the japanese portal myjitsu shared an article pointing out that exclusive distribution has become a threat to the anime industry, specifically because of its treatment disneyplus to the series that it exclusively licenses. According to the article, this agreement ended up inevitably affecting the popularity of works like Tokyo Revengers 2nd Season, Summer Time Rendering and Hataraku Maou-sama! 2nd Season they could have had.
«The second season of the anime “Tokyo Revengers” premiered on January 7, but to date it has not had the popularity that it is supposed to. In fact, one must not forget that the first season attracted a lot of attention and became a social phenomenon.».
«The novel’s combination of time travel, sci-fi drama, and gangs attracted a large readership, and the manga became a smash hit. The first season of the anime was broadcast in April 2021 and was one of the most streamed series according to GEM Partners records at the end of its broadcast, competing with big projects like “Kimetsu no Yaiba” and “Jujutsu Kaisen”.».
«Of course, the second season of the anime was also being eagerly awaited. According to the listings on the Filmarks review site, it was the most anticipated series for the Winter-2023 (January-March) season. However, when the broadcast began, practically no one was talking about this second season. In fact, its popularity is no longer even a tenth of what it once was a few years ago.».
«There are many theories, but the most widely accepted indicates that the decline in popularity of the anime “Tokyo Revengers” stems from the fact that it became an exclusive broadcast on the Disney Plus platform in Japan. This has been reflected in comments such as: “Oh, Tokyo Revengers had started its second season? Since it is a Disney Plus exclusive, I had not realized it ”; “Too dumb of the producers, it’s like they aim to be unpopular“; “An exclusive distribution is a bad decision, and the anime industry should realize“; “It doesn’t matter what you produce, if it’s not available on more than one platform, no one is going to look at it.“; among others».
«First of all, it is not the first time that Disney Plus causes a series not to have the expected popularity. For example, even when a popular manga like “Summer Time Rendering” published on the Shonen Jump Plus service was adapted into anime, the distribution was exclusive to the Disney Plus platform. Back then, many people were against the distribution being exclusive, and even now many regret that the production has made that decision, mentioning comments like: “Summer Time Rendering might have had the popularity it deserved if it hadn’t been an exclusive Disney Plus distribution“; and “Not if exclusivity had existed, Summer Time Rendering would have dominated in its season“».
«Also, the second season of “Hataraku Maou-sama!” it was also distributed exclusively on Disney Plus in Japan. When this was announced, there were many comments against this decision. The first season, which aired in 2013, was quite a popular series, so the sequel was highly anticipated considering it came almost a decade later. Without However, despite this, this second season ended without becoming relevant for a second, probably the fault of the exclusive distribution».
«From a production point of view, exclusive distribution has many advantages, but if one thinks about it from the realm of becoming popular and gaining fans to support the project, there are many disadvantages. Will there be more projects that will sacrifice popularity for more money?».
Fountain: myjitsu
The entry Disney Plus exclusivity would threaten the anime industry was first published on Kudasai.
