ATTENTION: THE FOLLOWING REPORT IS A RUMOR. PLEASE TAKE THE FOLLOWING STORY WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.
It’s no secret that Disney has been trying to add variety to their Disney Plus streaming service to try and attract as many different audiences as possible. One avenue they have been trying to chase is the growing Anime industry. With the amount if popularity overseas animation has it’s no wonder major studios want a piece of that pie.
Disney has been working on some original anime programing such as the recent Star Wars: Visions series and the upcoming adaptation of the mobile phone game Twisted Wonderland. But they have also grabbed the distribution rights to multiple shows such as Back Rock Shooter: Down Fall and Summer Time Rendering. But now it appears that Disney is looking for some bigger fish.
According to anime new leader @SugoiLITE on Twitter, Disney has apparently won the rights to the upcoming final season of Bleach after a bidding war with Crunchyroll:
https://twitter.com/SugoiLITE/status/1558106191146143745
For those who don’t know, Bleach is a Manga/Anime series that started in 2001 and was published until 2016. It was part of the “Big Three” in the early 2000s along with Naruto and One Piece. The anime adaptation lasted from 2004 – 2012, but the story’s final arc was never adapted due to lowered interest in the series (There was a falling out between the series’ author, Time Kubo, and the series’ publisher, Shuaisha). After a 10 year hiatus the anime will finally have its conclusion this October.
But is these reports about Disney acquiring the streaming rights are true many fans are concerned over censorship as the series is known for its violence. Not to mention the possible lack of simulcast as Disney usually releases in bulk as opposed to services like Crunchyroll which offer same day access as the Japanese release.
If these reports are true does that mean we will see the previous series show up on the platform as well? What other series will they go after?
Source: Dual Shockers
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