News broke today when Netflix finally got in the anime simulcast game. I use the term simulcast loosely to describe going direct to Japan to procure this content. Previously, Netflix offered anime content in North America via local distributors and licensees. I’m not sure if an usual licensee is in the mix of this, but so far it seems like a Netflix special.
There are a few other attributes worth noting. First, this is a world-wide stream, and will be dub-localized to their respective regions. We know there will be an EN dub for UK and US/Can. But what about other non-EN regions like Mexico, South America and the rest of Europe?
Second, the PR seems to word it so it implies the whole series will be available in Summer 2014. This seems to mean that it’s not a simulcast as we know it, but a … simul-marathon-cast? Basically, for weekly viewers, the Netflix stream is bullocks. For users who marathon shows, however, this is just as good. It may not make a lot of sense coming from a CR/Hulu type consumption pattern but here at Omonomono I watch anime every ever which way, and it fits the typical Netflix TV consumer pattern–when you put on 24, you want to watch it all.
Too bad this is Knights of Sidonia, not another season of Aria. Oh wait, you probably won’t want to marathon a show like that either.
This reminds me of how simulcasting is a part of the marketing aspect of a show. By doing it after it’s all over you kind of lose part of that marketing impact. I mean if it’s screening the whole three months you get three month of free WOM buzz. Worse, if the show tanks from the Japanese TV airing, now you just have a product nobody is going to bite. And they’re dubbing it! I mean when Funimation decided to go all in with Space Dandy, that show has all the creds to be something salable in the long run. I wonder what Netflix is trying here in terms of Sidonia. I’m sure the story (the manga seems my bag of tea, actually, though I’ve yet to read it) is fine, but it’s done by a 3DCG firm so it’s likely going to rattle conventional viewers, as in the people who will be talking up the show before the Netflix stream.
More importantly, who is going to do the home video deal? I guess Netflix could, but LOL? Netflix furthermore has its own original programming agendas. If House of Cards is a guide, then it just means in Summer 2015 Sidonia will be available in all your usual venues, plus some unusual ones (Amazon on demand?). How will it be priced?
Obligatory: How much of this has to do with the Chernin Group buy-in of CR? Heh.
Maybe I should revisit this if Knights of Sidonia is actually any good, because until we know it’s worth watching, this is all just nonsense.