Anime Fans Claim Pluto TV’s ‘Inuyashiki’ English Dub Sounds AI-Generated, and the Backlash Is Growing

Free streaming platforms have spent the past few years scrambling to build out anime libraries that can compete with paid services like Crunchyroll, often expanding their catalogs at a rapid clip to keep pace with growing demand. That race for content has occasionally led to messy, rushed rollouts, and fans have grown increasingly vigilant about spotting corners being cut behind the scenes.

Pluto TV has been one of the more aggressive players in that space lately, recently expanding its anime offerings with new dubbed titles, additional linear channels, and broader access to established franchises. As part of that push, the platform added English dub and subtitle options for ‘Inuyashiki: Last Hero,’ a title that had previously been difficult to find with English audio on free streaming services.

That expansion has now run into unexpected controversy. According to viewers who watched the new English dub, the voice work behind ‘Inuyashiki’ on Pluto TV sounds suspiciously artificial, sparking claims across social media that the platform may have used AI-generated voices rather than professional voice actors.

Fans flagging the issue have pointed to a handful of specific red flags in the dub’s audio quality. Viewers have described unnatural voice inflection and abrupt cutoff audio throughout episodes, characteristics commonly associated with synthetic or AI-generated speech rather than traditional voice acting.

Adding fuel to the suspicion, no official English voice cast has been listed anywhere in the show’s credits, a notable omission for a series receiving what was otherwise promoted as a proper dubbed release. That absence of credited talent has made it difficult for fans or industry watchers to verify who, if anyone, actually performed the English-language voice work.

As of now, Pluto TV has not issued any public confirmation or denial regarding the claims, leaving the controversy largely fueled by fan speculation and shared clips circulating across social platforms.

If the claims prove accurate, this wouldn’t be the first time a major streaming platform has faced backlash over AI-generated anime dubs. Amazon Prime Video found itself at the center of a similar controversy after quietly rolling out AI-generated English dubs for titles including ‘Banana Fish,’ ‘No Game No Life: Zero,’ and ‘Vinland Saga,’ labeled under an “AI beta” option in the platform’s audio settings.

That backlash proved severe enough that Amazon ultimately pulled the AI dubs entirely following widespread mockery from fans and voice actors alike. The controversy was particularly pointed given ‘Banana Fish’s’ significance as an influential piece of LGBTQ+ anime storytelling, with critics arguing the decision to hand such a culturally significant work over to synthetic voicing felt especially disrespectful to both the source material and the professional voice acting community.

The recurring nature of these controversies points to a broader tension currently playing out across the streaming industry, as platforms weigh the cost savings of AI voice generation against the risks of alienating passionate, detail-oriented fan communities. Anime audiences in particular have proven especially quick to notice and call out corners being cut in dubbing quality, given how closely voice performance is tied to a series’ emotional impact.

Whether Pluto TV’s ‘Inuyashiki’ dub turns out to be a genuine case of AI voicing or simply an unusually rough traditional recording remains unconfirmed. Given the platform’s silence so far and the precedent set by Amazon’s own AI dub fallout, fans are unlikely to let the question drop without some kind of official response.

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