Future of Anime?! Crunchyroll's Success and Sony's Future Plans!

Sony held a fiscal 2024 management policy briefing. It shed light on Crunchyroll's Success, Animation Software, and Future Focus on the Anime Industry.
0:00 Intro
0:49 13 Mil Crunchyroll Subscribers
1:39 Sony Policy Briefing
2:21 Sony's past involvement in Anime
2:52 Anime Canvas Software for Animation
4:41 Improving Anime Production With Software
5:39 Subscription Increases for Crunchyroll
6:41 Demon Slayer Success
8:06 Academy for Creators Overseas
10:46 Crunchyroll Anime Takeover?
14:28 Afterthoughts
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#anime #crunchyroll #sony #japan

[@CommanderZx2]

No thanks, we don't want the company that censors anime games, in multiple instances even just a few weeks ago, even further involved with anime. If anything I wish we could bannish Sony from anime.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

Not just Sony, but every single large company and conglomerate, they’re all the same, you just end up with generic swill because they all pander to the norm.

[@StreetxDSM]

Indies will take this over as well. Gaming is now about the single/double a. Anime will end up going down the same route.

[@morriganrenfield8240]

That's the video game sector. Aniplex and several studios do what they do without their input.

[@thecompareablezombie]

@@StreetxDSM Indie Anime needs to be a thing.

[@otakuspirit]

Playstation is run by SEI in US. Sony of Japan gave them the reigns due to the Playstation brand in JP failing in comparison. When it comes to Anime, Sony Japan is still in charge and been in charge for many years. So far, nothing is changing on that front.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

6:52 Yea that’s kind of sad, they’re all just watching one anime, and these are the types of people that annoy the hell out of me online crying about fan service and saying they’re big anime fans.

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

Me, who's only been on the one piece grind for the past year. 😅 Tbf I have been watching seasonal shows weekly as well, But watching one piece has definitely stopped me from watching other classic shows I've not seen. But I'm having a good time. One piece is good enough to justify what I'm missing out on.

[@Sargonarhes]

I have seen so much anime over the years, there are series I've watched that I've forgotten about at this point.

[@eleongo]

It is why I find it hard to accept any newcomer especially young age as Japanese media consumers. They are the kind of people demanding changes on existing media and ruining fun for the majority and existing consumers, all for the sake of using moral high ground nonsense as internet point in Twitter. I have grown up to consume any fan service anime since 2000s so my comfort zone is seeing uncensored anime.

[@samikazbe]

I feel that it will bring more censorship and reduce the the chance to see how the creators saw things. And Disney looking also to get involve make it even more scarier.

[@justsomeguywithamustache2901]

Have you not seen bleach tybw, there is no censorship 😂😂

[@morriganrenfield8240]

Not necessarily. Japan has its own censorship problems and we could see even more wild anime productions depending on where it is animated and then released (depending on whats allowed in your own country.

[@agafemo]

@@justsomeguywithamustache2901 what are you talking about? the scene of Yoruichi's hand going between Orihime's boobs was considered "too lewd" and was removed from the storyboard despite the series airing at the correct time slot... it was such big news that an animator tweeted about it and actually attempted to redraw the scene himself or something like that meanwhile its ok to show a guy get bloodily split in half....

[@isheplatinum1218]

Crunchyroll has been more than just a distributor since before they were bought out by Sony. I recall they had a number of announcements prior to that buyout about how they were on the production committee of this anime or that anime.

[@otakuspirit]

True, they have been on production teams, but that isn't saying much. Just that they invested some money. I'd argue most of that was just to get exclusivity while fighting against Funimation. Not that they were involved in the process to much extent.

