Streaming services are still making the same mistakes. Some are blind mistakes, while others are because the industry is stubborn to change and streaming services are forced to go along with it.
Yes, I’m talking about Crunchyroll, Netflix, and anywhere else that streams:
- Anime TV shows.
- Anime movies.
And anime video content across the board. Or even films in general.
It’s why piracy is still strong and preferred by many 100s of millions of anime fans. The stats don’t lie.
Here are the common mistakes that PIRATES have fixed.
Streaming service mistakes (or flaws) anime pirates fixed:
1. Piss poor archive
Legal streaming services, you might say of no fault of their own, have the worst archives of any business in the entertainment industry.
When you want to watch your favourite anime, film, TV show, etc, which may be more old school or released some years back, it’s hard to find.
In fact, in most cases, you won’t be able to find it at all because the streaming service:
- Gets rid of it.
- Cancels it.
- Doesn’t renew the license.
And so on.
This makes their archive a joke compared to that of pirates, especially anime pirates, who have an unbeatable archive you can dig through, sift through, and select whatever anime you want.
24/7, 365 days of the fucking year.
This is more of a flaw than a mistake since many times it’s a financial issue.
2. Region block madness
“Sorry, this service is not available in your country.”
This has been going on since Henry the 8th. The video games industry had this issue at one point but with global access and tech, it’s no longer a problem with digital games and so on.
Anime can’t make that claim since depending on your country, a platform like Netflix or Crunchyroll may not have even 100 anime available, never mind the 1000+ anime they have in the USA.
Companies or those who pretend to have a high moral ground can bash pirates or fans who use them all they want. In the end, region blocks placed on fans worldwide at different degrees are why this happens.
Region blocking is a massive pain point for those who stream movies online, which is why VPNs, or just outright piracy are so attractive which legal platforms hate with a passion (as much as the fans hate region blocking).
3. Old-school anime is hard to find
How hard would it be to find let’s say, an anime series that aired in the 1970s on Crunchyroll, Hulu, or any other streaming platform that hosts anime?
Can you find the old-school version of Urusei Yatsura, originally released in the 1980s on a modern-day streaming platform?
What about anime from the 1990s like let’s say, Gunsmith Cats or something similar?
The question is a rhetorical one.
At some point in your anime or film journey, you’ll want to watch old-school shows to find out what things were like in whatever year you were never born in and missed as a result.
When that time comes you can’t watch many of these old school shows. They don’t exist.
Profit is the natural reason for it since many of them aren’t profitable anymore or aren’t worth keeping around for financial reasons.
Still, it’s a pain point and pirates will never go away because they solve this pain point better than anyone.
4. Simulcast with an expiration date
Newer anime are easy to find when it comes to streaming services, no doubt. In fact, it’s the ONE reason people use streaming services in the first place.
- Watching new anime shows.
- Watching those anime in the dubbed version or subbed simultaneously.
- Having an almost guarantee new shows will be available on legal platforms.
But it’s not always the case, and sometimes like with the anime Summertime Rendering, this situation looks worse because a platform like DISNEY steals it and no one else can host it.
Then like Summertime Rendering, the anime gets less coverage, and more importantly, fans have to use pirate sites since not everyone can access Disney+.
And many get rid of the anime after it’s done, unlike a prate site which has NO expiration date. It’s there forever.
Call it unnecessary, or say it’s not a good excuse, it doesn’t matter. People do what they do when convenience is on the line.
5. NOT Catered to the fans
Streaming services are more catered to shareholders, businesses, partners, and so on. With every business, there should be a balance at the least.
Serving fans or customers on one end, while prioritising profits and financial interests to keep the boat operational. Since these problems have been this way for years, it’s clear the anime industry could care less.
At least with certain problems.
Pirates are literally made by fans, for fans, despite the ethical “challenges” of piracy and giving away people’s copyrights for free while profiting off it.
A catch 22 of sorts.
Catering to the fans could fix this in a major way, but that’s yet to be seen.
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In the end, the anime streaming business will always be at war with the pirate industry.
The same goes for other streaming services, but more so anime because of how it’s set up.
Until major pain points are solved if doable, this will never change and the flaws of the industry will keep encouraging piracy.
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