どうやって英語を話すの人が過去に大部分アニメを観たの方法

＜日本語＞

          昔々、アメリカのニューヨーク市に4キッズエンターテインメントというライセンス会社がいました、この会社について前に知らないならばすぐに知ってるでしょう。1970年代にレジャーコンセプト（Leisure Concepts）としてに基づけた、連想したのおもちゃがテレビ番組を宣伝しているの概念を紹介した、「サンダーキャッツ（ThunderCats）」のように色々な知的財産権と実験していた。1990年代、レジャーコンセプトが4キッズになった、アルフレッド・カーン（Alfred Kahn）が社長になっていたことを含めた職員の変更の後で、その時代の間に4キッズが日本の外に英語を話すの人々のためになんと有名なアニメ配布会社の一つになった、1990年代と2000年代に育てられたの人々が言っていたは4キッズはどのようにアニメで初めてに紹介されただった、そして今読んでいるのあなたはそれらの人々の一人ならばヤッパリ一人じゃない。もちろん4キッズの前にスタジオジブリ映画とドラゴンボールZと美少女戦士セーラームーンは英語吹き替えがあったでもそれは重要じゃない！4キッズの時代に、インターネットは現在のようにはなかった、結果として日本の外の人々のためにアニメを観たいならば原型日本語を聞きたい間に特にそんなことはほとんど難しかった！それらの人々はファンサブとアニメを見せるの珍しい不正コピーのVHSを持っていたでなければ英語吹き替えアニメをテレビに観ていることは良い好機の一つだけ（他の国と国語に適用される）、その時にテクノロジーはまだ進んだはなかった限り確実にそれらの人々が気にするはなかった。そうです、その時にもコンピューターに動画も観るできる、2005年の前にYouTube（ユーチューブ）がまだ存在しなかったでも、それにもかかわらずフレームレートや動画品質またはインターネット回線に頼る読み込み中のことだからまだ十分はなかったありそうなのでした、近頃改善した。4キッズの時代にも、まだSNSがいなかった、その代わりにブログとディスカッション掲示板とHTMLを使用しているのファンを作ったウエブサイトによって人々がオンラインにアニメについて話した。すべてのそれらの言葉を述べたの後で、要するに、日本の外の人々がアニメを観たいんだったならば、少ない資源がいると、4キッズまたは何もないを選んでいることはなんと難しかったね！他のアニメ配布会社を含めるできるだけど4キッズに比べて影響は著しいはなかった。

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          10年超にわたって4キッズエンターテインメントはニューヨーク証券取引所の部分になった、後で上場停止だった；何でも会社は4キッズから何物の部分がいれば人々が注意した。どうやって4キッズがそんなことを成し遂げたか？4キッズが好きまたは嫌いの人々が言うだろうなは日本からアメリカに「ポケットモンスター」あるいは「ポケモン」を紹介していたことや全ての始まりだった。そうです、1990年代後半にポケモンは世界に大ヒットだった、ほとんどすべての子供たちはポケモンがホントに大好きだった、ここ8年間で4キッズはポケモンの伝説の大人気アニメ英語吹き替えを作っただから。意味は日本からアニメは外国人たちで引き付けるできる、販売できるも、お金がいっぱいを稼げているに至るできるも（そしてお金は後で重要さがある、会社の習慣だから4キッズの死の理由でした）。4キッズだから「劇場版ポケットモンスター　ミュウツーの逆襲」はアメリカに「もののけ姫」の英語吹き替えよりもっと全国の映画館に公開した。その時に、ポップコーンを食べている間とおしっこしたいのアメリカの子供たちがうんざりしていた両親たちと一緒にあの日本からアニメ映画を観ていることはなんと珍しいことだったな！今この時代に、アメリカの映画館に日本からアニメ映画は公開しているのことは普通、私の意見でそれは進行だ、やっぱり世界のみんなはアニメが大好きできる！とにかく、4キッズはポケモンの英語吹き替えを持っていた間に子供たちはポケモンがあったのすべてのものが欲しいだった、両親たちは「モ～、我慢できないよ～！！！」って言っている、でも同時に言うもは「まあ、子供たちは幸せと責任がある限り他の子供たちが大好きなもののようにポケモンはいいですね．．．」；他の人間たちのように子供たちの幸せは大切なこと、でも幸せと子供たちが不審そうなことすれば両親たちが本当に心配するべき（ところで、ポケモンのメッセージは暴力じゃない！）！アメリカの子供たちはポケモンが大好きだったのことの理由は4キッズだから、それでポケモンよりもっと人気じゃないけど「遊☆戯☆王」も紹介された、まだ成功した、しかし「遊☆戯☆王」だから4キッズの死が起こってしまった．．．死といえば、4キッズの「遊☆戯☆王」世界に死ぬはないけどシャドウ・レルムへ行く、そして拳銃の代わりガンフィンガーってを使う。

