Businesses are a tangled web of contracts. And in some cases, even rivals team up together to work on projects and initiatives. For instance, the three biggest soda companies, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper, have partnered at times to encourage healthier and greener options for the people and the world itself, and nine major pharmaceutical companies recently signed a pledge about following scientific standards while working on a COVID-19 vaccine to distribute.
The anime market is no exception. But if you’ve been keeping track of the various team-ups and shake-ups on a relationship chart, it’s time to make some updates.
First up is Crunchyroll and Sentai Filmworks. Yes, that Sentai Filmworks, the one that just had a bunch of its titles removed from Crunchyroll. The two have had an off-again, on-again relationship over the years, and it’s been mostly on since the Crunchyroll-Funimation breakup. But with Crunchyroll looking to sell itself to former partner and current rival Funimation, the fear was that Sentai was in an awkward, untenable spot.
Well, for now, Sentai Filmworks and Crunchyroll are going to team up for a “new home video and electronic sell-through distribution partnership”. This renewed partnership is going to include both dubbed and subtitled-only releases on physical media and/or digital downloads. The first four anime revealed are Ascendance of a Bookworm, Food Wars! The Fourth Plate, Granbelm, and World Trigger.
While Crunchyroll and Sentai Filmworks have collaborated before over the past decade or so, Crunchyroll has also reached out to other licensors to have their series on Blu-ray/DVD and digital marketplaces. Like VIZ Media for instance.
But while VIZ Media titles like Death Note and Inuyasha have been added to stream on Crunchyroll since that announcement, VIZ Media didn’t seem to put any Crunchyroll titles to purchase physically or digitally. Meanwhile, they’ve been adding some of their series and movies to Funimation, including some series that were previously added to Crunchyroll.
As the latest press release puts it, “But there’s more where those came from, and this legendary partnership is only just beginning.” New titles were announced just last week: Coppelion, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Megalobox, and Terra Formars. These will be added to the service on September 22.
So if we go back to the whole “anime licensors as an anime soap opera” thing (aka Streams of Our Lives), these four keep playing footsie with each other as they bounce between their exes and new flames. And right now, Crunchyroll-chan is back with Sentai-san after being turned down by their dear former Funimation-kun, who is now getting closer to VIZ Media-senpai, who has casually seen Crunchyroll-chan but didn’t get serious.
Yeah, that’s one messy relationship chart.
For right now, it’s easy to see why everyone is at where they are. Crunchyroll’s focus has been to acquire anime to stream, not put them out in the world to be bought. Sentai Filmworks doesn’t have a major conglomerate behind them. Funimation and VIZ Media don’t have as large of an anime catalog as Crunchyroll, and they try to get their name out there through various deals with other platforms. And there’s no real downside to either partnership. Fans get an opportunity to own Crunchyroll shows for their home viewing and offline pleasure while Sentai Filmworks gets some extra business. Funimation subscribers get more to watch and VIZ Media gets some more views on series a couple of years old. Win-win.
However, all these negotiations almost certainly started before news of the Crunchyroll sale leaked, but of course, that’s likely weighing on fans’ minds. With business ties becoming more entangled, and the pandemic causing general upheaval in people’s everyday lives, will this remain the status quo for a while? Or, for example, will Crunchyroll quickly let their latest Sentai Filmworks partnership fizzle as they partner (or are bought) by someone else? In my opinion, I imagine the anime series about these four companies will likely be getting a second season. The tendency for businesses to go big combined with all services trying to carve out their place in the Great Streaming Wars means that things will keep switching up in the anime market.