By now, there’s likely you’ve heard about the hubbub over the new season of Mob Psycho 100 on Crunchyroll. You can read about it here or here if you haven’t, but if not, let’s start from the top.
The Mob Psycho 100 Anime
The anime adaptation of Mob Psycho 100 was licensed by Crunchyroll before its 2016 airing, and after Crunchyroll and Funimation struck a partnership, a dub was later made through Bang Zoom! Studios.
Bang Zoom! is based in California along with Crunchyroll, while Funimation was headquartered in Texas. Kyle McCarley starred in the production as the series protagonist, and he and others returned for the second season and OVA in 2019.
A third season, Mob Psycho 100 III, was officially announced in October 2021, and later scheduled for October 2022.
Crunchyroll, which by now had been acquired by Funimation’s owner Sony, confirmed it had the licensed in June 2022.
Then, in September, Kyle McCarley posted a video message to fans.
In it, the SAG-AFTRA union member explains he learned Crunchyroll would not make it a union dub, but McCarley would work non-union in exchange for potential future contract roles at the company. According to him, it was less about the money and more about the benefits (e.g. health care). But the way things were going, it was unlikely Crunchyroll would agree, so McCarley would likely not return.
Crunchyroll later confirmed to Kotaku roles in Mob Psycho 100 would be recast because, “We’ll be producing the English dub at our Dallas production studios, and to accomplish this seamlessly per our production and casting guidelines, we will need to recast some roles.”
The Rising Push for Unions
Now, I won’t turn this into a union vs right-to-work debate; I covered the basics when Seven Seas employees were looking to organize (and successfully did).
In essence, some people argue that Crunchyroll, like any business, should save money whenever they can so they can produce more dubs. Other fans counter the voice actors need some financial stability.
McCarley detailed more about why he feels unions are important on his Twitter account,
and fellow voice actors like Anairis QuiΓ±ones and Ben Diskin shared their opinions and experiences in their own Twitter threads.
It is likely other productions will have similar contentions. Across all industries, more and more people are being required to work at the office instead of just at home, and at the same time, there is a rise in workers’ rights with quiet quitting, rising union support, etc. So it’s no surprise this conflict is spilling over into the anime sector.
Several observers have pointed out not all of Crunchyroll’s new English language productions are being recorded in Texas; Chainsaw Man, for instance, has talent from the Los Angeles area. So while Crunchyroll’s statement to Kotaku does give the impression they are no longer doing remote work, they aren’t fully shifting to an in-person, Texas-only approach to dubs.
Fan Support and Protests
And on that note, many dub fans are looking for ways to pressure Crunchyroll into changing their minds, especially since they aren’t making all of their dubs in Texas, but at this late date, there is little reason to believe they’ll backtrack. They might not even be able to without having to restart the whole process considering they’re doing a simuldub and the first episode of Mob Psycho 100 III will be added to Crunchyroll on October 5th.
So for fans who are upset McCarley and other Mob Psycho 100 alum won’t reprise their roles, what can they do?
Well, they can watch union dubs, like the ones at Netflix.
A few fans have said they are going to pirate the new season of Mob Psycho 100, but that’s not the way to go. The Crunchyroll/Funimation merger is also being blamed for this situation since they are so large, but the company is here to stay. If you are going to cancel your Crunchyroll subscription, then you have to give up on Crunchyroll shows.
Fans can always support the voice actors’ other endeavors, like if they have panels at cons or online interview sessions. Voice over artists generally don’t gain the pay or notoriety TV/movie actors do as easily, so supplemental income and buzz help.
Raising awareness about unions is always helpful, and fans could always look to join one themselves. Sure, SAG-AFTRA is a different category than, say, public service or food clerks, but if unions’ power rise in one sector, it can have a ripple effect. Especially since several of them are saying they are worried about ramifications for speaking up about the downsides of working without a SAG-AFTRA contract.
Otherwise, if consistency is important to you in a show, Mob Psycho 100 fans are going to have to stick to the Japanese cast. No one should wish the new English staff ill will, and the battle over union vs. non-union is not going to abate any time soon. At the very least, anime fans should want their favorite voice actors to be well compensated in both pay and benefits. Sometimes recasts are unavoidable, but it shouldn’t be because a voice actor can’t live off of $150 per session before taxes with no benefits.
And those benefits are important, because as evidenced recently by the 35-year-old voice behind the English version of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure‘s Josuke, health problems can come at you fast, and even beyond natural diseases, voice acting has its own risks. I think we’d all like to see those who are talented enough to go pro stay a pro, and if someone is cast as a character in season 1 of an anime, the show has more impact when they can keep coming back in season 2, 3, and beyond.