JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the biggest IPs in anime these days, and the franchise asks a lot of its stars. From Jonathan to Jolyne, JoJo requires its voice actors to dig deep with their acting, and that means all kinds of performances have been given to bring the Joestar crew to life. Now, JoJo’s characters are stirring a big debate, and we have an AI-generated dub of the anime to thank.
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As you can see below, a Twitter user sparked the debate when they posted an AI-generated dub of an iconic Jotaro scene. The moment in question checks in on the JoJo hero as he stands before his dead grandfather at Dio’s hand. The pair go on to approach the other before trading blows in an epic fight. And if you have seen this scene’s English dub, you will know actor Matthew Mercer went all out to do Jotaro justice.
In this AI-generated dub of JoJo, you can tell there are points of inflection, but the entire performance is dead, to say the very least. It feels as if a sheet of cardboard is trying to act, and the tonal fluctuations here are few and frustrating. This tech-driven performance could not be more different from the one Mercer recorded years ago. As you can imagine, the latter shines so much brighter than its AI counterpart, and there is a day-and-night difference between what the AI does for Dio versus what Patrick Seitz brought to the character.
Now, the JoJo fandom and anime community at large are looking at this generated dub as an example of AI’s pitfalls. The tech itself has been in the headlines for months now as more and more learning machines are trying to teach AIs creativity. From tech-generated artwork to AI-driven music, artists from every discipline are speaking out against the sham fad as it continues to grow. Now, voice actors are getting in on the conversation as AI dubbing is becoming more of a threat by the day.
Voice actors who specialize in dubbing have spoken at length about the anime industry’s unfair wages in the face of the industry’s consistent growth. Last year, the topic took over social media when Mob Psycho 100 star Kyle McCarley was forced to exit the anime’s dub due to union issues. The actor’s request for Crunchyroll to negotiate with SAG-AFTRA on cast contracts wasn’t granted, and despite pushback from fans, McCarley exited the anime despite voicing its protagonist Shigeo. Moving forward, AI-created dubs could endanger negotiations for actors, and this viral JoJo video shows why talented VAs will always outshine whatever technology attempts to replicate.
What do you make of this AI-generated dub of Jotaro’s iconic scene? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
