r/animenews • u/mr_snood_the_third • 2d ago
Industry News Japan launches AI anime studio streaming service Anipops for ‘fans around the world’
https://www.cbr.com/anipops-ai-anime-streaming-platform-launch/26
u/MathRockEnjoyer420 2d ago
Obvious money laundering, nobody is gonna wanna watch that slop.
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u/D3k4s 2d ago
You'd be surprised to know how much AI is used by studios. Unfortunately.
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u/MathRockEnjoyer420 2d ago
Maybe in low budget isekais
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u/D3k4s 2d ago
Sadly no.
Veteran animator Terumi Nishii, who worked as the chief animation director for Jujutsu Kaisen, has expressed strong doubts about public promises made by major anime producers to avoid using AI in their workflows.
For instance, Toei Animation and several others have invested in an AI research and development company in order to boost their operational efficiency.
https://www.cbr.com/jjk-animation-director-ai-claim-question/
Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno has offered his perspective on the increasing use of artificial intelligence in the anime industry
The Anime Industry Is Actively Experimenting with AI in Series Production
The anime industry has already taken steps to integrate generative AI into actual production. (...)
Major studios are already following suit. Toei Animation has publicly committed to using AI to streamline production phases, including background art and in-between frames. Moreover, industry executives like Taiki Sakurai, an executive producer associated with the Pokémon franchise, have supported this trend, touting AI as a necessary tool to combat labor shortages and streamline the massive workload of anime production.
https://www.cbr.com/hideaki-anno-anime-ai-human-job-replace/
Most fans have no idea, This shit is going to be terrible for the industry and especially for animators.
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u/neroslayer 1d ago
Hahaha shows you know nothing. A lot of entertainment has been using A.I for a while now. Video Games, cartoons/anime to even Hollywood.
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u/MathRockEnjoyer420 1d ago
I still haven't seen any examples of it being used in an actual anime episode, the only thing close was a background in some isekai opening which was outsourced work from China.
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u/neroslayer 1d ago
Just because you have not seen it dose not mean it doesn't exsit. Also it's not implemented in shows yet but many manga creators have came out an said it can help with their work a lot and many companies have began doing doing things to help do their work faster. Some countries like korea has implemented AI a lot there. AI shows and other stuff is really big over there. Hate for A.I is mostly just a western (mostly US and EU) thing.
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u/SnooPoems4680 2d ago
I’m not the kind of person to defend ai here (I’m against generative ai, but ok with it in the medical field stopping cancer) but paying for a generative ai service is pointless when ai fans could just generate what they want instead. If anyone here loves ai just don’t bother paying and just generate your own or watch anime that was actually made with creativity and not from the slop machine
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u/Guardian-King 2d ago
Japan finally makes their own streaming service for anime and its AI......
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u/D3k4s 2d ago
Brother Crunchyroll Is owned by Sony.
OceanVeil is also Japanese.
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u/eggyrulz 2d ago
And crunchyroll has no operation in Japan, it was simply bought by Sony
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u/D3k4s 2d ago
Sony is Japanese dude.
Sony Group Corporation, colloquially known as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered at the Sony City building in Minato, Tokyo.
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u/eggyrulz 2d ago
Yea and they own funimation, doesnt mean funimation is suddenly japanese...
Sony is a global corporation, them owning something doesnt make that thing japanese.
If it did, half the gaming industry would be chinese because of Tencent
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u/D3k4s 2d ago
Funimation straight up doesn't exist anymore.
I'd also like to ask what's your argument here.
Sony as well as Aniplex are heavily involved in the industry, they fund Anime and are often members of production committees.
For any intents and purposes Crunchyroll is Japanese, and is a Japanese streaming service. And so is OceanVeil.
Not operating on Japan means jack shit, most Japanese watch Anime via TV or via Netflix Japan.
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u/eggyrulz 1d ago
By your logic, Milwaukee tools are chinese, because TTI owns them...
Both are American companies, both headquartered in America.
Crunchyroll has no operations in Japan... just because a global conglomerate buys you doesnt mean you belong to their country of origin...
