IAmA 4Kids Entertainment/Productions Employee. AMA! Come at me with your heated questions! This should be fun. (I'm scared..)
I have been an employee of 4Kids Entertainment for the past 9 years. I work for their subsidiary 4Kids Productions. As the name implies, we are the ones in charge of producing the shows you have all come to love and hate or not know existed.
I am fully aware of the opinion people have of 4Kids, so I would like to establish a few personal facts and set up a few ground rules (should anyone actually have questions).
- I have a purely creative role. I do not have any say on what shows we produce, what visual edits are made, and how 4kids treats a property on the business side.
- I'm here as a friend, please do not treat me like the company. I am not here to defend what 4Kids does, but to hopefully explain why they do what they do.
- Regarding the Yu-Gi-Oh! lawsuit, I apologize in advance if I cannot answer your question.
EDIT: If you want to see a 4Kids show that no longer airs on TV, try http://toonzaki.com (Sorry, US only :( )
EDIT 2 12/29/11: Regarding the 4Kids v. ADK lawsuit, go here: http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=2&xmldoc=In%20BCO%2020111229732.xml [tl;dr - 4Kids won]
Posted Jul 9, 2011, 4:23 PM UTC · edited
399911
Are you guys aware of how much you destroyed One Piece? The 4kids dub is the reason a majority of anime watchers in America don't take One Piece seriously.
I think that was one of the biggest mistakes by 4Kids. We never should have touched it, it was too old for our network and our audience.
Did you personally have something to do with it? because if so... ಠ_ಠ I can forgive you I guess. But you're the reason people give me strange looks about One Piece.
I did not work on One Piece. I have no sins here.
Lucky boy......
Yes, that's the reason.
You get strange looks because a lot of people just don't like One Piece, regardless of which version it is.
I read the manga(well, maybe 20 chapters of it), and did not like it.
You + are = YOU'RE
I'm only human! A lazy one at that. Thank you fixed :)
Geeze, it's a good thing must of us aren't fallible and NEVER make simple mistakes like that.
Well, if I remember correctly, wasn't there a vote by the kids to see which series got produced?
Wouldn't that make it my fault for voting for the cool guy with the 3 swords?
Big mistake bacondevil. Time to send you to the Shadow Realm hahahahHhahahahaaHAHAH.
Video comparison of changes.
It seems they worked really hard to make it terrible.
Wow they changed a scene with rice to cookies. SO RICE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?
clearly kids would think those rice balls are Jelly Donuts
I spent years thinking that japanese doughnuts looked like that.
Pokemon joke, love it. Up vote for you sir.
THESE DONUTS ARE GREAT! JELLY-FILLED ARE MY FAVORITE! NOTHING BEATS A JELLY-FILLED DONUT.
I would, imagine to make it more american.
Why can't I, hold all these limes?
Rice balls not American enough I guess
I'm assuming its because they resembled boobs. Gotta protect those kids from boobs. :P
Maybe if Sesame Street had a rice monster then the adults in charge would be more willing to go with rice balls.
rice doesn't sell in AMERIKA
Rice balls are not a snack that would make most american kids happy, that is why the change often happens. When you see somebody flip out of white rice it doesnt have the same effect to most Americans as when you see them flip out over ice cream
Holy shit... suckers for cigarettes, inexplicable smoke breath, super soakers, phantom punches... these guys really really fucking destroyed this anime.
They completely cut out Little Garden and the Laboon Encounter.
I have no idea what that means, but goddamn them anyway!
I'm not in favour of the censorship, but the parts where they left the smoke in, it's not exactly inexplicable, that is a character that can turn himself into smoke. all the other characters they just removed all evidence of smoke.
the water guns can go fuck themselves though.
FTFY
To be fair, Smoker has smoke powers. Him breathing smoke constantly is not necessarily 'inexplicable'.
If taking cigarettes out of the show destroys it then it was weak in the first place. The only thing that was weird for me was taking people completely out of scenes, that would actually change the show.
You don't think the principles behind editing a wide-open grin into a thin smile would destroy a show? The smoking is not the only thing they messed with, here. It's just the most obvious, since one of the main characters (the blonde guy) has a cigarette in his mouth almost all the time.
