Funimation Not Funi Anymore

Over the weekend many people logged onto Twitter and various other social media platforms to discover that Funimation was trending. Unfortunately, the prolific anime dubbing studio was getting attention for all the wrong reasons. Along with #funimation, #funileaks, #notfuni, and #youshouldntbewatching were hashtags shared with the leaks. These audio files are courtesy of Nick Rekieta, host of the controversial nightly youtube show, Rekieta Law. Where he “lawsplains the interwebs, fueled by whiskey and rage” to upwards of 10,000 live viewers most weeknights.

The Lawsuit with Funimation

Rekieta has covered multiple lawsuits in the past. He has shot to internet notoriety thanks to his coverage of the recent lawsuit against Funimation studios by voice actor Vic Mignogna. Mignogna, perhaps best known for Dragonball’s villain Broly, has sued the studio for defamation, among other things. After he was released from the studio. As a result of an investigation, interestingly enough contained the story of a barely off-color joke about a jelly bean. Which Rial had no problem with at the time. When the allegations appeared that she became bothered!

Mignogna has also named fellow voice actors Jamie Marchi and Monica Rial, as well as Rial’s fiance, Ron Toye, in the lawsuit. Because the defendants are well-known to be speak out against Vic on their respective twitter handles. Mignogna remained notably silent on his own. Funimation itself made a tweet on February 11th, more than a week after Mignogna’s recasting, stating that they “…. do not [condone] any kind of harassment or threatening behavior being directed at anyone.” The tweet thread would seem to imply that the investigation turned up cases of harassment and improper behavior from Mignogna himself, therefore making them release him. Although Funimation has vehemently denied this.

However, the leaked audio files, as seen below, and seem to show an entirely different corporate culture. In addition the clips, which range from outtakes and in-jokes to a full-blown minutes-long production with sound effects and music, are full of homophobic slurs, pedophilic and incestual implications, and other off-color banter. While we’ve posted them below for you to draw your own conclusions, but please be aware that all clips are NSFW. We recommend using Headphones!

Leaked Recordings

Our Thoughts

We at MstSage are watching carefully to see what may happen. Moreover, if any consequences may occur due to the use of Toei Animation’s IP in such a manner, and so far, neither Toei nor Funimation has made a public statement about the matter. Many people have noted, however, that Funimation’s twitter account has “liked” tweets that make light of the matter online.

Finally, thank you again to Nick Rekieta for breaking this story, and will be posting a full timeline of the legal drama with the Vic Mignogna case in the near future.