Between the price tag and the Justice Department, it was touch-and-go as to whether Sony would buy Crunchyroll. Now, though, we have entered a new phase of the industry where the name Funimation, a staple for almost 30 years for anime fans, is on its way out the door.
But before the Sony acquisition, both Crunchyroll and Funimation had been acquiring and condensing companies to expand its influence around the globe, such as Viz Media Europe and Wakanim.
But while Crunchyroll and Funimation have combined, their appetite for going after other anime-related business doesn’t seem to have been sated yet. And their latest target has come as a big surprise.
Since the merger, Crunchyroll has been emerging as the brand of choice for Sony. There was quite a stir when they announced free simulcasts would be discontinued as of the Spring 2022.
On the other hand, a more obvious change was that the Funimation Shop closed down, as there is little need for the company to operate two stores.
The Crunchyroll Store opened in December 2012, and it sells Blu-rays/DVDs, clothing, figures, and more. Currently, shipping is free on $50+, and Premium users in the Mega Fan or Ultimate Fan tiers receive a coupon every three months ($15 or $25 off $100+ respectively). Over the years, Crunchyroll has played around with the benefits in its plans, such as 2018’s Super Fan Pack including anime song streaming and up to 10% off at Right Stuf.
Well, the former benefit has no chance of coming back since ANiUTa has shut down, but the latter has a chance of returning. And that’s because Crunchyroll has purchased Right Stuf.
Right Stuf
Yes, the anime streaming and home video conglomerate has purchased the largest anime retailer/distributor.
Right Stuf may be best known as an online anime and manga superstore, but its licensing division technically took off first with a home video release of Astro Boy in 1989. But that same year, it debuted a mail-order service, which soon turned into a print catalog and online store that also sold products from other companies.
Today, Right Stuf has several brands and labels like Nozomi Entertainment, its main anime licensing and production line, and the RightStufAnime.com webstore. Fans are probably familiar with ordering directly from the website, as they sell most anime, manga, and light novel releases along with other goods like accessories, figures, and games. Right Stuf also sells to businesses and acts as the storefront for other companies. For instance, Aniplex of America releases are exclusive to Right Stuf, and Sunrise partnered with Right Stuf to release Gundam titles.
But most major companies have teamed up with Right Stuf at one point or another to offer exclusive releases, bonus goodies, etc.
Beyond that, Right Stuf regularly has sales centered around a theme or publisher, and their Got Anime? program offers additional discounts on select products and members-only sales.
However, for the past 35 years, Right Stuf has been an independent, private company. Now, as of August 4th, Right Stuf is a part of Crunchyroll.
Right Stuf has previously partnered with Funimation, and Crunchyroll has streamed Nozomi series like Revolutionary Girl Utena. Obviously, though, this is much bigger news.
Right Stuf’s New Phase
With the announcement came an FAQ post, but to summarize, not much is being immediately changed — with one major exception, which I’ll discuss in a moment. Right Stuf will continue to operate as Right Stuf, independent of the Crunchyroll Store, and items from other publishers will still be available. Orders can continue to be placed and previously placed ones will be fulfilled. In the future, Crunchyroll Premium members will have benefits on Right Stuf, and it’s likely Got Anime? will be retooled as well. Separately, it was confirmed Nozomi Entertainment is a part of the deal.
But the one big difference now is Right Stuf no longer sells adult erotica.
What does that consist of? Well, first off, Right Stuf had an adult label called Critical Mass, and it included titles like Interspecies Reviewers, which Funimation (now owned by Sony, who also owns Crunchyroll) dropped for being too risqué.
But Interspecies Reviewers as well as the rest of Critical Mass has been removed. In addition, products from FAKKU, Adult Source Media, and more are being moved over. Mature and smutty content from, say, Seven Seas’ Ghost Ship and Steamship labels are still on Right Stuf. User CatSword on Anime News Network pointed out the manga Happy Mania had listed erotica as one of its genres, but the tag has been removed but the book remains available to purchase. Another user noted the manga version of The Titan’s Bride is still available to preorder on Right Stuf, but the non-explicit DVD was delisted.
For those who have already shopped for these removed items, orders won’t be canceled, but Right Stuf will not handle them. Instead, EroAnimeStore.com will fulfill these shipments; Right Stuf will still send out any non-adult products. But orders for these adult items will be shifted over to EroAnimeStore.com, and it may take two or three weeks before all the information is entered into their system. In addition, customers will need to reconfirm their payment information when the company reaches out unless they paid by PayPal or Sezzle.
EroAnimeStore
EroAnimeStore is not a new Right Stuf brand, however. It is a brand new business, and the website is just an introductory blog post and an FAQ page. The most obvious question, then, is who is behind the company:
The rest of the page goes into a little more detail, like the fact EroAnimeStore isn’t just stocking Critical Mass titles; they are taking over the label entirely. We also know EroAnimeStore is based in Las Vegas, Nevada versus Grimes, Iowa for Right Stuf.
But since the email address for customer service doesn’t use the EroAnimeStore.com domain, who is this BuyAnime.com?
Well, it’s an even more barebones site with just the promise that they’re “building something really cool”. In the automatic script, Wendy is introduced as the site’s owner. So it seems like fans are going to have a new option to shop at, but unlike Right Stuf, the company is separating its general merchandise from the strict 18+ content.
