@Muddy120:

So do you think Film Z will release here in America this year in Theatres? and possibly emulate the Strong World fiasco Japan had in 2009 but a smaller scale and boost the popularity amoung the general public? or is that a stretch lol

To be honest that post was made a while back and my opinions have changed slightly. I'm really not so sure about "Film Z" in theaters. I mean who knows, Aniplex and VIZ still do small theatrical runs, I haven't looked into them as of late though. But I've heard that FUNimation's theatrical runs haven't really made them much money.

@Muddy120:

So Crunchyroll won't have a gap when they reach Thriller Bark? Thats my main concern since CR is better and OP been on Hulu a long time to build following, So are you saying the Season 6 DVDs won't affect them being able to add the rest of the episodes on Crunchyroll? I think I read a post of you mentioning CR getting the rights directly from Toei, but I wasn't sure cause they use the Funimation logo on there

Also wanted to ask do you think all the Funimation dub episodes of OP will be available when Neon Alley joins Hulu? They for some reason don't have them all up yet, and who knows when One Piece will make its way to Netflix for people that want to stream the dubbed episodes legally and easier

I mean I can only speculate like everything else on this forum, but Crunchyroll licensed "One Piece" directly from Toei Animation, that's a given. I'm guessing besides just working out the rights for certain territories FUNimation wasn't and isn't involved with the Crunchyroll stream. If you notice the stream itself is available in the U.S.A., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Latin America, and South Africa. Along with that you get subtitle options for English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Those particular areas correlate to Toei Animation Inc., the Los Angeles-based arm of Toei Animation Co., Ltd. which works in those regions.

So with that said, even if the Season 6 DVDs are delayed that doesn't necessarily mean the Crunchyroll stream of those respective episodes will be affected. Also they use the FUNimation logo on Crunchyroll? Which episodes? Because I just watched a Dressrosa episode and I didn't see it.

As for Neon Alley, I don't know. I asked Neon Alley on their Facebook page last week how the third party shows like "One Piece" will be affected by the switch to Hulu. The response was that it's unknown at this time.

@Muddy120:

Firecrouch I wanted to ask, at this point Thriller Bark is basically unavaialble on Funimation/Hulu because of the whole licensing issues in the past and they've added up to episodes 335/336, Is crunchyroll gonna have a gap when they reach that point as they add the episodes each Saturday? because we all know Season 6 was announced this year but I heard it was delayed(Is this also true?), for various reasons, I don't mind waiting since patience is key with enjoying One Piece in the states, but I just wanted to confirm if were going to have to wait until all of Season 6 is released first until CR, and hulu and the rest of the legal streaming sites are able to receive it or if there won't be any problems and they'll be able to add all the episodes just fine, thats if you would know this kind of information

My guess is that if anyone gets season 6 first it would be Crunchyroll, seeing as how they're just doing streaming rights. Hulu will stream it when FUNimation starts releasing it.

I think Toei Animation's intent is to get "One Piece" available in as many territories as possible, but as you know not everything can happen over night…

@Snowmint:

Did we ever get a conclusive reason why OP was removed from "Network" originally? I can only assume its because a new regime was taking over and didn't want anime anymore instead of "the ratings were bad" reason. If the ratings were bad then why would they be trying again on Adult Swim Toonami?

Official reason was ratings.

As far as why they're trying again on adult swim, well, there's plenty of basic reasons why. For now I'll just say that that was years ago and adult swim isn't the same as Cartoon Network.

@Fortenium:

Like I said, if this is delayed because of Colleen, that's fine… and if this is delayed because they're making an effort regaining dubbed openings, that's also fine...
If this is delayed because Toei's being a bitch, well that's another story.

What would Toei Animation be bitching about anyway?

Either way it's completely possible that those two speculative reasons have nothing to do with it and it's just another typical FUNimation delay. They delay stuff all time.

@Zephray:

Weird news. I don't really care about subtitled discs. I can download subtitled stuff. Hoping there's a better announcement later today at Anime Boston.

You can just as easily download dubs. Just saying

@Oathkeeper:

Sorry Firecrouch, but I agree with Robby here. Not that you are entirely wrong. Things are going in that direction but its going to take a while to get there.

That's pretty much what I implied in my first post anyway, did you guys miss that?

@RobbyBevard:

TV airing gets casual exposure and a new audience. Net streaming only gets the people already interested. Vast difference there.

True, but streaming is starting having a comparable effect on anime, at least as indicated by this VIZ interview:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/28013.html

Has streaming passed TV in importance?
I think so. Right now that’s where most of it lives. Cartoon Network took a lot of it off cable television, so everyone switched to streaming for distribution and that’s where everyone found it. As far as a lift in sales I don’t think it really matters if it’s television or streaming online, we see the same type of lift in manga sales.

@Snowmint:

We shouldn't worry if OP will be removed in the future? Is Toonami on AS in it for the long run? Will this Toonami go on for more than a decade?

There's no reason to worry about that scenario. "One Piece" and the Toonami block itself are doing well, and there's no indication at the moment that it will change for the worse.

And hey, maybe Toonami won't be around a decade from now. Hell, with the increasing popularity of online streaming the landscape of cable television might change completely. But it's the shows themselves that matter, not the way they're distributed. As long as "One Piece" is available for the masses in one form or another, that's fine.