Variety - "Crunchyroll Is Adding All Funimation Anime Content, Sony Starts to Phase Out Funimation Brand"

[MasenkoHA]

Other than the Funimation name going away and their titles being moved to Crunchyroll (which is frankly a good thing FunimationNow was a terrible streaming app) I really don’t think it’s going to make the big changes people seem to be worried about. Sony will likely continue having the same people produce Funimation’s dubs. Dragon Ball Superx2 Hero will probably get its limited North American theatrical release based on Broly’s success and then go straight to Crunchyroll etc etc

[eledoremassis02]

I'm hoping SONY will now use thier own resources to scan and remaster older anime that they have film from (which I was hoping would be the case when they bought FUNi). But we'll see about that.

[TheMajinRedComet]

I hope either the home releases stay branded Funi or they are branded sony. Cruchyroll video is unnecessary. Hopefully this means they can figure out the sony rights issues with Knocking on Heavens Door and save me some money lol.

[Adamant]

I mean this might be a bit hard for Americans to wrap their heads around, but as far as most of the world is concerned, "Funimation" is mostly just "those guys that made that hilariously awful English Dragonball dub" and MAYBE, and only if they're older than most of Crunchyroll's target audience, "those guys that made those DVDs I imported back when that was something you did".

It makes a lot of sense to phase out a rather obscure-outside-a-single-country name in favor for an internationally recognized one. Everyone that knows what a Funimation is knows the name Crunchyroll too.

[M16U3L2015]

Also here in Latin America, they were known because any anime they licensed would automatically be blocked in the region unless a third party bought the license from them.

[TheGreatness25]

Damn it... I decided to subscribe to Funimation Now and have their grandfathered plan that's supposedly less expensive. Now I'll be losing that if I switch to Crunchyroll? I backed the wrong horse!

[90sDBZ]

I mean this might be a bit hard for Americans to wrap their heads around, but as far as most of the world is concerned, "Funimation" is mostly just "those guys that made that hilariously awful English Dragonball dub" and MAYBE, and only if they're older than most of Crunchyroll's target audience, "those guys that made those DVDs I imported back when that was something you did".

It makes a lot of sense to phase out a rather obscure-outside-a-single-country name in favor for an internationally recognized one. Everyone that knows what a Funimation is knows the name Crunchyroll too.

Funimation are well known in several English speaking countries though, not just the US. Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, South East Asia, and South Africa have all had Funimation's dubs to some extent.

And the Funimation brand has been around considerably longer than Crunchyroll.

I've heard Funimation Now isn't as good as Crunchyroll, although I don't see why that alone justifies phasing out the brand altogether.

[NitroEX]

I mean this might be a bit hard for Americans to wrap their heads around, but as far as most of the world is concerned, "Funimation" is mostly just "those guys that made that hilariously awful English Dragonball dub" and MAYBE, and only if they're older than most of Crunchyroll's target audience, "those guys that made those DVDs I imported back when that was something you did".

It makes a lot of sense to phase out a rather obscure-outside-a-single-country name in favor for an internationally recognized one. Everyone that knows what a Funimation is knows the name Crunchyroll too.

Funimation are well known in several English speaking countries though, not just the US. Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, South East Asia, and South Africa have all had Funimation's dubs to some extent.

And the Funimation brand has been around considerably longer than Crunchyroll.

I've heard Funimation Now isn't as good as Crunchyroll, although I don't see why that alone justifies phasing out the brand altogether.

Doesn't really make a difference if Funimation has been around longer. Crunchyroll grew a lot quicker than them in the public consciousness and certainly did better for their perception worldwide. They weren't as restricted by borders because there was always less geo-blocking going on with Crunchyroll. I recall not even being able to watch anime trailers on Youtube or read articles on Funimation's website because I was in the UK. Maybe this has changed now but at this point, it's too late.

Also, prior to the 2010s there was no Funimation anime on UK television minus the portions of their Z dub that were broadcast. The nostalgia for Funi's earliest anime like YuYu Hakusho simply doesn't exist here. Most of the Funimation home video was distributed by other companies like MangaUK and collecting anime was more of a niche thing anyway as a lot of people preferred to just watch online. You might've seen the Funimation logo at the start of a movie or show on Netflix in recent years but I don't think most people really cared or paid attention to that honestly.

[MetaMoss]

Funimation are well known in several English speaking countries though, not just the US. Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, South East Asia, and South Africa have all had Funimation's dubs to some extent.

And the Funimation brand has been around considerably longer than Crunchyroll.

I've heard Funimation Now isn't as good as Crunchyroll, although I don't see why that alone justifies phasing out the brand altogether.

It's because when you hear "Crunchyroll", you immediately think "anime streaming", because that's been their thing from the very start. While the Funimation name is known and has had streaming under its umbrella, there's more baggage (good and bad) with that name that would muddle perception. Emphasizing the more established name in streaming makes sense when they want to consolidate into and promote a unified service.

[MasenkoHA]

I mean this might be a bit hard for Americans to wrap their heads around, but as far as most of the world is concerned, "Funimation" is mostly just "those guys that made that hilariously awful English Dragonball dub" and MAYBE, and only if they're older than most of Crunchyroll's target audience, "those guys that made those DVDs I imported back when that was something you did".

It makes a lot of sense to phase out a rather obscure-outside-a-single-country name in favor for an internationally recognized one. Everyone that knows what a Funimation is knows the name Crunchyroll too.

Funimation are well known in several English speaking countries though, not just the US. Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, South East Asia, and South Africa have all had Funimation's dubs to some extent.

