Amazon Ends Anime Strike Curated Streaming Service

by arsonal
Jan 7, 2018 3:34 PM | 37 Comments

Internet retailer Amazon terminated its curated streaming service Anime Strike on Friday just one year after its launch. Anime Strike provided Amazon Prime customers in the United States with access to more than one thousand anime episodes and movies for a $4.99 monthly subscription fee. The streaming service also shut down its Facebook and Twitter pages, which had been inactive for months prior to its cancellation.

In a statement provided to Forbes and other news media outlets, an Amazon spokesperson said that the entire lineup for Anime Strike and Heera—a curated channel specializing in Bollywood entertainment—has been transferred to Prime Video. "We have decided to move the curated catalogs of Anime Strike and Heera into Prime Video so that more customers can enjoy this content as part of their Prime membership," the statement read.

Anime Strike launched in the United States on January 12, 2017, and gained exclusive streaming rights for anime titles such as Kuzu no Honkai (Scum's Wish), Made in Abyss, and Inuyashiki. The service also offered older titles such as Akira and Death Note in its lineup.

Anime Strike's entrance into the North American anime market came following the 2016 announcement of a partnership between Crunchyroll and Funimation to offer both their titles jointly. The service quickly garnered criticism because it was only available for customers with a subscription to Amazon Prime, which costs $99 annually, or Prime Video, which costs $8.99 per month.

Over the course of the service's lifetime, Amazon officials contended that Anime Strike was performing better than initially expected. In one interview from May 2017, one spokesperson said, "Signups are higher than initial projections as we add more content and more features." Amazon has never shared subscription numbers for Anime Strike.

However, critics of Anime Strike argued that its subscription model created a double paywall which restricted access to new content from anime viewers. By moving Anime Strike's exclusive titles to the larger Prime Video offering, more Amazon customers will have access to its anime catalog.

In July, the Los Angeles Times reported that smaller anime distributors have felt some uncertainty with the growing presence of big players like Amazon and Netflix. Viz Media's vice president of animation Brian Ige was quoted by the Times in saying that with Netflix and Amazon looking to gain subscribers, content acquisition for has become "increasingly difficult."

Source: Kotaku

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20 of 37 Comments Recent Comments

I mean, I use amazon prime and tho I am glad strike is gone, the subtitle issue is still there. For one season, I have to stream it in a shady way because on amazon, the subs are out of sync with the voices. Its annoying

Jan 10, 2018 5:52 PM by LunarPulse

I didn't know this even existed until seeing this....and I'm a prime member who's constantly buying anime. Way to go Amazon.

Jan 9, 2018 6:24 PM by HayateGekkou

Kuma said:

Bourmegar said:

Yes Netflix this season only has Violet evergarden and 3 ONAs.
And the 1st of the 3 (Devilman) already got a good reception so that looks good for the other 2.

They either aant to claim series as a Netflix original or fund their own instead of streaming others because that is a pain.
FMA and FMAB's dub keeps on dissapearing and reappearing,
Other shows expired like Guren Lagan (they better keep DN and Bebop!)

And tbh, we kinda need more good ONA's like Crybaby and Castlevania (yes a well done show based on a video game! THEY DID THE IMPOSSIBLE). And Sword Gai looks pretty cool.

well, those 3 ona, netfilx is part of production cimtee, while violet evergarden is kyoani, and you know how kyoani production comitee works...

japan outdated business model is the problem as well, if you want get better streaming service... china has alwasy been struggle about this as well, and they are biggest streaming users....

Yh Japan's business model is still geared towards tv, not to streaming services.
That forces them to follow tv Schedules first and makes it impossible for other streaming services to provide it with good subs and dubs because they only get it after the episode has aired.
That is also why Netflix refuses to Simulcast, they want to be able to release it with Dub and all. And As its own production committee, they can release it worldwide without problem since they are boss over their own product.

Kyoani is its own production committee but they only adapt their own product.
And Netflix as a committee seems to focus more on ONA just like their own originals.

They should gear the industry more towards streaming so that subbers and dubbers can be involved earlier on.

What more differences are there between the business model of japan and the West?

Jan 8, 2018 10:14 PM by Bourmegar

Bourmegar said:

Kuma said:
lol, people complain at amazon for regional restriction when they mainly put by japanese production comitee so they can cash more from licencors.... amazon have 0 reason to do regional restrction.... you think why even netflix now prefer to funding their own anime?

vigorousjammer said:

Adonc said:
Thank God, Anime Strike was cancer, now we just need Netflix to to stream (which is probably never gonna happen tbh)

What are you talking about? Netflix is, like... mostly streaming nowadays. That's where they do most of their business...

i think he mean simulcast....