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          「ポケモン」と「遊☆戯☆王」の成功に関して、連想したのおもちゃまたは他のグッズを作っていることのために、4キッズが他のアニメで英語吹き替えを持っていた：「古代王者恐竜キング」、「ドラゴンボール改」、「格闘料理伝説ビストロレシピ」、「F-ZERO　ファルコン伝説」、「星のカービィ」、「おジャ魔女どれみ」、「東京ミュウミュウ」、「ワンピース」、「シャーマンキング」、「ソニックX」、「キン肉マン二世」、そして韓国から「さいころボット　コンボック」、ロシアから「スメシャリキ（Смешарики）」、イタリアから「ウインクス・クラブ（Winx Club）」、北アメリカから2003年版「ミュータント・タートルズ」と「あつまれ！ピニャータ」のように他の日本からはないのアニメ。どう成功したは子供がそれぞれの番組を観たは何人ぐらいによって決められた。ある4キッズ番組は成功した間に他の4キッズ番組が失敗した、販売できなかったそれとも連想したのおもちゃとグッズを作るできなかっただろうなのだ、それにもかかわらずカルト的な人気があった、同時に時々知らないの4キッズの番組で気持ち悪いとふさわしいでも要らないの編集だから人々はいらいらされた、結果としてそれらのいらいらされたの人々が抗議する（言うは「要らない編集をやめろ」って）、ほとんど毎回4キッズが言うは「だめです！」って、唯一の理由はいつもお金だからデショウ。企業の存在のためにお金は必要じゃありませんか．．．あっ、忘れたよ、子供たちはテレビに不適切なコンテンツを観ているだから怒っている両親たちを防ぐため。

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          検閲とローカライズと編集はみんなは4キッズが大好きの三つの障害です、それらはあんまり使用された。子供たちが4キッズの本当の目的をわかるでしょうか？子供たちはマジでバカ？子供たちは怠慢と悲しいになっていることはだめ？それは4キッズの仮定だけか？子供たちはアクションエンターテインメントだけについて気にするか？何といっても4キッズ番組は教育的と舞台で演劇じゃないは当たり前だ！4キッズの大部分の検閲は4キッズのせいじゃない、不適切なコンテンツに関して明らかにアメリカのテレビは日本のテレビと違う。アメリカのテレビに、4キッズ番組は土曜日に割り当て時間があるだから（そこにしばしば面白いコンテストを発表した）、見せるため検閲は連邦通信委員会の要求です、だけど4キッズは実はバカらしい方法で連邦通信委員会をあまり喜ばせる、それでも英語吹き替えを作っている前に一括取引についての特に何のアニメを調査したを知らなかった。一つの悪名高い例えは二つの東映アニメーション作品「ワンピース」と「おジャ魔女どれみ」は4キッズから英語吹き替えがあったの時（ごめん、「シャーマンキング」と一緒にじゃない）、「ワンピース」の特に。4キッズは「ワンピース」が欲しくなかったけどしょうがなかった、本当に「おジャ魔女どれみ」だけを欲しかった。もちろん4キッズがわかったは「ワンピース」は不適切なコンテンツがあったでも（幾つか編集があったでも「シャーマンキング」も）とにかく4キッズによって初めてに英語吹き替えがあった。インターネットにそんなことを調査する試みてくれ、なぜ4キッズの「ワンピース」英語吹き替えはなんと最低の理由を探すだろうな。他の4キッズによってアニメ英語吹き替えは最低わからないけど知っているだけは「ワンピース」はとても気持ち悪いって、ほとんどそれぞれの検閲決定はなんとなんとな～んとバカだな！ところで、「ワンピース」ファンたちが4キッズから原作で間違いをわかるできるなのね；サンジはまさかペロペロキャンディがいっぱいを食べるか？！そして、「ポケモン」に絶対アーボックはハブネークになるはない！

