Just curious: Anyone have a FUNimation account here?

[DriftEJ20]

Not an advertisement of any sort, just curious because it is essentially the same price per month as Netflix for semi-720p (i.e. "streaming" quality 720p =/= higher-bitrate download quality) of basically all their shows. One reason I ask is because I know that they're more hard-asses about cracking down on whatever they've licensed so people obviously for the most part can't get any of that here.

Besides the obvious anti-FUNimation sentiment here, every once in a while they might license something you might want to watch. For me, there's certain "time waster" anime that I might have a tendency to avoid just because I don't even consider it worth the amount of time I have to spend uploading it to make up for it's download size (maybe it would be if upload wasn't so butchered in comparison to download from home ISP's in the US), a lot of those tend to be shows they offer.

I'm not trying to incite any reminders of the same reasons we've all heard from anywhere in the fansubbing community for why that company is evil, out for money, butcher series' with dubs, bias towards shounen etc. But in terms of value, $8 a month for 200 or so shows available in subbed and dubbed on-demand is about the cheapest, fully-legal anime fix you can get. I know they've licensed plenty of things that people wouldn't just not-watch out of protest of their company, and I also know that pretty much any of their material you can get from other websites that just let people upload whatever they want without worrying about the consequences. I'm just curious whether people:

1. Don't watch/care to watch anything licensed by Funimation/Only watch Japan-sourced versions of shows they later licensed internationally/US.
2. Source Funimation shows from websites that don't restrict availability of their anime.
3. Watch their shows wherever it's available, regardless of whether it supports the company (Perhaps with anything that supports them being the last option).
4. Don't use Funimation website/Netflix or other streaming sources because of the quality (Obviously quality being what separates BakaBT from a lot of other websites).
5. Use their free/ad-supported service, but would never pay for the "Elite" membership/I've paid for anime in the past, but I've yet to consider a show they licensed worth it.

As a disclaimer, I in no way support their company, this isn't an advertisement for their service (truth: you can find, somewhere, anything they offer in higher quality for free) and I'm not really sure what my personal opinion is on the matter either. It'd just be interesting to see what other people on BBT honestly do about the issue and what the most and least popular solutions are. As far as I've read, as long as it doesn't appear I'm advertising for them this doesn't break the rules but forgive me if there is something I overlooked, in which case you can just delete this, lock it, message me about how to change it etc.

[TiYlER]

I tend to like a lot of shows that FUNi licenses, so I find myself heading over to AB quite a lot to get them. I don't have anything against FUNi, but I wish they wouldn't pose as much a threat to anime-torrenters as they seem to.

[AceHigh]

Besides the obvious anti-FUNimation sentiment here,

If they made easy distribution online by streaming for a reasonable price, I wouldn't have anything against them. You make it sound like they actually did that already and if so, I would like to get a link and check it out.

[Saras]

Aren't most of all Funi's services for America only?

I ain't getting a proxy just for them.

[AceHigh]

Funimation site:

Which countries is the Elite Video Subscription Service available in?
USA and Canada.

Well, don't blame me for pirating then...

[Burkingam]

Funimation site:

Which countries is the Elite Video Subscription Service available in?
USA and Canada.

Well, don't blame me for pirating then...

Even if it was available on fucking youtube, I would still not blame you. I consider piracy to be a legitimate form of civil disobedience against copyright. I don't know if you share my point of view in this file but it doesn't really make a difference.

[DriftEJ20]

Besides the obvious anti-FUNimation sentiment here,

If they made easy distribution online by streaming for a reasonable price, I wouldn't have anything against them. You make it sound like they actually did that already and if so, I would like to get a link and check it out.

http://www.funimation.com/subscribe - I started a trial, because it's free for 2 weeks. As far as I can see, anything listed under "Shows" has everything that has been released on DVD/Blu-Ray available to watch. Idk if I'm missing something, but even with how much stuff I'm not willing to pay for, for convenience sake that seems like a decent deal. It at least seems puzzling that a company that I've heard being called greedy a fair amount letting people watch anything they release online for that price. It sort of makes me even wonder how they make money, when anime is more expensive than regular TV seasons, and Netflix has had issues with production companies wanting more money than what Netflix will provide given what Netflix charges streaming-only customers, which is the same monthly amount.

Though, Netflix is way more convenient comparatively because as of now, Funimation doesn't have an app for mobile devices, let alone a player for network-enabled TV's, and Netflix also has a sort of... What they call 1080p, but with compression and such is more akin to what YouTube considers "1080p".

Aren't most of all Funi's services for America only?

I ain't getting a proxy just for them.

I don't really know how I'd be able to tell, since I'm in the US, unless I proxy'd to a server somewhere in Europe or elsewhere and tried to sign up again. From what I know about the company, they're based here and that's most (read: pretty much all) of their focus. They also do something for other international markets but I think it's very small comparatively to what they do in the US.

Edit: I never saw that tidbit about where, but it doesn't surprise me. I'd do the same in your position, but I'm still interested to know what US/Canada members think or what users outside of the US/Canada would do if it was available to them.

Funimation site:

Which countries is the Elite Video Subscription Service available in?
USA and Canada.

Well, don't blame me for pirating then...

Even if it was available on fucking youtube, I would still not blame you. I consider piracy to be a legitimate form of civil disobedience against copyright. I don't know if you share my point of view in this file but it doesn't really make a difference.

As do I, and I have gigs and gigs of stuff I've gotten here and elsewhere that agrees. For me and my tastes, watching habits and situation, I'd actually be putting out more effort not subscribing, though. Basically because $8 equivalents to me working for about 40 minutes a month. If I add up the amount of time I spent per month looking for shows they've licensed elsewhere, clearing up hard drive space, not being able to play games online, etc. Then I'm basically protesting for the sake protesting and it being actually a detriment to my personal life, which there's nothing wrong with, but "just sayin".

There are still shows they've licensed that I want higher quality versions of or want archived so I can watch them wherever/whenever without the hassle of buffering that I'll get/have gotten through my own means.

[AceHigh]

Well, if I am presented with a high quality convenient and easy distribution and while also knowing that my money will go to the animators in Japan, I would happily pay for it disregarding my views on copyright in general.

 This is clearly not the case, so no money for them because they don't want to take my money to begin with.

[DriftEJ20]

Well, if I am presented with a high quality convenient and easy distribution and while also knowing that my money will go to the animators in Japan, I would happily pay for it disregarding my views on copyright in general.

 This is clearly not the case, so no money for them because they don't want to take my money to begin with.

I wonder if the very availability of the service is some sort of reflection of how bad the anime market is in the US/Canada right now? I'm not aware if there are similar services available elsewhere, but it seems that's the most they're really expecting to squeeze out of almost anyone other than fans with a lot of disposable cash. They advertise DVD/Blu-Ray box sets of the exact show you're watching in an ad above for $40 to $65 and it just seems off, but that might be getting into the whole thing of people who supposedly d/l fansubs in the US because "they're going to buy it when it comes out here".

[Soryon]

I dunno about an acct, but I am subscribed to the funimation channel on my cable.

[Bob2004]

I can't pay for Funimation's streaming thing anyway, since I'm not from america, and am therefore not worthy of the priviledge of paying them for their products. But if I was, then I'd still do things the same way: take whichever version is highest quality. I'd happily pay Crunchyroll or Funimation etc if they offered the best service, but as it stands, the pirates offer far superior quality, in both audio, video, and often translations too (though that's less frequent nowadays).

If Funimation offered the best quality releases (and if they would let me), I would happily pay for them. Same for Crunchyroll, or any other legal service (provided the money was getting back to the original creators).

Well, if I am presented with a high quality convenient and easy distribution and while also knowing that my money will go to the animators in Japan, I would happily pay for it disregarding my views on copyright in general.

 This is clearly not the case, so no money for them because they don't want to take my money to begin with.

I wonder if the very availability of the service is some sort of reflection of how bad the anime market is in the US/Canada right now? I'm not aware if there are similar services available elsewhere, but it seems that's the most they're really expecting to squeeze out of almost anyone other than fans with a lot of disposable cash. They advertise DVD/Blu-Ray box sets of the exact show you're watching in an ad above for $40 to $65 and it just seems off, but that might be getting into the whole thing of people who supposedly d/l fansubs in the US because "they're going to buy it when it comes out here".

Might it be to do with quality? Blu-ray/DVD releases are massively superior to any streaming service, both in terms of video and audio. Hence, they charge more. Seems silly to me, but that might be their logic.

[Tatsujin]

Fansubs. That's it.

Thanks for reading.

[Stsin]

I assumed their license doesn't allow streaming to other countries.  Not that they don't want their money.


Didn't know that Funi started a premium streaming service.  Hmm, not really interested in it, unless they do the latest releases from Japan in 720p+, instead of just their own DVD releases.  More like CR's model.

[vicious796]

It's tempting - it really is - but, honestly, it's another Netflix subscription and *most* of funi's "better" anime are already available on Netflix. More importantly, I'd have to watch on my computer or link my computer up to my television - I don't really wanna set that up again.

If they had aps for the PS3 or even my iPhone, I'd probably do it for the shows that aren't available on Netflix. My wife and I could resume our previous "episode of anime a night" before bed ritual (we've watched all the ones on Netflix that she'd be interested in) and I would be able to watch other shows on my phone or 3DS after she's asleep. Since they don't have this cross-platform thing set up, though, I can't justify spending as much money on this as I do Netflix every month which gives me the cross-platform AND regular movies/tv shows.

[kitamesume]

too many restrictions to be even viable... first, US only? second, whats with the premium? and third, theres a lot of other things to watch around the net, for free even though not all of them are legal.

the thing thats promoting piracy are those restrictions and the overly priced products, 10$+ for a disc? really? if they tried to sell them for like 3-5$ per disc then they might see a massive decline in piracy, plus their profit aren't going to be worse anyway since they're selling in bulks.

[vicious796]

too many restrictions to be even viable... first, US only? second, whats with the premium? and third, theres a lot of other things to watch around the net, for free even though not all of them are legal.

the thing thats promoting piracy are those restrictions and the overly priced products, 10$+ for a disc? really? if they tried to sell them for like 3-5$ per disc then they might see a massive decline in piracy, plus their profit aren't going to be worse anyway since they're selling in bulks.

Specifically answering the "what's with the premium" question - they seem to be using the "standard" streaming service model set forth by Netflix and hulu plus. Also, you can watch some of their anime without an account just by going there (US+CA only) but not an entire series or movie like you can with the subscription.

As I said before, though, I feel $8/mo without the other benefits that netflix and hulu have (multi-platform and mobile support) is a little too much. If they offered aps on my PS3, 3DS, and/or iPhone, I might consider it.

The US+CA only thing is kind've common sense - they have the license for those areas only. They operate and distribute in the US and Canada so they can only offer their streaming services in those regions. At least that's what makes sense to me.

[kitamesume]

i find regional license absurd, since if you don't license it, you can effectively distribute it on any part of the world so long as they won't block it ( hi youtube ). add in a trick like "you can buy a blue-ray copy on *insert company here*" propaganda within the distribution, openly so that you wouldn't get sued by some f'cker.

though they should still make the copies cheap, or else the people would just stick to the open distribution.

as an example of this effect, i read "HellGate : London | by : mel odom" from the internet, interestingly enough i found some sales on a bookshop, sadly though only book2 was on the shelf, so i bought it for the lulz and incidentally dad bought a couple of books from amazon and i got to hike the other books for free.
shipping makes things too expensive... seriously, not to mention import tax... geez.