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What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television

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20091115

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What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television Empty What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television




What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television 4kids_updated
Anime has a lot of negatives within its many genres, subgenres and
traditions and some of these are generally not even a fault of its own.
Take for example, dubtitiling. This is when an anime distributor
gets lazy and releases a DVD with English and Japanese audio, but only
releases subtitles for the English sound track. This means you have to
watch the Japanese dub with the subtitles for the English dub, which
means there's sections with dialogue and no subtitles, subtitles with
no dialogue, American slang that looks out of place and in some series
gratuitous swearing that wasn't present in the original. All these
combined render the Japanese dub unwatchable for regular watchers of
anime, and ultimately ruin the purchase if they didn't like the English
dub. Manga entertainment released the entire second season of Naruto with dubtitles, and thus I missed a good chunk of the story.On a similar note, some companies take creativity a bit too far with dubs and translations for anime and Manga respectively. I've recently been thoroughly enjoying the anime series Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, produced by Funimation,
a great company. The dub itself is brilliant, and I actually enjoy it
more than the Japanese, even some of the music sounds better. However,
the dub adds a ridiculously high amount of swearing to the dialogue.
You may think a story about a rock band would require plenty of bad
language, and it is true that the original Japanese actually had some
English dialogue that was full of swears, but it's undeniable that with
some of the dialogue changed, the age rating would probably go down
from a 15 to a 12. It also makes watching it with family rather
uncomfortable, since people aren't quite used to a cartoon containing
plenty of cursing.Another series, Battle Royale, had
some dubious changes in its translations. Don't get me wrong, Keith
Giffen is a brilliant comic book writer, and it's undeniable that his
adaptation of the original Japanese helped make Battle Royale
the popular series it is today, but some of his changes raise eyebrows.
The most prominent is the fact that now the game in which children is
forced to fight each other is now a TV reality show. Aside from the
fact that there is no way a TV show could show live violence, death and
sex even in a fascist government controlled society, it creates
countless plot holes, like how those in charge didn't figure out Shinji
Mimura was making a bomb or Kawada's final plan to fool them.Well that's two main examples, but the one everyone knows and reveres is the one that's most common. Censorship. I really hate censorship. The other night they had one of my favourite episodes of Friends on: the one where Phoebe ‘is' a porn star, which is heavily censored. So much, ranging from innuendo filled dialogue ("Are you going to stab me in my dark places?" "Actually, nasfuratool, I was hoping it would be the other way around!"
Classic) to even the mentioning of the word: Porn. So much is cut out
of the episode that the advert break at the end is actually lengthened
so the channel remains on schedule. I also don't ever remember seeing "The one with the free porn" on TV, only on DVD.That's
an example of an American sitcom being censored. When it comes to
anime, there is always one name people think of. A company that arouses
debate, hatred and disappointment. I am of course talking about...4kids.First some back-story. 4kids was first established in 1970, and I think the first anime they acquired that attracted attention was their dub of the Pokémon anime. Starting from the first and going to the ninth season, 4kids
were responsible for the shows adaptation for the West. And I'll be
honest...it could have been worse. Censorship only came about with
certain controversial episodes, such as "Beauty and the Beach", "The legend of miniryu" and "The Ice cave" which
were removed from broadcast for issues surrounding nudity and
trans-gendering, guns and racism respectively. It was well known for
the opening theme they used, which today is incredibly popular, but
really only because it's so bad it's good.Some of you may remember 4kids production of the Yu-gi-oh!
Anime. Overall this one wasn't too terrible either. I mean they didn't
really need to change much...it's just Japanese teenagers playing card
games, what more can you do? However there were several changes that
were notable, such as no death, changed character names and the change
of religious symbols. We'll get into the individual changes soon enough.By now you can see 4kids
purpose. They purchase anime from Japanese companies for the sole
purpose of marketing it at kids who are younger than its original
target audience. Groan.Now let's not be cretins here. 4kids
are by far not an evil company, and no one can fault them in their
intent. It's just that they're intent is in fact faulted. Anime is a
form of entertainment that appeals to all ages, from young and old, boy
or girl, straight or gay. It's just like any form of TV, book or music.
Indeed it is all those things, but rather one particular group of them.
So explain to me why it was necessary to edit, dub and represent a kid
friendly series like Tokyo Mew Mew, a series which my then 10-year old sister read all the way through, to episodes which were edited apparently with the intent "that viewers would not recognize its Japanese origins". And they do just that. Aside from all the upcoming examples of 4kids' work, all Japanese iconography and cultural staples like food are completely replaced.But
of course the series that is the most notable for its ridiculous amount
of changes, so much so that a website was made for the sole purpose of
having the series redubbed and re-released: One Piece. To be fair I'm not a fan of One-Piece,
barely read it, barely watched it. But I've followed the changes made
to the series, and I revel at them. You must have heard of them. Guns
being replaced with water pistols, people being impaled and leaving no
trace of blood or any kind of bodily harm. And of course, that fucking
annoying theme song that dude in the Suede mentioned in his top 11 anime openings.Let's start with violence. Anime is subjected to a lot of censoring in violence, and 4kids aren't the only culprit. I watched heavy amounts of Dragon ball Z
as a child, and was astounded when I saw scenes of the uncensored
version and saw just how much blood had been taken out. Furthermore,
the company that originally produced the Sailor Moon dub
actually changed the plot of the final episodes for season 1, where all
the sailor scouts and ‘Tuxedo Mask' were killed off, however they were
all resurrected in the shows conclusion. In the dub they were simply
‘captured' and ‘released. Bull. However 4kids have done some acts of censorship in the violence area that are completely ridiculous. Any fan of One Piece
can dazzle you with stories of deaths and scenes of violence that were
missed so entirely, that it actually created plot holes within the
show. 4kids are also famous for their editing of weapons.
I've explained how they changed the guns into water pistols, but in