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          では、編集について、例えば、日本にアニメの初放送から何でも英語と日本語と他の国語の文は4キッズの英語吹き替えにぼかされたや片付けられたや短くされたやイメージと代われた（「ソニックX」のように）、4キッズが仮定したは子供たちは読むことの時間がない、でもそれはなんとバカ；4キッズが実は新しい国語を作る試みていたか？！宗教は関係ないけど（「東京ミュウミュウ」から藤原ざくろは本当にクリスチャンか？ミュウザクロの道具だからそうかもしれないね、だがアメリカの子供たちがまさかわかるだろうな）．．．忘れたくないよ、4キッズも英語吹き替えに新しい音楽または要らない音楽を追加した。「ソニックX」からある話にテイルスがコスモでさようならって言ったのシーンを思い出してる？アメリカの子供たちは神経衰弱があっているを防ぐため4キッズがそのシーンをやわらげた。それでそれらの子供たちは絶対悲しいになるはないだろうなってはDICエンターテインメントの「美少女戦士セーラームーン」英語吹き替えだけのせいじゃないのサ！

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          そして最後に、ローカライズについて話しましょう、キャラクターの名前を変わっていると日本言及を代わっているを含めている。大部分の日本からアニメにたくさんの日本の文化と生活で言及は当たり前だろうな、もちろんそれらのアニメは日本から！なぜローカライズは必要かって？日本の外のアニメの配布会社は心配していたは観衆たちがアニメを観る間におそらく日本の文化に興味がない、国際的になるできるでなければ面白くないって。ローカライズは良いことまたは悪いこと、それとも同時に良いことと悪いこと！あるローカライズの要素を我慢するできるね、例えばキャラクターの名前を変わっていること、日本語をよく話すできないの子供たちのために。「ポケモン」アニメに、サトシはアッシュ・ケッチャム（Ash Ketchum）になる、カスミはミスティー（Misty）になる、ストーリーで気を散らすことになるはない限りそれはいいです。しかし、他のローカライズの要素は意味がない、おにぎりの言及の特に！4キッズのアニメで英語吹き替えについて、意見のために試写会が絶対起こったのカイ？！それとも、観衆たちの好奇心の時間がないだから4キッズが毎回いつも仮定したのか？もしかしてそんなの試写会に観衆たちはすべては子供たち、明らかなは子供たちは住んでいるの世界にいつも強い好奇心があるのね！テレビを観る時におにぎりを見ればあの子供が両親で言うだろうなは「ねえ、おにぎりは何？」って、両親が「さあね、わからない」って言うならば図書館へ行っているまたはインターネットのためにコンピューターを使っているによって調査していることは良いじゃないだろうかな、どうやっておにぎりを作るも？子供たちが知っているべきは世界にたくさんの文化がいっぱい、自分の文化だけじゃない。そうでなければ、その代わりに4キッズがおにぎりを触っているはないと子供たちが気にするはないことは良いじゃないだろうかな？子供たちは日本文化に興味がないならばそれは子供たちの決心だ！おにぎりはなんかゼリーかジャムを詰めたドーナッツじゃない、冗談のためでなければサンドイッチとクラッカーじゃないも！その反面、4キッズ番組は教育的じゃない！日本からアニメスタジオは配布会社より責任がある限り私の意見にローカライズはもっと良い。2005年から「ドラえもん」アニメは初めての英語吹き替えを持っていた思い出してる、テレビ朝日とシンエイ動画によって、バングズーム！エンターテインメントは配布会社間に？その英語吹き替えにどら焼きはヤミー・バンになった、日本から円はアメリカからドルになったも、そしてのび太はノビー、しずかはスー、ジャイアンはビッグG、スネ夫はスニーチ。変化で許可のために4キッズと日本からアニメスタジオの交渉についてわからないけど、わかるはある変化は取るに足らないでも他の変化は日本文化でなんと侮辱だな！

