Interview With OceanVeil: The Future of Cultured Anime
WWWave Corp. recently launched its newest venture — the OceanVeil streaming service. While one may be tempted to bemoan having to pay for another streaming service, OceanVeil has something most other sites don’t: it specializes in mature content and even has a secret section of the website featuring hentai.
But satiating cultured weebs isn’t the only goal OceanVeil has. The platform launched worldwide a few weeks ago and currently offers both free and premium content. For $12.99 a month, you can access the full catalogue (including the very-NSFW titles), while free users are limited to specific titles or snippets. The platform boasts discretion and promises to keep all your secrets safe, but what exactly does that entail? We got to speak to Ocean Veil’s Jason Roberson, who you have met if you interacted with the platform’s official channels (Discord, Twitter/X), and find out more.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about how the idea for OceanVeil started?
WWWave also runs a Japanese anime subscription site, a Japanese manga site, as well as another English based comic site, as well as an anime site. [AnimeFesta, ComicFesta, Coolmic, Mangadon] We found that with the growth of the anime market the need and want for anime has grown.
Our company also wants to do away with all the regulations and things like the heavily editing of anime that sometimes occurs during the localization process due to content or jokes, which in Japan are perfectly normal for the targeted age group. This isalso why our company created the animation label “Deregula” or “Deregulating [Broadcast] Regulations,” which focuses on creating anime that is very borderline between safe content and adult content).
So, taking both the want and need for anime and our company’s history in more adult-based content, we wanted to bridge a gap between both. And since many people are often embarrassed or shy, and the increasing pressure from various payment processors and credit cards companies, we wanted to create an air of secrecy. A place for daytime fun time and a place for nighttime adult time.
Q: You recently launched worldwide, with a subscription-based model. Do you have any stats you could share with us: what are the users watching the most?
Currently, it seems that the most watched titles are our dubbed collection. There seems to be a much greater need and want for dubbed content than we previously dreamed of. With the growth of anime’s popularity, dubbing needs have also growth exponentially. People want to watch something easier for them to digest and relate to, which sometimes cannot be done in Japanese with English subtitles alone.
Q: You don’t seem to be collecting demographic data such as gender and age. Are there plans to do so in the future, even through means like surveys, or do you plan to keep the “anonymous” appeal?
To be honest, we prefer to keep the “anonymous” and “secret” appeal of the site. We might conduct surveys in the future to get a better idea of our target audience, but we stand by the idea of trying to keep your secrets safe. We don’t always feel comfortable or want people to know what our deepest, darkest interests are so we will continue to try to protect that.
Q: Currently, the only way to get an account on OceanVeil is through PayPal, but PayPal (like other major payment gateways, e.g., Visa recently) has a strict stance on R-18 content, and can outright ban accounts for purchasing or selling NSFW content. Do you foresee this being an issue in the future, once OceanVeil becomes more widely known for R-18 content than anime content in general? Are there plans to include more payment options in the future?
This is a very tricky question. Not because it is a difficult question to answer but because of the stigma that now follows 18+ content and purchases. PayPal is currently our only processor, and strictly speaking, we do not particularly foresee an issue with it.
We are in the process of negotiating with a card processor that is adult-content friendly and that works with “riskier” content. If all things work out, we will continue to expand the payment options available on our site but might be limited due to content.
Though, we will continue to bring on more non-18+ content and continue to build on the distinct DAY and NIGHT parts of the site, or as we like to say, the Shallow Tide and the Deep Ocean, and hopefully avoid being too high-risk or known to overtly as an “hentai” site.
Q: As part of your partnership with Ascendent Animation, you’re set to simulcast the sub and dubbed versions of Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami this April. You’ve also announced that Makina-san a Love Bot?! will get dubbed and the platform already has a selection of dubs. Can subscribers expect frequent dubbed content, and are there plans to include non-English dubs?
Yes! We are very excited for the SimulDub of Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami starting this April.
Ascendent Animation is putting a lot of work into it and so far, it’s really well done! As for Kakushite! Makina-san!! (alternatively known by the manga name, Makina-san is a Love Bot?!), we are looking forward to being able to announce the release date and cast! However, production is slightly delayed so we were unable to get it completed in time for SimulDubbing.
As for the future of our site and Dubbing, all the tides point toward YES. You can expect more dubs! However, we currently are not planning to release non-English dubs, though in the future this could change. It all depends on user needs and demands, really.
Q: Are there any plans to provide subtitles in different languages (specifically Spanish)? According to your official X, Latin America seems to be the biggest supporter of the service at the moment, which is not surprising considering the size of anime fandoms.
We were also surprised by the feedback and interest that flooded in from LATAM. It was definitely unexpected. There are a huge number of fans of our Suiseisha content in LATAM and it seems they are very interested in having other options when it comes to streaming anime. However, our site is currently in English, with English subtitles, and English dubbing, and while there is a great deal of interest from the LATAM fan base, we do not currently have plans to add Spanish subtitles. That being said, it could change in the future depending on the success of the platform itself.
