Durarara!! and Soranowoto Final Episodes Delayed

[Chris Beveridge]

Rob Pereyda, VP of licensing at Crunchyroll, noted on Twitter (http://twitter.com/rpereyda/status/10665103539) that they "will stream DuRaRaRa 25-26 and SoRaNoWoTo 13-14 the same day as Japanese home video.&quot...

More... (http://www.mania.com/durarara-soranowoto-final-episodes-delayed_article_121277.html)

[Draneor]

While the news is frustrating for fans, especially as neither title has home video release dates for the respective volumes of these episodes, it is very good news that Crunchyroll will be able to stream these episodes eventually (and hopefully with some fanfare to remind people about it) instead of them being unavailable to English speaking fans at all.

We've known that the DVDs of So・Ra・No・Wo・To would come with two bonus episodes for a month (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-02-16/so-ra-no-wo-to-bd/dvd-no.4-no.7-to-add-unaired-episodes). I'm more amazed that Cruncyroll has streaming rights to the DVD-only content.

Volume four comes out on 06/23 and seven on 09/22 (according to CDJapan).

[Betenoire]

I'm more amazed that Cruncyroll has streaming rights to the DVD-only content.

I'm happy that somewhere along the line someone thought this far enough ahead and were able to get it negotiated.

[something]

A couple points.

1) I hope they fixed the message about an episode of Sora no Woto airing the Monday after this coming Monday - that confused a lot of people into thinking that there was a 13th broadcast episode, but the official website previews (and DVD/BD solicitations) confirm that 12 is the last episode of the TV run. I sent them an email about this a few days ago, so I guess this is part of the clarification.

2) I think you might be confusing people by referring to this as a "delay" in your headline. These episodes won't exist for months as it is, and they're not airing so there's no delay. I doubt the second DVD-only episode has even had work started on it yet. It'd be better to word it in a way that emphasizes just how incredibly fucking awesome and rare (unheard of?) it is that we're getting these episodes streamed for free/for damn cheap (depending on whether you have a membership) when the home audience is only getting them on $60-80 discs. Which I'm buying too, but that's neither here nor there.

3) As mentioned above, this is incredibly fucking awesome and I have absolutely no idea how they possibly got Aniplex/whoever to agree to this. This is mind-blowing. Where did they find someone in the Japanese industry sensible enough to push this through? Awesome.

4) I was anticipating Durarara!! only being 24 eps to begin with so finding out it has two bonus episodes coming in addition is glorious. Course that means I'll be buying 13 discs now, not 12. :sd:

[Fencedude]

2) I think you might be confusing people by referring to this as a "delay" in your headline. These episodes won't exist for months as it is, and they're not airing so there's no delay. I doubt the second DVD-only episode has even had work started on it yet. It'd be better to word it in a way that emphasizes just how incredibly fucking awesome and rare (unheard of?) it is that we're getting these episodes streamed for free/for damn cheap (depending on whether you have a membership) when the home audience is only getting them on $60-80 discs. Which I'm buying too, but that's neither here nor there.

Yeah, the title of the article and what is actually going on do not match up at all.

[Mitsuki]

Oh, wow, this is amazing news! I'm very impressed that CR was able to get these.

[Suwako Moriya]

Oh, I like the sounds of this news. Especially in regards to Sora no Woto.

[Classical]

Even if it was only because they were the final episodes for their respective series, I'm glad that these DVD-only episodes are going to be streamed. I have some hope that CR may eventually be able to get streaming rights to other DVD-only episodes of other series. I'm not expecting it to happen, but it would be nice if it did.

[Ashyukun]

Wow. The definitely is quite awesome.... though I do have to wonder (sorry, playing Devil's Advocate is just too much of a second nature to me...) what potential affect this will have one the chance of traditional licensing and/or how things might chance if the BRDs/DVDs do get licensed (i.e., could CR be told not to air them...). I'd imagine all of that has been worked out ahead of time, but it still makes me curious....

[something]

Wow. The definitely is quite awesome.... though I do have to wonder (sorry, playing Devil's Advocate is just too much of a second nature to me...) what potential affect this will have one the chance of traditional licensing and/or how things might chance if the BRDs/DVDs do get licensed (i.e., could CR be told not to air them...). I'd imagine all of that has been worked out ahead of time, but it still makes me curious....
I'd say let's not worry about it. This is exactly the sort of things we want the Japanese to do with their properties. Getting concerned on their behalf about potential implications for licensing does no good. If this sort of thing (and other simulcast-friendly or import-friendly practices in general) becomes the norm, then it'll be a moot point. R1 licensors - who, honestly, I can't see being very affected by this sort of thing at all - will just be used to it. It'll be part of the basic culture of doing business.

Just the very idea of simulcasting itself would have sounded totally insane under the conventional wisdom of just a few years ago, now we get upwards of half of all new non-kiddy series streaming each season.

So I don't think it lowers the chance of a license; and if it does, it shouldn't, and eventually it won't. Not in and of itself anyway, independent of other factors.

[Ashyukun]

I was actually more worried about the reverse- CR getting told they couldn't show it due to a clause in a traditional license. Seeing as how they already remove some of the older episodes of current shows it seemed like something that might be a concern. I'm not exactly going to worry about it, it was just something that came to mind as a curiousity...

[something]

I was actually more worried about the reverse- CR getting told they couldn't show it due to a clause in a traditional license. Seeing as how they already remove some of the older episodes of current shows it seemed like something that might be a concern. I'm not exactly going to worry about it, it was just something that came to mind as a curiousity...
True, though one would hope that CR makes sure to be able to impose penalties if the agreement is broken. CR users will take it out on CR if the publisher changes their mind, so CR would need some sort of compensation.

It's unlikely any R1 license would be out any time near then anyways, and letting CR stream those episodes (perhaps with a more generous cut of the revenue for the publisher than usual) is essentially free, easy money. Since it's coming out only when the DVD/BDs do, there's no worry about undercutting the R2s and since it would be available in illegal forms within hours or days anyway even if CR didn't stream it, that's a non-issue as well I think.

If someone in Japan was smart enough to agree to this move in the first place I'd like to think they're also smart enough to take free money over no money and not screw CR over.

[EmperorBrandon]

I'm quite surprised that Crunchyroll will seemingly be getting the OVA episodes for those two series. I'm pleased with Aniplex since they apparently allowed it.

[Ashyukun]

If someone in Japan was smart enough to agree to this move in the first place I'd like to think they're also smart enough to take free money over no money and not screw CR over.
That's what we'd hope. :)

It is quite slick though that we'll be getting the extra episodes in this manner- if they doesn't get licensed and released domestically, I'm glad we'll (those of us who aren't planning on importing the R2s, at least :P) be able to see the DVD-only eps nice and legally.