Amazon’s Prime Video service sparked a massive controversy with the launch of an artificial intelligence powered English dub release for a classic anime, and now the dub has been removed from the service in the wake of challenges form both fans and members of the industry. English dubs are some of the most preferred ways that anime fans watch their favorite shows these days, and it means that unfortunately they are waiting to see some truly legendary works as a result of the fact that they have yet to receive an official dub. But Prime Video’s take on that was definitely not the way to go.
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Prime Video launched a new English dub for the anime adaptation of Akimi Yoshida’s classic, Banana Fish, but fans quickly discovered that it was produced completely with A.I. It meant the dub did not have any official human voice actors, and clips from the dub revealed it to be poor in quality. But following a backlash from those who had noticed this release, the dub has since disappeared from the streaming service. Amazon themselves have yet to comment on the matter, however.
Prime Video Removes Controversial A.I. Dub
It’s important to note that the A.I. English dub for Banana Fish has been removed from the Prime Video streaming service, but it’s not clear as to whether or not it was removed as a response to the backlash itself. Many names across the voice acting industry expressed their concerns about the dub, and most of all it had brought up some concerns about the health of the industry moving forward. It’s a cost-cutting measure that eliminates an entire art form and profession, and it’s a poor sign for how Amazon will be handling their anime releases moving forward.
The dub for Banana Fish just happened to be spotted by fans alongside A.I. dubs for projects that already had English dub releases like Vinland Saga and No Game No Life. But Amazon themselves did not announce that they were going to be testing out such an endeavor. If anime fans did not spot the test, then it’s likely the streaming service would have launched many more dubs in this matter with the hopes that no one would be the wiser. There’s just something about this that doesn’t sit right with many, and it’s certainly a wrong path forward for the streamer too.
What Does This Mean for Anime’s Future?
If Prime Video continues to experiment with A.I. English dubs (and still has the A.I. version of the Spanish dub for Banana Fish available as of this writing), it’s a poor path forward for the industry. An entire generation of fans prefer to watch their anime with English dubs, and those behind the scenes have done a lot of work to better portray their performances than what might have been seen in the 1980s or 1990s dubs. There’s a reason why it’s become so popular with fans in recent years.
A.I. being used to replace those actors will only harm production studios even further. Anime fans deserve more credit as they will not only recognize when a dub is not produced with enough care or quality, but when it doesn’t match the intensity of a given scene. It shows that a platform does not care about their licenses, and should raise eyebrows moving forward.
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm -
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros
