The Crunchyroll/Funimation Merger Keeps Getting Worse
There was, early on, hope that the merger between Crunchyroll and Funimation under Sony and the uniting of the services to the former would be a net boon for the anime world. But it didn’t take long for that fantasy to crumble and provide the newest example of how bad mergers are for those who aren’t executives. It sure sounded promising to have all that content under one massive roof for one price instead of paying for two services, but six months later, plenty of content remains only on Funimation. They’re, at least, still in the process of getting around to adding all of them. This is on the lower end of the scale compared to the other horrendous issues that have surfaced.
This deal has quickly become very bad for anyone who tends to watch English-dubbed anime. Despite all the spending Sony did for the theatrical and eventual streaming release of Jujutsu Kaisen 0, for instance, the dub actors were paid poorly for their work. Voice actor Michael Schwalbe explained in a Twitter thread, reported on by Anime News Network as part of a larger feature about union dubs, that “Jujutsu Kaisen‘s English voice actors were likely paid just $150 to $600 each, based on the going rate in the industry.” They clarified that this was the total amount they were paid. Fellow voice actor Anairis Quiñones recently said on Twitter that she was among those paid a mere $150 for their work.
Crunchyroll suffered zero consequences for this, which meant the next self-inflicted scandal regarding anime dubbing for the company was just around the corner. They have, right on cue, willingly stepped into a pile of crap of their own creation yet again, but the lack of surprise here doesn’t make this any less infuriating.
Actor Kyle McCarley explained the unlikelihood of him reprising the role of protagonist Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama in the dub for Mob Psycho 100’s third season though a YouTube video. Crunchyroll, he claimed, was unwilling to work with him under the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union contract.
Crunchyroll, reached out to McCarley to ask about reprising the role of Mob for the third season on September 8th, according to his comments to Kotaku, a move that surprised him after Funimation replaced his role in the Scarlet Nexus anime adaptation for similarly union-related reasons. McCarley explained that he would have been happy to reprise the role, but as part of a union contract. While Crunchyroll was prepared to pay him the amount he would have received for the main job, negotiations went south after McCarley asked them to pay benefits towards healthcare and retirement, which he would receive under a union gig. These kinds of benefits are necessary in the United States, a so-called first-world country that doesn’t guarantee solid retirement benefits and universal healthcare. This ask, apparently, was a step too far for the anime subsidiary of a massive corporation.
McCarley then tried to make a deal to reprise the role on the condition that Crunchyroll would work with SAG-AFTRA for a company-wide union agreement in the future, the same kind Netflix signed in 2019. This, too, was a step too far.
Crunchyroll sent a response to Kotaku for their story, which largely dodged the specifics regarding what occurred with McCarley and focused on promoting the show’s SimulDub (meaning the dub will release alongside the Japanese version as broadcasted). In the middle of the statement is this goodie: “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 Dallas studio, of course, is what used to be Funimation. The company could not be happier to move their primary dubbing there with how the state’s Republican leadership, entrenched thanks to horrendous gerrymandering, have long been staunch opponents of unions. Corporations love it, Crunchyroll among them.
Also note how Crunchyroll said they’ll have to replace “some roles,” which means McCarley isn’t alone here. If they don’t speak up in the next few days (or perhaps by the time this post goes live), we’ll find out who they are for sure when the series begins airing on October 5th.
Crunchyroll is now treating their voice actors like the translators they’ve provided a pittance to for years. This is a big organization (one that ironically, it should be noted, started as a piracy website) owned by an even larger corporation cheapening out. It’s a corporation that clearly isn’t hurting for money when they had enough to purchase a rival retailer (and immediately remove their porn) after this merger. It’s going to be tough for the voice actors and translators to make any changes, and several of them are risking being blacklisted for speaking out, but I hope they keep at it. Meanwhile, this should be the newest evidence for why some companies need ample competition, or to be broken up. If only governments in the world had stronger antitrust laws.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