Quoting a youtube comment: "Why did they change his mouth at 4:00"
Really, I have no idea why anyone would do that. They made it look horrible..
Some of those changes make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I seriously don't understand why you'd have to change red liquid to blue liquid. A kid is going to assume it's Kool-Aid no matter what the color. Plus the color of the "wine" is off and looks like Kool-Aid or juice anyway.
And rice balls to cookies? Kids are going to be hurt by seeing that people from Asia like rice balls? And why change that kids face at the end? And the parts where they made the one kid less dirty? I'm not even talking about when he's less bloody, just the dirt. And like kids aren't going to question smoke coming out of a dude's mouth? This is just all sorts of retarded.
I think the dude with the smoke is actually part smoke. Something like that. My brother reads the manga.
Hang on, How the hell did Luffy defeat Crocodile in the 4Kids version if he wasn't covered in blood?
Magic.
He was sweaty. Edit: that's not a joke, that's actually a thing. I had this exact conversation with someone who'd watched the dub.
Yeah, I was really disappointed with how that was explained. Luffy's in a boiling hot desert the entire time, but then the Royal Tomb (where they fought), which was located beneath several layers of bedrock (thus suggesting the tomb would actually be cool in comparison due to geothermal heat), he started sweating.
That's almost Oda-worthy in how ludicrous the explanation seems when you think about it.
Wow, I never took One Piece seriously and now I know why...I'm offended! this is bullshit they totally ruined it.
Same here, I had no idea they did this.
If you want to see One Piece in all its glory go to www.watchop.com
I'm a large fan of more adult anime. As in, the anime that never seems to get translated to the US because apparently if it is a cartoon it has to be aimed at kids in the US. (Not sexual adult.)
And, I abhor Shonen jump type anime as well as most action anime. However, I've been watching One Piece for like ... 6 years now I think. I thought it was amazing back then and I still do today. I even got my boyfriend into it. It has got to be the most childish show I watch.
In other words, for being someone who hates that genre, One Piece is awesome! Def check it out if you can. (The first 20 to 40 eps are kinda meh imho but it gets better.)
Yeah I don't like to watch shows that take 20 to 40 episodes before they get worth while.........
Mainly because that probably means its shit or that I just dont have enough time or patience for that.
The only animes ive ever watched seriously were ones that were good (IMO) in the first 2 episodes, I always give them a chance past ep1 since thats the first one and usually sucks a bit.
Usually most changes in anime are fine and don't ruin it but after watching that video JESUS.. they literally took the work of some hard working people and said "fuck this shit lets completely take a shit all over it"
Wow, I'm impressed with how many strange things they actually put time and money into change...
The lollipop for Sanji instead of a cigarette would totally ruin his character... And why the hell did they change Luffy's symbolic smile!? ... Almost every edit seems to have been done to ruin the anime... Fuck that.
All of the edits were explained by bacondevil as requests from upper management and BS&P. 4Kids had no idea what One Piece was when they acquired it, and tried to change it to fit their demographics with a horrific result.
Woah, i wasnt even aware of those edits in either Yugioh or One piece
I dont watch either only the odd episode of both no more then 5-6 total but damn those are game changers i might want to reconsider checking out one piece.
With over 500 episodes, One Piece seems daunting, trust me. But look at it as something to enjoy rather than something you have to catch up on.
The overall plot that the creator weaved with One Piece is diverse and complex, but incredibly satisfying and never misses a beat in keeping the story straight. That and sometimes it's goddamn hilarious.
Give it a shot, Funimation has a One Piece website where you can watch the series in Japanese (with their subtitles) from the beginning. If you'd prefer an English voice translation, Funimation has the first 205 episodes dubbed in English, uncut with a phenomenal cast.
Or, heck. Just read the manga. I mean the anime is fine (I actually really love the voice work and music, as well as seeing certain scenes animated), it's what I started on, but when you realize that even those episodes are somewhat censored in comparison to the manga in Japan.
Pacing and art are generally much better, as well.
There's a reason it's the most popular thing going in its mother country.
disco guns.
I knew it was bad...but I didn't know it was this bad...wow.
Wow, they ruined that show... No wonder why I couldn't stand it the few times I tuned in. Maybe I will give the original a shot.
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Not enough cartoon boobs.
To be fair, it didn't take much effort.
O.M.G.
I had no clue that I was watching the censored version. I was wondering why so many people seemed to like it (The Japaneese version anyways). I stopped at about episode 10ish of the censored version.
The Japaneese version looks much more badass, time to watch an anime that was ripped from me without me even knowing...
Just about every anime to every hit American tv has been censored in one way or another. Most of the censorship is removing parts for time constraints (in japan the tv shows usually run over 26 minutes. In the US 20 to 21 minutes) and when dubbing they often drop half of the context or intentionally change a bit of the storyline for the time constraints. It is rare to see visual censorship though.
Also, story line concepts are often removed in dubs. For example, in a DBZ episode this guy was robbing a bank, so he gets all sorts of fucked up by Gohan (I think..) and in the Japanese version it turned out that he was starving and was trying to get money to stay alive. He had a legitimate reason. Anything that is grey like that is removed in dubs. Also, in the US dub the guy had a really 'bad guy' type voice and laughed evilly.
You tend to miss a lot unless you watch the subs.
This is what everyone's tripping about..?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OnePieceedit.jpg
ಠ_ಠ
Thanks for sharing this, now I want to watch One Piece. Even though I couldn't stand it when it was on television, the original version looks pretty cool.
How exactly are 4kids going to explain away two of the main characters' entire motivations for joining the crew (with the lack of Little Garden and Laboon)?
Not to mention how supersoakers versus Luffy's abilities make even less sense than regular guns.
And the total lack of blood, and yet the blood serves an important purpose in Arabasta...
It's not even the style of the show that's lost, actual story is sacrificed, which is the real issue.
Huh... now I kinda want to watch One Piece.
Just going to leave this here for anyone interested, http://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/
Indeed, I was unfortunately one of those people that was turned off by One Piece because of 4Kids' utter mutilation of the anime. It wouldn't be another 2-3 years before I finally picked up the manga and realized it is without a doubt one of the most entertaining pieces of Shonen manga in a long time. But I still won't watch the anime to this day just because of my memories of the 4Kids dub.
The truly sad thing about that dub is that people thought that Naruto or Bleach were more "respectable" than One Piece when in reality, the characters and plot of One Piece are far superior to the other two.
Right there with you. I dismissed it in 2003 when 4Kids dubbed it, but I picked it up 3 years later and haven't stopped reading since.
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The only reason you don't think it is horrible is because of your own ignorance. Go back and watch the original version subbed. You'll see first hand how horrible 4kids really is. Just because you grew up with censorship doesn't make it right.
Also, just so you know: One Piece is aimed at 12 year olds in Japan as is. Are we that fearful as a culture we can't watch material the rest of the world watches and instead have to butcher it? Sad really.
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The original version is not 4kids. That is the censored version.
This is why I hated 4kids, Luffy's voice ಠ_ಠ Zoro's wasn't bad though.
My favourite line from the 4kids dub:
"They're all knocked out; slashed to ribbons"
I enjoyed One Piece but it does look like they went a little crazy with the censorship.
Set sail for fail!
Really? Are you sure it's not because that anime is fucking awful?
Laughing hard here
It's a legitimately entertaining show that while having a crap-ton of episodes, doesn't suffer from plot holes or year-long filler breaks. It has its downsides but as a whole the story is a fun ride.
I do enjoy the show, but rarely watch it because it's kind of like seeing your friend's ex with a new guy. And she used to be a mess and a junky but now she's pulled herself together and she's kind of hot but you know it can never be because you were friends with someone that fucked her over and left her in the gutter to die.
this is probably the best way to describe One Piece in America that I have ever seen and for that, you get an upvote
Wow, I don't think there's a better way to illustrate that situation.
wow you guys really had to butcher that show...
It's ironic how parents only care about children up until about middle school. After that its all about Jersey Shore, and other such idiotic "reality" shows on tv.
It's just hard for me to take any shounen action shows seriously.
give it a shot at least the manga anyways. One piece story line on the surface might seem childish. But it has one hell of plot that can draw anyone in. (I think it might be impossible not to like one piece)
Enjoy missing out on one of the greatest anime ever.