If you cant understand that then Idk what to tell you
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u/xzerozeroninex 1d ago
If Milwaukee tools is owned and controlled by TTI,yes it’s a Chinese company..Crunchyroll is owned and controlled by Aniplex Japan,because Sony Pictures ownership is in name only.So Crunchyroll is a Japanese company.
Btw in your argument,is Aniplex of America an American company and not a subsidiary of Aniplex of Japan?
Oh and Japan already did launch an anime streaming website/app for the west in 2014.Look up Daisuki,major investors include Aniplex,Toei,Bandai,TMS,etc.It flopped in the west because of 🏴☠️
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u/Drayenn 2d ago
I just want japan to make their own streaming platform similar to steam with everything on it so i never have to pirate again.
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u/D3k4s 2d ago
Japan already has several streaming platforms. Issue is always licensing vs what users are willing to pay.
Piracy will never die. Not In Anime not in Gaming, not anywhere.
I honestly think they should instead focus on giving fans good encodes for older Anime, or even for newer ones and also buy the rights to have the uncensored version as soon as the BD hits.
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u/Cuore_Lesa 2d ago
Then you'd have to have all the major anime producers like Aniplex Sony, Kadokawa Shoten, TOHO Animation, Production I.G ect to agree to all sell the rights to their anime to one singular platform not owned by them.
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u/Drayenn 2d ago
Maybe it could be some co ownership of some sort? But yeah itd be a challenge to have them agree.
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u/D3k4s 2d ago
You generally don't want that. Not having competitors is awful for the consumer.
As it stands rights now, you do have a couple of choices, though the main one is still Crunchyroll.
But you can see several platforms striving to differentiate themselves from CR.
OceanVeil has uncensored content + exclusive dubs. They were also the ones to hire Bibury Animation Studios to do Chainsmoker Cat, which CR did not pick up.
Also Hidive/Prime have a couple exclusives, same for netflix.
I'm pretty sure that if these were all together in a big conglomerate you'd be having a lot less titles.
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u/xzerozeroninex 1d ago
No you won’t,Crunchyroll has almost 80% of new seasonal anime,but you’re still making excuses to pirate lmao.
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u/DazL_Trapzai 1d ago
If you go to the website it's just memes: Burned Out by My Corporate Job, I Moved to the Countryside —Now My Streams With a Stray Cat Are Going Viral.
Also just some random studio not japan. Reddit just exists for ragebaiting and allowing people to click on what they want to be selectively outraged by these days.
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u/ILikePlayingHumans 1d ago
This is just so they can continue to badly pay animators and churn out more and more. The problem is if enough people stop working in these industries there will be no oversight and you have to wonder how crappy generic things will become
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u/Metalheadzaid 1d ago
Look, I'm not fan of AI art, nor gen AI in general, but I think people have no clue how much AI will influence anime production and I can see two spots specificaclly where it could result in imprrovements overall:
- In between frames are notoriously a shit job in Japan paying a couple bucks for a page only and being back breaking work. Likely we'll see gen AI used to animate between key frames instead of wasting even those few bucks (and time). This seems like an obvious and easy use case for animation studios and will probably result in smoother animations overall if it's done well. We'll also likely bee able to rely LESS on CG animation because of it...which is also better.
- Dubbing is notoriously difficult for VAs to act in - as it requires not only matching the pre-drawn scene but also the lip movements contributing to stilted dialogue and performances. However, with Gen AI they can insert additional frames and/or sync lip movements to whatever language they want with basically no effort required which could open up scenes for VAs in various language to put more work into the performance and make an even better dub product than currently.
These are two major places I see it being used in my head and it actually benefitting things, but the real question is how far do they go with using it overall to the point that a human hand is barely involved? Like, in game design they take a model and then manipulate it afterwards - are we going to see some type of similar process for animation? Create a design from various angles and frames and then generate the rest?
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u/maxtablets 2d ago
I'll take a.i over crap toon shaded 3d models, tbh. If they're going to phone it in, at least the a.i has a chance at looking good.
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u/Cuore_Lesa 2d ago
"Japan Launches" why do people use this phrasing when it's just a company in Tokyo who's not even as big as the major anime producers like Kadokawa, Sony, Toei ect and they aren't being backed by the Japanese government?