Maybe 4kids knows what they're doing?

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Golbat-Man

New Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
237
Reaction score
0
Look. I know a lot of you hate 4kids, and everyone hates edits. But what I've noticed, is that a lot of 4kids-licened shows are aimed at kids. The Pokemon games are played by people throughout many age groups, but then there's the anime. It's really kind of childish, to be honest. The same goes for Yu-Gi-Oh, Pretty Cure, Tokyo Mew Mew, etc. because most of them are merchandise-driven at the highest degree. At the most, they're for children under 12. 4kids is only making these show more kid-friendly, which gains viewership, and therefore, MONEY. You love money. I love money. We ALL love money, right?

Now, I hate edits as much as the next guy, so I'll tell you the other side. Let's look at Godannar. This is a show that was never for kids OR teens. Yet, it's not for adults like a hentai would; it's more like young adult; 16-21 or something. This show has so much ecchi in it, it's been compared to Eiken, which, if you've seen both, is an unfair comparison. Yet, the comparison is easily seen. Every single female except one has huge chests which jiggle almost as often as in DoA. Even the feminine-looking robots jiggle a bit sometimes. Now, ADV licensed this, and made no cuts to this anime, much like around 80% of all other licensed anime. It's because the demographic of Godannar was for young adults. There was no physical way to edit out every single jiggle, or every appearance of the flight suits, etc. It would be simply impossible. Plus, it's a niche anime, so they wouldn't gain much by trying to cut stuff for a younger audience; especially since only around 0.01% of licenced anime is actually shown on TV.

It's just how I see it, you know?
 
We'd be fine if it stopped at making it suitable for the attended audience. However, it doesn't. 4Kids gutted the shows of their cultural identity, replaced the music, and did an awful job at it. Add in their weak acting pool, issue with religion to edit anything so much as resembling a cross, and other annoying problems and you get why we hate them so.
 
Same here... I can understand certain edits but yet, do tell me if these are bad for kids to watch:

- Japanese names.
Seemingly every character (exceptions may include the main character, Luffy, Yoh etc) gets a name-change to sound more "American". In Pokèmon it's changed to look like the games (Satoshi-Ash, Shigeru-Gary) so its okay. But name-changes isn't the worse.

- Japanese Music.
Apparently an English version of We Are existed before One Piece was released in America (I'm sure I heard clips of it in a video) yet when it was dubbed we got that horrible rap... FUNimation later proved its possible to make a good English version of all the Japanese openings too.
Not all 4Kids music is horrible, some of the Pokèmon-openings are actually rather good, but I still feel the change is unnecessary.. and unlike the Japanese version they tend to use the same song throughout the entire series, opening AND ending (Pokèmon is about the only series I've seen that doesn't do this, yet the opening and end is still the same).
I don't even watch One Piece and still it bugs me.

- Japanese food.
Yes Riceballs are evil... Especially bad in some episodes of Pokèmon where they haven't even edited anything but yet they call them "donuts". No...just no.

At times I feel like 4Kids are trying to pretend that their shows AREN'T Japanese by removing all references to such.
Pokèmon is in fact quite good for a 4Kids-dub, they still edit out needless things like food, but at least they kept MOST of the music, and the opening themes aren't incredibly sucky.
 
Shounen Jump's Demographic is 11-14 in both US and Japan. Not this 12 and under stuff, and they still very much seem like that demographic even uncut. (Seriously, the supposed 12/11 and under stuff is for Coro Coro properties like Bayblade and B-Daman) My Problem with 4Kids is that they edit too much because they stereotype children too much, and do nothing to expand to all markets like the original companies (Which companies like Pokemon/Nintendo, and Shueisha's Jump all market to the demograph and past the demograph: to women, adults, little kids, etc.) They play the role of the victim and claim to always be doing the best they can do, yet other production companies get away with a lot more. They say they are about money but they aren't making that much money anymore.

I will say that most people that Hate 4Kids because of what they've done to some programs, not all programs. One can try to argue the success of Pokemon and Yugioh, but I'm one to question is it really 4Kids fault for the series to be so popular, or is it the series itself and their respective companies.
 
I think it all depends. 4Kids did a good job on Pokemon, I think. They made it a good, fun show for kids to watch. Other shows... the "Americanization" went too far.

Japan and America are culturally diverse, but not to the extent some shows took it. One scene that stands out is a scene from "Mew Mew Power", where Zoey looked in the miror and talked about her appearance. In the original, she was thinking about someone else, which I think made the scene a lot more down to earth.
 
Japan and America are as diverse as is possible on this planet. In Japan they do things like having public mixed baths, flying origami planes in from space, holding debates on whether or not people should be allowed to marry anime characters, and they spend about half of their GDP on giant robot fights. The other half is spent buying collectibles.

Oh, and 4KIDS is the spawn of Ahriman.
 
