FUNimation (And Pretty Much Everywhere Else) Quits Interspecies Reviewers

PicardMan

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Again, I'm surprised Funimation left other series such as High School DXD alone. Maybe it's because the viewers want other genres of anime.

This show apparently goes beyond High Scool DxD's mere T and A as Issei never actually has any sex with the demon girls. Also, Funimation has licensed tons of T and A shows lately.
 

slai

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February's Previews has a solicitation of the manga for Interspecies Romance vol. 1.

EDIT: Whoops, it's actually a solicitation for the LIGHT NOVEL, so no graphics! It's called Interspecies Reviewers: Ecstacy Days from Yen Press.
 
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TheVileOne

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This show apparently goes beyond High Scool DxD's mere T and A as Issei never actually has any sex with the demon girls. Also, Funimation has licensed tons of T and A shows lately.

How Not To Summon a Demon Lord has a scene where the main character basically enacts a sexual act on one of his companions in order to start a ritual for her to give birth to a demon. Funimation streams and dubbed that show.
 

PicardMan

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How Not To Summon a Demon Lord has a scene where the main character basically enacts a sexual act on one of his companions in order to start a ritual for her to give birth to a demon. Funimation streams and dubbed that show.

I remember that scene. The camera didn't the act performed onscreen, but we saw the character's face and it was heavily implied. I guess that's the max for how sexy they can get. Don't know what the exact trigger is, but maybe it's the animal people in that one episode.
 

TheVileOne

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I remember that scene. The camera didn't the act performed onscreen, but we saw the character's face and it was heavily implied. I guess that's the max for how sexy they can get. Don't know what the exact trigger is, but maybe it's the animal people in that one episode.

It happens in Episode 8 too with a Bunny Girl. While the girl Sylvie is basically yelling no and screaming for him to stop. In other words, it's basically sexual assault played for comedy and laughs.

I think the trigger is more than likely that the plot revolves around actual sex workers and prostitutes.

Then again:

 
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I'm 99% sure this decision came down from Sony and Funimation had no actual say in the matter.

I doubt the the scenes in this show are that much more explicit than the stuff they were able to get away with in Afro Samurai, Speed Grapher, Berserk, Shimoneta, Mnemosyne, Ikkitousen, Future Diary, Valkyrie Drive Mermaid, Testament of Devil New Sister, We Without WIngs, etc.

Funimation has never been shy about their love of raunchy material. Their dubs, particularly those of the ecchi and comedy variety often include dirtier jokes and more cursing than that of the original Japanese. Their writers have an almost weird obsession with coming up with new ways to say the word breasts. Their trailers, packaging of their dvds & blu rays, extra materials, show summaries, always highlight the erotic material. One time they even included a quote by a female anime reviewer that the show made her uncomfortable as a ringing endorsement on the back of one of their dvd boxsets.

Drawing the line at a show that contains legal/positive portrayal of prostitution but not at shows that contain sexual assault, rape, torture, incest, or lolicon is a strange moral stance. They license a lot of Shonen Jump stuff and shows that aired on Toonami so plenty of kids watch their anime. But the home media and streaming releases are usually uncut so it's not like they're a family friendly company. I'm also pretty sure most of their library is TV-14 and TV-MA.

If the executives at Sony's television division are anything like those at their video game division this was something that was inevitably going to happen. Sony always initially gives the okay to their developers on making and localizing games with risky material. The games go through the ESRB to make sure they don't receive an Adult rating, are made available to preorder on Sony's store, and trailers are released promoting the type risque content that's going to be in the finished product. Then shortly before and sometimes after the game is released the executives at Sony get cold feet and tell the developers to censor or completely remove certain scenes or gameplay elements. Nine times out of ten its an anime game despite there being countless western games with the same or worse type of content.

Funimation went to the trouble of buying the show, translating the first few episodes and even dubbing the first episode so suddenly ditching it makes little business sense and moral sense given their past acquisitions. If Sony Interactive Entertainment has no problem wasting their partners and subsidiaries time and money I have no doubt Sony Pictures Television is also willing to do the same.
 

TheVileOne

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I can buy that a show about actual sex workers played for comedy could've skeeved out some corporate overlords. Don't know that was the case.

But as I pointed out earlier, Funimation dubbed and distributed a show that basically uses sexual assault for comedy.
 

Media Man

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I don't think anyone mentioned this yet but by Funimation doing what they did to Interspecies Reviewers they are dictating what subscribers can watch on a streaming service they are paying $$$ for. That makes me mad. It is also going to drive piracy which has been in decline because of streaming as those who want to watch the series in its entirety can't.

Full Disclosure, I have been a supporter of Funimation since their Funimation Channel which shut down four years ago. But this decision so upset me, that I decided to cancel my subscription to Funimation Now (After subscribing for four years.) and not give them another cent of my money. I think I will start giving my money to their competition instead.
 

