So I decided to break from my usual pattern of Anime consumption by talking a walk on the sub-only side for an evening. I fired up Crunchyroll, and then selected the Free Sample Episode Ones for Flowers of Evil, Attack on Titan, and Flowers of Evil. Earlier this week I tried out Episode One of Time of Eve and Chihayafuru. Oh, and tonight I also tried Gargantia. They were all pretty good. Some of these may get dubbed by next year, but others clearly will not. Chihayafuru has zero chance of getting an English dub--it's WAY too Japan-specific to ever be translated. I get a similar feeling about Flowers of Evil, considering how literary Episode 1 was. Since the animation is rotoscope, it feels very Japanese and I'm not sure an English dub would feel right with such unambiguously Japanese, hyper-realistic character designs.
I'm exploring the different avenues for Anime on the Playstation Network; I had a good look at the current Neon Alley schedule for the next few days. I guess I will pay for one month--but only so I can catch the first few episodes of Fate/Zero in English dub. I think I can squeeze that in this week if I split up my viewing of it over 2 days...should be able to view up to Episode 6.
After doing a bit of web research today, it looks as though The Anime Network (run by Sentai Filmworks & related companies) used to operate its video-on-demand services on PSN perhaps as recently as 2012 and definitely as far back as 2009-ish. But they seem no longer to do so. Instead the only option now is to buy individual episodes digitially through the PSN store...this seems far more prohibitively expensive and impractical than the V.O.D. service. If I'm going to commit to buying individual episodes....I mean, WHO buys their anime that way!? Why wouldn't you just go back to buying the series on home DVD/Blu-Ray release at that point?
When I started to describe Neon Alley to a friend at lunch today, he interjected before I could get very far, asking "So, is it like Netflix only with a focused and better Anime selection?" *sigh*
No, no it isn't. But it should be! My friend definitely hit on the ideal sweet spot for those of us like me wanting to obtain our Anime through legitimate channels. It should be possible to run an Anime V.O.D. service that is like Netflix but since it's focused exclusively on Anime it should cost less than a Netflix streaming subscription. But evidently Anime Network bailed on that plan sometime in the past couple of years. Neon Alley (VIZ) has now jumped into the game, but their service delivery model seems quaintly out of date since it's like buying a separate boutique cable channel all by its lonesome but with zero user interactivity re: V.O.D., and no capacity to DVR shows either (that would at least help a little)...and of course you're restricted to VIZ shows only. Being restricted to VIZ-only shows would be fine IF the service delivery was V.O.D., but since it's not...yeah, that's kind of a fatal flaw.
FUNimation has its own premium streaming service, but as far as I know it's locked up on FUNimation's own website and accessible through the FUNimation mobile app, but not via PSN or Xbox Live. And I've heard horror stories about the premium service for FUNimation from the 2Lazy2Botaku podcast host(s).
It's probably the case that these American distributors' hands are tied behind the scenes by their cautious, conservative Japanese licensors. In any case, it's a shame they can't seem to get their collective sh*t together, because they mainly end up frustrating legitimate users and, through their own ineptitude, only serve to encourage further online piracy. Legitimate users who are dub fans like myself fall back on Netflix, and back to selectively purchasing physical media, as our personal budgets allow. I see no upside to buying digital-only piecemeal fragments of shows on PSN. If I'm going to pay out hard cash on a per-unit basis, I want a physical DVD that I can hold in my hands and that won't take up precious digital memory on a console device. A physical DVD is something I can always re-sell, or donate to a library, or give to a friend. Not so a digital copy, which after I watch it just takes up valuable memory on a limited hard drive.
The only scenario I could conceivably imagine buying an individual Episode of Anime via PSN's store would be if I'd seen a series on rental DVD but had to skip a volume because my rental provider was missing that particular volume and I wanted to go back and watch the particular episodes I'd happened to miss/skip over. I know I've skipped over some key episodes in Samurai 7 and in Eureka Seven...but these were both shows I rented from a physical store, Hastings Books & Records. I could just rent them again from Netflix, which has all the volumes. Or I could just buy both series outright (though not Eureka Seven, which is now very pricey since it's a Bandai title and out of print. I'm sure it will get re-licensed eventually, but it may take a few years). So yeah, highly unlikely to buy a digital-only single episode or select few episode arc via PSN's store. It's just a dumb, very retro-feeling way to buy Anime. I'm very sad that Anime Network failed as a viable business model for distribution via PS3 and Xbox and seems to have retreated to the confines of its own website (like FUNimation) and to a few select traditional cable tv V.O.D. outlets in some markets. I'm also sorry I never got to experience Anime Network on PS3 in its heyday, not only because I did not break down and buy a PS3 until comparatively recently, but also because my PS3 was essentially crippled until we got a much better modem/router combo for our home internet service. PS3 simply does not play nice with ancient, decrepit Linksys-G routers, which are a relic of a bygone era. So I'm VERY late to the whole PSN/PS3 party, just as the PS4 preps to launch at the end of THIS calendar year.
After reviewing the recent history and also the current status of, say, FUNimation's streaming options (mobile app/website), the failure of Anime Network on PS3 (it's no longer available that I can tell), I'm afraid I have dim hopes at best for Neon Alley. As currently configured, it seems fatally flawed. After I watch my fill of Fate/Zero in English dub, I plan to cancel my subscription with them.
I will continue to sample a few more Episodes Ones on Crunchyroll, but I do not forsee myself ever throwing down for a full-blown CR subscription. It's just not my bag, baby. Dubs for life, yo. Sub-only are not my peeps.
