The end of era: Sony discontinues the Funimation brand on April 2

[SilverPlaqueVII]

As everyone will be shocked to hear.

On April 2, 2024, Sony announced the Funimation brand will be shut down as the app and its website will be closed and its users migrated into Crunchyroll, who Sony acquired in 2021 and took its name into Funimation corporate the next year.

Let's put into perspective. With CR/Funi turning 30 on May 9, that is the company who was the one bringing Dragon Ball to North American audiences and made the genre of anime becoming mainstream today. Without Gen Fukunaga, there would be no Funimation. From the first Gen era, to the Navarre years, then the Fairy Tail/MHA era and the Sony era, this is how Funimation had evolved into a global anime distributing powerhouse.

Cheers to 30 years of Funimation.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2 ... ll/.207344

[MasenkoHA]

I'm surprised if took this long. Didn't the Crunchyroll brand name takeover happen 3 years ago?

With CR/Funi turning 30 on May 9, that is the company who was the one bringing Dragon Ball to North American audiences and made the genre of anime becoming mainstream today.

The "Funimation made anime mainstream by bringing Dragon Ball Z to America" lie is up there with "Dragon Ball Z was a commercial failure until it aired on Toonami" and "Funimation had to fire the Ocean cast because they couldn't afford them without Saban" in fan misconceptions that need to die and rot in HFIL.

[Cure Dragon 255]

As everyone will be shocked to hear.

On April 2, 2024, Sony announced the Funimation brand will be shut down as the app and its website will be closed and its users migrated into Crunchyroll, who Sony acquired in 2021 and took its name into Funimation corporate the next year.

Let's put into perspective. With CR/Funi turning 30 on May 9, that is the company who was the one bringing Dragon Ball to North American audiences and made the genre of anime becoming mainstream today. Without Gen Fukunaga, there would be no Funimation. From the first Gen era, to the Navarre years, then the Fairy Tail/MHA era and the Sony era, this is how Funimation had evolved into a global anime distributing powerhouse.

Cheers to 30 years of Funimation.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2 ... ll/.207344

Dont worry Funimation, you may be done for but I WILL ALWAYS HATE YOU! My heart will go on!

[Hellspawn28]

The "Funimation made anime mainstream by bringing Dragon Ball Z to America" lie is up there with "Dragon Ball Z was a commercial failure until it aired on Toonami" and "Funimation had to fire the Ocean cast because they couldn't afford them without Saban" in fan misconceptions that need to die and rot in HFIL.

When people who say that "Funimation made anime mainstream" really means "They help anime become more popular with younger kids". You had plenty of anime on VHS to rent before Toonami and Pokemon. There was plenty of anime merch at stores like Suncoast and major film critics Rogert Ebert like films like Ghost in the Shell. Even in late 90s and early 00s, most of the anime coming out at stores was still not aim towards kids. I doubt the kids who watch DBZ in 1998-2003 were renting titles like Kite, Jin-Roh, Steel Angel Kurumi, and Hellsing at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video.

I feel like Akira did help anime become more well known in the states by showing that you can release anime for kids that are not bad adaption dubs for kids (As seen with Robotech, Voltron, or Captain Harlock & the Queen of a Thousand Years). Kunzait 83 already did a big post about this in the past.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'm sure anime was not this super niche underground obscure cult thing before Dragon Ball had success in English-speaking countries. Hell, when Akira was released in the UK in 1991, Island World Communications (the distributer of the time) saw the medium had potential and rebranded to Manga Entertainment because clearly there was a market for a specialised label, they even set up offices elsewhere like the US. Dragon Ball simply took the medium to new heights, anime didn't become mainstream, but it became more mainstream.

Anyway, as for Funimation I have both good and bad memories of the company. For better or for worse, it will still be strange not having Dragon Ball associated with their name within English-speaking countries anymore as we've been so used to it for nearly 30 years.

I do wish Funimation availed of the Ocean Group's services more, as the company had far more to offer them than just recording facilities, as we've seen from the Pioneer and Blue Water dub scripts, Karl Willems' directing, the well edited Nicktoons cut of Kai, and so fort.

[Tian]

Without Gen Fukunaga, there would be no Funimation.

You mean, without Gen's uncle who worked at Toei and the Cocanougher family, there would be no Funimation.

If we gotta thank FUNi for anything, well, at least they gave Dallas a voice acting industry.

[MasenkoHA]

I'm sure anime was not this super niche underground obscure cult thing before Dragon Ball had success in English-speaking countries. Hell, when Akira was released in the UK in 1991, Island World Communications (the distributer of the time) saw the medium had potential and rebranded to Manga Entertainment because clearly there was a market for a specialised label, they even set up offices elsewhere like the US. Dragon Ball simply took the medium to new heights, anime didn't become mainstream, but it became more mainstream.

