New information implies that Disney may be entering the anime streaming wars, as the company has reportedly purchased the streaming rights to Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, one of the most anticipated series of 2022.
On May 29th, popular Bleach series YouTuber Jaymes Hanson informed his subscribers that “for the past few months, as other sources have been telling me, there has been a bit of a bidding war between Crunchyroll and Disney Plus.”
Hanson commented, “Bleach is a very anticipated show.” Disney and Crunchyroll are aware of the hefty cost of licensing Bleach and for a good reason.
When asked why, he speculated, “because of this, Disney has money and Crunchyroll just simply do not – and specially with all the money I imagine Crunchyroll has been putting into the mass amounts of licensing for this fall season” in particular Chainsaw Man.
Viz Media announced at Jump Festa 2022 that they have secured the exclusive international rights (outside of Asia) to the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime.
Rights for VOD, home video, electronic sell-through, and television broadcasts of the forthcoming anime, as well as all merchandising related thereto, were acquired exclusively.
Hanson posted a document from licensing news source License Global in July, claiming that Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, the Junji Ito Collection, My Hero Academia, Spy x Family, and Chainsaw Man were “the properties driving growth at Crunchyroll” and stating, “I think is safe to PRESUME that Bleach won’t be airing on CR.”
“The emphasis on them bagging on Chainsaw Man is either confirmation or straight up arrogant/ignorant,” he said “If this is true. Expect a reaction in a pissed-off way.”
Hanson then released a new video on August 12 in which they declared that “they won. Disney won the rights to Bleach.”
The YouTuber noted that “nothing is going to be affected in the Japanese market because this is strictly on the international front,” and went on to explain that “Viz doesn’t have an online service,” necessitating the sublicensing of their properties to partnered streaming services like Disney Plus, Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
Disney has not only obtained the rights to the new sequel series, but also, as Hanson put it, “the rights to all of Bleach’s catalog.”
While Hanson did clarify that “it depends on the licensor – in this case Viz Media” as to whether or not the series would be simulcast, he did declare that “if Viz Media fails to include conditions for same day simulcasting in their contract with Disney, it will send a message to Bleach fans.”
Besides Hanson’s information, clues suggesting Disney has won the Bleach streaming license were visible at the recent Crunchyroll Expo.
There, Crunchyroll showed its support for MAPPA by hosting the world premiere of the Blue Lock anime and a Chainsaw Man panel with studio CEO Manabu Otsuka and producer Makoto Kimura, as well as advertising the upcoming streaming of MAPPA productions like Mob Psycho 100, My Hero Academia, and Spy x Family (although the latter only featured the English voice actors).
And maybe most telling of all, Bleach was not represented at the Expo with any panels.
When compared to other anime, Crunchyroll’s reluctance to support Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War seems baffling. Given that Bleach is largely responsible for Crunchyroll’s success, the streaming service’s reluctance to acquire the IP is puzzling.
The fact that Crunchyroll and Viz Media have said nothing about streaming plans for the upcoming Bleach series, despite the fact that it is set to premiere in October, lends credence to the rumors.
If Crunchyroll genuinely has the license, their seeming inaction is even the more perplexing given that the upcoming Bleach sequel series is one of the most anticipated anime of the year and that the site’s success would not be possible without the audience generated by streaming the original series.
At this point, it seems likely that next month’s D23 Expo or the Aniplex Online festival will confirm or deny this report.