As anime has become more mainstream in recent years, more and more English-language publishers have felt the need to make their localizations more “appropriate” for Western audiences, the latest example being the ad from retailer Right Stuf Anime that they will no longer be selling adult material following their acquisition by Sony via Crunchyroll.
Source: Fire Force Chapter 281 “The Lecher Guru” (2021), Kodansha. Words and Art by Atsushi Ohkubo.
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The alarming news fell on August 4 when Right Stuf announced via their official Twitter account, “We are thrilled to announce that today Right Stuf is joining the Crunchyroll family! We’ll work together to give you more of what you want, when you want it.
That is, ultimately, unless what fans want is considered “too spicy.”
Source: Right Stuf Anime’s Twitter
In an FAQ linked by the retailer explaining its terms of purchase, Right Stuff assured customers that “there should be no changes to the order” and that they “will continue to provide the same wide variety of products as we do.” have been offering for 35 years”. – unless you are specifically looking for Erotica products.
“As part of our new Right Stuf + Crunchyroll unification, we will be phasing out Erotica genre content and product,” they wrote in a specific FAQ on Erotica/Removed Items. “New orders for these items will not be accepted and they have been removed from RightStufAnime.com.”
Source: Trinity Seven: The Seven Magicians Volume 11 Color Page (2020) Yen Press. Drawing by Akinari Nao.
The retailer went on to reveal that not only will “existing orders be fulfilled” through a newly created storefront, Ero Anime Store, but said storefront will be “the place to continue ordering these items in the future!”.
Source: Right Stuf Anime Deleted Items FAQ
In a welcome letter posted on the homepage of Ero Anime Store, the company’s alleged president, a person named Wendy C, explained, “As part of Right Stuf + Crunchyroll’s new acquisition, they won’t will release more mature anime content. We’re going to get into this line of business, and I’m so glad to have you here and to have the opportunity to serve you.
“We will do everything we can to make the shopping experience in our store as close as possible to what you are used to,” she added.
Source: Ero Anime Store Official Site
Noting that some customers “may have concerns about orders you have already placed with Right Stuf for mature items,” Wendy assured, “If you have an open order with Right Stuf, we are working quickly to create accounts and import these orders into our system. It may take us a bit of time, but we want to make sure everything is done right.
“The goal is to make this move as easy as possible for you and ensure you get the items you’re looking for,” she said, providing a link to a separate FAQ for service-centric inquiries. customer. “We will carry the full line of erotic anime, manga, games, figures, and other merchandise. We will also continue to carry anime merchandise under the Critical Mass Video label, and select items will be offered exclusively through the site. Stay tuned for more details.
Source: The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You Chapter 103 “Hakari’s Heart” (2022), Shueisha. Lyrics by Rikito Nakamura. Art by Yukiko Nozawa
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Right Stuf’s new anti-ero policy sparked an outpouring of backlash across the industry, with fans and creators outraged by the censored move.
“In the game, SONY/Xbox/Nintendo go head-to-head,” said On Takahashi, a representative for doujinishi publisher Irotori Comics. “But SONY is finding an unopposed market in anime.”
“Potential to solidify and become the ‘Disney of anime’ which is honestly pretty scary,” he wrote. “The first thing they did was ban the erotic stuff from Right Stuf too…”
Source: On Takahashi’s Twitter
“They removed Interspecies Reviewers Blu Ray from their store,” observed orainfall co-owner @NepsKnight. “Something they took out exclusively from them. I’m done as a customer here personally.
Source: Twitter @NepsKnight
In a response to Twitter user @banipalbelly expressing “hope [that] ‘erotic’ content doesn’t begin to implicitly mean anything difficult, queer, or outside the norm or anything,” @bunnycartoon noted that BL/yaoi seemed to be hypocritically exempt from the erotic purge.
“It’s interesting, because it looks like you can still order, say, MADK from Sublime (which I would definitely put under ‘erotic’ work),” she said. “But all outright hentai is gone (even the ‘History of Hentai’ book is no longer listened to!).”
Source: @bunnycartoon’s Twitter
@bestgirlyazy claimed, “Oh that’s why they got rid of free shipping to Canada of over 250 on rightstuf a few weeks ago. So it was $100 to get some manga shipped here.
Source: Twitter @bestgirlyazy
Another person who contributed to the many retrospective theories of early signs of acquisition was journalist George Hovath.
“Well…I guess we all know by now why Sentai held this massive sellout that screamed ‘Get our stuff out of Right Stuf’s warehouse ASAP!’ last month,” said freelance anime journalist George Horvath. “They obviously knew this was coming and wanted to get as far away from Crunchyroll as possible.”
Source: Twitter by George Horvath
“I’m not going to call it ‘The Death of Right Stuf,’ or anything stupid like that,” he added. “But the idea that the US anime industry is increasingly contracting into a near-monopoly, or at least part of a larger entity, is truly disheartening.”
Source; George Horvath’s Twitter
Ultimately, Horvath wondered, “I mean, who is really staying ‘independent’ at this point? There’s Discotek Media, Media Blasters, apparently Nozomi (who is currently NOT included in the Right Stuf takeover)… and that’s it? Everyone belongs to someone else.
Source: Twitter by George Horvath
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Jacob Grady, founder and CEO of the world’s largest English-language hentai publisher, FAKKU, whose store was one of many affected by the big ‘Amazon Manga and Light Novel Purge of 2020’ – tweeted, “What Crunchyroll quietly omitted from this announcement is that they remove all hentai/18+ anime/manga, in fact they have already done.”
“It’s a blow. Right Stuf was a big account for FAKKU.” He added. “And one of the only retailers to truly embrace 18+ anime/manga. Not good.”
Source: Jacob Grady’s Twitter
Amid the various discussions surrounding the acquisition, some fans wondered how the deal would affect Right Stuf’s Nozumi Entertainment subdivision, which has worked on a number of Kickstarter-backed projects, including a dub for the series. classic ecchi sci-fi comic from 1985. dirty pair.
Source: Dirty Pair TV Intro – Ru-Ru-Ru-Russian Roulette (1985), Nippon Sunrise
Fortunately, Right Stuf CEO Shawne Kleckner posted a recent update on the dirty pair dub’s Kickstarter page where he said, “I want to reassure you that everything for this project is still being handled by the Nozomi team. And nothing of the dubbing or the Blu-ray output will be affected by this acquisition.
“Additionally, the fulfillment of all Kickstarter rewards will continue to be handled by Right Stuf Anime, like all of our previous Kickstarter projects.” Kleckner reassured fans. “We’ll have more updates on the progress of the voice acting soon, so look forward to that!”
Source: Dub the TV series Dirty Pair! Starter
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