Prime Video Yanks More AI Anime Dubs; Studios Say They Never Signed Off and Are Investigating With Amazon
Dub fans just took a hit: English dubs for Banana Fish, No Game, No Life Zero, and Pet have been removed.
Amazon quietly tested AI voice dubs on a few popular anime, everyone noticed, and now they are gone. The rollout was odd, the removal was fast, and the studios are not thrilled. Here is the short version of what popped up, what disappeared, and who is saying what.
What viewers found
Earlier this week, eagle-eyed Prime Video users spotted a new audio option labeled 'English [AI beta]' on three titles: the series Banana Fish and Pet, plus the movie No Game, No Life Zero. The track sounded like fully synthetic voices, not human actors. No announcement, no fanfare, just a test label tucked into the Audio Languages menu.
What changed
As of Wednesday, those AI English tracks vanished from Prime Video. And as of December 1, there is no English-language audio option at all on those three titles. Meanwhile, a separate experiment is still live: a Latin American Spanish AI dub for Vinland Saga has not been pulled.
Studios push back
Anime News Network checked with the companies behind these shows. Kadokawa says it never approved any AI dub for its titles. Sentai Filmworks says it was not told ahead of time and is now talking to Amazon about it. (ANN also contacted Aniplex.)
"No approval of an AI dub in any form."
That line from Kadokawa is about as blunt as it gets. Sentai, for its part, says it did not know in advance and is currently looking into it with Amazon.
Where other streamers stand on AI dubs
Crunchyroll has already drawn a line: it says it will not use AI anywhere in the creative process, including voice acting. Netflix, on the other hand, is rumored to be exploring AI for some dubbing workflows, but nothing is confirmed. Worth remembering: Netflix caught heat earlier for using AI-generated background art in its anime short The Dog and the Boy.
The messy part
The fact that an 'English [AI beta]' track surfaced on licensed anime without studio sign-off is, to put it gently, not ideal. Then the tracks disappeared, and now some of those titles have no English audio at all. It looks like a test balloon went up, fans popped it, and the rights holders were not looped in.
What is affected right now
- Banana Fish (series) - English [AI beta] appeared, then removed; no English audio available as of Dec 1
- Pet (series) - English [AI beta] appeared, then removed; no English audio available as of Dec 1
- No Game, No Life Zero (movie) - English [AI beta] appeared, then removed; no English audio available as of Dec 1
- Vinland Saga - Latin American Spanish AI dub still available
Bottom line: Amazon tested the waters with AI dubs, pulled back fast, and now the companies involved are asking questions. Expect this conversation to get louder, not quieter.