[@vng]

Aniplex is basically Sony's main subsidiary in charge of anime stuff. So its role will be mainly to drive production, form production committees, and work with publishers and such to determine what gets made. Cruncyroll is likely to remain in the role of being an end "distributor" as a streaming platform, that feeds back opinions from its subscribers so that Aniplex gets an idea of what people want. The part about training overseas animators is more due to the high demand of anime now, and Japan's shrinking population, which means there just aren't enough animators now in Japan to meet that demand. This explains why there is a lot more outsourcing nowadays to studios and freelancers in China, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam. My personal feel is that the anime boom now is actually a bubble that will burst. Big companies like Sony is trying to cash in on the popularity of anime now, coupled by the enormous profits from selling streaming rights, but that will even plateau out because a lot of the subgrade anime being produced now to try and reap in some extra profits will end up driving away potential new viewers from the market. I'll try and find some time to actually go through whatever Sony published about its management plan. They even put up the video on KZbin, can find it by searching "ソニーグループ株式会社 2024年度経営方針説明会 【ソニー公式】".

[@Samsapopin]

Well, the AnimeCanvas software announcement is intriguing & I already have a feeling the Lycoris Recoil film and the upcoming SAO movie are going to be 1st animation projects being worked on with the new software.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

14:51 I just hope you’re right, because the entire media industry in the US is ideologically captured, manga/anime is the last place on earth we can go to avoid them. And if you give them an inch they’ll take 1,000 miles, if they get any kind of foot in the door the entire place will fall. Just like what happened in comics, a few people got in and took down the entire industry. American comics are in a total mess at the moment.

[@thecompareablezombie]

Comics have the parallel industry that being comicsgate, although there was drama unsure how it's going today.

[@RedRocket4000]

Actually it ideologically split but currently is captured in part.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

@@thecompareablezombie Yea I bought a few of their comics in the beginning, but then I totally switched to manga.

[@justsomeguywithamustache2901]

I can tell even English dubbing might become even more frequent than it already is, won't be surprised in the coming years that there is a simuldub for each new anime😂

[@chiblast100x]

Simuldub seems highly unlikely to me, considering the increased workload and therefor production costs that implies, but I can easily picture dub basically everything new and simuldub all the stuff that is most likely to get the broadest audience (ie shonen action, likely from _Shonen Jump_ manga)

[@PrograError]

@@chiblast100x agreed, considering most of the anime is basically reliance on crunch. The eng dub would likely needed to be rushed.

[@jajalike3578]

@@chiblast100x I disagree, since 2019, crunchyroll has started to simuldub even rom com anime, and even now every season there are atleast 2 or 3 anime that are simuldub It's very possible, with the right amount of resources, they may very well want to simuldub at least every popular anime in every season of a year

[@davidkelvon7936]

Tbh the recent censorship perpetrated by Sony has me worried. That being said there is still room for massive growth. They have several great anime that could easily draw in new subscribers. The three episode rule is a good rule for a reason. You take something like Frieren and put the first three episodes on KZbin it’s likely to draw in new people.

[@PrograError]

TBH the real drug didn't get cooked until after... the first zoltraak intro and then the exam arc

[@otakuspirit]

Sadly Video games deals with that it does because SEI runs the show in US. All of the anime stuff is run by Sony Group Corp in Japan which has been keeping their head straight (so far).

[@shikyokira3065]

@@otakuspirit Not exactly. Just look at their policy and stuff on their site pandering to those woke non-sense of ESG, diversity, inclusion as well as making contents suitable for "global audience". We all know what "global audience" means, and its not the thing we want. We want Japanese product, not "global" product. Is it so hard for them to understand this simple fact?

[@charlestrudel8308]

@@otakuspirit as long as it keep bringing them money... if user online decide to scream and complain at them now, thats when sony will try to please investors like blackrock and other and will try to shove agenda down everyone throat... basically, if we dont support sony here and now, they will become exactly like the complain some throws at them on the anime side of things.

[@charlestrudel8308]

a bit of a self prophecy

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

I also think think the cruncyroll library of classic anime has gotten alot better since they started moving across the stuff from funimation. Although not everything has moved across yet. Notably ghost in the shell stand alone complex is still missing.

[@MiseRaen]

I think that western animation as we know it from the likes of Disney is dead and the Western Animation Sony would produce would take its place.

