Anime

Crunchyroll acquisition of Right Stuf SLAMMED by fans sick of price gouging and Sony’s monopoly of all things anime/manga

September 23, 2023
Michelle Topham

Now, I will start this by saying I never buy anime or mange from Right Stuf.

Not after I attempted to place an order on the anime/manga site a couple of years ago and the website wanted my first born, plus passport, and drivers license information just so I could buy a couple of manga (Bite me, eh?).

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But, to see Sony-owned Crunchyroll officially announcing today, after their recent acquisition of Right Stuf, all purchases from Right Stuf will now be rolled into Crunchyroll’s already abysmal and ridiculously expensive online store still made me laugh.

After all, it is ludicrous that a company owned by Sony, one that seems to be obsessed with creating a monopoly of most anime and manga services, and one that offers some of the worst customer service through Crunchyroll most of us have ever experienced thinks it can take over from Right Stuf and fans will be happy.

Interestingly, most anime and manga fans leaving comments about the Crunchyroll store officially incorporating Rite Stuf products into its inventory have the same opinion as I do about the Crunchyroll Right Stuf acquisition.

“Bite me, Crunchyroll, (Sony) and every other goddamn mega-corporation trying to take over the world”.

According to Crunchyroll, their acquisition of Right Stuf means:

As part of the integration, the Right Stuf store will redirect to Crunchyroll starting October 10. With all products to be available for purchase on the Crunchyroll Store, the collection will boast over 30,000 items, from home video and figures to manga and apparel.

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In other words, the decent prices you have been getting from Right Stuf for years will now likely be the same crazy expensive prices Crunchyroll has been offering anime and manga fans since it opened its online shop.

As fans commented on Crunchyroll’s site earlier today:

RIP Right Stuf, the only online store that had good customer service. Crunchyroll has always had bad customer service so no point in buying anime anymore. Sorry all the Japanese companies but Crunchyroll (aka Sony) has made it impossible for me to support you through their bad business practices.

and

Perfect time to start shopping at Barnes & Noble. They upped their game this year with the new rewards system and better discounts on pre-order volumes. I actually have been saving more money than with Right Stuf, so I’m not too upset at RS shutting down.

and

Wow Crunchyroll, I had a feeling that you’d do something like this. Instead of improving your site and your store to add some competition, you killed it off by buying off Right Stuf and getting rid of their site afterwards. It’s so fucking pathetic of you, but hey at least the shareholders and Sony (fuck you too) are happy right?

In other words, from the comments being left, it looks like there isn’t a single Crunchyroll user that is happy about this acquisition, with most now looking for other places to buy their anime and manga anywhere else but Crunchyroll.

Personally, I love Sentai Filmworks as not only do they have superb sales on their anime, their customer service is excellent, they package their products really well for shipping, and they are not part of a Japanese-owned mega-monopoly desperate to take over the anime/manga world.

Yet, at least.

Barnes & Noble has also been offering some excellent prices in pre-orders of anime and manga, their manga selection is huge, and every manga I order from them arrives in pristine condition as well as nicely packaged.

Throw in that Amazon often has the cheapest prices on anime, manga, figures and apparel and yeah, Crunchyroll, your acquisition of Right Stuf and your likely subsequent price-gouging of anime/manga fans can bite me good and hard, as you are the last site where I will ever buy my manga or anime needs.

That, apparently also seems to be the prevailing sentiment of most anime/manga fans so far. Good.

Michelle Topham
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