True anime fans can’t stand Crunchyroll, now Sony’s pet project for “localizing” anime with a heavy hand of censorship and political crap for Western audiences.
This soulless company even got busted for breaking the U.S. Video Privacy Protection Act by selling subscribers’ personal info who, let’s remember, are paying these fuckers to deliberately butcher Japanese anime for Western consumption.
And they’re succeeding, with record anime production that Crunchyroll and other platforms are snapping up and dubbing, all while Japan itself succumbs to its Western invasion by clamping down on greenlighting adaptations for “spicy” franchises.
Naturally, anything with fanservice, nudity, or loli characters is slowly but surely being censored to pacify the loud, pearl-clutching Western crowd that hates the core tropes that define Japanese animation.
Anime fans know all too well how Crunchyroll has profited from butchering foreign media for Western audiences, then had the gall to use those profits to fund their own cringe-worthy original show made by anti-male, feminist landwhales.
Crunchyroll’s corruption has been obvious for years, from breaching customer privacy to shutting down stores like Right Stuf to monopolize anime-related products in the West. Now, they’re even facing accusations of mail fraud by one of their own voice actors.
English dub actor David Wald claims Crunchyroll has been helping themselves to his personal mail for about half a decade. Not that I bother with English dubs, since they’re almost always a disaster, poor quality, wide script deviations, random slang, memes, and political insertions, even removing gendered language entirely.
But for those who do, you might recognize David from dubs like Vinland Saga as Askeladd or Fairy Tail as Gajeel Redfox. He’s also voiced Balat in Akame ga Kill! and had the honors of portraying Youji Itami in GATE.
It appears David Wald recently shared a concerning accusation on Twitter, alleging that Crunchyroll employees have been tampering with and even distributing his fan mail amongst themselves without permission over the past five years.
Mail theft, or mail fraud, involves illegally taking or tampering with mail that isn’t yours, which is considered a federal crime in the U.S. if it involves the U.S. Postal Service. In this context, David Wald’s accusation against Crunchyroll implies that employees allegedly accessed his personal mail without permission, a serious breach of privacy and federal law.
He expressed regret for fans who had sent letters or packages, assuming they’d reached him, only to find they hadn’t. He further requested assistance in locating a specific package with custom fan-made merchandise of his SK8 the Infinity character, Ainosuke Shindo.
In a follow-up tweet, Wald would put out a request for help in finding a specific package which contained a number of fan-made merchandise items depicting his SK8 the Infinity character, Ainosuke Shindo.
Crunchyroll’s actions wouldn’t raise any eyebrows, considering they’ve turned profits from Japanese media into their own brand of progressive content. The team at Crunchyroll has seemingly prioritized their comfort, decking out their headquarters with Japanese-themed decor, complete with pool tables, foosball, and arcade machines, allowing employees to unwind after long hours of subverting Japanese anime.
It wouldn’t be shocking if higher-ups were rummaging through the mail of specific employees, including voice actors, and taking liberties with the contents.
It appears that David Wald’s recent allegations against Crunchyroll have raised concerns within the anime community on Twitter. In his posts, Wald mentioned that he had been reaching out to company officials to address what he described as mail theft, but his emails went unanswered.
He also hinted at whistleblowers being involved, indicating that he learned of the situation through individuals with insider knowledge. Wald shared that he had recovered a couple of unique fan-made items from an internal employee giveaway table, which seemed to confirm suspicions of mishandling or even misappropriation of items meant for voice actors.
The situation has drawn reactions from anime fans and even fellow voice actors like Daman Mills, who expressed surprise over the revelations. Many are left questioning Crunchyroll’s internal practices and how fan correspondence is handled within the organization.
Crunchyroll has yet to release an official statement addressing the recent allegations, which is hardly surprising. The situation hints at a toxic work environment that goes beyond simply mishandling mail.
David Wald’s cryptic tweet following the accusations suggested deeper issues, including union busting and discrimination against gay employees. Such claims are unfortunately typical for organizations led by radical feminists.
This entire debacle adds to Crunchyroll’s growing list of PR nightmares, particularly regarding their controversial practices of censoring and altering Japanese animation.
While mail fraud is a federal offense, Wald’s claims of discrimination against homosexuals seem contradictory, especially considering the number of openly gay/non-binary voice actors, like Hayden Daviau, Jessie James Grelle, Anairis Quiñones, and especially Kayli Mills, who have all been given opportunities at Crunchyroll and have contributed to the very localization that critics decry as colonizing anime.
Especially when you take a gander at their own corporate podcast, “The Anime Effect,” you’ll quickly see that Crunchyroll is particularly keen on employing a mix of gay and non-binary individuals of color, along with Nicholas Friedman.
While it’s wise to approach the claims of voice actors with skepticism, the nature of Crunchyroll as a corporation makes it highly probable that these issues are rooted in reality, it’s more beneficial to side with David on this one because if the situation escalates into a federal investigation, particularly linked to their Texas office, which was formerly Funimation it could have serious repercussions for Crunchyroll as an corporation.
Many fans, myself included, would relish seeing this company face the consequences of its actions and drop dead. The negative impact Crunchyroll has had on the anime industry is undeniable, enabling the worst kind of consumer to proliferate.
As Japanese anime has become a major export for the island nation, they’re making cultural changes just to cater to this newfound and lucrative Western audience and the individuals responsible for this cultural change deserve nothing but the worst.
