Whew keeping up with anime this season is no joke. We have a ton of already-vouched-for contenders as well as a bunch of newcomers that folks are raving about. And unfortunately, this season just got harder than ever as Disney+ has begun to sink its teeth into the anime market. You see I and I think most people were well aware that Disney had their eyes on anime considering their creation of the Star Wars: Visions series which I admit looked quite bussin’ although I haven’t watched it yet. I was also aware of the Twisted Wonderland anime which is based on a mobile game. However, this season was the first time that Disney’s interest in anime directly affected me with Summer Time Rendering. Summer Time Rendering is a sci-fi suspense action drama airing this season and the manga boys have already given it high praise in reviews. So naturally I’m trying to see the hubbub but damn Disney does not make it easy. Kinky and I had to travel to the backwaters of the Internet to watch this bad boy in the same way that Netflix anime can be hard as hell to watch depending on the circumstances.

Now let me say this: I don’t have a problem with subscription services when the service is quality. In regards to music, I have been paying for and using Spotify for years. The selection is simply amazing. Just about every American artist I could ask for while ALSO including tons of Asian artists which as you may surmise for us weebs is a necessity. I need my LiSa, my Aimer, my Oral Cigarettes and the like baby. As a kid I used to try and find music on YouTube and stuff and you know… other not-so-reputable places on the Internet but Spotify has been so good to me that I no longer bother. The problem is, selection is incredibly important and the TV industry has already shown what happens when you don’t have a conglomerate service. Some shows are only on HBO, some shows are on Disney+, don’t forget your Netflix service, oh wait and Hulu come on now gotta have those Hulu originals, oh and Peacock of course, and uh… it’s all just out of hand. Essentially you have to simply pick which has your favorite content to pay for and forget the rest or “find” the rest online.

Oh brother, my wallet hurts just looking at it.

Obviously I want animators and studios to get paid for their amazing work, but this not-consumer-friendly way of dividing up the licensed content makes it a hard pill to swallow. And it appears at this point in time that anime will be going the TV route of being split up here and there and everywhere so that it’s quite hard to pay to watch all of your favorites. Right now anime is still niche enough in the West that you can find it in a ton of places, but as more and more corporations discover this so-called “anime”, you can bet your ass that it will become harder and harder and I’m not exactly looking to become a criminal over some waifus. Hopefully something can emerge that provides access to all seasonal anime for a reasonable fee.

Please Disney-sama, have mercy.

Alright that’s enough worrying about the future of the industry for one day in my book. It’s like wondering why we haven’t managed to detect any life in the universe despite it being so vast, I can’t think about it too long without having an existential crisis. I’d be interested if you guys had any solutions to combat this growing problem of content being split up seven ways from Sunday. What do you think about the future of anime licensing? Are you trying to watch Summer Time Rendering this season? Travel to the island, save the girl, and run from Mickey Mouse in the comments below!