the animator dormitory project is a
charity that helps young underpaid
animators live affordably in Tokyo while
they find their footing in the crazy
anime industry if you want to learn more
about it or how you can support it stay
tuned to the end of this video I'm
concerned that amazon prime and netflix
may be slowly bringing about the death
of this Golden Age the anime fandom has
enjoyed for the last few years by
mishandling their shows they're causing
truly great series to be ignored and
driving diehard fans the people most
likely to spend their money on their
favorite anime into the arms of pirates
over the last year Amazon Prime has been
laying claim to some of the biggest and
best shows of each season they started
with cabin area of the iron fortress
back in the summer which was hotly
anticipated but turned out to just be ok
but they followed that up by acquiring
foon a while amou which was a top
contender for fall's anime of the season
and the same can be said of scums wish
their big pick for the winter and over
the winter they rolled out a new service
called anime strike 2 now we've rolled
around to spring and their selection is
insane they have Sakurada reset which is
[ __ ] but they also have recreate errs
grimoire of 0 and armed girls machiavel
ism three of the best shows of the
season depending on your taste plus they
have the exclusive rights to three of
the seasons biggest sequels psycho no
flat rage of Bahamut virgin soul and
dawn machi sword aura Toria all of which
were previously exclusive to crunchyroll
and Funimation this is a huge coup for
Amazon it should be their time in the
Sun this should mark the point that
Amazon becomes a serious contender
against crunchyroll and Funimation in
the anime space but it's probably not
gonna be see there are a few huge
problems with Amazon and anime strike in
particular that are holding them back
from success the most obvious especially
for users outside the United States is
access Amazon Prime video only just
became available to Canada this winter
when it was also rolled out to the rest
of the world but even now it feels like
the rest of the world is an afterthought
for Amazon the prime video apps still
isn't available on any Canadian App
Store for any of the devices that are
currently plugged into my TV and the
actual anime strike service isn't
available here at all which means that
what few shows they do have are one or
more episodes behind and we have no way
to access their premium simulcast
service and that brings us to Amazon's
other big problem pricing on top of
needing an Amazon Prime subscription to
watch any of these videos you also need
to pay six bucks a month for anime
strikes channel bringing the grand
monthly total for this anime service
which only has a little over a hundred
shows and movies most of which aren't
exclusive to sixteen dollars that is to
put it bluntly ridiculous I'm almost
jealous of the countries that don't have
full Prime service yet and thus only
have to pay three bucks a month for
Prime video now Amazon channels make
sense for accessing external premium
services like HBO but anime strike is
full of content that Amazon holds the
licenses for even though I'm sure it's
more complicated than that
this feels like they're bending people
over a barrel
just because they think they can but
when Netflix cost 10 bucks a month and
crunchyroll costs 695 and both services
have their own enticing exclusives it
just doesn't feel like the value is
there unless you have a prime account
already and there are a lot of good
reasons to get one including free
shipping on all of your Amazon orders
but not everyone needs that full prime
service I don't see why they couldn't
offer that third world country $3 deal
for just prime video over here that
would put anime strike at just 9 bucks
and then 4 bucks a month more for Comedy
Central's stand-up sign me up for that
and Wow a 30-day free trial for HBO and
then it's 15 bucks a month after that I
mean that's a lot but it's HBO Silicon
Valley Game of Thrones Westworld all
those movies and the parts of last week
tonight that you can't find on YouTube
yeah that that might be worth it a lower
point of entry would make all of these
services a lot more enticing and
ultimately put more
in Amazon's wallet every month and it
would also make paying an extra seven
bucks for free Amazon shipping and
twitch rewards that much more attractive
as well this is about consumer
psychology more than actual value even
if the prime bundle is totally worth the
money and I think it is I'm paying for
it having these options would make it
more competitive with other streaming
services and make it seem less
exploitative to consumers look at cable
TV packages yeah the sports bundles or
the movie bundles might actually be good
deals but [ __ ] you I'm not paying for
AMC just to get Showtime the simple
change of offering channels as
standalone items even if their price is
a little ridiculous makes the packages
seem much more reasonable and that
psychological aspect is important
because Amazon's not just competing with
crunchyroll and Funimation they're
competing with the pirate sites and you
need to create a strong perception of
value to compete with free personally I
think it's important to support the
companies that make the things you like
but I'm not going to sacrifice my
personal convenience for the sake of
legitimacy I pay for both Amazon and
Netflix but I watch their anime on
illegitimate sites which I won't give
publicity here simply because they get
the episode sooner I mean for fucksakes
Netflix I want to watch little witch
academia on your service let me watch
the exclusive show that you paid for on
your service and the thing is a lot of
people are going to use those sites for
the same reason without paying for the
services that legitimately carry these
shows for me it's about supporting the
anime industry but for the average
consumer it's about getting bang for
your buck simulcasts provide that value
it can take fan suppers days or weeks in
the case of Qaumi to release a show that
crunchyroll can have at the same time as
japan even with scum [ __ ] like horrible
subs ripping crunchyroll subtitles it
still takes hours for those to be
encoded
uploaded and spread across the pirate
sites and the crunchyroll in naturally
apps also provide that value I spend a
lot of time on my ps4 and being able to
easily jump from gaming to watching
anime on my kick-ass home theater setup
is really nice if I want to do that with
Amazon currently my only option is to
grab my laptop and hook that up with
HDMI which works really well but at that
point I could just as easily watch a
downloaded movie or literally anything
on the Internet and honestly it might be
easier to do that because of Amazon
Prime's other big shortcoming the user
interface on Amazon Prime video [ __ ]
sucks especially for watching anime and
other serialized content to Amazon's
credit they do follow Netflix's model
and put your watch list
front and center although they don't
make it obvious that it is your watch
list and not suggested videos while
Funimation and crunchyroll emphasize
discovery by making you click a button
to access your queue but actually
finding anime to put on my watch list is
a huge hassle I either have to scroll
halfway down the homepage or all the way
down the tv-show section to find the one
line of anime there and all of its
listed in one place with no clear
divisions by season or genre I mean is
the average Wiebe really going to be
looking for cheese [ __ ] sweet home
before saikhan o flat maybe anime
striker u.s. amazon video has better
browse options or maybe the app works
better I wouldn't know because I
apparently live in the third world but
the default prime video home page does
not inspire confidence and the watchlist
itself is just garbage on Funimation and
crunchyroll I can tell at a glance what
episode I'm on for each series with
Amazon I just have this big block of
shows with no information and I need to
mouse over them and wait a full second
for a pop up to see what episode I'm on
Netflix also has that problem though
their UI is perfectly suited for
browsing in app on a console or Smart TV
and neither Amazon or Netflix lets you
rearrange your queue after you add
something to it which is just terrible
if you're watching a bunch of different
TV
at the same time and you want to juggle
between them this is probably going to
sound dumb to a lot of you but honestly
the convenience of crunchyroll skew is
probably the single biggest factor that
got me to start paying for it and got me
to start watching anime again after I
got tired of hunting down torrents and
illegal streams it's super easy to keep
track of what you're watching which is
increasingly important the more anime
that you watch in I watch a lot of anime
and you can prioritize a show with a
click of a button to bring it to the top
of your queue Netflix and Amazon don't
allow you to reorder your lists at all
and on Funimation it's a giant pain in
the ass that makes you drag any new show
you add from the bottom of the list all
the way to the top plus only part of the
list loads until you scroll to the
bottom creating unnecessary wait time
but it's still more user friendly than
browsing a janky pirate site which I
sadly can't say for Amazon and that
really makes me wish that they just step
out of the anime game altogether and let
crunchyroll and Funimation handle it or
even license their shows out to other
services a week late like what daisuki
does I'm not saying this as some sort of
crunchyroll fanboy yes I am more
comfortable with navigating their UI
than other services and yeah they do
sponsor my videos on a regular basis but
I want them to have good competition
because that will encourage them to iron
out the flaws in their own products and
bidding wars between services can only
mean that anime companies get paid more
and I want anime companies to get paid I
advocate against piracy because I think
supporting the industry is really
important for us Western fans and I
don't care what service you use to do it
but if the rest of those services aren't
bothering to compete if they're not
convenient to use and priced
competitively then those anime companies
will end up not getting paid at all
Amazon and Netflix seem to think that
the anime audience will automatically
flock to them as soon as they add anime
to their services because they're Amazon
and Netflix the kingships of streaming
video mountain but they need to provide
options
that cater to that audience if they
really want to court them MMA fans want
to have lots of ways to sort through all
the different anime out there they want
simple easy to use cues that convey a
lot of information about where they are
in a series and most importantly they
want [ __ ] simulcasts that are
actually simultaneous no hardcore
weeaboo is going to wait six months to
watch little witch academia or even a
few extra days to catch up on recreate
errs or Machiavelli ISM because the
discussions around those shows are
happening now as they air in Japan if
you wait you miss the boat on all the
theory crafting and conversation that
makes following TV so fun in the first
place so the weeds won't wait they'll go
to whatever place has the show first and
if that show is exclusively licensed by
Amazon or Netflix guess what they're
going to go to shady sites run by
douchebags who don't pay the creators of
those shows a dime or if they value
supporting the creators they love
they're not going to subscribe to your
services and they're not going to watch
those shows at all
so the ineptitude of Amazon and Netflix
is having two big negative effects on
the anime community its normalizing
theft because unlike with crunchyroll
and Funimation that is legitimately the
best option and it's believing the shows
that they pick up out in the cold
there are otaku in the West who didn't
bother to watch foon a while mu scums
wish and Kaba nari simply because they
weren't as convenient to watch as
something on crunchyroll
I personally fell behind on all of those
series because Amazon has failed to
create a service that I want to use
regularly it might not have as huge an
impact as a show not being licensed at
all but it does stifle the discussion
and hype around these series and that's
to say nothing of Netflix shows which we
don't even have the option to watch
legally yet but beyond that Cabin Aryan
scums wish the two highest profile
exclusives on Amazon service to date
have both faced pretty vocal backlash
from certain sectors of the anime
community with Carbonari especially it
all
seemed like certain people were happy
when the ending fizzled out and turned
into a big dud like they were cheering
for the show to fail
and judging from the comments on my
recent video about recreate errs there
seem to already be people hoping for the
same outcome for that show although
maybe they just want to see me be wrong
to make up for how right I was about
Rock ago and literally everything else
this attitude is weird and I think that
it's rooted in the platform disparity
between Amazon and crunchyroll a lot of
people can't conveniently or affordably
watch these shows but they don't want to
feel like they're missing out on
something good by saving their time and
money thus if these shows turn out to
suck it's reassuring for them
those grapes were sour anyway I'm glad I
didn't eat them this is the same mindset
that prevails in the gaming platform
Wars
PlayStation owners don't want to be
missing out on an essential part of
gaming culture by skipping breath of the
wild and the same goes for nintendo
devotees who can't afford to play
horizon zero dawn so they're both
happier thinking that the others
competing game sucks all Xbox has is
halo and halo blows anyway PC games are
way too glitchy to be worth my time
Vita has no games for some people it's
not enough to enjoy the benefits of
their entertainment decisions they have
to erase all of the possible downsides -
now with anime streaming platforms it's
going to be a little different of course
crunchyroll offers such a good value
that it's basically a must-have for any
otaku who refuses to pirate and its
quality of life features even make it a
competitive option against free illegal
services for those with fewer scruples
so for most people the option is likely
to be crunchyroll Plus Netflix because
everyone has Netflix plus another
service that's within their budget and
if anime strike can't provide value in
that context the show's it acquires will
simply continue to underperform by
failing to step up its game Amazon is
letting down anime fans and letting down
the show's on its service and if this
trend continues if it picks up even more
exclusives next season we may end up
back where we
or before crunchyroll hit the scene and
started picking up basically everything
we may end up with a huge disparity
between what we should watch and what we
actually can we may see great series
like denno coil fade into obscurity
because it's too inconvenient to give
them the time of day the anime fandoms
recent phenomenal growth may not just
stop it may start shrinking or maybe
nothing will happen and I'm just
spouting doom and gloom as a transparent
emotional appeal who can say really
regardless of what the future holds
though I think it's clear that these
companies need to do better they need to
actually cater to the fan base that
they're trying to court because yeah
things like one punch man airing on
these services will attract more casual
viewers and that has helped the anime
community to grow but as these casual
fans become hardcore fans they're not
going to put up with these
inconveniences either and the last thing
that we want is for Amazon and Netflix
to start converting casuals into pirates
what do you think are you willing to put
up with these inconveniences to support
the series that you want to watch or do
they make you seek them out through less
savory methods does a show being harder
to watch make you less likely to watch
it do you think that this is hurting
otherwise excellent series that deserve
a bigger spotlight or do you think I'm
totally off-base here I'd love to hear
your thoughts in the comments below
although please don't link to any pirate
sites when you do they're easy enough to
find for anyone who really wants to
without us giving them the undeserved
publicity if you believe in supporting
the creators of media that you enjoy
crunchyroll and other anime streaming
platforms will let you do that but I
think it would be in bad taste to plug
them right here right after I got
through bashing their competitors
instead another way that you can help
the anime industry is by pledging your
support to the animator dormitory
project at generosity calm the animator
dormitories are a group of special
apartments in Tokyo where newcomers to
the anime industry can live for just
30,000 yen a month that's about $300
animators in Japan get paid a paltry
standard rate of 200 yen or $2 per in
between drawing which means that unless
they can complete
drawings an hour they don't even make
minimum wage according to the Japan
animation creators Association young
animators make about 800 bucks a month
living at the animator dormitory gives
them a chance to find their bearings in
this crazy industry without having to
worry about rent or other living
concerns and it gives them an
opportunity to socialise outside of
their company circles and learn skills
that will allow them to earn a
sustainable living in the future the
animator dormitory project has been
growing every year since it started in
asagaya in 2014 and with our help they
can expand their new facility which
currently houses 8 animators to
accommodate 10 if just 10% of the people
watching this kick in $1 apiece
we can push them well past their funding
goal but if you'd prefer to support them
in another way I get paid every time one
of you signs up for a free trial at
crunchyroll.com slash basement or uses
the promo code basement for a 600 yen
discount on ebooks at book walker calm
or uses the promo code basement at loot
crate calm / basement to get a discount
on your loot anime order so for the
month of June for every person who uses
one of those coupons I'm going to donate
$3 to the animator dormitory project by
the way I also have a crowdfunding
campaign and while I'm not plugging it
here I do want to thank the generous top
patrons whose names are now on screen
for supporting me and helping me make
videos like this every week if you want
to see some more of me today then Google
has a recommended video for you that's
tailored perfectly to your tastes right
here or you can click down here for
something that I personally recommend or
you can click my chest to see my podcast
the weekly we've cast although that is a
little bit Lieut I'm Jeff through
professional [ __ ] signing out from my
mother's basement