Well, damn. Looks like I was wrong. I fully predicted that Sunrise would post The Witch from Mercury on their Youtube channel as it airs, but it turns out that this is only half true. It will only air on Youtube in Asia and Oceania. Meanwhile, the rest of the world will have to pay Crunchyroll for the privilege.
I’ll fully admit I was wrong, but I’m still in shock about this news. Iron Blooded Orphans, Build Divers, and Build Divers: ReRise all showed up on Youtube (in addition to other platforms). The only “new” Gundam content that I know of to air exclusively on Cunchyroll is the TV adaptation of the Origin OVAs, which isn’t quite the same situation.
Anyway, a lot of fans on social media responded by declaring their intent to pirate the show and/or use a VPN to continue watching on Youtube. I have no doubt that some of these folks simply don’t want to pay for the show at all, but I haven’t encountered anyone who’s outright said as much. However, plenty of people have come out to admit that their problem is that they don’t want to pay money to Crunchyroll in particular.
It’s not hard to understand why. CR has a history of exploitation. They don’t pay voice actors or translators enough, and they refuse to negotiate with actor’s unions. Meanwhile, they’ve used some of their revenue to make original programming that no one seems to like or have asked for. Basically, it’s a company that does whatever the hell it wants because it knows most anime fans don’t really care about these things so long as they get their content (though this is certainly not the case for everyone, as evidenced by the sheer number of anti-CR folks I’ve seen in the Gundam community).
It’s a tough situation, the kind of thing that gives meaning to the concept of “no ethical consumption under capitalism”. Take myself for example. I don’t want to give CR to watch G-Witch, but I did give them money to see Cucuruz Doan’s Island in the theatre. Hypocritical? Yes. Do I have a good excuse? Not really. But I’d still like to avoid giving them money for G-Witch, regardless of how irrational or hypocritical that may be.
So I’ll have to figure something out. I could use a VPN, or I could wait for a physical release (though if that release is published through Rightstuf, I’m back at the same problem). Or I can wait to see if it eventually shows up somewhere else (I’m certain Sunrise will eventually make it available worldwide on Youtube). Or I could just not watch it!
I haven’t made a decision yet, though if I want to watch it day and date, I don’t have much time to choose, as the show is airing its first episode this weekend.