Mudkipz said:
Japan and America are as diverse as is possible on this planet. In Japan they do things like having public mixed baths, flying origami planes in from space, holding debates on whether or not people should be allowed to marry anime characters, and they spend about half of their GDP on giant robot fights. The other half is spent buying collectibles.

Oh, and 4KIDS is the spawn of Ahriman.
Click to expand...

Yes because Japan is only ever doing those wacky things you see on otaku news sites.

There wasn't an election there that was just as heated as ours was recently, or anything.
 
Golbat-Man said:
But what I've noticed, is that a lot of 4kids-licened shows are aimed at kids.
Click to expand...
slow.gif
 
4Kids buys the licenses for shows that were never meant to be aimed at a 12-and-under audience, and spells their own doom by doing so. I'll give an example: ever read the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga? It's REALLY graphic compared to it's 4Kids anime counterpart, and I'm not just talking about gross monsters. The reason for that is that it was originally intended for an audience in the mid- to late-teenage range.

I can understand some of the edits: getting "sent to the Shadow Realm" instead of outright being killed is reasonable, in my opinion. But it gets to be ridiculous when you edit out the guns henchmen are pointing at people, but still leave their hands in the 'fake gun' pose (thumb up, index finger out, and the rest of the fingers curled under) and still looking like they're about to pull a trigger. It's just...stupid. I realize America's "collectible card game" demographic IS generally a lot younger than in Japan, but when you edit a show to that ridiculous extent, you might want to think about changing your audience.
 
The Big Al said:
We'd be fine if it stopped at making it suitable for the attended audience. However, it doesn't. 4Kids gutted the shows of their cultural identity, replaced the music, and did an awful job at it. Add in their weak acting pool, issue with religion to edit anything so much as resembling a cross, and other annoying problems and you get why we hate them so.
Click to expand...

THANK you.

What he said.


And in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga, don't they always try to flip the girls' skirts? I never understood how 4kids got around that. The manga itself was rated T until GX, and then even though it was rated A, rated A stuff can have a lot of pretty strong stuff for kids, too.

For example, every Zelda manga has a ton of blood, the Minish Cap one has Link looking up a girl's skirt in Minish Form at one point, and in the Majora's Mask manga, Skull Kid calls Kafei a drunken sot a bunch of times. Yeah, not all A rated mangas are pointed at kids.

4kids also seemed to turn every sad, heartwarming moment into something actiony. I hate them now, I always will. 4kids was the REASON most of these shows were considered childish(and the reason Pokeshipping has way too many supporters -_- and also the reason there's almost no romantic Pikashippers like me anymore T-T I don't know which one makes me sadder!!!)
 
Last edited:
ashfangirl said:
THANK you.

What he said.


And in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga, don't they always try to flip the girls' skirts? I never understood how 4kids got around that. The manga itself was rated T until GX, and then even though it was rated A, rated A stuff can have a lot of pretty strong stuff for kids, too.

For example, every Zelda manga has a ton of blood, the Minish Cap one has Link looking up a girl's skirt in Minish Form at one point, and in the Majora's Mask manga, Skull Kid calls Kafei a drunken sot a bunch of times. Yeah, not all A rated mangas are pointed at kids.

4kids also seemed to turn every sad, heartwarming moment into something actiony. I hate them now, I always will. 4kids was the REASON most of these shows were considered childish(and the reason Pokeshipping has way too many supporters -_- and also the reason there's almost no romantic Pikashippers like me anymore T-T I don't know which one makes me sadder!!!)
Click to expand...
Yugioh not only had skirt flipping but cussing people losing their minds and sometimes lives and Yami was a sadistic fuck. Wait no that's Season 0 but still that's generally how Yugioh was in the beginning. I dunno if it still went on like that but it was.
 
I'm gonna go a step further and bitch about how 4Kids and other dubbing companies just simply make the english versions relevant to the American population and to no other culture/country.

I dont live in America so I think its pathetic when I have to hear Sonic, Knuckles etc from Sonic X sing their damn anthem when I dont even live in the country or fall under its hyms.
 
Mitchman said:
I dunno if it still went on like that but it was.
Click to expand...

It was pretty much the same all the way through. Just got more card games and less games not involving cards.

Edo-kun said:
It's REALLY graphic compared to it's 4Kids anime counterpart, and I'm not just talking about gross monsters. The reason for that is that it was originally intended for an audience in the mid- to late-teenage range.
Click to expand...

...no.



ashfangirl said:
Yeah, not all A rated mangas are pointed at kids.
Click to expand...

None of the things you mentioned are "unsuitable" for kids in any way.
 
It would be more accurate that Japan isn't so conservative about what they consider is appropriate for kids. America has actually gotten worse in the 21st century. The Magic School Bus gave us a look up D.A.'s miniskirt for crying out loud.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom