Disney+ and the Summertime Rendering Problem
I’ve heard disturbing rumours about the way Disney+ handles its Asian media acquisitions, mainly from my sweaty, unkempt K-drama-obsessed friends, poor unfortunate souls that they are. Disney has a nasty habit of buying up worldwide distribution rights for Asian shows, then streaming them only in Asia and Oceania. It’s not as if they don’t produce English subtitles — they do, for broadcast in Australia and New Zealand. But then Disney rarely bother to stream them anywhere else, blocking the possibility of rights acquisition for other, more specialised streaming services (such as Crunchyroll, or HIDIVE). Of all the multitudes of K-dramas they’ve licensed recently, I can find only one that’s received worldwide release, the sixteen-episode Snowdrop.
If Disney do this with their anime, I’ll incite some kind of (online) riot. During the Spring 2022 season alone, they devoured the licenses for Black Rock Shooter and Summertime Rendering. Summertime Rendering ran for twenty-five episodes until the end of the Summer season, and around eighteen episodes are already available to stream subtitled in English, on Disney+ in Australia and New Zealand. There’s not a hint of a release date for the Americas or Europe. More recently, Disney+ also snapped up the rights to Tatami Time Machine Blues, the sequel to beloved TV show The Tatami Galaxy and related movie Night is Short, Walk on Girl. They also announced a forthcoming anime adaptation of the Disney-villain-flavoured gacha game Twisted Wonderland.
Now, Disney+ of course streamed their Star Wars Visions anime worldwide, though I hear the second season will be produced in a much less Japan-centric way. Does Disney not perceive anime as worthwhile enough to even bother streaming elsewhere in the world, other than the core regions targeted via their Disney+ Hotstar service? So far, we’ve heard nothing from them in terms of a worldwide release of any of their licensed anime. Perhaps this is typical of secretive Disney, perhaps I’m worrying over nothing. Perhaps they’re preparing a suprise media blitz, with fresh dubs of all their anime starring famous actors. Maybe Disney+ will get its own “anime” tab right next to Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and National Geographic. I doubt it, though. What financial incentive would they have for that? Disney’s probably not interested in promoting animated shows it has only licensed, not produced itself.
If they truly have decided to forgo international releases for their anime licences, I’m not sure how we change their minds. Disney is an enormous, staggeringly wealthy corporate behemoth, and I doubt very much that a small disturbance from aggrieved anime fans will even catch their attention. I imagine we’re at the mercy of whichever weeb-ignorant corporate manager makes such decisions. I doubt they’d even care enough to sub-licence to another streaming service, as the money on offer would likely be comparatively less than pocket change to Disney.
Disney’s lack of clarity is particularly concerning in the case of what should have been the Spring and Summer 2022 seasons’ most hyped, most exciting, most critically adored anime, Summertime Rendering. It’s based on the entirety of a now-completed thirteen-volume manga by Yasuki Tanaka that ran online in Shonen Jump+ between 2017 and 2021. Shonen Jump+ is also the home of other megahits like Kaiju №8, Spy x Family, Astra Lost in Space and The Promised Neverland.
Summertime Rendering’s anime began its twenty-five-episode run on April 15th, and concluded on September 30th. The anime adaptation is produced by OLM (Oriental Light & Magic, Inc.), recently renowned for their work on Komi Can’t Communicate, Odd Taxi, plus multiple Pokemon movies. With an initial opening sequence by the stunningly proficient Studio 4 °C (Children of the Sea, Poupelle of Chimney Town and Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko), it’s a show that looks great, with obvious care and attention lavished upon it.
US manga publisher Udon clearly bet on Disney streaming the show widely, because it’s recently published in English the entire manga in six omnibus collections, in both paperback and hardback editions. I’ve bought the first three, and the manga is incredible. The anime hews extremely closely to the source material.
