Well, today was the big day, the big switcheroo for VIZ's showcase streaming anime service Neon Alley, the app for which I have installed on my PS3, and which is now basically "dead", as I expected. Any attempt to launch the app produces an unspecified error and advises the user (uselessly) to reboot and try again, ad infinitum. Like I said elsewhere, I knew the "Live" channel was going away; what I thought would happen would be that the app would be upgraded so that only the "catch up" feature would be enabled and even expanded and I could get back to watching more of my favorite dubbed shows.
NOPE. It's WORSE than I expected. Not only am I shunted over to Neonalley.com, which redirects to Viz.com...even though I can still login with my Neon Alley credentials, when I look through the available streaming shows, what do I find?
ONLY SUB ONLY SHOWS. All the cool, English-dubbed Aniplex shows I was watching? Gone. SUB ONLY NOW, SUCKA. If I wanted sub only, I'd be a Crunchyroll subscriber you SHITS.
So if I actually wanna watch the last 2 episodes of Accel World, I have to either suck it up and watch it subtitled in Japanese or BUY THE DISCS if I want to keep watching this show in ENGLISH LIKE I HAVE BEEN SINCE THE GODDAMN BEGINNING.
And if I want to keep watching this radically altered Neon Alley content on my PS3 or on mobile devices like my iPad or iPhone, I have to sign up with Hulu+ and use THAT native app instead. Hell, I don't like the free content on offer on the website via my PC, why in blazes would I sign up for Hulu+ to access this same content of not-what-I-want on mobile & gaming devices?
Your DEAD TO ME, Neon Alley, DEAD. All it means is one less source for English dubbed Anime. I'm so pissed off I feel like signing up for an Anime Network account out of sheer SPITE. I was HAPPY to continue paying Neon Alley a subscription fee for their Dubbed content. It was kind of a cool experience, one that I'm glad I got to experience. I freaking LOVED the anime series MAGI, and ZETMAN was kinda cool, too, and I really enjoyed all I got to see of Accel World, and the series "K" was pretty to look at, even if I found the story frustrating and baffling at times.
I even did buy the DVDs of LaGrange, Seasons 1 & 2, because I liked the story and I liked how pretty it was. I do regret not getting Blu-Rays, though, as the video quality of the DVDs aren't quite at the same level as what I got to experience via Neon Alley's "catch up" video playback display. I may yet buy Accel World on Blu-Ray precisely because of just how beautiful the animation is to look at, plus I love the story.
I will miss Neon Alley, and I did appreciate the free month of service with them at the end, but I'm so mad it couldn't have just stayed pure Video On Demand (which the catch-up feature kinda-sorta was) for a modest subscription, sans "live channel". That's what it should've been from the start. That's what I enjoyed most, and it kept me regularly watching, visiting, and interacting with their site via the PS3 installed app.
I do have my FUNimation Elite subscription to fall back on, of course, and heaven knows I've got a formidable backlog of physical media (DVD/Blu-Ray) to get through, too, not to mention the periodic rental anime DVD from Netflix (I'm slowly working my way through the original Sayuki at the moment). I've also been keeping up with Space Dandy and Blue Exorcist via DVR'ing Toonami for the appropriate time slots. I really enjoyed every episode of Space Dandy and look forward to the next season airing in July 2014 (fingers crossed). I did watch ahead in Blue Exorcist via my last few days with Neon Alley, so until Toonami catches up I'll be deleting those episodes unwatched from my DVR.
Oh, and I'm still making progress on streaming Netflix anime, though I'm running out of new things to watch there. I did finally take in the edgy film KITE, but, after interacting with other fans, I'm convinced the version I saw was edited from the original; hence I was underwhelmed, having heard the hype from the unedited original. I still enjoyed it, but I had to watch it sub-only, too. There's a title I need to get on DVD from Right Stuf! and watch unedited and with English dub.
Other than that, I recently finished Tenchi Muyo GXP, and am very far along in HERO TALES and in D GRAY MAN. I will probably finish HERO TALES before I finish D GRAY MAN. I do sometimes slip in an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic here and there for fun, but I'm not in any sense of the term a "brony".
I'm glad that there is new anime being added to Netflix streaming; the problem is it is all stuff I've either seen someplace else (SAO) or it's a title I already own on physical media ("My Bride is a Mermaid").
I was really hoping to watch the English dub of GARGANTIA premiere on Neon Alley sometime later this year. Now it appears that's never going to happen. I'll just have to take a leap of faith and buy the Blu-Ray when it's released and hope for the best. I did watch Episode 1 on Crunchyroll ages ago (subbed) and really was blown away by how beautiful it was.
I realize I'm in the minority, pouting about the changes to NEON ALLEY. I know this is a positive for most North American Anime fans, the majority of whom probably prefer sub-only or are apathetic. To dub fans, the Neon Alley changes are nothing but a tragedy and unmittigated disaster. This is literally NOT what I signed up for. At least I'm not being charged for it anymore.
*Sigh*. At least I still have my weekly anime screenings at Alamo Drafthouse, too. May that ever be so for as long as I remain an anime fan. I'm hoping, too, that FUNimation will work another nationwide deal with Alamo Drafthouse and screen the first four episodes of the Attack on Titan dub just before the DVD/Blu-Ray release.