 

          2008年世界金融危機の結果として4キッズがひどく苦労していた、土曜日の朝ためすべてのテレビ番組が消えた、そして「ポケモン」アニメは最初とすべてのアニメはもう4キッズに関係なかった。2011年に4キッズで状況がもっと更に悪いになった：至ったの必要以下ないしは予想以下の額の支払いと他の財政に関係がある破られたの約束から「遊☆戯☆王」のDVDやおそらくVHSも配布の問題でテレビ東京と日本アドシステムズ（NAS）によって議論の後で（致命的な訴訟も）、2012年に4キッズが倒産した。それは4キッズの終わりだったと思ったんだけど4ライセンシングコーポレーション（4Licensing Corporation）としてちょっと蘇らされた、しかしその会社のまだ公開されたはないの製品についてほとんど絶対知らなかった。少ない従業員たちがあっただから2016年に4ライセンシングコーポレーションがもう一度倒産した、そして2017年に4キッズがついに消えちゃった。4キッズのすべてのスタッフは今どこかに、それでこの前に成功したの会社が今隠した印税だから閉鎖した、子供たちが過去に4キッズの番組が大好きだったでも大人になった時に近頃4キッズで爆笑う、考えるは「4キッズはなんと懐かしい」または「4キッズはなんと気持ち悪い」それとも「もう大好きなアニメを触るな4キッズ！」って、そしてこの随筆のすべての述べたの言葉を読んでいたの後でなぜをすでに知っているのね．．．

 

          これをまだ書いている限りいったいどうやって私は4キッズで関係があるって質問しているの？認めたくないけど私は実はアメリカから、だから子供の頃に土曜日の朝にテレビを観る時に4キッズがいた、でも幾つかだけの4キッズの番組に興味があったと思うよ（「東京ミュウミュウ」アニメの英語吹き替えは私の大好きな4キッズの番組の一つ、そして「おジャ魔女どれみ」アニメの英語吹き替えため4キッズが書いたの挿入歌は面白かったな）。明らかに私は子供だっただから4キッズと経験を思い出さないでも私は家の中にそもそもテレビが4キッズ見せていることは4キッズについてどうよく知っているの証拠だ。その時にテクノロジーは現在のようにはないと、私の子供の頃の自分が私の現在の脳を持っていたならば4キッズで不平を言うはないだろうな、原型日本語を聞きたいアニメを観るの方法は少なかったから（ADヴィジョンを除いてありそうな）、気持ち悪いでも我慢できるんだね；何といっても選ぶなければならなかったよ：4キッズを当てにする、それともインターネットに観るために原型日本語にアニメを長い時間で探す、他のみんなのようにそれらは私の二つだけの選択だったありそうな。何の悪名高い間違いがあったでも、少なくとも4キッズはどのようにもっと英語を話すの人々はアニメが大好きのまだ重大な理由の一つ、結果はもっと人々が思うは日本文化はなんと面白いや楽しい、そして良かれ悪しかれ4キッズの影響がないと日本からアニメはまだ珍しいもの残るだろうなのだ、特定の人々のためやなんと無名、日本に生まれたはないの人が言っているだろうなは「日本からアニメって何？！」、色々な国語でそれらのアニメを翻訳するの少ない吹き替えスタジオがいるだろうなも、それで私たちの社会が全く永遠に変わるだろうなのだ。4キッズと「ポケモン」がいないの世界に新しい考えを受ける用意のない子供たちはうんざりしているになるできるなのか？！