Q: Are there plans to extend the catalogue and bring uncensored versions of some of the fan-favorite titles from the previous years? Standard streaming generally tends to showcase censored content (compared to what we see on TV networks such as AT-X), to many fans’ discontent.
We have gotten endless inquiries and suggestions for titles people would love to see in their uncensored format! Unfortunately, not all anime producers, studios, etc. are willing to release the uncensored versions. This is because Japan has extremely strict censorship laws. This makes some anime companies hesitant to provide the data, even if we offer to do the de-censoring work.
Some companies also do not realize there is a huge market for their uncensored works. They have just never thought that people outside of Japan would be interested in them.
All I can say is that, despite some hesitation or difficulties procuring them, our uncensored title collection will continue to grow. All uncensored shows on our site our labelled as “Premium,” and adult works are separated with a #NSFW tag.
Q: You’ve stated that SFW and family-oriented shows will eventually find their way to the platform. With OceanVeil being billed by the anime community as an R-18 site, how do you plan to bring customers who might be hesitant to buy a subscription to a streaming service that hosts adult content?
Great question! By family-oriented, I guess you could say more… non-explicit shows? I always have trouble finding the exact words to use in this situation, but due to hosting adult content we don’t think we could ever be KID FRIENDLY, though we would love to be more… USER friendly?
We are planning to bring on titles that are older, maybe no longer on other sites, titles that may not have gotten as much attention as other titles, but in the broad aspect of things, most of our titles will be more for a target audience in their 20s and 30s.
We just want to provide MORE than just adult content to enjoy. We can only keep trying to expand our non-adult content to a point where customers are no longer hesitant to subscribe. We just want them to know that we will continue to expand our collection of niche content to scratch their little itch.
Q: OceanVeil has tagged lists highlighting titles in genres such as BL. Do you plan on expanding on these and adding more “specific” tags that might be appealing to those who browse the “secret” NSFW section of the site?
We are currently working on implementing and expanding our #tag system. While we will NOT add any tags that would be flagged by any credit processor or advertisement company, we want to add tags to make it easier for people to find the kind of content they want to see.
As we have been asked it several times through various Social Media platforms, genres like “loli” or “shota” will never make their way to our site. Any material or tags that go against multiple countries’ censorship and adult content regulations will not be on our site.
As our company is rather known for its BL anime and manga (such as The Titan’s Bride), we will continue to grow our BL section and hope to expand and bring in GL (Girls’ Love) content as well along with any other niche category that we deem within worldwide regulations.
Q: When a company takes a step to promote content that was considered taboo, and it works, other companies usually emulate it. If OceanVeil’s strategy proves to be successful, do you think it will force anime streaming services as a whole to reconsider their stance towards uncensored content?
To be honest, no. I don’t think there are many companies out there that are willing to take the risk by adding uncensored content.
The payment processor restrictions, (laws that vary by country, or even by state in some cases, like America), make navigating the adult content landscape a feat not for the faint of heart. We do hope that regulations on adult content will lessen in the future making it less taboo, less like a bad thing to spend your money on.
From what I’ve seen, there have been moves by larger anime streaming companies to also do away with mature content, borderline-H content, heavily editing the Japanese to take out the more “inappropriate” jokes and even go as far as completely stopping the streaming of some works. Even the words used for ratings has changed!
Q: Lastly, OceanVeil has established itself as a community, both on Discord and Twitter/X. What made you decide to take this approach?
I, the person behind the Twitter/X and Discord, as well as basically anything that comes out from OceanVeil in English, pushed the idea. I felt that if we wanted to be a service that reached people, made them want to subscribe, and even trust us—it would require building a service they could stand behind.
That means being honest and up-front with the users. Taking their feedback and actually USING it. Taking suggestions and recommendations and actually SEARCHING for them. We actually made several successful contacts and deals with other companies thanks to feedback and suggestions from our users.
I can honestly say, though our site has released softly, with a huge air of secrecy, there has been outstanding support from people who really buy into the idea of what we are trying to make. It’s a service they want and want to make better. We have a huge list of new features that need to be added, a large portion of them being suggestions from users.
This will be a really old and maybe unknown reference, but my family really loved baseball when I was a kid, in the movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s hears a mysterious voice that keeps saying, “If you build it, he will come,” often misquoted as “Build it and they will come.” I believe that, if we build what the fans want, they will in turn come and support us. That was the real reason behind building a community for the site. It’s a safe place to be a part of the process, to be heard, to see your ideas actually come to life on the site, and to talk to other people that just might be holding the same secrets as you… And by secrets, I think we all know what I’m alluding to.
We’d like to thank Jason for taking the time to answer our questions in so much detail. OceanVeil is fairly new but it is a type of platform overseas anime fans haven’t seen in quite some time. We look forward to seeing where it goes and how it will grow in the future!