We’ve mentioned the inevitable doom of Funimation several times on the blog so far, and now said doom has already occurred. The platform is officially dead and the company absorbed by Crunchyroll. In our last installment we looked at how the merger cucked fans out of many of their digital assets as well as tempted Crunchyroll to increase their prices for subscribers in the coming years. Now a new problem has resulted from the fusion dance, this time in the form of a bunch of “lost” media. 

The community has put together a startlingly long list of (currently) 192 missing anime projects that did not transfer to Crunchyroll following the shutdown. Hot damn that’s a lot, but it’s important to recognize how this media was tallied up. Sometimes a show only lost the dub version in the transfer. Conversely, sometimes only the sub version was lost. Some series did not transfer in either language format. Shout out to the entire first three seasons of Black Butler as a prime example on that front. Other big names on the list include Durarara!!, Eureka Seven, FLCL, and Steins;Gate. Considering how many entries are multiple seasons of the same show or a listing for an OVA,  or just a dub version, it’s not quite as striking as the original number of 192 might seem. Still, it’s a pain in the butt for anyone trying to consume anime legally. As you may have noticed I put “lost” in quotes in the intro because I don’t doubt it would be easy for viewers to find these missing anime online through other sources. It’s just another smack in the face for people who want to actually support anime legally and financially in the streaming industry which is becoming more convoluted and less of a value proposition seemingly every year.

Okay maybe losing that second season of Black Butler wouldn't be so bad...

I would imagine this will be the last piece of news surrounding the merger, but then again I thought that about the previous article. Hopefully those affected by the end of Funimation are able to find greener pastures. Additionally some theorize many of these anime will be added back to Crunchyroll as licensing agreements taking extra time could be the culprit for many of these series not transferring yet. Crossing my fingers they are onto something there. Did you know Funimation was officially terminated? Where do you watch your anime? Do you expect Crunchyroll to add these anime to their catalog down the road? Find something to watch, track down which streaming service it should be on, and see if it’s even available anymore in the comments below!