The English voice actors for the Tower of God anime TV series are alleging that Crunchyroll unlawfully blocked the cast from reprising their roles in an upcoming mobile game.On Twitter, Laura Post -- the voice actor for Black March and other various characters on Tower of God -- made a thread about the sudden change in the English voice cast for the mobile game Tower of God: New World. Post began by stating the controversial cast change wasn't the fault of the English production team for the game and that all the new voice actors are wonderful people who deserve support. "So then, you may wonder, who is responsible for this situation?" Post said. "Well friends, they go by the name of Crunchyroll."
Crunchyroll Claimed to Own the Voice Prints
According to Post, the anime streaming service went directly to the game's English production team and told them it "owned the voice prints" of the original cast. A claim that Post refutes. Not only was the original English voice cast of Tower of God forbidden from reprising their roles in the upcoming mobile game, but they weren't allowed to play different roles or new characters.
Post states in the Twitter thread that Crunchyroll's claim over the voice actors for the Tower of God English dub is completely false. She and her lawyers looked over her contract and nowhere in it did it state that Crunchyroll could forbid another company from employing the voice actors it uses for its English dubs. "But the damage was done," Post said. "The client was too scared to get involved in an overseas legal battle, so they would not entertain the idea of including any original cast members in their game."
Crunchyroll Allegedly Wanted to Avoid Working With a Union
In the end, Post alleged the reason why Crunchyroll pulled this unethical move is that the English production company for Tower of God: New World is union and Crunchyroll is infamously anti-union, as shown with the re-casting controversy over Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama in Season 3 of Mob Psycho 100. Other voice actors from the industry chimed in.
Tower of God: New World will be released in 2023.
Source: Twitter