Amazon Pulls AI Anime Dubs After Massive Backlash, Affected Works Included ‘Vinland Saga’, ‘Banana Fish’ And ‘No Game No Life: Zero’
Despite their hopes of using the technology to cut corners and free them from putting any real investment into their anime investments, a storm of fan backlash has led Amazon to pull back on their controversial AI dubbing program, which had already been sloppily applied to such works as Vinland Saga, Banana Fish, and No Game No Life: Zero.
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Launched on March 5th, Amazon claimed that their use of AI to produce anime dubs would make their streaming library more accessible to audiences by using “a hybrid approach to dubbing consisting of localization professionals collaborating with AI to ensure quality control,” with Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video VP of technology Raf Soltanovich specifically emphasizing that “AI-aided dubbing is only available for titles that do not have dubbing support”.
And while the program has ostensibly been in the works ever since, it was finally rolled out this past November, as confirmed by a Prime Video viewer who discovered and subsequently shared an example of the “hilariously bad” AI dubbing given to MAPPA’s 2018 adaptation of Akimi Yoshida’s Banana Fish:
As well as the likewise “horrific” dubbing featured in Amazon’s AI take on the No Game, No Life: Zero, which contrary to Soltanovich’s promise actually had a pre-existing English dub from Sentai Filmworks:
Following the sharing of these clips, this article’s author dove into Amazon Prime Video’s anime catalog to catalog which series had received the AI dubbing treatment either in English or Spanish as of December 1st, as indicated by the presence of an ‘AI Beta’ tag on their respective pages.
Per our cross-referencing, the affected works included:
- Banana Fish (English and Spanish)
- Dororo (2019) (Spanish)
- Journal of the Mysterious Creatures (English)
- Karakuri Circus (Spanish)
- No Game No Life: Zero (English)
- Pet (English)
- Vinland Saga Season One (Spanish)
Notably, Banana Fish is the lone title on this list whose license is solely owned by Amazon, who first acquired the series for their short-lived Amazon Anime Strike service.
And in another contradiction to Soltanovich’s promise, Vinland Saga‘s first season received the AI treatment despite having already had two different English dubs, provided by Sentai Filmworks/Crunchyroll and Netflix respectively.
With a flurry of backlash pouring out against these AI bastardizations, Amazon eventually pulled all of their English-language AI dubs on the morning of December 4th, though as of writing the Spanish AI dubs still remain live.
As of publication, Amazon has yet to offer any official communication regarding either the quality of their AI dubbing or their decision to halt the practice.
However, when reached by Western anime news publication Anime News Network (ANN) and asked as to whether they had any prior knowledge of Amazon applying AI dubbing to their original works, a representative for current No Game No Life: Zero IP holder Kadokawa confirmed that the company had not approved an AI dub “in any form”.
Likewise, the film’s Western market licensor, Sentai Filmworks told the outlet that they were “not aware in advance” of any AI dub plansand would be “looking into it with Amazon”.
Though also asked for comment by ANN, Banana Fish production house Aniplex has yet to provide them with an official response.
