I don't claim to be an expert on economics or anything, but the general vibe in a lot of countries seems to be something along the lines of "shit's fucked." When corporations use loopholes to get away with shady practices such as not paying their workers what they're owed, those workers tend to turn to unions, which is becoming increasingly common these days. These corporations aren't usually too fond of unions, especially Amazon, Tesla, and more recently, Sony. Or rather, their recently acquired subsidiary of Crunchyroll.

It started with their announcement of the third season of Mob Psycho 100. The first two seasons had Kyle McCarley as the English dub voice of protagonist Shigeo Kageyama, AKA Mob. Kyle was excited to return to voice Mob in the dub of season 3, until producers Crunchyroll made it clear they didn't want to work with someone affiliated with SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists).

Kyle lays it out in this here video, but the short version is Crunchyroll simply don't work with union contracts. The first two seasons were licensed by Bang Zoom! Entertainment, who let actors work from home and respected union demands over insurance, breaks and pay. Crunchryoll, however, gave up on working from home after COVID and now only work with voice actors in Texas, and are refusing to meet Guild requirements over future contract negotiations. Kyle would have accepted their contract under non-union terms providing they agreed to a conversation with a union representative in good faith, but Crunchyroll refused. Now it looks like pretty much every character is getting recast as a result of their non-union hiring practises. 

Crunchyroll's response was: "“Crunchyroll is excited to bring fans worldwide the dub for the third season of Mob Psycho 100 III as a SimulDub, 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.” I.e. justifying their buullshit with corporate speak. It's no wonder fans are calling to boycott Crunchyroll, again.

What do you guys think of this? Has this put you off Crunchyroll? Sound off below!