Disney+ Bags ‘Bleach’ Streaming Rights Over Crunchyroll
As the popularity of anime shows continues to grow, more streaming services and platforms are contending for hosting rights. To date, Netflix and Crunchyroll are among the popular choices for anime series and movies. Lately, Disney+ has also started riding the anime wave. As per reports, Disney+ has won the war with Crunchyroll over the rights of the Bleach anime.
Reddit Post Confirms Disney Plus’s Win Over Crunchyroll
With the series slated to return in October 2022, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War will stream on Disney+ and not Crunchyroll. As of now, there is no confirmation regarding the streaming rights confirmation from the streaming service provider.
However, a Reddit post detailed the BTS war for the popular anime’s streaming rights.
[Source: YouTube]
The OP posted a picture that read,
“Viz Media owns the license to distribute Bleach but doesn’t have their own online streaming service. So, there was an inevitable bidding war between streaming services for the TYBW. Apparently, Disney+ won and bought the rights to Bleach’s entire catalog.”
“A reliable inside source explained to the media people had been under the misconception that because Crunchyroll is a Sony company, they should have had the necessary money to acquire Bleach,” explained the post.
Why Did Crunchyroll Lose The Bleach Bidding War?
The post provided insights on why Crunchyroll lost the bidding war. It clarified, “However because they have a fixed annual budget, it is very likely a lot of that budget was used on Chainsaw Man. So, Crunchyroll elected to let Bleach slip through their fingers (It’s worth noting that MAPPA probably asked for a lot of money for CSM).”
Moreover, Crunchyroll also acquired Right Stuf recently, removing a good chunk from their yearly budget.
“The silver lining, at the very least, is that since they’ll just be providing the streaming service. Disney isn’t going to be able to do any kind of magical censorship post-production, and actual production of the anime has been greenlighted for being totally uncensored due to the TYBW Arc adaptation being given a later timeslot than the original show’s run,” the post concluded.
Disney+ Hasn’t Yet Confirmed The News Of Streaming Rights
Although unofficial, this news has caused quite a stir among the anime fan community. There are two main issues that concern Bleach anime fans. This includes the release format & the censorship issues. The last anime licensed by Disney+ was Summer Time Rendering. It remains locked to Japan until all 25 episodes have already aired in Japan. Fans feel a similar fate will be seen with Bleach causing further delays in the final airdate as opposed to an immediate broadcast following its Japan release.
[Source: YouTube]
Additionally, fans feel that the anime’s graphic nature might be toned down by the streaming service as well. So, the news of Disney+ winning over the streaming rights sure came as a shocker for fans.
If this really happens with Bleach is yet to be seen. Whether Bleach will stream unfiltered or with massive censorship is yet to be seen. This acquisition will be confirmed during the D23 Expo 2022, which runs from September 9 to 11.
What do you feel about Disney+ acquiring the rights to stream Bleach? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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