Danica Davidson
September 21, 2022 
Mob Psycho 100‘s third season, Mob Psycho 100 III, is debuting next month and receiving a SimulDub. However, it appears that Crunchyroll is replacing some of the dub actors last minute because of the actors’ interest in Crunchyroll having a conversation with the union Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists about possible contracts in the future.
Kyle McCarley, who has been the voice of the lead Shigeo Kageyama (a.k.a Mob) in the first two seasons, shared a video where he gave his perspective on the situation. According to him, he’s not asking Crunchyroll for more money or to agree to anything yet, but just to be open to the discussion.
McCarley further explained in writing why he thinks unions are important in this line of work:
“Unions protect the workers they represent chiefly by giving them collective bargaining power, meaning that instead of negotiating the terms of your employment individually, one-on-one, the union negotiates baseline minimums for everyone all at once. This generally leads to better terms for all workers, because as a collective, you have sway in these negotiations. How much you get paid, how long your hours are, how hard those hours are, how often you get breaks or time off, what safety precautions are taken, etc.
Just one example of how SAG-AFTRA helps voice over performers, specifically, is by negotiating terms that protect us from vocally stressful work. We often have to do a lot of screaming/shouting on the job, but our contracts ensure it’s never for too long a time. Our union’s also gone to great lengths to educate both us and our employers on the dangers of vocally stressful work. And there are plenty of other benefits, but the big ones I want to point out are the health insurance and retirement fund.”
Seemingly in response to this, Crunchyroll gave this quote to Kotaku:
“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.”
After this statement was released, McCarley said, “It has been made 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 contract.” McCarley further said to Kotaku, “I don’t know why they [Crunchyroll] are so firmly anti-union that they won’t even agree to having a conversation about it. I felt like it was a pretty reasonable request, but you’d have to ask them why they appear to disagree.”
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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