FUNimation Stops Streaming Two out of Three Current Series
This past Saturday, the day FUNimation was scheduled to begin simulcasting Japanese One Piece TV episodes, FUNimation instead announced an indefinite hiatus on One Piece streaming in response to this week’s episode being discovered to be publicly accessible from FUNimation’s website and summarily distributed online without authorization prior to its official public premiere. Toei Animation appears to have responded immediately to the episode leak by ordering a halt to all official One Piece episode streaming in America from the FUNimation, Hulu, and Joost websites.
FUNimation has also ceased streaming the current Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood television series without public explanation, although the series remains legitimately available from Hulu and YouTube. FUNimation is still streaming episodes of Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, the third of three current Japanese TV anime that FUNimation simulcasts online.
Source: Anime News Network
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So my question: Is anyone really surprised by this? I dunno if we should be… obsessive fans who lack self control behave stupidly no matter what industry they serve, regardless of the risk. I really hope this doesn’t set back blueprints to monetize online video for anime fans more than I think it does…
The entire concept of monetizing anime in any form has been rendered obsolete by a bunch of terrorists masquerading as anime fans.
Yes, it is economic terrorism at this point.
The game is over. The United States anime industry is an unsustainable piece of obsolete business.
The question, now, is how long it will take Japan to figure that out.
“The game is over. The United States anime industry is an unsustainable piece of obsolete business.
The question, now, is how long it will take Japan to figure that out.”
I’d say about 5 minutes before they realize the same about their own. :>)
It is very amusing how everyone jump to conclusions so fast, funimation only stopped streaming because of their incompetence and carelessness until they can guarantee another case like what happened with one piece wont happen again, TOEI being so angry I can imagine obviously asked to stop the one piece streams anywhere so guess the other companies that were affected gotta be so happy with funimation right now. Sure we had had episodes leaked before, it cames to mind code geass, were some minutes were leaked, in this case it happened to an US based company and the entire episode more than a day before the episode even aired in Japan, one can only imagine how angry toei was.
Streaming is a new venture for Japanese and US based companies, so far it looks like those companies are not having bad results since they keep streaming more and more series, yet it is too soon to tell if it will be a real success but your fatalistic assumptions, if they happen, wont be because of this incident that is for sure, again its not like this is the first leak, incidents are expected to happen when you venture into unknown waters and if leaks in Japan havent stopped companies from streaming this hardly looks like it will be the trigger.
Megumisguy: You’re not wrong — but you do begin to wonder how much the destruction of the industry is the desired result of the fansubbers.
chise: If Funi is at fault here: Their incompetence and carelessness should be the death of all relevant licensures from companies who, in no way, can continue to trust Funimation to protect the financial worth of their product.
As I’ve said, the entire monetization model is dead. Anime is worth a big fat financial zero unless the Internet is radically changed from this Wild West thuggery motif to a more lawful idea.
You forget one key problem: Streaming would not be occurring at all if the fans’ misconduct didn’t create a situation that the current model was already dead in most markets. This is why you are already hearing serious calls for the Japanese to abandon the US market entirely and go domestic-only.
FUNimation’s problem now is that it really can’t guarantee that a situation like this won’t happen again if they continue to operate within the fences of a tech culture a dozen years more sophisticated than they are. (Not that they aren’t trying to reverse it, by the way.)
There are already programs available that allow web browsers to download streaming files from any variety of websites… just as there are international business partners already suspicious of how the western market continues to function. It’s difficult on just about all fronts.
The reason U.S. companies keep expanding their streaming capacity on an ever-increasing number of sites isn’t goodwill; it’s because it kills more birds with one stone than brick and mortar shelf-life alone could ever do…. it’s chiefly a promotional effort, while secondarily, attempting to ease industry followers away from prescribed, otherwise illegal habits.
That’s why I can’t say that even the restart is going to work, Aaron.
What stops the leeches, except from a live human being on duty basically 24/7, from basically hacking into the system directly and taking what they want?
And, on top of that, I can’t see how Funimation has the money (think Navarre and all its cost-cutting here) to create that kind of a situation this quickly.
The fact is that the last paragraph you gave (as to why US streaming of anime is flying) is a complete epic fail on their part. To promote, there has to be something to sell.
As I keep asking the people on USENET: WHAT IS THE PRODUCT?
If the product is the animation, that horse was out the barn, shot, and in the glue factory years ago.
If it’s not, then is the sale of DVD’s nothing more than a purchase of logo merchandise?
In short, why am I buying this product??
And their secondary purpose, as you state, is a complete epic fail. We now have _demonstrable evidence_ that day-of-release isn’t even sufficient for these idiots.