ALBAWABA - Anime streaming service Crunchyroll is once again under fire on social media after fans noticed that it's collaborating with Israeli platform OOONA to produce AI-generated English subtitles.
The anime streaming platform is replacing Aegisub, a free and open-source subtitle editor, with OOONA.
Many fans and pro-Palestine activists took to social media and called for the boycott of Crunchyroll due to the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. OOONA is a Tel-Aviv-based company that specializes in media localization workflows.
Why are anime fans boycotting Crunchyroll?
A social media user wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), "Not only is it an Israeli company, it's also an AI company. You're gonna be fed ai generated subtitles approved by Israhell."
Another added, urging anime fans to try a different service or pirate, "complete and total boycott. pirate, fansub, steal every thing crunchyrolll does. its no longer about taste or opinion, completely choke it out for this."
Many anime fans are also artists who are against companies that incorporate AI into their workflows, which adds insult to injury. The company was already under fire due to previous incidents, including its dependence on ChatGPT for subtitles and its mass layoffs in August 2025.
The streaming service also recently faced criticisms over its English subtitles for the popular donghua, Lord of the Mysteries, with many fans of the title accusing Crunchyroll of mistranslating dialogue.