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＜英語＞

            Once upon a time, there was a licensing company based in New York City in the United States called 4Kids Entertainment, and if you haven’t heard of this company before, you will eventually once this essay is over! Originating as Leisure Concepts in the 1970s and introducing the concept of the toy line used to associate with promotions of TV shows, first making use of such concept with ThunderCats (attempting to do so for various other intellectual properties in the process), Leisure Concepts eventually changed its name to 4Kids in the 1990s, and after a few company staff switch-arounds including making Alfred Kahn its CEO, 4Kids would eventually become known as one of the biggest distributors of anime outside of Japan at the time, at least to an English-speaking audience, resulting in people growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s who say that 4Kids was how they were first introduced to anime (and if you were one of those people who is reading this right now, you’re not alone), aside from celebrity-contained English-dubbed Studio Ghibli films as well as the way that Dragon Ball Z and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon were dubbed into English before 4Kids became well-known. Around the time 4Kids was around, the internet definitely wasn’t like what it is today, and as a result, there were very few resources that people could use to be able to watch anime at all if they were not in Japan, especially if they want to watch anime in its original Japanese audio (They actually can, but the ways in which they can do so officially are far in-between); Unless those people could obtain a rare bootleg VHS of sorts with anime being displayed with fan-made subtitles, watching anime on TV in English was perhaps the only best kind of opportunity there was (This probably goes for other languages and countries as well), and I suppose there were people who didn’t mind if those were the only kinds of options that they had since technology wasn’t exactly, well, hugely developed! Of course, there was also video-sharing on the computer around this time too, even though YouTube wasn’t introduced until 2005, but that probably still wasn’t enough due to such concerns as frame rate, video quality, and how quickly videos can load depending on a person’s internet connection, all of which have obviously significantly improved over the next couple of years. Since social media wasn’t around either when 4Kids was around, some of the few ways people could be able to discuss anime online was with such things as blogs and discussion boards and open forums, as well as fan-made websites for those who know about HTML web design. With all of this in mind, in summary, if people who were not in Japan wanted their anime fix, with the kinds of resources – which were technological for the most part – that were present at the time, it was mostly either 4Kids or nothing. Sure, we can include other international anime distributors too as sources for people to watch anime, but none have probably had the same impact that 4Kids had.

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            4Kids Entertainment actually made its way to becoming listed on the New York Stock Exchange for more than a decade until it got delisted, which meant that any company that had even a small portion of what 4Kids licensed was worth paying attention to! How exactly did 4Kids managed to rise its way to the top to result in such an accomplishment? Well, anyone who knows about and loathes 4Kids severely would tell you that it mainly had something to do with distributing Pokémon from Japan to the United States. Yes, the late 1990s was definitely a time when Pokémon took the world by storm, becoming a cultural phenomenon and a sure craze for children all over the United States as much as it was in Japan (and eventually the rest of the globe), and part of the credit goes to 4Kids for dubbing into English perhaps one of the most influential and most-watched children’s anime series of all time, at least for eight years. This came to show that Japanese anime in general truly had potential for creating a wide appeal to international audiences and could become marketable and help those who show these kinds of animation to people make tons of money (That word “money” would become very important later on, as it is exactly what sealed 4Kids’ downfall and controversial legacy in terms of company practices…). Thanks to 4Kids’ efforts, Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strike Back received a wide theatrical release in North America, being shown in more movie theaters in the United States than the limited release of the English dub of Princess Mononoke! The fact that a Japanese anime film like Pokémon: The First Movie was shown in movie theaters all across the third most-populated country in the world, in which parents would become less interested than their children to see while munching on their popcorn and holding their pee, was extremely rare; Nowadays, it’s quite common for Japanese anime films to play in North American movie theaters, and that says a lot about how much significant progress has been made since so that anime could be able to attract everyone and anyone! Back to Pokémon, while 4Kids was responsible for English-dubbing the video-game-associated anime, the franchise was basically all over the place! Children couldn’t get enough while parents couldn’t possibly stand it, but that ought to be an over-exaggeration, I think! However, I suppose that parents should be okay with Pokémon as long as it makes their kids happy and responsible at the same time, and this goes for anything that kids are obsessed with; Nothing in the world is more important than the happiness of a child, or any human being for that matter, but when a child starts taking advantage of that happiness to perform questioning activities, that’s when the parents should really be concerned (By the way, Pokémon isn’t really that violent!)! 4Kids’ success in bringing Pokémon to the U.S.A. eventually led to Yu-Gi-Oh! getting the same treatment, and even though it doesn’t reach the same popularity heights as Pokémon, it still shared equal amounts of success, and would eventually lead to the main reason why 4Kids ended up closing its doors for good… Not to mention that they replaced death with the Shadow Realm and real guns with finger guns!

