The Drama Surrounding ‘Mob Psycho 100’ Season 3, Explained

Sit down bitches, because I’ve got tea.

There is drama happening with the cast of the beloved anime series Mob Psycho 100. And it’s Crunchyroll’s fault.

A Mob Psycho 100 season 3 voice actor is not returning

According to this interview with Mob’s English language voice actor, Kyle McCarely, McCarely stated that he will not be returning to voice Mob because Crunchyroll has refused to work with him under a Screen Actor’s Guild contract.

And that is some fucking bullshit.

That’s basically like saying that you’re going to produce a new medicine without following F.D.A. protocols. That’s like saying you’re going to open a restaurant without following health and safety rules. That’s like starting construction on a building without following building codes so the whole thing could just fall apart at any second. It’s just not done because it’s not safe.

No, this is not about money. This is about rights. The Screen Actors Guild was established to protect actors from bullshit, because actors are members of a profession that is especially vulnerable to bullshit. Long hours, dangerous situations, complicated sexual boundaries, actors have to deal with a cornucopia of hazards while on the job. When I say the phrase “Hollywood producer” do you immediately get skeeved out? Well you should, because motherfuckers like that have been doing harmful and predatory things to actors while on the job since people started making movies. The solution? Actors formed a union. And you do not fuck with the union. I guess Crunchyroll didn’t get the memo.

See here’s the really weird thing: most voice-acting jobs are under contract. Those radio commercials that you hear where somebody is trying to sell you burgers or car insurance? Those people are generally all under contract. I should know because I’m one of them. I work as a voice actor, and all of my contracts have been under SAG rules. It’s just how it’s done. So for the lead actor for one of the most popular anime series to be refused on the grounds of their SAG contract is batshit. SAG contracts aren’t something reserved for only triple A actors, they’re the bare minimum that you get when you do any film or T.V. job. And if they aren’t, then somebody is seriously fucking up. And that someone is Crunchyroll. And Twitter ain’t pleased.

He’s right. This is some serious bullshit. He’s also right that it’s an old, old game that corporations play with workers. I mean look at Amazon. For a long time, talking about unionizing at Amazon was equivalent to talking about what a nice person Marie Antionette was during the French Revolution. It would get you axed by the powers that be. It’s simply a shame that this sort of thing has spread to Crunchyroll. You really would think they’d give their lead actors the bare minimum of protections, but apparently, that’s just too rich for their blue blood.

But see, here’s the other complication. You know how I said that SAG contracts are par for the course with basically every single film and T.V. job there is? That isn’t the case with anime dubs. There is currently a crisis going on with voice actors in the anime dubbing field who aren’t able to get SAG contracts. Many English language anime voice actors are not protected by the union, because anime conglomerates like Crunchyroll are refusing to honor union rules. If you tried to do that in Hollywood, they’d have your head on a spike on Sunset Boulevard. Hell, even indie films get very intense about that sort of thing, and for good reason. If you are not working under a union contract, you are not being fairly compensated for the work you’re doing. Period.

So who is going to voice Mob in Mob Psycho 100 Season 3?

We don’t know.

“But that’s impossible” I’m sure you’re thinking. “Season 3 has aired already, just check the credits!”

Well that’s the thing…

THERE AREN’T ANY CREDITS.

Gross right? In a move that blows my mind, Mob Pyscho 100‘s Season 3 cast in uncredited in the first episode because it seems the powers that be have decided to just do away with credits entirely. And there is nothing on the internet either. I’ve scoured it, and I can’t find out anything. Like obviously some of the other actors from Seasons 1 and 2 returned, I recognize their voices, but I wouldn’t know for sure. They could all be unpaid clones of the original voice cast, grown in the vat on the side of a piece of collagen. I honestly wouldn’t put anything past the people at Crunchyroll at this point.

It honestly just goes to show the bullshit that actors have to deal with on the daily, and is a textbook lesson on why unions exists in the first place. Could you image if Marvel decided to simply get rid of credits in Avengers: Endgame? Just erase the work of the bajillion people that worked on that film? Neither can I. There would be riots in the street. There would probably be one metric fuckton of lawsuits. Every lawyer on Earth would be involved. There would be legal death matches. Fine Italian suits stained with blood. Briefcases with edges sharpened to cut like a shard of obsidian. Specialized fireteams of elite legal operatives performing black ops in the dead of night. Military black sites filled with studio executives turned political prisoners. Social upheaval. Revolution. The fall of the American Government. Marshal Lawfirm declared. Nuclear launch codes in the hands of paralegals. A world at war. Big red buttons pushed in shadowy offices. Airblasts. Fire balls. Radiation falling like rain. Nuclear winter. The salitter drying from the Earth. A slow descent into oblivion. Nothing left but the ashes legal documents, blown about in the dead wind.

I’m exaggerating. But somebody would def get fired. And I’m sure that hasn’t happened at Crunchyroll. But at this point, it really should.

(featured image credit: bones)