“ChatGPT Said What?”: Crunchyroll’s AI Subtitle Debacle and Consumer Advocacy

Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show was supposed to be one of Crunchyroll‘s most anticipated acquisitions for the Summer season this year, an original series produced by CyGames in the wake of the mobile game developer’s smash hit mobile game Umamusume Pretty Derby finally being released in English after years of waiting by its equally rapt and dedicated fanbase that took the initiative to adopt the Japanese version of the game years ago and build up its community to the point that the company sponsored major American horse racing events in the build up to the game’s official English launch earlier this year.

What was supposed to be yet another Summer season launch for Crunchyroll ended up going completely off the rails thanks to eagle eyed fans catching the flagrant mistakes and errors in the subtitles for Necronomico, in multiple languages, no less. Once the errors were dissected from the subtitle script and it was discovered that CyGames itself supplied the script, what made the situation even more shocking was the development that Crunchyroll seemingly conducted little, if any oversight regarding the legibility and the accuracy of the subtitle script, as references to “ChatGPT Said” popped up in the German subtitles.

So I sit here, wondering why anyone would continue to trust Crunchyroll after it only decided to acknowledge the mistake after constant press outreach and coverage regarding the controversy, a controversy it could have easily avoided by not relying on licensor partners for subtitles and paying people, experts even, to do the job. At some point, cost cutting does more damage to a business so reliant on reliability and returning subscribers like streaming, and giving people an excuse to question the business doesn’t seem like the best idea. I was on the ground floor for how the business worked from 2011 to 2024 as a contributor, but it might as well have been a completely different company when Crunchyroll was purchased in 2021 and everyone around me that helped build the platform started bailing out, either to greener pastures within anime, or some even leaving the industry entirely.

Crunchyroll hasn’t been the same company since the Sony purchase and Funimation merger, and it really seems like the Necronomico controversy is the result of the business shifting away from running a solid streaming platform, to awkwardly turn Crunchyroll into a lifestyle brand where the focus seems to be promoting concerts and musical acts instead of anime, rather than making sure all of the new shows have decent subs with people getting paid to make them, not just subcontracting it out to someone that’s just going to feed an LLM with no oversight.

What’s most frustrating to me is that the executive suite is constantly telegraphing that AI will be an element of the business and the fact that they gave themselves plausible deniability by stating that it was a third-party that supplied the subtitles to CyGames. If this was the case, why was CyGames apparently involved directly with the original subtitles according to the original subtitle script before the unpublicized update that removed the busted subtitles? I don’t appreciate that Cygames can apparently skate off with with its reputation intact, Crunchyroll can blame a yet unknown third-party for the mess and expect that to be an acceptable public-facing explanation.

The abdication of responsibility is what pisses me off the most. Cancel your subscription. Share your reasons on the feedback form after you cancel. Demand better. Anime isn’t just entertainment; it’s an art form that deserves translators with empathy, platforms with integrity, and a community that refuses to settle for rank mediocrity.Hold Crunchyroll accountable by canceling your subscription, it’s the only way they’ll learn that proper subtitles and translation will always matter, and AI translation is a dead end. Fandom shouldn’t be silent just because of dreams to work in the industry. We must demand integrity—even from companies we once trusted.

Prove to the dozens of colleagues that I’ve made over the years, some of the best translators in the industry that have worked on shows for Crunchyroll, that you give a shit about their effort. Effort that much of the time goes unrecognized and unfairly rewarded with unjust pay rates and very little security. These people have helped me along the way in my career and they deserve a lot more than the pittance they get paid per episode. Doing it for the love of the game doesn’t pay for bills, food, healthcare and housing.

Thankfully, there are still alternatives to Crunchyroll that still prioritize quality localization. Distributors such as Discotek Media, AnimEigo, and alternative streaming platforms like HIDIVE and RetroCrush continue to invest in translation, as an example. Physical media collectors can now import Japanese Blu-rays from major publishers, many with official English subtitles. But beyond choosing different platforms and methods for watching, fandom and subscribers also need to organize. By combining economic pressure with grassroots advocacy, we can collectively punish poor decision making and foster respect for the craft of translation and translators. You may not want to give up watching anime on Crunchyroll, but were it any other company or service, would you want to continue to give money to companies that give you a poor product or service and disrespect you in the process? I wouldn’t.

You can support my editorials and commentary by contributing to my Ko-Fi page linked at the top and bottom of the site, or browsing my Amazon wishlist. I was previously a long-term contributor to Crunchyroll News from 2011 to 2024.