#apologies for this being loke outta nowhere i just watched the g word and considered that the idea of voicing my opinions is importabt

[hisui-cotton]

I'm about to vent about something that people probably wouldn't care about but the longer I think about the more I'm upset by, and tbh I think other people should atleast keep in the back of thier mind.

Crunchyroll moving to a subscription only model, removing free viewing containing ads. That sounds crazy right? How can I be upset about that? Not to mention I am subscribed already so it's not like it affects me! And it's probably to assist in all the pay distribution that people have been pointing out regarding translators and such right? I don't know. But I am super sure it's not a great idea and that the pay problems could be better solved without affecting the viewers especially with the influx they'll recieve from Funi closing down.

My main problem with it is that they'll have one of the biggest and most accessible libraries of anime. Except they'll quite literally be closing it and making it less accessible. I'm not worried about people turning to pirating anime from there, if you're someone who is willing to pirate anime already there's no reason you'd be watching anime on crunchyroll. But to people who cannot safely browse pirate sites or those who are looking for something secured under crunchyroll's belt, then they have to pay for the subscription. Then if you're younger and have no money to get a subscription, it's dependent on you convincing your parents to get you one.

It's really had to explain but let me put it this way...Netflix was once the only streaming channel. They has a market as being able to provide high quality steaming for movies with no ads because they were the only ones. Over the last few years they've finally gotten competition, raised prices several times, and are confused why people are willing to drop them for other services.

While Crunchyroll is not offering an extreme variety of entertainment, the focus is anime and anime adjacent content. However, with the merge of Funimation and Crunchyroll there is literally no doubt that they have some of the greatest selections of anime now. It's a service that also brings anime internationally, providing anime to regions that would otherwise be even more at risk when pirating or just have no access to be able to pirate in the first place. But even more so there's some extremely devoted fans internationally that want to be able to support anime as directly as possible and Crunchyroll is the only place they can do that and get decent quality subtitles or video.

The fact that the free viewing, though it includes ads, is just going away entierly is pretty disgusting. In a time where people are less and less willing to deal with ads but you want to be able to be as accessible as possible, to have that option is crazy. By eliminating it you're effectively removing a group of people that was so happy to just be able to see anime, that they're willing to watch ads. That they're willing to sit through whatever garbage is being pushed to them to watch thier favorite show or something totally new. And you may think that you're just cashing in on new subscribers coming from funimation or who picked up watching anime over the pandemic, but you are targeting a very specific class and age range by saying that your platform will no longer provide a free option.

It's just very "grabby hands" in my eyes to be like "Well we now have no more competition. Let's cash in and make the niche even harder to get a grasp on!" I'm sure there's plenty of people at both Funi and Crunchy who are aware of it and disappointed it "has to happen" if that's what they're told. But to also be fair the company is vastly underpayment them and if gating the content entierly is the only solution that can be offered they will likely take it. Maybe the number of free viewers is pretty low to begin with and they don't feel it'll be a loss to cut it entierly. On the other hand if most if the free viewers are watching the most content overall, even as a minority of the viewership, then it could end up being a blow to them later down the line.

But I'm not a part of crunchyroll or funimation. I'm someone who has been subscribed to both and enjoyed the content they've brought. I really enjoyed the collaboration they had a few years ago and thought how interesting would it be to see the two merge. But at the same time recognized it'd be really really devastating to consumers if that happened. Which ever came out on top (in this case it was Sony choosing Crunchy) they'd effectively be able to lay the field and call the shots for anime price or availability even for the most minor of shows, limiting literally any possibility of a consumer or fan finding the show anywhere else or being able to see it in the first place.

Overall it's just upsetting to think that those who can't afford to put it in thier budget or kids that can't pay to watch thier favorite content won't be able to do so as easily as I could growing up. Crunchyroll was a great place to see good anime and not have to pay because it came with ads. There was decent quality and subtitles that always worked. The subtitles thing is honestly one of my favorite minor features in crunchyroll, where when your video quality goes down, the subtitles get a bit larger to ensure they're always readable. They literally made the foundation of accessible viewing by originally being a pirate site! Yet now that they are the only competition when it comes to supporting anime directly (bc let's be honest Disney and Netflix are not pulling anime fans at the rate Crunchyroll probably does) they decide its not worth it to keep that general sense of accessibility.

Just disappointing to think about.

#long post #text post #crunchyroll #my opinion #anime #not to say that im sure this will be terrible but this is pretty sucky #apologies for this being loke outta nowhere i just watched the g word and considered that the idea of voicing my opinions is importabt #especially when the topic is important to me