And the Funimation brand has been around considerably longer than Crunchyroll.

I've heard Funimation Now isn't as good as Crunchyroll, although I don't see why that alone justifies phasing out the brand altogether.

If you (Sony) own two different anime subsidiaries why wouldn’t you consolidate them into one?

Funimation may have been around longer but Crunchyroll has way more name brand recognition as far as streaming is concerned.

There’s plenty reason to get rid of the Funimation name

Frankly, less streaming services is a GOOD thing.

Although I think this makes Viz the last recognizable anime licensor and distributor from the 90s/early 2000s to still be around?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Manga Entertainment have also been around longer than Crunchyroll and their brand name is seemingly dead. Manga UK, of course was lost when Funimation took over. On the US side a future re-launch of the Manga brand was confirmed, but it's been 4 years and that hasn't happened, with current releases of some of their titles like Ghost in the Shell being put out under Lionsgate.

I do think it's sad to see iconic names like this go, there is always a history to them, which is something that should be preserved.

[Adamant]

Funimation are well known in several English speaking countries though, not just the US. Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, South East Asia, and South Africa have all had Funimation's dubs to some extent.

I don't think "If you live in one of these five countries you might ALSO have heard of them a couple times" is a particularly good response to "everyone has heard of this other name so it makes sense to phase the other one out". The point is Crunchyroll is a much much better known name on a worldwide basis, not exactly WHICH single digit number of countries the lesser known name is maybe equally known in at best (which would be the case in like... maybe Canada out of those countries you listed? Which is pretty much the same country as the US as far as brand recognition and culture is concerned anyway).

[MetaMoss]

Funimation are well known in several English speaking countries though, not just the US. Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, South East Asia, and South Africa have all had Funimation's dubs to some extent.

I don't think "If you live in one of these five countries you might ALSO have heard of them a couple times" is a particularly good response to "everyone has heard of this other name so it makes sense to phase the other one out". The point is Crunchyroll is a much much better known name on a worldwide basis, not exactly WHICH single digit number of countries the lesser known name is maybe equally known in at best (which would be the case in like... maybe Canada out of those countries you listed? Which is pretty much the same country as the US as far as brand recognition and culture is concerned anyway).

Even in the parts of the world where you would expect the Funimation name to be known, such as the US, Crunchyroll still has a way stronger brand association with streaming.

[M16U3L2015]

I mean this might be a bit hard for Americans to wrap their heads around, but as far as most of the world is concerned, "Funimation" is mostly just "those guys that made that hilariously awful English Dragonball dub" and MAYBE, and only if they're older than most of Crunchyroll's target audience, "those guys that made those DVDs I imported back when that was something you did".

It makes a lot of sense to phase out a rather obscure-outside-a-single-country name in favor for an internationally recognized one. Everyone that knows what a Funimation is knows the name Crunchyroll too.

Funimation are well known in several English speaking countries though, not just the US. Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, South East Asia, and South Africa have all had Funimation's dubs to some extent.

As you said, it is known in "English speaking" countries, outside of that, in the rest of the world they are only known by DB.

Sony wants to expand its anime business and it makes sense to do so with a brand that has more of a global presence and in multiple languages ​​than one that only focuses on a single language and gives more priority to a single country.

[LostTimeLord]

For another UK perspective, Crunchyroll has been there for as long as I've been watching anime, whereas I still think of Funimation as a bit of a newcomer here. Also, when Funi sends you an email advertising One Piece that takes you to an 'out of region' page, you get the impression that the UK audience is an afterthought. The Manga UK titles seemed like the first time they'd put effort into the UK service, but even now we have cases like Funi missing DB Super when Crunchyroll has had it for years.

[bkev]

I hope this doesn't result in too many layoffs at FUNi's Texas offices. This usually means consolidation, forced relocation, etc.

We may also have to contend with speedsubs becoming the norm on home video releases, as well, now. Why bother hiring accredited, trusted translators when crowdsourcing to Twitter gets people who'll do the work of 5 people for pennies?

On the flipside, if Sony is bothering this much with rebranding, they may have faith in their current and future market share. It could go either way. They could give or take $$ away from FUNI/CR.

[MasenkoHA]

I do think it's sad to see iconic names like this go, there is always a history to them, which is something that should be preserved.

I can’t put my finger on why but there’s something ironic about talking about preserving history in regards to a company where playing revisionist history has always been the name of the game.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I do think it's sad to see iconic names like this go, there is always a history to them, which is something that should be preserved.

I can’t put my finger on why but there’s something ironic about talking about preserving history in regards to a company where playing revisionist history has always been the name of the game.

True, for the number of things they've done right there's a butt load of questionable and outright terrible decisions made (home video, dubbing.etc) that one can point to from the past 26+ years that they've been operating as a company. Playing revisionism (i.e. casting aside the Ocean Studios voiced dub, replacing the old in house Z dub with their partially redubbed Orange Brick version) i think fits in with that.

[mute_proxy]

There's a list on Crunchyroll of currently imported animes from Funimation and a whole bunch of them aren't even available for viewing, with a tag "Sorry, due to licensing limitations, videos are unavailable in your region". What's even the point then.

All the popular ones, Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter, Cowboy Bebop, My Hero Academia, Goblin Slayer, I bet Dragon Ball is gonna be the same.

[tinlunlau]

Since Demon Slayer s2 ended, I immediately cancelled my Funimation subscription upon hearing this news. I can easily watch a good chunk of Funimation's library of anime on netflix via vpn. Maybe I'll switch over to crunchyroll later down the road.