other anime like Shaman King, one doll like ghost who used dual pistols as her weapons is now using magic wands. Dear God.I could go on forever on what 4kids actually do, but in keeping with the title, I want to explain why what 4kids do is so unnecessary. Why does 4kids
need to change these anime so that it fits a target audience when it
already has an audience that would probably be a stronger demographic?
Why is it they must censor such minor elements to make a show suitable
for young viewers? The answer is: Western society. This picture is a
perfect example of the difference between what the beliefs are in
American and Japanese society in what kids should see:What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television Ep004-d2 o_0
Seriously? Is America so protective of its youth that it has to censor
out the body lines of her breast?! I hate to speak as an UK resident,
but I think American child pornography laws are a tad OTT. From what I
understand, the basic purpose of censoring such things was to hide the
fact these were adolescent girls. Along with this, lines of dialogue
and relationships were altered to not make these girls appear in the
budding age. Absolutely ridiculous.This is the reason why 4kids
are a pointless crusader of justice. Anime is medium of entertainment
for everyone, the only difference between it and American animation is
that it presents things realistically for the age group who watches it.
It doesn't conceal them to the dangers of guns, the difference between
a child an older teenager's body and the simple concept of death. Even
characters smoking or drinking have it replaced with lollipops and
fruit juice, as if to say "There are no such things as drugs!"
Please understand, I know there's a limit as to what children should
see and what they should not see, but the key issue here is these
shows; Shaman King, One Piece, Sailor moon etc. Are
designed for a young teenage audience, ranged from ages 13-15, yet they
are being butchered to become kid friendly shows for an overprotective
nation.Meanwhile we, the target audience, are alienated; our
favorite shows which we've had to watch online are now made a mockery
of. Can you imagine how much more popular Yu-gi-oh might have
been had it been released in its uncensored form? Instead all we have
is this crappy PC version, whilst the bastards who did it simply say "uncut DVD's simply won't sell, so we can't release them", that's your fault dumbass! Naruto
is actually the perfect example. Both the censored TV version and the
uncut DVD's were released at the same time, so both did respectively
well. But with Yu-gi-oh, it's many years spent as a product
for children has tarnished its reputation, making its original target
audience snub their noses at it and all those who know how good it can
really be, hence no chance of an uncut DVD making decent sales.I think any Fullmetal Alchemist fan will remember the first time episode 51 (the final episode) aired on TV. As far as FMA episodes go, it's very violent, so Adult Swim
posted a disclaimer beforehand saying that they'd rather show the
episode in its entirety or not show it at all, rather than censor it.
On a similar note, Studio Ghibli actually has a ‘Not one frame cut' policy. After Hayao Miyazaki's classic, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was released as ‘Warriors of the Wind', in which half an hour of footage was cut and the environmentally challenging film was released as a kids action movie, Ghibli stepped in to make sure it wouldn't happen again. The most infamous case of these is when Disney, the company that dubs and distributes Ghibli movies, proposed they release Princess Mononoke edited so it appealed to a younger audience, only for an unamed Studio Ghibli producer to send him an authentic Katana (Japanese samurai sword) with the message: "No cuts." Classic.And it worked. Since then, all Ghibli films have remained released in their original form, except for Pom Poko,
which had its references to ‘testicles' changed to ‘pouches'. I can
accept that, it's a very cultural exclusive thing to Japan, and
watching the film I even found it difficult to understand.The only other aspect of 4kids
actions I understand and agree with is their stance on political
correctness; censoring religious icons so it doesn't offend the
respective groups. Example?What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television YuGiOhHexagramEdit
To be honest I don't see why religious groups should feel threatened
by use of an icon in a lowly anime series, but as we all know their
wrath is incomprehensible, so it's best just to please them.What I don't think is excusable, is the treatment of homosexuality in anime. 4kids are
excused from this since they don't regularly do it, but that's only
because they've never had a series with such a theme. Series like Sailor Moon (again...) and Cardcaptor Sakura featured heavy amounts of cuts and re-edits to eradicate all mention of homosexuality. Example?Well in Sailor Moon, two characters Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are indeed a lesbian couple. In Dic and Cloverfield's dub
(thanks for pointing out the mistake guys ^^), they are rewritten as
cousins (isn't that worse?) to hide this, simply so people wouldn't
make the connection that they are sexually involved. OK, so you can't
show adolescent girls as being adolescent, but you also can't say two
people are in a relationship for fear of the viewer thinking that...on
the off chance...they're doing it? Why don't you just make it obvious
they're fictional characters too whilst you're at it! Even more ridiculous is the edits made to Cardcaptor Sakura (into the abominable new production ‘Card captors'),
in which Sakura and Tomoyo's implied relationship is completely
removed, despite the fact there is never any definite mention of them
being romantically involved, or having any sexually intimate
moments...they never even held hands. For my last point about the content changes, I leave you only with this picture to make your own judgements on:What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television OnePieceedit
OK, finally I'll explain the changes that go into presentation. With every one of 4kids productions, the original Japanese opening is replaced with a totally inappropriate, kid friendly theme. As the that dude in the suede said, Naruto is a benchmark anime in finally having the original, awesome openings being showed to children. I
mean I love Japanese music, and if kids had been shown some of the
great pop and rock songs used for anime openings as kids, they may have
as well, and we'd be seeing the likes of Asian Kung-fu Generation, L'arc~en~ciel and the BEAT CRUSADERS
on music channels. To give you some perspective, take a listen to the
original openings for the original Japanese dubs for the following
anime series, and then the piss poor replacements:1st Japanese One Piece opening. (Energetic and much more fitting to the show than...)4-kids ‘rap' One Piece Opening. (Where is a knife so I can SLICE MY EARS OFF!! And this was supposed to help the show become more appealing) 1st Japanese Yu-gi-oh opening. (A pretty lively theme and very fitting to the series)4-kids 1st season Yu-gi-oh opening. (Not the worst theme ever made, but only because there are no lyrics.)1st Japanese Tokyo Mew Mew opening. (cheesy, but it works fine, and it's a good song, if you like pop)4-kids 1st season ‘Mew Mew Power' opening. (cheesy...and shit)1st Japanese Shaman King opening. (Energetic, well sung, and more fitting than any for the series) 4-kids Shaman King opening. (O_O. Just O_O. OK the guitars nice...but everything else is just...O_O)Well, that covers everything. In conclusion, why would the world be better off without 4kids? To summarize:

  • Anime would have reached its target audience and not being a strictly kids affair.
  • Fans of the respective series wouldn't have to see their beloved series butchered and fed to the masses.
  • America
    wouldn't be trying to become a big brother nation where kids are
    blinded to what is wrong in the world, where they're perceptions of
    nearly everything adult are completely screwed up. Yes they have
    PSA's, but we all know those do Jack.
  • Children would not be so culturally oblivious, even to the lowest extremes.
  • Children
    might not be so uncomfortable on the subject of homosexuality, if they
    were shown it in a context that is only hinted and is in no way
    sexually based.
  • Japanese music may well have had a higher fan base over on this side of the world.
That's the facts. 4kids
intentions are noble, but they're nothing but a bi-product of the
overly sensitive heads of entertainment, just like those bitches the Parents Music Resource Association and their pointless Explicit content label. Wow, and I barely mentioned the monetary side of all this...I leave you now with this clever video on YouTube, showing a possible Death Note redub, had it been picked up by 4kids.Breath Note
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Sybren356
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What the world doesn't need: 4kids Television :: Comments

NazrinTsunMouse

Post Sun 15 Nov 2009, 1:42 pm by NazrinTsunMouse

So true. Dubs really piss me off sometimes, especially Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura. Freaking homophobes. The recent dub of Naruto Shippuden is starting to get the 4kids treatment...dear god...

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Post Sun 15 Nov 2009, 1:44 pm by Sybren356

Not to mention, Naruto is turning into a Gary stu
Thanks for commenting.

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