[@cmdrls212]

LoL no. Western animation died with toy story. What replaced it, 3D CG animation remains a massive business for Pixar, Illumination, and other massive studios. That will never die. It is only a matter of time before the next frozen-like hit drives every parent and kids to the movies. This is the way.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

⁠@@cmdrls212Nope, all those companies are captured, so you’ll never see anything like Toy Story, Frozen etc. ever again. They have to tick too many boxes now when creating a movie, so they can’t be creative.

[@cmdrls212]

@@InfamyOrDeath-__- nope. Business is too big and kids are being born every day ready for their 3D heroes. You're just old.

[@morriganrenfield8240]

​@@cmdrls212as long as it's out of the mega giants you are largely right. Western animation is currently being led by french studies and US backed netflix related studios

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

@@cmdrls212 “Business is too big”?? That’s actually funny, every single movie Pixar & Disney has put out over the last few year has either totally flopped, or seriously underperformed. There’s no such thing as “too big to fail”, continue putting out a bad product and soon the money dries up.

[@hmmmmname]

As long as most (if not any) decision making stays out of the hands of western companies I'm fine with anything new they want to try (hoping at least some of the money goes to the animators).

[@otakuspirit]

Bingo! I agree 100%.

[@ektran4205]

@@otakuspirit sony's western branches are the problem

[@TBoneTony]

Get Corporations OUT of Anime. Never support a company that has become a corporation.

[@LudwigVanBeethoven17]

Now that the SONY Spiderman universe is done for, it's time for anime-nyan.

[@petepanteraman]

I hope anime creators will revisit old anime and finishing the series or updating them

[@MrWescottX]

Ikr

[@imsalty5539]

It’s over oh well at least we have 30k anime

[@otakuspirit]

I always say, the moment anime goes to the shatter, I have a backlog to tackle lol.

[@justinsoles9580]

The Anime Canvas announcement is interesting, although I agree the software probably aimed at smoothing the collaboration/review process between Aniplex Japan and their overseas production collaborators (and also keeping it secure...or trying to). That said, I could see Anime Canvas becoming the basis for an animation creation-editing-review ecosystem where people build add-ons that go on top of it or connect to it with 3rd party tools similar to the way that people build tools for popular 3D modellers/shaders to extend the original software in new ways...whether Sony would allow this to happen or not is a big question: if they open up Anime Canvas, their userbase could grow, but Sony will lose some money they could have otherwise gotten. OTOH, don't open Anime Canvas and keep ALL the money, but have a very small (and maybe falling) user base.

[@danitabori]

I am grateful to Crunchyroll for being available in my country, having an affordable price (to me) and appearantly bringing anime movies to theaters here. I was surprised when movies like Demon Slayer and Spy Family were announced. This is normal for the US and western European countries but here in a center/eastern European country this is big news. I'm now confident that I will be able to watch the next MHA movie in theaters probably. I'm a big fan of the series and it was sad that I couldn't experience the previous ones in theaters. They might not be anything special stroywise, but the spectacle is there. Though the Spy Family movie wasn't really successfull. I went on the first weekend and there were 4-5 other people besides me in the room. So they might pedal back in the future. I'd love if S2 of Made in Abyss would also be made into movies like S1, so that I could maybe get a chance to see them in a cinema as well. Or I'd whish we could get the Girls und Panzer Finale movies but with movie 5 being the next one, I doubt they will bring 4 older movies in. So we are probably late on those. Also GuP isn't on Crunchyroll so that's probably hopeless anyway. :(

[@yitzuthegreat1735]

If only Chrunchyroll didn't region lock so many anime in Europe...

[@l3xitscomplicated191]

Im really not sure yet what to think of that...

[@MrWescottX]

Ikr with anime community

[@Osakarmakun]

i dont wanna live in world like that episode of 16bit sensation.

