LLMs should be good for translation, but the thing is that they aren’t, for two main reasons:

First, the avoidable problem: CR is running them on the audio, not the script. The AI is mishearing stuff all the time, leading to inconsistent character naming and nonsensical sentences. There are a few CR anime this season that are extremely hard to follow at times because the AI subtitles can’t even begin to understand what’s happening.

Second, a more permanent problem: translation of fiction is much more of an art than a science. Translators don’t just translate words, they translate connotation and tone, as well. A translator interprets the meaning of the lines - what information is being conveyed, spoken or unspoken - and tries to put that same meaning into a different sentence. This is a task that LLMs are going to struggle with a lot. For example, how is the AI going to convey that there’s been a pun, or a reference to a well-known turn of phrase, or an innuendo using words with multiple meanings?