A Positive or a Negative for Fans and Industry?
Let’s start with the obvious though: it’s very frustrating for shoppers their open orders aren’t going to be handled by Right Stuf and that EroAnimeStore isn’t operational. Yes, waiting is better than them canceling orders (and I only can imagine the outrage if they had!), but it is still annoying. Plus, I’m sure it’s concerning that a new company — even one that isn’t brand new and has obviously been connected to Right Stuf for a long time — is handling limited editions and hard-to-find figures. I’m sure a lot of people chose Right Stuf because they have had previous experience with their packaging, and so they are crossing their fingers this new company will protect their items during shipping and will be responsive to any issues.
Beyond that, I’m sure a lot of people are curious as to what BuyAnime and EroAnimeStore are going to be like. What publishers will they sell from? Will they offer free shipping? Do they have sales?
Because if they have competitive pricing and are reliable, I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in supporting them. Especially since the news Right Stuf was being purchased by Crunchyroll was met with a lot of trepidation or negativity on forums and social media. One person, for instance, not thrilled with the news is the head of FAKKU.
Obviously, there is a big difference between being able to shop for adult content as well as less explicit stuff on one platform versus having to seek out an adult-only site. And even non-hentai material has been removed from an obvious shopping alternative, Amazon, so without Right Stuf, some titles may have almost no exposure. Plus, those titles were also packaged in RightStuf boxes so that shoppers wouldn’t feel like their local post office or household members were judging them. (Although perhaps EroAnimeStore will just be using BuyAnime as their shipping label name and such?)
There are a lot of accusations Crunchyroll is becoming a monopoly. This acquisition is an example of vertical integration. Here is how Investopedia defines it:
“Vertical integration is a strategy that allows a company to streamline its operations by taking direct ownership of various stages of its production process rather than relying on external contractors or suppliers.”
MediaOCD’s owner thinks this is a sign companies are realizing the value of physical media in Great Streaming Wars, and the Great Streaming Wars is not much of a war anymore after all.
Crunchyroll and Funimation already had their own stores where they sold their releases and more, but Right Stuf is a whole other level with just about every physical anime and manga publishers’ titles and more. There are a lot of concerns Right Stuf will be deprioritizing non-Crunchyroll releases, but on the other hand, it’s not like Right Stuf hasn’t had their own label they’ve wanted to promote despite all the other companies’ releases on there. Heck, most grocery stores have their own private label brands but still offer discounts on the name-brand products.
Still, this doesn’t mean that Right Stuf can’t ostensibly raise rates for partnerships with other companies or start clamping down on discounts at other stores. There are also valuable exclusives Right Stuf has had that Crunchyroll could ostensibly control — Gundam and Macross for instance, the latter which was just announced a month ago. Plus, Sentai Filmworks’ store had been using Right Stuf for fulfillment, so that likely will or has changed.
However, there are some potential upsides that could be lost among all the understandable anxiety and disappointment of an indie retailer now joining a large conglomerate. For instance, Crunchyroll Store offers free shipping on orders $50+ to the US; Right Stuf’s free shipping threshold is $75+. There is no free shipping to Canada at Crunchyroll Store; Right Stuf has free shipping to Canada on $250+. Crunchyroll Store includes items like figures in that calculation; at Right Stuf, most figures as well as a lot of other non-media are excluded. Crunchyroll Store charges for your order when you place it; Right Stuf doesn’t charge until shipment.
So if Right Stuf — whether it fully remains with the “Right Stuf” name or becomes the new “Crunchyroll Store” — can implement the current Crunchyroll Store’s benefits while keeping their own positives, it could make the store an even more attractive place to shop.
But that also means the opposite could happen, that the new Right Stuf could charge to all orders to ship to Canada, Crunchyroll subscribers can no longer get free shipping on figures, etc. Got Anime? and Crunchyroll Premium could be updated to be gatekeep discounts like simulcasts were this spring, like you must pay for membership to get free shipping on $50/75 while non-members must pay for shipping on all orders. We just don’t know.
Final Thoughts
I personally have ordered from Crunchyroll Store just once, same as Funimation Shop. So I don’t have any experience with contacting customer service, extended delays, and such. Most of my manga purchases are done at Right Stuf, but I know from my years of ordering with them that there are a lot more pros and cons with them then there used to be. They usually have anime and manga titles among their lowest prices on an everyday basis, and when there’s a sale, it’s probably the lowest price you’re going to find if you get lucky. But the free shipping threshold is on the high side, and it can be very slow, especially with all the issues of titles getting stuck in the printing backlog. Returns also require authorization, and they are not free even if the item is damaged or defective. I also wish they’d make it possible to update your payment method on the site instead of having to call.
But I’d rather do that than having to pay for all preorders upfront. That would immediately cause me to jump ship to Amazon or whoever else. And regardless of whether Right Stuf continues mostly as-is with perhaps small changes (such as a Crunchyroll tier with Got Anime? membership) or becomes Crunchyroll-centric with some additional publishers’ titles, I don’t think anyone would mind more competition, especially for mature products.
We’ll have to see what happens with Right Stuf as well as how EroAnimeStore and BuyAnime turn out, but for now, fans certainly have reasons to be irritated and/or apprehensive with such a well-known brand possibly heading off into the sunset like Funimation and much of the store’s catalog being offloaded to a company who has yet to officially launch.