The Mob Psycho 100 recasting situation explained
Controversy? In my anime? It’s more likely than you think. As Crunchyroll has become the dominant figure in anime, it has continued to flex its corporate muscles to tackle the sort of problems that only arise when you’re slowly engulfing an entire media industry. The latest problem of its own making comes just ahead of the Mob Psycho 100 season three premiere, and involves the one thing Crunchyroll fears more than marketplace competition: labour unions.
Not only is the whole situation a terrible look for the company, but it could – and should – have a massive impact on the anime dubbing industry. Which is remarkable, because the controversy surrounding the Mob Psycho 100 dub at the moment is one entirely of Crunchyroll’s own making.
Why has Mob been recast?
Kyle McCarley has been the English voice of everyone’s favourite emotional powder keg, Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama, since the first season and has done a great job of making the role his own. So much so that he went into contract negotiations with Crunchyroll ahead of the season three dub with a few demands. Aside from paying him fairly for his time and talent, something that Crunchyroll has routinely resisted in the past, he had a simple request: sit down for a meeting with union officials.
Originally, McCarley, according to a video he posted to YouTube on the topic, had asked that his contract for the third season of the dub be done under a contract with SAG-AFTRA, who represent over 160,000 media professionals. However, when they refused to do that, he agreed to take on the role under a non-union contract if the company agreed to simply meet with union officials to discuss a longer-term contract between them.
Crunchyroll, in a move that unfortunately highlights how replaceable they see their English voice actors as being, refused to do so, instead opting to recast the lead in one of the biggest shows of the season just a few weeks ahead of its premiere. Rather than even sit down for a meeting that they were free to walk away from without making a single concession, they decided to walk away from negotiations that could have improved the welfare of all their voice actors.
Why fans should care about the Mob Psycho 100 situation
This all might sound like a bunch of boring corporate politics, so many fans might wonder why it matters what sort of contract English voice actors are on. However, dub actors have been on the brink of unionisation for several years now, with a mixture of low pay, rushed and dangerous working conditions, and a lack of care from Crunchyroll forcing the issue. SAG-AFTRA contracts aim to protect actors from these things, providing funding for healthcare and protections against long sessions of heavy shouting that can seriously strain or even damage their vocal cords.
Healthy vocal cords, it turns out, are important for their job. It’s why Aaron Dismuck, the original English voice of Miyuki Shirogane in Kaguya-sama: Love is War, was recast in the show’s third season: he seriously injured his throat recording too many sessions too quickly. However, due to the low pay voice actors get for dubbing anime – many only getting between $35 and $75 per hour at major studios like Funimation – they have little choice but to take as much work as they can get.
No matter your opinions on “dubs versus subs” — and I cannot stress enough how little I care about your opinion on that tired debate — there is no doubt that people deserve to be paid fairly for their time and talent. Even ignoring how disrespectful it is to all their actors to recast the lead of a major show like Mob Psycho 100, a role that McCarley has been stellar in for two seasons, for such a petty reason, the company’s unwillingness to compromise speaks volumes to the mindset of what is a billion-pound company that effectively controls anime distribution in much of the world.
The move is one of the biggest self-inflicted PR wounds in Crunchyroll’s history. The high profile of Mob Psycho 100, one of the biggest shows of a heavily stacked season, means that millions of fans who would never have heard of SAG-AFTRA contracts or the often-dire working conditions of the English actors behind their favourite characters suddenly have an opinion on how the company treats its freelance workforce. And you know what angry people with opinions do on the Internet.
On top of all that, the harder that Crunchyroll pushes back against unionisation and refuses to even engage with the idea, the more it will force voice actors down that path. They’re going to have to confront this issue directly sooner rather than later.
Mob Psycho 100 will still air this season, though it is unclear how much of the English cast will be returning. If Crunchyroll isn’t careful, this hit show could be the tipping point in a labour movement it has been fighting against for years.
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