Why did up and coming streaming service Daisuki recently decide to close up shop? After you have enjoyed enough Manga and Anime you are able to read between the lines and can see a detail or two another may have missed. Through this and other detailed evidence you are able to piece together what really happened in a particular series. This results in an abstract idea, a thought which doesn’t have a physical existence but can be speculated. Welcome to Anime Abstract.
Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your ears. I have come to bury Daisuki, not to praise them. After four years, the streaming anime service has announced their plan to close up shop on October 31st, 2017. How could a platform once called “The Netflix of Anime” come to an end? With this edition of Anime Abstract, we will look at why the streaming service will be closing after such a short amount of time in the market.
The Good
Let’s start with what the site had going for it. It started with a small catalog of titles, but they were very well known and popular ones. Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sword Art Online, and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED were all available as soon as the website launched. The website would later expand to include new shows and would even simulcast titles including the latest series from the Gundam franchise known as Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. .
The biggest of these simulcast titles was One Punch Man, a series many said was one of the best animes to come out of 2015. The acquisition of one of the most influential series of the year really helped to improve the membership for the site. Unfortunately, this is where the site’s luck came to an end.
What Didn’t Work
The problems which resulted in the sites closure are pretty obvious. For starters the site launched without any brand new series. It had been years since Sword Art Online and Puella Magic Madoka Magica were released and both were already available on Netflix.
The website also suffered from a lack of diversity in its catalog. Despite having access to titles from the founding studios of Aniplex, Sunrise, and Toei Animation, the website seemed to specialize in mecha anime as it featured titles like Heavy Metal L-Gaim, GaoGaiGar: King of the Braves, Aura Battler Dunbine, and several titles from the Gundam franchise. While this genre does have a lot devoted fans, carrying a specific genre of an already niche form of entertainment is not always a recipe for success.
Daisuke also employed special screenings of specific titles but took them down far too quickly. For example, several of the Gundam: The Origin specials were allowed to be on the site but only for a short period of time before they were removed. Most viewers prefer titles not dropping from the site soon after being put on there.
The Biggest Issue
The most glaring problem which resulted in the closing of Daisuki is the stiff competition it faced. Numerous other streaming services exist offering anime and having more resources than Daisuki had. Netflix for example, already a big name with their streaming service also helped to finance the creation of new anime shows. Crunchryoll had the advantage of having an insanely large catalog of titles with them. Amazon created its own channel of anime called Anime Strike allowing their subscribers different titles. In comparison, Daisuki just couldn’t compete and decided to call it quits.
In the end, Daisuki was an underdog which got trampled by groups with more resources, options, and funding. It will be sad to see it go but there are plenty of other anime streaming options available to on the web. Farewell Daisuki and thanks for all the Gundam.
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What are your thoughts over the demise of Daisuki? Leave a comment below and let us know.