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            Riding off the success of distributing the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! anime into English in the United States in hopes of achieving some sort of toy or merchandising line, 4Kids went on to English-dub other anime as well in order to obtain many chances of doing so: Dinosaur King, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Fighting Foodons, F-Zero GP: Legend, Kirby of the Stars, Ojamajo Doremi, Tokyo Mew Mew, One Piece, Shaman King, Sonic X, Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy, as well as other international animated shows like Cubix from South Korea, Smeshariki from Russia, Winx Club from Italy, among many others (including North American-made series like the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Viva Piñata). How well each of these did under 4Kids depended on how many American children they attracted. While a couple turned out to be successful, others fell short because 4Kids didn’t find them to be truly marketable (or a toy or merchandising line couldn’t be achieved), but they all nonetheless received a cult following, while at the same time becoming the source of annoyance over what was done to the properties 4Kids touched to turn them into cringey experiences or way too unnecessarily kid-friendly and nice when it shouldn’t have to be (or as we will refer to in a few cases, getting information wrong about the properties that they were touching to the point where it would be revealed they know almost nothing), resulting in demands to stop making needless changes to the animated shows that these kinds of people love, and to show them to the public the way they were meant to (and uncut)! Almost each time, 4Kids turned down those demands because the name of the game has always been money; It’s what a corporation needs in order to survive, isn’t it? Oh, and it’s also to keep parents from complaining about the inappropriate content their kids are watching on TV.

 

            Censorship, localization, and editing are three of the main obstacles that are keeping 4Kids from being a reliable source for English-dubbing anime distribution internationally because it tends to become subject to those three far too often than it should, thinking that it knows best about what’s inside the minds of children – which is often empty or a pea-sized brain – or reaching the assumption that they’re too lazy to learn or can’t be sad all the time, and all they care about is being entertained and wowed, not treat themselves to an extra day of school or a field trip to watch a dramatic play at a performing arts theatre! Much if not all of the censorship that 4Kids makes to anime they touch is supposedly not entirely their intention, as standards for American television are somewhat different from that of Japanese television in terms of what’s appropriate to show and what’s not (with examples including blood, intense violence, profanity, sexual images, smoking and alcohol, etc.). As 4Kids has Saturday morning TV slots that allow them to broadcast the programs they distribute (where they often promote some really interesting contests), each of them had to meet the requirements of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) so that they could be shown on the small screen without any complaints or further interference; However, more often than not, 4Kids tends to try too hard to please the FCC in a variety of ridiculous ways, even if 4Kids had absolutely no idea what kinds of anime they were dealing with but had to touch them anyway because they were part of bundle deals! What I mean by that is that one well-known notorious example is 4Kids being given the One Piece anime to dub to English – despite actually not wanting to do so – only if they could dub another Toei Animation-associated program called Ojamajo Doremi, which they allegedly truly wanted instead (Some people thought it was Shaman King, which – despite being an anime with dark themes – surprisingly got away with being censored the least, at least from what I heard). Obviously, the 4Kids censors must’ve already known that One Piece contained material that was too violent for young children, but since the damage was done and they were responsible for English-dubbing duties, they had no other choice; Look up “4Kids’ One Piece anime” on the internet and if you dig deep enough, you will eventually discover why it is without question one of the worst anime English-dubs ever made! Other anime dubbed to English by 4Kids must’ve suffered similar fates, but none were as worse as what One Piece had to go through, with pointless censoring decision after pointless censoring decision – and, on a side note, getting just about a few things wrong about the source material from time to time, but we wouldn’t have known that unless we’re true One Piece fans; Was Sanji really a fan of lollipops (By the way, Arbok does not evolve into Habunake, or Seviper)?!

