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Subtitles on Prime Video Channels Aren’t Always Reliable
Amazon is responsible foradding subtitlesto most ofPrime Video’s content, but it doesn’t handle the subtitles for films and series accessed through Prime Video Channels. Those subtitles are instead provided by their respective streaming services. So when it comes to programs from AMC+, for example, it’s up to AMC—not Amazon—to include the subtitles.
One of the worst offenders is Crunchyroll, a Prime Video Channel that features anime series and films fromthe streaming service of the same name. Crunchyroll has a massive library of new and old anime, but it has undoubtedly cut corners to provide subtitles for the bulk of its content. This has led to severe errors appearing in the subtitles for many Crunchyroll programs. Strangely, these problems aren’t present in the official Crunchyroll app or its website, which makes their prevalence in Prime Video especially baffling.
The subtitle issues and their severity seem to differ between series. In some videos, the subtitles will be mostly accurate, albeit with a few occasional typos. These aren’t always minor misspellings, as the Prime Video subtitles sometimes call characters by the wrong names.Nichijouhas plenty of these typos, along with some lines that are missing subtitles altogether.
There are also plenty of times that the Prime Video subtitles are completely off the mark. It’s not uncommon to see the captions displaying nonsensical sentences rather than the proper script. This may suggest that the Prime Video versions of these programs use AI-generated subtitles rather than the scripts used for the Crunchyroll app’s captions. The quality of Prime Video’s captions forKonosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!varies between episodes, with the subtitles for some episodes being perfectly fine while others are disastrously inaccurate.
These issues aren’t limited to direct captions. Crunchyroll has plenty of films and series that are only available in Japanese, meaning most viewers will require translated subtitles to watch this content. Unfortunately, many translations available through the Amazon Prime Channel aren’t the same as those found on Crunchyroll’s other platforms.
The Prime Video versions of these subtitles are laden with awkwardly written sentences and grammatical errors. This isn’t the case for every show on Crunchyroll’s Prime Video content, but it’s easy to tell when something is wrong with the subtitles. One example is the translation forSgt. Frog, which is full of confusingly worded sentences and pointless changes that alter the meaning of the original script.
While these are the most common problems in the subtitles for Prime Video Channels, there are also a few oddly specific issues exclusive to certain shows. For example, one series titledThe Daily Lives of High School Boysfeatures accurate subtitles for spoken dialogue but completely omits lines delivered through narration or internal monologs.The Daily Lives of High School Boysis only available in Japanese, so the absence of reliable subtitles prevents most users from being able to enjoy the series.
These problems aren’t exclusive to Crunchyroll’s content. Acorn TV and BritBox are two other Prime Video Channels with subtitles containing missing lines, typos, and visual errors. This can be seen inSilent Witnessfrom BritBox, which has numerous moments where musical stings are accompanied by random number signs appearing in the Prime Video captions.
Amazon’s Subtitle Problem Doesn’t Have a Solution
It should be noted that having an active subscription to Crunchyroll’s Prime Video channel also comes with a Crunchyroll membership for no additional cost. This allows you to use the official app instead of the Prime Channel, providing a way to watch the same shows with proper subtitles. Crunchyroll is one of the few Prime Video Channels to offer this benefit, along with some others, such as Paramount Plus and Max.
While this alleviates the issues caused by unreliable subtitles, it doesn’t fix the most important problem. The point of subscribing to the Prime Video Channels is to access content from multiple streaming services through a single app. However, with these poor-quality subtitles making certain programs unwatchable, you’re better off avoiding these Prime Video Channels.