As of the time of writing, I’ve just finished watching the final episode. As I was looking forwards to this show so much, I broke my usual “no piracy” rules and eagerly… acquired each episode as they appear. This is what larger, more impersonal, less fan-engaged streaming services don’t understand about anime. Part of the fun of watching seasonal anime week-to-week is the ability to converse and discuss the newest episodes with fellow fans online, in places like ANN’s forums, Twitter, Reddit or in private chats on Discord.
You need only look at the hundreds of comments on the individual Summertime Rendering episode discussion pages on r/anime to see that a huge number of highly-engaged fans, i.e. the fans such services should want to court, aren’t willing to wait for Disney+ to decide on an international strategy for the show, and have pirated it. This means the online discourse when the show is (eventually?) released worldwide could be far more muted, as hardcore fans will have already moved on, and won’t even bother watching it on Disney+. This will affect the viewing metrics negatively and greatly reduce the positive word-of-mouth that a show like Summertime Rendering deserves, and desperately needs to succeed.
Countless statistics demonstrate that when streaming services began to make film and television easily (and cheaply) available, online piracy rates plummeted. It was mainly shows tied to “premium” services like HBO that were heavily pirated, like Game of Thrones, to give the most obvious example. Since streaming became more and more fragmented, with every media company seemingly setting up their own individual streaming service, it becomes difficult, and expensive, for fans to watch everything they want to. Hence the reason that piracy is on the rise again.
Now, please don’t take this as an endorsement of piracy from me. I’m of the opinion that if something is legal to obtain where you live, then you should pursue that option and support the business that produced the show. However, if through no fault of your own, it’s not available to you via either legal streaming or physical media, and there is no way for you to directly financially support the creatives, and no legal option is obviously forthcoming, then as far as I’m concerned, (especially if in this case, like me, you’re already paying for a Disney+ subscription,) piracy is excusable. VPN use is always an option, but for most viewers that remains an unacceptably fiddly and technical option that’s more hassle than its worth.
In the example of Netflix, yes, there’s often a delay in their “simulcasting”, we’ve been spoiled a little with day-and-date simulcast episode releases from Crunchyroll, Funimation and HIDIVE, but I’m willing to (begrudgingly) accept an extra two-to-three weeks to see their shows, rather than pirating them. That’s why I didn’t regularly pirate Komi Can’t Communicate, for example, because the moral argument just wasn’t there. Sometimes you have to wait. Delayed gratification isn’t a bad thing. However, with Disney, there’s no guarantee their anime releases will ever be available to us in Europe and the US. Just look at what happens with Netflix or Amazon’s exclusive streaming licences. We don’t even get physical releases for huge shows like Devilman Crybaby, Little Witch Academia, or Re:Creators. I would buy those things, even if they remained available to stream, and I know many thousands of other anime fans feel the same way.
It could be that Western anime fans are such a small demographic compared to the usual groups targeted by Disney — Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars fans. Although anime has taken great strides in recent years in terms of worldwide popularity, I still don’t think you can truly yet class anime as “mainstream”. However, anime fans are noisy, passionate, heavily engaged with social media, and voracious in their appetites. Disney ignores this demographic to their detriment.
I wouldn’t care so much if they hadn’t licensed a property so special. Summertime Rendering is one of the best anime I’ve seen in years. Superficially similar to the disturbing horror of Higurashi — When They Cry, it’s a story set in a remote Japanese rural (in this case island) village that features normal teenagers caught up in extraordinary, and terrifying, supernatural events. There’s a similar atmosphere of queasy terror and hallucinatory confusion evoked by the oppressive heat and haziness of the summer setting. The use of time-looping and event recursion adds a nightmarish and disturbing sense of existential despair, as main character Shinpei Ajiro gradually learns the dark secrets of his home island, and he witnesses his loved ones die time and again.
