Crunchyroll And Funimation File For Divorce; HiDive Moves Right In

This is getting ugly.

Crunchyroll and Funimation’s anime sharing deal has been terminated, and there are already some consequences. For example, VRV subscribers will lose Funimation starting November 9th with HiDive being the anime streaming replacement.

Our Take

Evidently, the decision was made in part by Funimation and must have been in the works for a while as nothing from the streaming service will be at the Crunchyroll-sponsored AnimeNYC happening next month and they had a slew of panels at rival New York Comic Con which wrapped earlier this month. VRV had already been suffering from some popular Funimation titles NOT being on the service, the most prominent example being Tokyo Ghoul which just continued it’s third season yesterday. Perhaps new Funimation parent company Sony has some other ideas in the works?

For VRV, this could put into jeopardy it’s premium plan in terms of nominal value, Funimation’s Simuldub library/schedule is way more impressive than HiDive’s at this juncture, with Funimation typically getting a dozen or so major series every anime season whereas HiDive usually releases dubs that have been released on Sentai Filmworks’ home release schedule.

Note, Funimation has also been offering its content with deals in place with Adult Swim, iTunes, and even Hulu. It will be interesting to see what, if any, damage would be done to Funimation’s bottom line after this move. For VRV, here’s hoping Crunchyroll’s got a pipeline of English dubbed original content for 2019, or it could be a bad year.