Even if Dragon Ball never crossed over to the U.S, like let's say after the first 13 episodes of the Dragon Ball BLT dub underperformed Funimation just cancelled the whole thing and moved on to do diredt to video promotions for Chuck E Cheese or something, do people really honest to God, really think anime wouldn't be as mainstream (which in this case means popular with children) as it is today? Between Sailor Moon and Pokemon and all the anime that came in riding the success of Pokemon (read Digimon and Yugioh) and the various anime that has success in kids television even before Sailor Moon i.e Robotech, Voltron, Kimba, Astro Boy, Speed Racer. The same kids who got into anime through Dragon Ball Z would have just gotten into it through Naruto or Gundam or Yugioh

I do wish Funimation availed of the Ocean Group's services more, as the company had far more to offer them than just recording facilities, as we've seen from the Pioneer and Blue Water dub scripts, Karl Willems' directing, the well edited Nicktoons cut of Kai, and so fort.

Not sure if it counts but you did have Ian Corlett, Terry Klassen, and Ward Perry contributing scripts. Klassen and Perry were writing scripts well into the in-house era with Perry at least up through the original Dragon Ball and Klassen until the Cell or Boo saga

Not quite the same since the scripts were being written to conform to what Funimation (read Barry Watson) wanted the show to be, but still.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I'm sure anime was not this super niche underground obscure cult thing before Dragon Ball had success in English-speaking countries. Hell, when Akira was released in the UK in 1991, Island World Communications (the distributer of the time) saw the medium had potential and rebranded to Manga Entertainment because clearly there was a market for a specialised label, they even set up offices elsewhere like the US. Dragon Ball simply took the medium to new heights, anime didn't become mainstream, but it became more mainstream.

Even if Dragon Ball never crossed over to the U.S, like let's say after the first 13 episodes of the Dragon Ball BLT dub underperformed Funimation just cancelled the whole thing and moved on to do diredt to video promotions for Chuck E Cheese or something, do people really honest to God, really think anime wouldn't be as mainstream (which in this case means popular with children) as it is today? Between Sailor Moon and Pokemon and all the anime that came in riding the success of Pokemon (read Digimon and Yugioh) and the various anime that has success in kids television even before Sailor Moon i.e Robotech, Voltron, Kimba, Astro Boy, Speed Racer. The same kids who got into anime through Dragon Ball Z would have just gotten into it through Naruto or Gundam or Yugioh

I do wish Funimation availed of the Ocean Group's services more, as the company had far more to offer them than just recording facilities, as we've seen from the Pioneer and Blue Water dub scripts, Karl Willems' directing, the well edited Nicktoons cut of Kai, and so fort.

Not sure if it counts but you did have Ian Corlett, Terry Klassen, and Ward Perry contributing scripts. Klassen and Perry were writing scripts well into the in-house era with Perry at least up through the original Dragon Ball and Klassen until the Cell or Boo saga

Not quite the same since the scripts were being written to conform to what Funimation (read Barry Watson) wanted the show to be, but still.

Ironically despite most most of my post disagreeing with Masenko Ha this possible reality is so beautiful. Heck if Sailor was more popular than DBZ, Pretty Cure could have been dubbed since its more popular than DBZ in this new realm of possibility.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

The same kids who got into anime through Dragon Ball Z would have just gotten into it through Naruto or Gundam or Yugioh

Probably not Naruto, as I suspect Dragon Ball Z paved the way for its success, see also Bleach, One Piece, My Hero Academia, etc. Gundam I agree likely would have had the same level of success regardless as it belongs to a different genre and demographic. I know Yu-Gi-Oh was massive and likely even rivalled Dragon Ball at their peaks but I've never heard anyone say it was what got them into anime, I always hear that with Dragon Ball however, so I can guess it would have still been successful, whether or not it would have been as successful is harder to say as I suspect the amount of people who discovered it having watched Pokemon or Dragon Ball first was not insignificant and both played somewhat of a role in the popularity it gained.

Not sure if it counts but you did have Ian Corlett, Terry Klassen, and Ward Perry contributing scripts. Klassen and Perry were writing scripts well into the in-house era with Perry at least up through the original Dragon Ball and Klassen until the Cell or Boo saga

Not quite the same since the scripts were being written to conform to what Funimation (read Barry Watson) wanted the show to be, but still.

