Crunchyroll has been slowly assimilating all anime streaming and I think it’s probably for the best. Funimation was bought out by them and now this. It’s the undisputed king of the genre. I only hope they’re a fair king.
Err, I’m not as critical of Crunchyroll as some, but there should always be competition in any market. Sentai is the main one with their streaming service HiDive (also Netflix to a degree), and in terms of anime physical releases, there’s Sentai, Aniplex of America, and Discotek.
I will always miss FUNimation. As someone who got into anime in 2005, FUNimation was the source I got so many amazing shows, especially it was not too long when some of the other major US anime physical releases companies went under, such as ADV, Bandai Entertainment, and Geneon. I got to go to one of their panels in 2011 at Anime Central in Chicago and the staff was super fun and chill (big announcement was Is This a Zombie?!, which is a silly but fun series).
I actually hadn’t been to a con since COVID, but I finally went to one a few weeks ago and got to meet a lot of dub actors. Caitlin Glass was one of the standouts for me, she had done a lot of great roles, and I got her autograph on my BRs of Baccano, School Rumble, Ouran High School Host Club, and Zombieland Saga (actually half of the VAs of the ladies of Zombieland were there, so I’ve already got half my art box Blu-Ray set signed!). Also met and got autographs from Sonny Strait (Krillin from Dragonball) who did a pretty good little drawing of Krillin’s head on my manga volume (so glad I got the DB and DBZ manga box sets earlier this year), and also the voices of:
Kara Edwards- Videl and Gotenks from DBZ
Amber Lee Connors- Komi from Komi Can’t Communicate
Brynn Aprill- Kobeni from Chainsaw Man
Stephanie Young- Olivier Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Chris Patton- The main lead of Welcome to the NHK and The World God Only Knows
Tia Ballard- Yuu from Bloom into You and Chiho from Devil is a Part Timer
It was so much fun, and I realized how much I missed going to cons. Also got some figures: Asuka from Evangelion, Aki from Chainsaw Man, and Marin from My Dress Up Darling (the $30-50 range, my budget went way down after all the autographs). Also, free food, I was seeing about grabbing some food at the one food counter I saw before leaving as the Dealers’ Room was closing in 15 minutes, and the counter lady offered me a free big pretzel and nachos as they were just looking to get rid of inventory given their day was almost over. Super cool.