[@Valoric]

Hopefully we get another golden age for anime. I honestly don’t believe we can get it relying on streaming, though. Physical media somehow making a come back could do it. Doesn’t have to be blurays. I just don’t like how streaming doesn’t allow to you to decide which studios and publishers get rewarded more directly. The customer/market signal imo isn’t strong enough with streaming. Same goes for Netflix, Spotify and gamepass. The whole model is degenerative longterm

[@ShadowwingMD]

I assume overseas in this case means globally outside of Japan. Menaing not all of the 13.000.000+ are just the english market. But instead there are a lot of diffeent languages.

[@otakuspirit]

Yep!

[@Haiyami]

Yeah I agree. No thank you. I do not wish for Sony to have complete control over the anime industry. Luckily most of these announcements are still focused in the west. While they are an evil company, It's bad enough they are taking control of the western market, but if they get control of anime in Japan, it's game over. Though I don't see it that way. Sony's Entertainment sector has it's HQ in California, and it's influence in Japan has dwindled from being a domestic brand as their JP offices have been significantly reduced. The thing I worry about is the Western money Sony Entertainment throws around now. On another route the AI movement I've already seen 3 artists I like from Japan delete themselves from existence due to their despair over AI. This can go two ways. It can either be a real cool thing adding future opportunities or crush new, aspiring artists. Plus Demon Slayer is cool and all, but I don't think it's formula can work forever. Demon Slayer is high octane pacing and it's a formula that is successful only because it was demon slayer and the writers behind it. I don't know how long the same formula can be added to other works. Demon Slayer was special in a way. So as we see the market saturated with more high octane pacing hows trying to emulate Demon Slayer's success like JJK, Chainsawman, etc. we'll see how long the formula lasts.

[@otakuspirit]

I meant to get into that but forgot. One of the scariest things in that briefing is them acknowledging a massive growth due to Demon Slayer. It's proof that a LARGE subscriber base is focused on the big action shonen of the year. Which means they may focus most of their efforts just chasing the next big shonen and ignore other genres. Dont get me wrong.. this isn't anything new. Anime industry and distributors have been doing this ever since maybe DBZ or further back, but it's still scary. May make a whole separate video on it.

[@Dave102693]

Let me guess, they are trying to replace OpenToonz, Maya/3dMax and After Effects?

[@PrograError]

I wonder will AI be efficient enough that we can get an Ai translated voice using the original voiceover but in the regional languages with the same nuance...

[@otakuspirit]

I've been hoping for that for a while. I'd love to hear the likes of Aoi Yuuki in English. But may take some time and probably be limited to big stars creating a databank.

[@ektran4205]

@@otakuspirit anime dubbing script writers

[@Mecks089]

_(Sigh)_ We have half a century of Hollywood entertainment. We have over 30 years of video games. We have about 40 years worth of Anime from the past. Stop looking forward to the future.

[@thecompareablezombie]

It depends, Hollywood's quality varies from 1920s to 2000s, 2010s. Quality has lowered for me personally, have shifted to other countries movies example Korean zombie movies. Games can range from the 80s to 2010, so about 30 years. Anime has 50, the 70s have neat shows, so far I watched 2 need to watch more. Cutie Honey which had 70s anime charm. I hear Lipin the Third is a beloved anime series which started In the 70s. The point in the comment is made, there is content to be watched or experienced. While Indie and AA gaming has quality.

[@Ryuseishun]

Sorry no can do. Why would I have to be obliged to be stuck in the past?

[@Mecks089]

@@Ryuseishun Then enjoy your shitty future.

[@armsman5322]

Sony LOVES to charge for everything. That was their MO when they controlled the Video editing industry in the 8os and 90s. They charged fees for everything. It's another reason VHS won over BetaMax - SONY was charging a fee for every copy made on a Betamax tape. The VHS developers didn't (and that's also why the Porn industry embraced VHS back in the day. ^^^ But my point with this ancient history - Yeah, once Sony has a monopoly/most of the industry market share - they'll charge fees to the people making content and nickle and dime them for EVERYTHING they do with SONY products. That's always been SONY's corporate SOP.

