For viewers nostalgic for the awkward charm of early anime dubs, Amazon Prime Video’s recent rollout of “AI beta” voice tracks has been more cringe than comfort. The streaming service deployed AI-generated English and Latin American Spanish dubs for Banana Fish and No Game, No Life Zero, prompting widespread criticism online for their unnatural delivery and tonal mismatches. Observers also noted the same “AI beta” label on dubs for Pet, Journal of the Mysterious Creatures, and Vinland Saga. After a wave of backlash, Amazon removed the AI dubs for Banana Fish and No Game, No Life Zero, while versions of Journal of the Mysterious Creatures and Vinland Saga remained available.
Rightsholders and partner platforms reacted sharply. Kadokawa — the distributor of No Game, No Life Zero — said it never authorized an AI-produced dub “in any form,” and streaming service HIDIVE said it was not notified in advance and is investigating the matter with Amazon, according to Anime News Network. Aniplex, the distributor for Banana Fish, had not released an official statement at the time of reporting.
Fans and industry professionals rapidly shared clips and commentary on social media; for example, a post highlighting the uneven quality of Amazon’s AI English dub for Banana Fish circulated widely on X/Twitter on November 29, 2025. View post
Amazon first announced its AI-dubbing pilot on March 5. Viewers began spotting the machine-generated English tracks soon after, and several prominent voice actors publicly condemned the experiment. Voice actor Daman Mills — known for work on Dragon Ball Super, My Hero Academia, and Genshin Impact — went as far as to announce he had cancelled his Amazon subscription in protest. See Daman Mills’s post.
Background: the 24-episode anime adaptation of Akimi Yoshida’s Banana Fish relocated the story to contemporary New York when it premiered in 2018 and has been offered with English subtitles on Amazon. The film No Game, No Life Zero opened in Japan in 2017 and later streamed on HIDIVE with Sentai Filmworks’s English dub. Despite the substitution of AI-generated audio, Anime News Network reports that Amazon’s end credits continued to list Sentai’s original dub cast and crew. As blockbuster anime like Demon Slayer: Mugen Train draw increasing studio interest, many voice actors fear studios may turn to AI as a lower-cost alternative. Read more on industry concerns.
Source: Polygon