 

            On to editing, because the amount that was made by 4Kids on the anime they touch to the point where text in English, Japanese, or any other language for that matter shown on the screen in the original Japanese version is blurred out, cleared, shortened, or simply replaced with images, all due to the crazy assumption that kids don’t have time to read, must’ve been beyond silly, even for kids who think 4Kids was attempting to invent a new language (I mean, have you seen what they did to Sonic X?!)! The religious imagery and references are a different story, though (Is Fujiwara Zakuro from Tokyo Mew Mew actually a Christian? Maybe so due to her Mew Zakuro weapon she uses, but the American kids don’t know that!)… Did I forget to mention 4Kids possessing a habit of creating new soundtracks or adding soundtracks in scenes that don’t need one? Hey, who remembers the time when Tails ended up saying goodbye to Cosmo in a Season 3 episode of Sonic X, and the way it was dumbed down by 4Kids to prevent kids from having some sort of mental breakdown after watching?! So, DiC’s English-dubbing of Sailor Moon wasn’t the only victim of a trauma-preventing scenario like this!

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            Now, let’s talk about this whole localization thing that 4Kids does, with examples including changing up characters names as well as the replacement of Japan-specific references. Since anime clearly comes from Japan, a certain amount of anime is not without their share of acknowledging the fact that it originated in Japan due to a mass array of references to Japanese culture and lifestyle. The reason why localization exists in context like this is to assure international distributors of anime from thinking that something featured may be too Japanese for audiences who may not be that interested in Japanese culture to understand, resulting in growing disinterest unless there’s a way to give some sort of international spice into it. Localization in the international distribution of an anime has its advantages and disadvantages, or it can have both at the same time! Some factors that come with localization ought to be considered tolerable, such as the changing of character names so that it would sound more sense for little kids who can’t pronounce Japanese words properly yet, including in Pokémon, where Satoshi is renamed Ash Ketchum, and Kasumi is renamed Misty, which is understandable when you think about it and can’t possibly be a giant distraction from the story! Other factors with localization appear to have no logic whatsoever, most especially with what was done to the onigiri (riceballs) references! With the kinds of major anime whose English dubs were associated with 4Kids, was a test audience ever asked to watch the original Japanese versions for their opinions on what they saw and what they were confused about?! Otherwise, did 4Kids just ended up making assumptions because they didn’t have time to figure out every little thing that the test audience was curious about? And I’ll bet the test audience would’ve been children, and when it comes to children, aren’t they always the ones who are curious about the world around them and asking questions so that they could understand better? If a child didn’t know what an onigiri was when it was shown on TV, wouldn’t they ask their parents what exactly it was, and if the parents didn’t know, wouldn’t they take their child to a library or give permission to look up onigiri on the computer and find out what the heck it was and how to make it if they wanted to try some?! Isn’t it all part of building up some sort of awareness that there are cultures in the world that are different than their own? If not all of that, wouldn’t 4Kids just let the kids not mind what onigiri was if they weren’t interested in learning about it because they just want to get to where the action is in the anime, instead of just renaming them jelly-filled doughnuts or swapping onigiri out with sandwiches or tiny crackers (unless it’s funny) because they never had discussions with children as to whether or not they wanted to learn more about Japanese culture in the first place?! Then again, 4Kids isn’t exactly distributing educational anime! I would much rather localization be done in a way as long as the original Japanese studio responsible for such anime takes control over the international distributor, like when the 2005 Doraemon anime first made its way to the United States under the supervision of both TV Asahi and Shin-Ei Animation while Bang Zoom! Entertainment was distributor, renaming Dorayaki to Yummy Buns and yen to U.S. dollar bills because it was the supervisors’ choice to do so (not to mention changing the characters’ names, like from Nobita to Noby or from Shizuka to Sue, Gian to Big G or Suneo to Sneech). I wouldn’t have any idea what kinds of permission was given to 4Kids from the original Japanese studios on what changes to make, because while only a few pass by as insignificant and don’t serve as a huge distraction, a handful other amount are indeed nonsensical and takes away from the Japanese spirit contained in these anime when it doesn’t have to.

