Crunchyroll recast Mob Psycho 100 season 3 to avoid unions, says actor

Crunchyroll faced criticism on Tuesday when it revealed that Crunchyroll’s third season was in its final year. Mob Psycho 100 would see a new English-language voice actor take over the series’ starring role. This news comes just weeks ahead of the series’ premiere. Mob Psycho 100’s season 3 premiere in early October.

In a video uploaded to YouTube and Twitter, voice actor Kyle McCarley, the original voice actor for Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama, explained to fans that he would likely not be returning to perform the role of Mob in the upcoming third season of the Mob Psycho 100. He understood the reasons. due to a breakdown in negotiations between McCarley and Crunchyroll pertaining to the actor’s desire to work under a union contract.

“It has been abundantly clear to me that in the case of season three of Mob Psycho 100, Crunchyroll is not going to be producing that show on a SAG-AFTRA budget,” McCarley says in the video. “And I want to put this little note in here to be very, very clear, it’s not about money. They offered to pay me at most what they would get on a contract of union scale, if not more. They just don’t want to put it on a union contract.”

McCarley explains further that he accepted a SAG-AFTRA deal in return for his performance on the upcoming season. Mob Psycho 100Crunchyroll was granted a nonunion contract under condition Crunchyroll meets with SAGAFTRA representatives in order to negotiate a future contract.

“Crunchyroll has historically been very, very hesitant to take anything they produce onto a SAG-AFTRA contract, and because of the role that I have in this particular show, and this particular show’s popularity with you guys, it seemed like maybe there was an opportunity to change that.”

When asked for comment, Crunchyroll responded by announcing that the company would “need to recast some roles” in the English dub of the upcoming season of Mob Psycho 100. Online, the response has been intense. voice actors, criticsAnd fansCrunchyroll should take more action to recognise SAG-AFTRA, and to agree to negotiations in good faith.

Here’s Crunchyroll’s official statement provided to Polygon:

Crunchyroll welcomes fans from all over the globe to Crunchyroll for its third season. Mob Psycho 100 IIISimulDubs will be broadcast the same day and date as the Japanese broadcast. 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. We’re excited for fans to enjoy the new voice talent and greatly thank any departing cast for their contributions to previous seasons.

Crunchyroll was in the news last August when Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. announced it had purchased Funimation, an anime streaming company and entertainment company, for $1.175 million. Crunchyroll, LLC took over the Funimation collection of anime titles and folded it under Crunchyroll. The company has only continued to grow and consolidate in the wake of its acquisition by Sony, with Crunchyroll purchasing Right Stuf, one of the largest online anime merchandise retailers, back in August, resulting in the “phasing out the Erotica genre content and product” on the retailer’s website. While Crunchyroll’s troubled relationship with voice-over actors, translators, and the growing demand for union representation in anime is an ongoing controversy in the industry, McCarley’s decision to voluntarily step away from Mob Psycho 100Season 3 represents one of the most prominent moments of friction for an increasingly monolithic corporation.

Mob Psycho 100Crunchyroll premieres season 3 on October 5th