[@petepanteraman]

Soo much anime, that's worth watching, is going unseen... Andrew here's a new project for you: worth while anime by list by genre, use top 10 genre scale but expand to a list of 20 per genre. Of course we'll (your fans) help, also send a copy to Sony or whomever is willing to take it seriously

[@animatsuri]

An even-handed report as opposed to the anti-Crunchyroll view grabbing videos other youtubers put out. Also, Crunchyroll has produced a few original anime but nothing that screams we need to be put in charge of all of it. 1 or 2 have been have out and out flops. Japanese have been outsourcing the grunt work for quite some time since the late 80s. South Korea for instance is where the likes of Bubblegum Crisis OVA series was animated for the most part.

[@TheBranchez]

I love Sony as a production company. Always did. Amongst other things, their TVs are in a league of their own. But the other side of things, like the controversy with Helldivers games, point out to then being horrible.

[@sdekaar]

I see what Sony Playstation is doing with video games, censorship and twisted ideology. I don't want to see the same thing in anime. so Sony no thanks

[@jayenlow1191]

The Pixiv situation is partly why my worry that distributors like Crunchy and even Disney will try to make their move to be part of production. They're not at all supposed to have say on what the creators create but if they have some sort of gaining influence or friends in certain places, like the money companies forcing Pixiv to have certain standards, these companies are gonna want to do something similar.

[@RedRocket4000]

I noticed English Company AD's on Pixiv now. It not just the money companies it Pixiv wanting English and US advertisement money. I found this out when I realized Pixiv was censoring a lot more than sexual content for English and US audiences. But so far on my Pixiv is actually way less censored than it has been for the past year or two over all. A tiny amount is region blocked while stuff that had been removed showed back up. How long this will last I dont' know but I not logging out.

[@TBoneTony]

Aniplex was established by SONY back in 1995, originally as part of SONY Music. I think it was during the early 2000s when Aniplex started doing Anime adaptations of popular Manga and Light Novels especially during the latter 2000s early 2010s. Considering SONY was already involved in Anime as far back as then, I think they were starting to become bad when the industry became bigger.

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

I dont mind sony start making anime, more anime is better, but so long as they dont interfere with existing studios or start making lots of studio acquisitions.

[@user-sn1hi7my7x]

Pirate Bay…

[@mico77720]

10:00 not anymore. Chinese labor cost is equivalent to Mexican labor cost

[@otakuspirit]

Interesting. My point was more in the disappointment for the japanese animators being pushed out of the anime industry for the sake of overseas labor.

[@ektran4205]

@@otakuspirit its extremely difficult to unionize in japan, western leftists who are living in japan are trying to unionize japan

[@RedRocket4000]

@@otakuspirit they need to throw the traditional culture in the trash and actually strike, march and politically organize. This actually was done in Japan after the war but there actually was an active communist party then. Then things have back slid to Japan's cultural norm.

[@lrdalucardart]

My problem is not CR, is Sony. Whit the amount of censure they are enforcing since they move to fking US... I just hope they don't start enforcing censorship in to anime too...

[@joej78]

It doesn't look that bad yet but I'm not hopeful for the future. I wonder how long it's going to be until anime starts featuring amazing millennial quippy writing and "diverse" casts meant for "modern" audiences. Maybe even the ol' saccharine infant company can get a slice of the pie.

[@ajoshua19ja]

Anime is about to nosedive.

[@Sargonarhes]

As long as they kick out any DEI people from the company, or even the other plan that Kirsche has been sounding the warning on Bridge. Which wants to make DEI a part of every corporation. But really service for crunchyroll has always sucked, I paid for it once long ago. I dropped in because their streams were so faulty and bad, and the commercial breaks. They ran more commercials than a normal TV broadcast channel did, and their streaming still sucks. There are pirate sites that had better streaming than crunchyroll.

