It looks like bad news has come to greet the Attack on Titan fandom, and they have leakers to blame. Thanks to some very persistent episode leaks, all simulcasts of the anime’s third season have been delayed, and Funimation has addressed the issue with fans publicly.
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Taking to its official blog, the team at Funimation confirmed all sublicensees who simulcast Attack on Titan have been asked to air episodes on Wednesday now.
“The Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2 sub will be delayed from Sundays at 1:35pm ET to Wednesdays at 9:00am ET starting with Episode 54, which will launch on 5/29 for Funimation, Hulu, Crunchyroll and all of the sublicensees around the world,” the company confirmed.
For those wondering why the simulcast has been delayed by three days, they can blame leakers. Funimation’s post reveals that Attack on Titan episodes have been consistently leaked for the past two weeks by sublicensees in a couple of territories. As such, the show will now deliver final episodes to sublicensees once it has aired in Japan fully on Sunday.
“As it’s always the case with leaks and pirated content, this has created problems for everyone involved in bringing you this title,” Funimation writes. “To prevent further leaks, the licensor has decided to deliver the show materials to Funimation after Japan’s broadcast has concluded on Sunday.”
For those asking what this means for Attack on Titan moving forward, the show will still be simulcast on sites like Funimation, Crunchyroll, Hulu, and more… It will just be on a greater delay.
“Starting this week the Attack on Titan Simulcast will be launching on Wednesdays at 9:00am ET to provide enough time for each company to work on subtitles and quality control, and make sure that all territories can launch at the same time,” Funimation stressed before apologizing to fans.
“We know that this is an inconvenience for all fans awaiting a new episode this Sunday, but this restriction is out of our hands. We will continue working to bring you the best content in the least amount of time possible and take this as an opportunity for all of us to reflect on how leaks and piracy ultimately affects everyone in the anime industry, including the fans at home who want their anime content available as fast as possible.”
So, are you surprised by this consequence? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Attack on Titan was originally created by Hajime Isayama, and the series has since been collected into 23 volumes as of 2017. It’s set in a world where the last remnants of humanity live within a walled city in order to escape the danger of the Titans, a race of giants monsters that eats humans. The lead character, Eren Yeager, ends up joining the military with his two childhood friends Mikasa and Armin after the Titans break through the wall and attack his hometown. Now Eren, Mikasa, and Armin must survive in a world where they not only have the Titans to fear, but the very humans they are trying to save. You can currently find the series streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Saturday nights on Adult Swim’s Toonami block.