Ian James Corlett and Terry Klassen did own a company who localized anime, and yes they were all writers, along with Ward Perry. Among those three Ward Perry was the luckiest to have had a chance to work on a dub independent of Barry Watson (who, for the record, I've heard is a super nice guy) with the Pioneer movies as that was a great experiment for what could be done with Funimation taking a back seat. The Pioneer movie DVDs also have subtitles from Rika Takahashi, which are better written and more natural than Steve Simmons' subtitles.

Don't get me wrong, not everything Funimation has done has been bad, but I do think its nice to see what other companies are capable of, which sadly you see less of when one company becomes more of a monopoly.

[JulieYBM]

I'll always remember how Ian James Corlett had to quit voicing Gokuu because FUNimation wouldn't pay him enough for the damage it was doing to his voice, and thus his ability to do other acting work.

Two years later they moved to Dallas to afford paying actors even more.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'll always remember how Ian James Corlett had to quit voicing Gokuu because FUNimation wouldn't pay him enough for the damage it was doing to his voice, and thus his ability to do other acting work.

Two years later they moved to Dallas to afford paying actors even more.

Ian James Corlett said Ocean weren't paying him enough for his work on Dragon Ball Z, not Funimation. They basically took over Josanne B Lovick Productions' duties when Funimation jumped from original Dragon Ball to Z, which was writing paycheques, handling the unions, etc, as well as giving Funimation a recording venue (which wasn't the case with Josanne B Lovick Productions, they were involved in post-production for the 1995 BLT dub and that dub was recorded at Dick & Rogers Studio).

Funimation weren't alone when it came to penny pinching. In fact that was the very reason original Dragon Ball and GT were moved to Calgary when they were being dubbed in Canada, because it could be done cheaper in another province at Blue Water Studios.

Everything is always about the bottom line in business.

[GhostEmperorX]

Let's put into perspective.

Opening the thread with some good old misinformation, are we? Classic.
Anyways, not once did they ever deserve their position and it's probably even because of them that Sony was able to come as close as they have to monopolizing anime distribution in the US.

And that's to say nothing of their entire amateurish career right from day 1.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

I'm sure anime was not this super niche underground obscure cult thing before Dragon Ball had success in English-speaking countries. Hell, when Akira was released in the UK in 1991, Island World Communications (the distributer of the time) saw the medium had potential and rebranded to Manga Entertainment because clearly there was a market for a specialised label, they even set up offices elsewhere like the US. Dragon Ball simply took the medium to new heights, anime didn't become mainstream, but it became more mainstream.

Anyway, as for Funimation I have both good and bad memories of the company. For better or for worse, it will still be strange not having Dragon Ball associated with their name within English-speaking countries anymore as we've been so used to it for nearly 30 years.

I do wish Funimation availed of the Ocean Group's services more, as the company had far more to offer them than just recording facilities, as we've seen from the Pioneer and Blue Water dub scripts, Karl Willems' directing, the well edited Nicktoons cut of Kai, and so fort.

After the success of Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network, Funimation went on, besides distributing non-anime on its early days, to acquire its non-Dragon Ball series: Fruits Basket (2001). Then they went on to get a handful of ADV titles from Sojitz back in 2008 and later Bandai many years later and also got the second prize from 4Kids which is One Piece. Both Toei's franchises are thriving one after another.

[Hellspawn28]

The same kids who got into anime through Dragon Ball Z would have just gotten into it through Naruto or Gundam or Yugioh

Probably not Naruto

Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, etc already had fans in the US before their anime was dub. If DBZ didn't air on TV and was a direct to video anime title, I bet the 00s Shonen series would have follow the same path. You had anime on other channels besides CN. G4, Starz, Sci-Fi, etc had their own anime blocks.

[MasenkoHA]

Probably not Naruto, as I suspect Dragon Ball Z paved the way for its success, see also Bleach, One Piece, My Hero Academia, etc.

I knew plenty of kids who had no interest in Dragon Ball Z who got into the aforementioned anime. Naruto was licensed by a company that already had success with Ramna 1/2 and Inuyasha. It would have been brought over with or without Dragon Ball Z.

Gundam I agree likely would have had the same level of success regardless as it belongs to a different genre and demographic.

The demographic is more or less the same: elementary and middle school boys. It didn't have as much appeal but plenty of boys who were into Dragon Ball Z were also into Gundam.

I know Yu-Gi-Oh was massive and likely even rivalled Dragon Ball at their peaks but I've never heard anyone say it was what got them into anime, I always hear that with Dragon Ball however, so I can guess it would have still been successful, whether or not it would have been as successful is harder to say as I suspect the amount of people who discovered it having watched Pokemon or Dragon Ball first was not insignificant and both played somewhat of a role in the popularity it gained.

