RIP Funimation!

Friends, we are gathered here today to say a final fair well to our dearly departed anime streaming service Funimation. Long before Crunchyroll and Netflix offered a decent anime viewing platform, there was Funimation to brighten our bleak otaku days with a massive selection of English dubbed anime. Who else could we have turned to, in the dark ages of anime, but the kind offerings of Funimation! It’s charming anime brightened every screen it was shown on and brought joy to so many. Alas, it was a streaming serviced that left this world too soon.

We all knew that Funimation’s end was near. After it developed Sony-bought-it syndrome, it’s days were numbered. So few of us had a chance to visit in Funimation’s final moments. Let us say a heart felt thank you and good bye. Our dear friend Funimation might be gone, but they will never be forgotten . . . Unless a new spin-off of Naruto comes out, then maybe.

The Fair Well Slap in the Face

I recently logged onto Funimation to watch my Not-Crunyroll series that I’m following, and what did I find scrolling across my Funimation screen? “The future of anime is on Crunchyroll!”. My first thoughts were, What the poop! What’s Hime doing on Funimation? Then I remembered that Sony now owns both Crunchyroll and Funimation. When the Sony buy out first happened everyone said that surely one or the other streaming service would be closed down. But it has been months! Sony hadn’t done anything in months, so I kind of thought maybe they wouldn’t do anything ever. Like maybe Sony would just forget that they owned all the major anime streaming services on the planet and just leave everything the way it was . . .

Okay maybe that wasn’t very realistic. When I investigated further, I found on Funimation’s FAQ page that some (not all) of Funimation’s anime series would be sent over to Crunchyroll. Would that “some of Funimation’s anime series” include the ones I was watching? I’m not sure, which series would be included in this mass migration was a little unclear. And according to Funimation and Crunchyroll websites, my options for what to do about the sudden death of Funimation was to close my Funimation account or . . . close my Funimation account.

The Mad Binge Watching While the Ship is Sinking!

Considering that many series on Funimation are currently in danger of being unwatchable in the near future, I’ve gone into a mad binge watching spree to gobble up as much anime as I can before the last glimmering lights of Funimation fade away. Some of the series I’m binge watching, I honestly didn’t even know Funimation had until I started digging through their library looking for hidden gems. So, because time is short, here is my list of anime I’m watching while I still can!

• School Rumble
• Pretear
• Magic Knight Rayearth
• Good Luck Girl
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
• Fairy Gone
• Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire
• Divine Gate
• Dimension W
• Coyote Ragtime Show
• Case File n221: Kabukicho
• Ben-To
• Baka and Test
• Blood-C
• AFTERLOST

I just hope that the last lights of Funimation hold out long enough for me to finish at least some of these series.

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