It’s the 21st Century, so watching television on the go isn’t all that strange. The number of streaming apps have skyrocketed over the past few years from sites like Netflix and Hulu. Now, Funimation is expanding their own line-up of mobile apps for their FunimationNow service, so it is time PS Vita players got in on the anime action.
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In a recent update, Funimation confirmed they would be brining FunimationNow to the PS Vita. The service will remain available on other devices like smartphones, tablets, Apple TV, Roku, Xbox, and PlayStation. The app will be getting an all-over upgrade to make it easier for anime fans to find new, exciting series to watch.
“Anime spans a ton of diverse genres, and that means a ton of diverse fans! Not every fan watches the same way, but everyone deserves to be able to watch how they want,” the site explains. “During our FunimationNow launch, we’ll be rolling out new apps for more devices than ever.”
If you’re not a fan of mobile apps, then there’s no need to worry. Funimation will still have old-school options for web users. Their website will also be getting optimized for on-the-go viewers, but the video player and search functions are also getting a facelift.
After all, Funimation does host a very impressive catalog of shows. The company has the largest library of English dubs anywhere online, so their website’s search engine will let fans search series by title, keywords, genre, and year. And, yes, it will even make recommendations for you based on your favorite anime series.
Of course, this announcement is just one of many that Funimation has made over the summer. Most recently, the company thrilled anime enthusiasts when they announced their new partnership with Crunchyroll. The websites have banded together to expand their summer simulcast content which means that Crunchyroll users now have subbed access to Funimation’s library. And, in return, Funimation subscribers will get dubbed access to Crunchyroll’s catalog.
Speaking about the partnership, Funimation’s CEO and founder Gen Fukunaga said, “Our commitment is first and foremost to our fans — and by partnering with Crunchyroll, together we can expand the reach of anime by making shows available to an even larger audience around the world. Funimation will continue to be the best place for fans to experience dubbed content while we also work with Crunchyroll to grow the market for anime. This is a thrilling next step for both companies.”
ComicBook.com also had a chance to speak with Funimation’s chief operating officer Michael DuBoise to talk about the future of FunimationNow. He said that the primary goal of the subscription was to provide “the kind of experience that we thought our fans deserve to have.”
“We didn’t feel like we were making that experience all that we want it to be and certainly not all that we hearing from them that they wanted it to be. So that was the drive of it. For us, we know our fans don’t just watch anime. They live anime. And so really being able to make this more experiential and giving them more control of their experience was a driving force for us.”
[H/T] Funimation