Right, but we're talking about an alternate universe where Dragon Ball never successfully got came over to the U.S. Yu-gi-oh was just one possible example of an anime most of the Dragon Ball kids would have gotten into without Dragon Ball existing.


My main point is the anime landscape in the US would have been pretty much unchanged without Dragon Ball Z. It was at the end of the day just one of many anime that 90s babies got into as little crotch gremlins in the late 90s/early 2000s. Sailor Moon and Pokemon more or less came out around the same time. Sailor Moon suffered a bit from "girl show societal misogyny" but I really didn't know too many Dragon Ball Z kids who weren't also Pokemon kids (along with like 5 or 6 other anime)

If Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho and Full Metal Alchemist and One Piece hadn't made Funimation the Kings of anime licensing Viz probably would have taken that spot.

[WittyUsername]

From my experience, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh tend to be viewed more as cheap merchandising vehicles than something that most self-respecting anime fans enjoy on their own terms. Same reason you don’t exactly see anime fans talk about the various Japanese Transformers cartoons.

[GhostEmperorX]

After the success of Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network, Funimation went on, besides distributing non-anime on its early days, to acquire its non-Dragon Ball series: Fruits Basket (2001). Then they went on to get a handful of ADV titles from Sojitz back in 2008 and later Bandai many years later and also got the second prize from 4Kids which is One Piece. Both Toei's franchises are thriving one after another.

Aka they stole the license thanks to nepotism and proceeded to profit massively off of... an already massively profitable IP the world over (at home & abroad), rising while others sank as a result.
They were rejected the first time because they were a completely random company that came out of nowhere with no money, qualifications, experience, etc. DB got them to where they are, not the other way around. And how do they repay it?
One has only to look at their atrocious home video release treatment of it to see the answer to that.

[sangofe]

As everyone will be shocked to hear.

On April 2, 2024, Sony announced the Funimation brand will be shut down as the app and its website will be closed and its users migrated into Crunchyroll, who Sony acquired in 2021 and took its name into Funimation corporate the next year.

Let's put into perspective. With CR/Funi turning 30 on May 9, that is the company who was the one bringing Dragon Ball to North American audiences and made the genre of anime becoming mainstream today. Without Gen Fukunaga, there would be no Funimation. From the first Gen era, to the Navarre years, then the Fairy Tail/MHA era and the Sony era, this is how Funimation had evolved into a global anime distributing powerhouse.

Cheers to 30 years of Funimation.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2 ... ll/.207344

I am not the slightest shocked. I thought this had happened already.

[TheGreatness25]

Anywho, I am thankful to Funimation for introducing me to Dragon Ball (Z) and Yu Yu Hakusho. I wasn't a fan of how they chose to handle the Dragon Ball franchise, but that's the one I got. Then releasing DVDs with the Japanese audio and subtitles is one of the greatest things they've done with the series.

I imagine it'll be more of the same over at Crunchyroll/Sony. I'm expecting the only real impact being the logo. I did prefer the Funimation streaming service over Crunchyroll's, though. But, it's not a huge different, honestly.

So, end of an era. I don't hate Funimation because it did give me a serious that I'll always have great memories with. But, that's about all I can say about it. So, good times, but I'm mostly indifferent. My big gripe over this was that I was paying $60/year for Funimation's app and Crunchyroll didn't even offer me the discount when they moved over. I held off on it, then got it, then stopped it, then got it again (because I am apparently allergic to my money).

[Cure Dragon 255]

Anywho, I am thankful to Funimation for introducing me to Dragon Ball (Z) and Yu Yu Hakusho. I wasn't a fan of how they chose to handle the Dragon Ball franchise, but that's the one I got. Then releasing DVDs with the Japanese audio and subtitles is one of the greatest things they've done with the series.

I imagine it'll be more of the same over at Crunchyroll/Sony. I'm expecting the only real impact being the logo. I did prefer the Funimation streaming service over Crunchyroll's, though. But, it's not a huge different, honestly.

So, end of an era. I don't hate Funimation because it did give me a serious that I'll always have great memories with. But, that's about all I can say about it. So, good times, but I'm mostly indifferent. My big gripe over this was that I was paying $60/year for Funimation's app and Crunchyroll didn't even offer me the discount when they moved over. I held off on it, then got it, then stopped it, then got it again (because I am apparently allergic to my money).

I was about to say providing the Japanese version with English subs is bare minimum stuff. But then I realized before Funimation that was not standard. Before, if you did a horridly edited version that was the only version, ever. No uncuts. So while I dont like Funimation I have to thank them for releasing a mainstream anime with ENGLISH SUBS FOR THE JAPANESE VERSION.