It Doesn't Look Good For Backlog Dubs

With Crunchyroll releasing Bocchi the Rock sub-only, it's safe to say things aren't looking good for backlog dubs. Even before the Bocchi announcement, it had already been about a year since the last "backlog" dubs had been released. That's concerning in of itself. Now we have the company that used to be Funimation (known, even though it wasn't quite true, for dubbing everything) releasing one of the most popular shows of 2022 sub-only on home video.

This is a major departure from what we're used to. Call it what you will, be it genre discrimination (it isn't lost on me that most of the shows Crunchyroll doesn't dub are either High School or all or mostly female cast shows, and Bocchi is both) or just plain laziness, there's one thing we know for sure, a Bocchi dub would absolutely be "profitable". When shows don't get dubbed, typically this is the justification. Dubs cost money, if a company doesn't think a show will make a profit, then they don't dub it. Fine, I can buy that line of reasoning when a show is unpopular, but all to often we see some of the shows that would clearly make a ton of money (including Bunny Girl Senpai recently) released without dubs.

So we can safely assume money isn't the reason Bocchi isn't getting dubbed. In my opinion it comes down to complacency. Crunchyroll controls something like 90 to 95% of the anime market. The sad reality is that unlike Funimation, they don't need dub fans. As long as Crunchyroll has the vast majority of new shows subtitled, exclusively on their website, they'll do just fine. The casual fans who only watch the most popular shows of the season will be satisfied as long as the sequels, Action, and Isekai get dubbed. I even see some so called dub fans say that although they prefer dubs, they just watch shows subbed if they don't get dubbed. So their isn't much reason for Crunchyroll to go beyond the expected 18 or so simuldubs a season that Funimation used to do.

The fact that Crunchyroll is now licensing 30 to 40 shows each season, and the fact that there are way more sequels than ever before means that even popular shows in genres like High School, Ecchi, Harem, Slice of Life, Drama, Shoujo, Magical Girl, or CGDCT are going to have a really difficult time getting simuldubbed as they are unfortunately not the priority. Sequels, Isekai, Action, Comedy and "RomComs" are the priority, and when there are seasons with 10 sequels, lots of Isekai, and only 18 to 20 simuldubs, it's easy to see why more and more popular shows are getting skipped for simuldubs.

Yet not getting a simuldub didn't used to be a deathknell when Funimation was around. Funimation needed dub fans as much as dub fans needed Funimation. Even a show Funimation knew wasn't popular since it had ended a year earlier like Tamayomi still got a backlog dub anyway. As an Ecchi fan I had a lot of issues with Funimation in the Sony Era, but I must admit I miss the feeling that any anime licensed by Funimation could get dubbed. Now days, I already know some shows licensed by Crunchyroll are screwed purely due to the genre. This season, Stardust Telepath looks like one of the best shows. If Funimation had licensed it, I'd of felt 99% sure they were going to dub it, even if it wasn't a simuldub. Yet with Crunchyroll, I already feel like it has zero chance of ever being dubbed.

Crunchyroll doesn't need dub fans for them to be successful. Their monopoly on anime allows them to do whatever they want. Even if those of us who only watch English dubs were to boycott Crunchyroll they'd still have a stranglehold on the industry. Especially with all the massive amount of sequels coming out now days, many if not most people will likely be satisfied almost with the sequels getting dubbed alone.

I've said all this to say that I'm afraid Bocchi the Rock is only the beginning. It's been like a year and a half since My Stepmother's Daughter is My Ex came out and Crunchyroll hasn't bothered to dub it. Birdie Wing season 2 came and went and they didn't go back and dub the first season and then dub the second season. I think we're seeing it unfold before our eyes. I've stopped holding out hope for Crunchyroll shows that weren't simuldubbed.

The crazy thing is I'm actually not that upset about Crunchyroll not dubbing Bocchi the Rock as Sentai dubbing Love Flops and My Dreamy Realist as well as Discotek dubbing Lovely Complex more than makes up for it for me. I am however, worried about pretty much any show Crunchyroll licenses that isn't a sequel, Action, or Isekai. It's crazy to me that Love Flops and My Dreamy Realist both probably had a better chance of getting dubbed by Sentai than they did the company that used to be Funimation. Funimation would never of licensed 40 anime in one season, since they can only realistically dub about 20. As long as Crunchyroll keeps licensing every anime they can get their hands on, we're going to see more and more popular anime end up sub-only.

 

Crunchyroll needs to get their shit together, I'll be boycotting them until further notice. #firerahulpurini #firegitarebbapragada #boycottcrunchyroll #englishdubsmatter