Featuring “shadow” creatures that mimic Shinpei’s family members and friends almost flawlessly, it’s a lot like an anime Invasion of the Body Snatchers but with a Re:Zero-esque plot mechanic. Shinpei is hopelessly outclassed and outmanoeuvred at every turn by his almost omniscient foe. Despite the use of time loops, repetition is kept to an absolute minimum, keeping the story progression brisk and the atmosphere tense. Every spectacularly cruel cliffhanger ending leaves me desperate to know what happens next.
Shinpei himself is a more interesting than average protagonist — he left his home (and true love) to further his career in Tokyo, and it’s only upon returning for his loved one’s funeral that he realises how much he values his friends and past experiences on the island. He’s a deep thinker who calmly evaluates the dangerous situations he’s plunged into, and the viewer can’t help but root for him to succeed in saving the others he loves. Special mention must be made for supporting female character Ushio, who has her own very individual circumstances that create dramatic tension and also provides fascinating plot progression.
Summertime Rendering’s idyllic setting belies a deep seam of tense existential horror mixed with occasional brutal violence and savage plot twists. Every episode is a rollercoaster of tension, breathless action and dire peril. Shinpei and his friends barely have time to rest as they fight against a seemingly omniscient enemy that anticipates their every move, even across timelines it’s impossible to escape their malign influence. Every little victory is hard won, and these are characters it’s so easy to cheer for.
Sort-of-split-personality Hizuru Minakata fills the role of the badass action female lead, with her inhuman strength and serious demeanor, oozing “step on me” energy for those twisted souls who are into that kind of thing. Shinpei himself is a protagonist who uses his brain rather than his fists, which is extremely refreshing. His relationship with the irrepressible Ushio is the beating heart of the show, and we feel his pain when circumstances conspire to tear them apart.
The final stretch of episodes are almost painfully intense, building to an amazing crescendo and a supremely satisfying ending. There isn’t a single bad episode — it always looks great, the story is always moving, the characters always interesting, and the music is beautiful. Every part of this package is perfectly formed and worthy of widespread acclaim.
2022 hasn’t been a great year so far for animation streaming. The HBO Max clusterfuck (a symptom of Warner Bros’ horrific money-saving/tax evasion/self-immolation) has meant that huge numbers of seemingly popular animated shows have been essentially wiped from existence. Shows like Infinity Train, which hadn’t even been fully released on physical media, no longer have legal streaming options, and perhaps never will, because they’re more valuable to WB as a shelved tax-write-off, and no future release will equal the money saved from doing that.
Even shows on Netflix aren’t immune, with Final Space also disappearing forever as soon as Netflix’s temporary rights lapse back to WB. What’s so sad is that every social media post mentioning these shows were also pulled, so it’s as if they never existed. I can’t imagine how painful this is for the creators. It also seems that the anime shows produced for WB’s Adult Swim (Fena Pirate Princess, Shenmue the Animation etc) are also due to disappear soon.
I wonder how frustrating it is for Summertime Rendering’s creators that Disney appear to be obstructing its distribution? It seems we’re entering a new phase of disrespect for animation, even as anime seems poised to conquer the world. As mere consumers, as “little people”, at the whims of enormous corporations, if even the creators of shows have no influence, what chance do we have? Who’s up for a twitter riot? #savesummertimerendering? #disneyreleaseyouranime? I don’t want piracy to be the only option for certain new (Disney) anime.
Summertime Rendering is an expertly plotted and perfectly paced mystery/horror that deserves immediate success. I feel greatly disappointed by Disney’s lack of communication regarding their plans for the show. This isn’t the 1990’s any more, when it took years for anime to come to the West. There’s no good excuse for the way Disney has neglected this amazing show. Is this the new Disney Vault? A black pit where anime is swallowed up, never to be seen by anyone outside of a privileged few? I can only hope that sanity prevails and sooner rather than later, everyone will have the opportunity to experience Shinpei’s descent into his island’s heart of darkness.
Do please read my fellow AniTAY author Alistair Hyde’s article about the manga:
