Voice actors are calling out anime giant for ‘pathetic’ low wages

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Since the recent announcement of Crunchyroll’s merge of anime dubbing company Funimation, voice actors believe that the anime streaming service should now be able to pay them a higher wage, and they’ve now taken to Twitter to shed light on the low wages they receive for lending their talents to the projects that pay their bills.

According to Sara Secora, who has worked with Funimation, voice actors currently receive $35-75 an hour to dub anime.

Lots of people outside the VO industry are arguing that they believe $35 to $75 an hour to dub anime is an incredible rate. Here’s a thread as to why that rate is incredible low in terms of voice acting.

— Sara Secora (@SaraSecoraVO) March 2, 2022

Other voice actors like Stephanie Sheh and Ben Diskin are now calling for union rights, so that artists in the industry can earn benefits and healthcare.

Hey, @Funimation and @Crunchyroll! With the merger of your two platforms finally happening, please use the new 2021 Dubbing Agreement from @sagaftra. Union work is how we actors get healthcare and every job that goes union helps actors inch closer to qualification.

— Ben Diskin (@BenjaminDiskin) March 2, 2022

While fans and other voice actors in the industry are showing support, there’s doubt that a pay raise is likely to happen. In an early interview with Fuji TV in January 2021, Japanese voice actor Hochu Otsuka said that voice actors are paid through a base rate, before going ton to reveal that they don’t get royalties when a show gets popular.

“The salary stays the same. Even for behemoth works like Demon Slayer, which is now the highest-grossing film in the Japanese box office ever, the payment is fixed and royalties aren’t paid out from the box office.”

While the chances of unification are low, artists and fans are supporting the movement on social media, and some are even calling out for better pay for those working behind the scenes.

Crunchyroll bought Funimation for $1.17 billion back in 2021. The latter subsequently updated its FAQ since the merger to give out more information about what’s going to happen, advising subscribers to start signing up for Crunchyroll as soon as possible.