[@JoseLopez-gi9sf]

I know you don't really like talking bad about crunch roll unless they actually deserve it but you don't even show your worries of what they can do. Have we forgoten high guardian spice. If HiDive goes under they have a monopoly on distribution. And they can start making more anime catering to them. Forcing Japan to either change more things before it even gets to them. Or worse making less stories a priority. Like me personally I don't like most manwhas but if all of a sudden they only want to have manwhas on crunchroll how can anyone stop them. Time will tell what will happen once demon Slayer is over. There is no way one show keeps them afloat. There has to be more to it. Pirating is also still a thing so what is going on there. How is crunchroll still growing. Sony could easily tell crunchroll to start making things for them. Because even the president says things to the fact that people will accept what they do.

[@ateeshJ]

PSN requirement incoming. Sony is really becoming the new Disney, aren't they?

[@Oscardaninja]

F@ck that i pirate all my animes , i try to watch 10 each season if anybody wants the sauce to the site lmk

[@abyssofrage7408]

I just hope for 2 or 3 episodes a week instead of 1 god forbid that you watch it in English every 2 episodes you get 1 it’s so sad

[@dominicunderwood4911]

I wish Otaku Spirit wasn't so doe-eyed about our new overlords who will now dictate what we lowly westerners *deserve* to see out of anime. And if anyone doesnt want to deal with Crunchy's infamously trash localizations, wokescold management that carelessly divides the fanbase, or even just them as a company...guess what? *We have no other options.* Crunchyroll now has you by the particulars, O.S, maybe show a slightly more critical-eye, at the very least?

[@thecompareablezombie]

It is concerning, there has be Indie anime and let the Japanese animation continue being Anime how we as enjoyers watched it before.

[@otakuspirit]

Sorry for not lying like most content creators with rage baiting? I'm definitely not excited IF Crunchyroll was in charge. Good thing is they aren't. Sad fact is that most content creators clickbait everything Sony Japan related to make people believe Crunchyroll is in charge, when they are not. Japan still has the reigns on anime, despite what people want to clickbait you into thinking. Sony Japan can still f up though, which is why I said in the video that I'm still keeping a watchful eye.

[@dominicunderwood4911]

​@@otakuspirit You know what I meant. You dont have to hold a pitchfork & call for corprate destruction, but the way you talk about them trampling over the *entire western anime industry* into an absolute manopoly - like its a natural progression of the true empire taking its rightful place is just so...sad. "Big moves for Crunchyroll, they're really stepping up their game, etc" like, c'mon. Its as if you're reading a teleprompter. We will soon have NO other options for legal consumption of anime. Soon nobody will be able to choose a different source if we dont like or want to support them when they do something scummy & dont give a dang. There is a middle ground between calling for war & *lying down & swallowing whatever they funnel down your throat.* Its called...caution. If you think localization & disrespect towards the source material is as bad as its gonna get, wait until *nobody can tell them no.* That's all I was trying to say, not expecting you to be Alex Jones about it, obviously.

[@dominicunderwood4911]

@@thecompareablezombie Right?? Good luck getting western fans into Anime creation when they have to go through the new church & get the priests' (aka "heads of the community"s) permission to write a story about ANYTHING.

[@dominicunderwood4911]

@@thecompareablezombie Dude, if Crunchyroll & their trash management wasnt in the way, there would be a *gigantic* indie sphere for western anime styles. It'll never happen tho, since Crunchyroll is known for not being friendlh toward mold-breaking creators...unless they can market it in their favor somehow, of course.

[@vazjc]

The part where they want to appease western audiences is the problem. Appease anime fans not western audiences! There is a massive line between anime fan and western audiences. Also not liking that it’s becoming a monopoly.

[@shaneharris525]

The more english dub, the better.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

Yea I only watch dub now, it’s all that I’m able to watch, I have 1 hour in the morning while I eat breakfast, and 20-30 minutes in the evening while I eat dinner to watch anime. I can’t always look at the screen while I’m eating so I need to watch English dub. But I prefer dub anyway, I just don’t get the same emotion from just listening to a sound and reading the words than actually hearing the words spoken.

[@StreetxDSM]

I've gone out of the way to start learning Japanese.