Funimation having a community/streaming site has been a long time in the making. Some may remember the scrapped ShoDojo they were touting at conventions for a while. Even this beta has taken a while to come to fruition as it was being advertised last year in a number of convention guide books. Since they have already had streaming video on their normal site, this new Funi creation adds the seemingly endless foray into social media all companies are launching alongside with the ability to watch anime.
Funimation is without a doubt the king of the American anime distribution companies. There are other anime licensors left in the U.S. like Bandai Entertainment and Sentai Filmworks but their output is nowhere near that of Funimation. And so as the top dog you need to have the most up to date website to reflect your position. With all their recent streaming initiatives Funimation has started a beta test for their new website that showcases their streaming initiatives while at the same time building an online community around it. This week we will give you our opinions on how the site is shaping up, what they are doing right, and what improvements we would make to cater to a fickle audience of otaku as well as casual fans.