Jan 8, 2018 6:32 PM by Kuma

Amazon is far too corrupt for me.

Jan 8, 2018 3:55 PM by raynaninja

Hey, this is good news! Hopefully they'll keep adding more anime to Prime Video now. ^_^

ClickBaitBuster said:
especially with the download option and simulcast feature which Netflix doesn't provide.
Amazon suddenly sounds like a great deal now haha..

They have a download option? Where? o_O
All I'm seeing are streaming links...
Maybe the download option was only for Anime Strike and Prime Video doesn't have any such thing?

Adonc said:
Thank God, Anime Strike was cancer, now we just need Netflix to to stream (which is probably never gonna happen tbh)

What are you talking about? Netflix is, like... mostly streaming nowadays. That's where they do most of their business...

Jan 8, 2018 2:38 PM by vigorousjammer

The only anime that i know that was funded CR was Reflection and Urahara and they were pretty bad.

Yuru Camp in the other hand is looking good so far.

Jan 8, 2018 2:34 PM by PolarCyrus97

And here I was thinking of getting rid of Prime. I didn't use Anime Strike because of the double pay wall mentioned in the interview. I guess I'll log in and see what they've got.

Jan 8, 2018 1:06 PM by dragynfaerie

Hanyuubelle1604 said:
We never got to try this in the UK sadly. :(

Was it really that problematic?

What's sad about it? We got all the titles just without the ridiculous double paywall.

Jan 8, 2018 10:26 AM by kuuderes_shadow

ichii_1 said:

jc9622 said:
Hell No! Aside from their unwillingness to simulcast anime, Netflix is pretty much saving anime. The amount of money that they bid in just so they can grab a worldwide exclusive license is astronomical.

No it isn't, others also have exclusives and crunchyroll funds series just as much as netflix, Yuru Camp is almost all funded by CR.

So was the Reflection and that turned out well didn't it?
Was the blade runner anime also Funded by CR?

Jan 8, 2018 8:45 AM by Bourmegar

We never got to try this in the UK sadly. :(

Was it really that problematic?

Jan 8, 2018 6:56 AM by HanyuuKyo1607

One down, endless to go.

Jan 8, 2018 4:58 AM by Swagernator

I didn’t even know it existed before I saw this article #piracymasterrace

Jan 8, 2018 3:50 AM by Comic_Sans

The only good part of Anime Strike was to push Crunchyroll/Funimation to innovate and better their platform. But with new afordable platforms like HIDIVE might change the field too. Anyways thank god it's over, didn't even expect it to last as long as it did with as good as picks as it got.

Jan 8, 2018 3:14 AM by Stripes

Thank God, Anime Strike was cancer, now we just need Netflix to to stream (which is probably never gonna happen tbh)

Jan 8, 2018 12:09 AM by Shion

Paul said:
This means no more yellow subs right?

Apparently you don't own any anime licensed by Sentai, because ALL of their releases use yellow subs. Funny enough the last anime I watched on Amazon was Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (this was just before Strike started), and I remember the subs on it were white. It actually made them harder to read at times on white/light color backgrounds because of the thin outline used (compared to Funimation's subs).

Jan 7, 2018 10:48 PM by nx6

lol, people complain at amazon for regional restriction when they mainly put by japanese production comitee so they can cash more from licencors.... amazon have 0 reason to do regional restrction.... you think why even netflix now prefer to funding their own anime?

Jan 7, 2018 8:15 PM by Kuma

A_NoticingSenpai said:
So will the catalogue be available in Canada now to or......

The catalog was available on Prime Video, I just didn't have the double pay-wall.

And I didn't need to pay for prime for 2 months A free-trail and a late package by 2 days when I selected 2 day shipping.

Jan 7, 2018 7:10 PM by removed-user

No it isn't, others also have exclusives and crunchyroll funds series just as much as netflix, Yuru Camp is almost all funded by CR.

Jan 7, 2018 6:45 PM by ichii_1

Jerkhov said:
Fucking good riddance, knew it was a shortlived investment; overpriced fuckers taking all the high budget anime.

Seems way more beneficial to just put it on Prime Video, less complicated and would get a wider audience.

Now all we have to do is get Netflix out of the anime streaming game.

Hell No! Aside from their unwillingness to simulcast anime, Netflix is pretty much saving anime. The amount of money that they bid in just so they can grab a worldwide exclusive license is astronomical.....

Also, Netflix's streaming quality is miles better than any of the anime streaming service I've used/I'm currently using. Netflix will be the ONLY go-to site for me once Violet Evergarden starts airing later this week.

Jan 7, 2018 6:30 PM by jc9622

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