PicardMan

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I don't think anyone mentioned this yet but by Funimation doing what they did to Interspecies Reviewers they are dictating what subscribers can watch on a streaming service they are paying $$$ for. That makes me mad. It is also going to drive piracy which has been in decline because of streaming as those who want to watch the series in its entirety can't.

Netflix and Hulu drop shows from their service all the time and it appears to be part of streaming. The fact that it has no home left is probably more upsetting.
 

TheVileOne

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I don't think anyone mentioned this yet but by Funimation doing what they did to Interspecies Reviewers they are dictating what subscribers can watch on a streaming service they are paying $$$ for. That makes me mad. It is also going to drive piracy which has been in decline because of streaming as those who want to watch the series in its entirety can't.

Full Disclosure, I have been a supporter of Funimation since their Funimation Channel which shut down four years ago. But this decision so upset me, that I decided to cancel my subscription to Funimation Now (After subscribing for four years.) and not give them another cent of my money. I think I will start giving my money to their competition instead.

You're well within your right to do so. You shouldn't support or pay for services if they made a mistake like this in your minds.

Netflix and Hulu drop shows from their service all the time and it appears to be part of streaming. The fact that it has no home left is probably more upsetting.

They do, but it's usually due to licensing and rights expiring and not due to censorship like this. And no matter what anyone says, yes this this censorship.
 
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CyberCubed

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Episode 5 is a full blown hentai. They show full blown sex scenes without showing the genitalia and then they have mushrooms spraying white liquid all over the females breasts and body. I don’t know how the hell this show is airing on TV. It’s literally porn. It’s kinda sad in 2020 the biggest new anime so far is literally hentai.

It’s shows like this that give anime a bad name and make people think all modern anime is porn. This isn’t a fanservice show, fanservice is ok in moderation, this is full blown porn. If this show came out a decade ago people would be disgusted and horrified, but censors have been relaxed in recent years to allow this stuff to be aired.
 

ms78

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I can buy that a show about actual sex workers played for comedy could've skeeved out some corporate overlords. Don't know that was the case.

But as I pointed out earlier, Funimation dubbed and distributed a show that basically uses sexual assault for comedy.

The difference might be that How Not to Summon a Demon Lord was part of the Crunchyroll deal while this one is licensed solely by Funimation.

I wonder if the problem isn't the content but the amount of times it happens. If Sony's guidelines are similar to the way they determine movie rating guidelines than once or twice might be okay but more than that isn't. An example would be swearing in a PG13 movie. You can do it but doing it to many times automatically changes it to an R-rated movie. If that is the case then by those guidelines How to Summon a Demon Lord would likely be considered an R-rated show while Interspecies Reviewers would be considered XXX. The former would be okay with Sony but the latter probably wouldn't. That just my thoughts though and I have no idea if those are the types of guidelines Sony uses.

I think the best case scenario for this show would be for Funimation to sub-license it to Right Stuf and allow them to release it under their Critical Mass label. It might also be time for someone to make a hentai streaming service so that shows like this have a home in the future.
 

TheVileOne

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The difference might be that How Not to Summon a Demon Lord was part of the Crunchyroll deal while this one is licensed solely by Funimation.

I wonder if the problem isn't the content but the amount of times it happens. If Sony's guidelines are similar to the way they determine movie rating guidelines than once or twice might be okay but more than that isn't. An example would be swearing in a PG13 movie. You can do it but doing it to many times automatically changes it to an R-rated movie. If that is the case then by those guidelines How to Summon a Demon Lord would likely be considered an R-rated show while Interspecies Reviewers would be considered XXX. The former would be okay with Sony but the latter probably wouldn't. That just my thoughts though and I have no idea if those are the types of guidelines Sony uses.

I think the best case scenario for this show would be for Funimation to sub-license it to Right Stuf and allow them to release it under their Critical Mass label. It might also be time for someone to make a hentai streaming service so that shows like this have a home in the future.

I would say it's not a single aspect but all these things together that were probably the cause.

IE Orgazmo gets an NC-17 rating despite being fairly tame as far as R-rated comedies go, having virtually no nudity, but likely the subject matter of religious Mormons getting involved with the porn industry are probably what got the MPAA to be unfair to it, when MPAA has shown marked incompetence toward how they rate their films over the years.

And there's no debate, there was remarkable corporate incompetence at work here. The show probably never should've been licensed by Funi in the first place.
 
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TheVileOne

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As I recall, the BPO in Japan reviewed Goblin Slayer and took no issue with the content, which was the right decision.

Also, if it helps supporters of Interspecies Reviewers, Funimation also streams and dubs the show PLUNDERER, which DEFINITELY includes depictions of sexual assault for comedy and laughs.

#JustSaying.
 
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