheap person, and if I can find a place that don't cost a thing (and don't require me to wait, although I am patient ) then I'm taking it while I can. Edited June 13, 2010 by Magus