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            One last thing, in light of the negative effects of the 2008 financial crisis, 4Kids went through extremely rough waters in its later years, with its Saturday morning TV slots gone and just about all of the rights to anime that they possessed taken away from them (with Pokémon being Victim #1). The initial final nail on the coffin came in 2011: Following a dispute with TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems (NAS) over home video distribution troubles surrounding Yu-Gi-Oh! and resulting underpayments and other broken financial promises, leading to a costly and fatal lawsuit, 4Kids ultimately filed for bankruptcy the following year. We all thought that would’ve been the last we’d see of 4Kids after that, but no, it managed to at least try to get back up on its feet rebranding itself as 4Licensing Corporation that very same year, but very little is known at the moment about what kinds of products it had the potential to have sold. Since 4Licensing Corporation came up short anyhow with a very little amount of employees left, in 2016, it filed for bankruptcy again, and in 2017, 4Kids as we know it faded away from existence forever, with all who previously represented it going about their separate ways, and thus, what started off as a success story for a company due to wowing a generation of children with a popular anime series turned merchandising and media phenomenon ended on a whimper because of hiding away royalties that the original studios of one other successful anime didn’t know about, cementing 4Kids Entertainment the reputation of being one of the most controversial and polarizing anime distributors in the United States, much less anywhere in the world, with eyewitnesses either having fond, nostalgic, or traumatizing and cringeworthy memories about how 4Kids showed anime on TV they got their hands on to begin with.

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            You’re probably wondering where I come in on all of this, since I was the one who brought this up in the first place: As someone who is actually from the United States of America, as hard as it is for me to admit, I also grew up becoming exposed to 4Kids, waking up Saturday mornings to turn the TV on and see what 4Kids had to offer that day, though I wouldn’t say I was interested in everything 4Kids showed (I will say that Tokyo Mew Mew was perhaps one of my favorites, for some reason, and those insert songs 4Kids came up with for its Ojamajo Doremi English dub were enjoyable), and I can’t say I remember much out of my experiences with 4Kids since I was still very young at the time, but the fact that I was even there in my home at all when the TV was broadcasting something produced by 4Kids says a lot about my familiarity with it and all related, associated properties. Knowing what I know now, if my younger self had my current mindset during the time 4Kids was around, keeping in mind that technology was still developing and definitely not like what it is today, as well as very few resources available for people to watch anime in its original Japanese audio (ADV Films being one of them), I wouldn’t suppose I’d complain if one day I thought I wanted to watch anime and tune in to 4Kids to do so, only to find out that the way they do things is extremely tough to watch, because I’d suck it up and deal with it anyway; After all, it was either rely on 4Kids or spend hours on end trying to find something online that would let me watch these kinds of anime 4Kids got a hold of the way they were meant to (unedited, unaltered, and even uncensored), because basically that was all I had, and I’m sure that goes for a lot of other people like me. For what it was worth, even with all of the nonsense that occurred with the infamous practices of censoring and editing and localizing on their end, 4Kids still managed to become one of the many contributions for more people in English-speaking countries at least to fall in love with anime, resulting in a continuing growing interest in Japanese culture, and without 4Kids impact, for better or for worse, anime would still be treated as something unusual, only for a specific group, and out of the unknown, to the point where very few people outside of Japan know what the heck it even is, along with few dubbing studios present to translate such animated works of art into different languages, and as a result, pop culture-wise, our society as we know it would surely be entirely different. Can you imagine a world where 4Kids and Pokémon didn’t even exist? There would’ve been a whole generation of closed-minded children who would continue to be bored for the rest of their lives!