Huge information has hit the anime and manga business within the US as anime streamer Crunchyroll, a division of Sony Entertainment Group, has introduced that they are going to shutter Right Stuf Anime’s web site, RightStufAnime.com and migrate all merchandise and mail order operations to their very own storefront, Crunchyroll Store (retailer.crunchyroll.com).
This change comes a bit over a yr after Right Stuf was acquired by Crunchyroll in August 2022. Since then, they’ve saved the location operating as is, except the migration of all 18+ materials to PurchaseAnime.com. However, in the present day’s announcement makes it a lot clearer that the longtime on-line retailer of anime, manga and figures can be closing solely to make method for some company synergy with the “Unified Crunchyroll Family.”
The information got here by way of an e-mail message despatched to companions and retailers yesterday, which outlined that October 10, 2023 can be when the Right Stuf web site and ecommerce operations would transition to changing into a Crunchyroll Store. The letter defined that this transition is not going to change the net retailer’s present relationships with publishers and companions. Companies which can be already promoting their books, Blu-Rays/DVDs and different merchandise by Right Stuf will proceed to obtain buy orders from Crunchyroll Store, whereas Crunchyroll will “pursue partnership opportunities with (its suppliers), from exclusive items and mutually beneficial promotions,” with the chance to leverage Crunchyroll’s “already expansive into anime fandom” to attain new prospects. The letter then mentions that they plan to maintain their annual Holiday Sale related to what Right Stuf has been recognized for, relabelling it because the “Crunchyroll Holiday Sale.”
Here’s a screenshot of the letter:
As of now, there isn’t a lot readability about how this alteration would possibly impression prospects who purchase from Right Stuf. Will the pricing and reductions now provided by RightStuf change? Will objects nonetheless be obtainable sooner than their avenue dates? Will the RightStuf excessive requirements for customer support and packaging high quality nonetheless be maintained by the Crunchyroll Store workforce? These questions and extra are at the moment swirling round on social media. Here are a couple of feedback from X (Twitter);
No joke, dropping Rightstuf is a whole catastrophe for American anime and manga availability. Even in the event that they hold the Iowa warehouse and workers, the change of internet sites will lead to a large loss in report conserving. The website was janky, however jeez.
— Aidan (@CoyboyBeboy) September 22, 2023
Very humorous to think about Crunchyroll having to preserve listings for the mountain of latest outdated inventory of TokyoPop rubbish that Rightstuf’s had sitting round for 15 years.
— Aidan (@CoyboyBeboy) September 22, 2023
Packing, logistics, reliably good reductions, an inclination to ship product forward of avenue date…I’m deeply skeptical that the post-acquistion rebrand can preserve what made RightStuf truly work. https://t.co/vnFm4iv7tc
— Minovsky (@MinovskyArticle) September 22, 2023
On a private word, I’ll now have hundreds of hyperlinks on the Yuricon Store to change (10 bucks says CR would not do redirects) and a brand new affiliate account to have to cope with, in the event that they even do this at CR.
Pain in my ass.
— Erica Friedman, Lesbian Icon, Speaker, Writer (@OkazuYuri) September 22, 2023
As for myself, I’ve been a buyer of Right Stuf for years. The uncertainty about how this can change how I order and purchase from this website has left me involved. Right Stuf earned my loyalty through the years due to what they’ve provided to me in contrast to different retailers, equivalent to fast turnaround time for orders and early availability of latest releases. Without the latter, I is likely to be tempted to change to one other website to do my anime/manga purchasing. I’ve put collectively a few of my very own ideas in a YouTube video printed earlier this morning;
Right Stuf Anime has been a stalwart of the manga and anime business within the US since 1987, after they have been nonetheless working by way of mail order catalogs. For these maintaining, that really has Right Stuf pre-dating Amazon by seven years (based as Cadabra in 1994). Even if every thing else stays the identical at Right Stuf, there’s the lack of model fairness that has been constructed up through the years that’s now going to be misplaced. But as we’ve seen with their different acquisitions, Crunchyroll is not any stranger to disposing of present manufacturers they buy, as we’ve seen after they bought anime distributor Funimation in February 2022.
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