RIP Funimation! What's Your Reaction to the News?

We all knew it was coming, but the news that Sony is formally ending the Funimation brand has finally dropped. Going forward, Sony will be unifying their worldwide anime streaming under the Crunchyroll umbrella. How are fans reacting to the news that Funimation is going away? And why do some fans seem to be celebrating? Let’s look at this complex topic in this blog post!

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The History of Funimation

While Crunchyroll got its start in 2006 as a semi-pirate site streaming unlicensed fansubbed anime over the Internet before eventually going legit, Funimation is the much older company. It was founded in 1994 by Gen Fukuyama, who was able to get the English broadcast rights for Dragon Ball from an uncle who was a producer at Toei. While Funimation focused on VHS and DVD sales to fans and distribution through channels like Cartoon Network, they eventually got into the streaming game.

A big shake-up came in the industry in 2017 when Sony acquired Funimation, letting the world know they were betting a portion of their future on the continued rise of the anime industry around the world. When Sony bought Crunchyroll in 2019, and online anime retailer RightStuf in 2022, it was clear Sony was going all-in on the anime business.

Considering the recent slowdown in sales of the Sony PS5, it seems clear that the massive electronics-and-media conglomerate is looking towards a post-Playstation future in which anime will be its bread and butter. Maybe forcing additional censorship of already safe-for-work visual novels wasn’t the best idea?

While Funimation has been a great company overall, bringing anime fans some of the most treasured experiences of their lives, the last decade has been a turbulent one for them and their fans.

The company developed a reputation for allowing their writers to change lines in their dubs to pander to certain political groups, although in their defense, there were only a few really bad examples of this. When given the chance to apologize for the problems and agree to not make those mistakes in the future, they clammed up and said nothing,
They famously canceled broadcasting Interspecies Reviewers, including canceling the dub they’d already partially finished.
Based on the comments below, some fans assume Funimation is behind censoring anime…though this might not really be fair to the company. When anime is released in censored form internationally, this is done by the original studios, and streaming companies often have no say in which stream to show their customers. But then, when the Internet gets on a bandwagon, it’s easy to blame a company for everything that’s wrong with anime.
There was a massive amount of drama between their voice actors, the most famous being the firing of popular voice actor Vic Mignogna. I don’t know the details, but this guy on YouTube made some very convincing arguments that the accusations might lack serious merit. Then came the Funimation audio leaks in which certain voice actors were recording making off-color jokes in character, which caused more harm to the company.
Funimation was only available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and New Zealand. Hopefully the move to Crunchyroll will improve the distribution situation for fans in other countries?

And now the company is gone, being folded into Crunchyroll as Sony streamlines their distribution of anime around the world. This might be good for a lot of reasons, including that presumably, all the videos you want to watch will be in the same place now. And maybe, just maybe, Sony has been studying the missteps Funimation made, and will try very hard to not repeat them.

Funimation is No More! J-List Customers React

Let’s look at some of the reactions from J-List customers who replied to my thread on X asking for their feedback.

I’m sad because Funimation was the gateway for anime for a lot of people when they were younger (late 1990s/early 2000s). It’s also disappointing that the digital purchases on Funimation won’t be transferred to Crunchyroll.

This change affects fans’ digital and even physical products. And let’s not even start with the cliquey circle-jerking of voice acting and localization work.

While some fans may cry crocodile tears over Sony’s ending of the Funimation brand, it’s honestly great we have one less censorship avenue. If companies would just do their job, they wouldn’t be hated by fans and getting axed from the industry.

Funimation got me into One Piece and many other great shows. Sad times.

I disagree with telling fans who grew up with Funimation since its early days that their feelings of sadness aren’t real or sincere. I assure you, my feelings of sadness are real. It’s the same feeling I got when my Blockbuster and Hollywood Video stores closed. It might be nice to have anime distribution be more consolidated going forward, to be sure, but it is still upsetting for sentimental reasons.

Pepperidge Farm Remembers Funimation Meme

If it were 2014, I’d be a lot more upset. But here in 2024, in the full light of what their little clique has become, between smearing an innocent man, disrespecting fans, and disrespecting anime, all in the name of culture warrior nonsense, I say nothing of value was lost. Funimation, get bent.

Were Funimation users ‘real’ anime fans to begin with, in the Japan/Otaku sense of the word? Or were they only pretending to be fans because anime had become popular. Also, Is Funi really gone, or are they just wearing Crunchyroll as a ‘skinsuit’? Sony let all the Vic attacks happen.

The anime sphere is getting worse and worse as Sony takes control of it all. What other companies are left to compete with Crunchyroll? Neither HiDive nor Netflix are truly providing important competition and are more like side options at this point.

[By ending the cheaper Funimation subscription option] Crunchyroll is [effectively] hiking the subscription price to $100 per year. I’d like to remind everyone that one terabyte of external storage costs the same amount and can hold a lot of anime.

Feels like a part of my childhood has come to an end even though I’m in my 30s.

Funimation wasn’t perfect, but having it mashed into one big company with little competition is not a good thing either. Funimation used to be good, before success went to their heads. Then all the culture war garbage started around 2015/2016.

You Either Die Or Live Long Enough To Become 4kids

If this had happened 10 years ago, I would’ve been sad, but unfortunately, Funimation has lived long enough to see itself become the villain.

It’s been real. They were there for me when I needed them, and many things that helped me wouldn’t have been possible if they hadn’t done their job. Shout out to the dudes.

It was a great company that brought anime to the US. However, with some scandals and the idiocy of removing Interspecies Reviewers b/c it didn’t match their morals or whatnot, it has gone downhill.

No matter what people have against Funimation, this sucks. Funimation was king, especially when it came to releasing anime in physical form and at affordable prices.

Controversy aside. I am sad, I enjoyed a lot of their dubs, they were a big part of my childhood. So I’m going to miss them.

Good riddance. Maybe if they treated fans better I would have cared more.

Thanks for reading this blog post with J-List customer reactions to Sony ending the Funimation brand. What are your views on the change? Tell us in the comments below!