What RUINED 4Kids? - The Fall of an Anime Empire

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✅Video Credits✅
►Video Script and Research by Saberspark
►Additional Script and Research Assistance by Tom Oliver
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►Video Edits by Henri Yount
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►Thumbnail by Rishi
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►Yami and Kaiba Voices by LittleKuriboh
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►Audio Edits by dBPony
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►Intro Music/Outro Music by Hirosashii
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►Additional Avatar Pics by Flutter Spartan
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►Music by Home
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🎨Art of the Week🎨
►Art by Trace
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[@Saberspark]

I'LL USE THIS FRYING PAN ... AS ... A ... DRYING PAN! :)

[@LeeroyPorkins]

*Finger Points Menacingly At You*

[@BluffsCastle]

*smokes a lollipop cigarette*

[@MirandaTheInkling34]

Sup Saber?

[@watchforever1724]

Finally this video is here

[@ohellyea23]

That was peak comedy when i was a kid lol

[@tultiden2040]

4Kids gaslighting children into thinking Onigiri are jelly donuts will forever be one of the funniest censorships ever

[@Linnzy]

In the Swedish dub of Sailor Moon, Onigiris was at one time called Hamburgers....

[@forbiddenbanana9255]

@@Linnzy That's the weirdest looking hamburger I ever saw

[@bluebaron6858]

They called them popcorn balls also

[@MoostachedSaiyanPrince]

It's also a meme that has persisted long after the end of 4Kids and continues to plague a community of a certain KZbinr (to his great annoyance) to this very day.

[@nobodys_here07]

@@LinnzyWhat is this? 🍙 Sweden : 😒✋| 🍩 😏👉| 🍔

[@Mito383]

“Pokemon as a franchise will outlast the heat death of the universe.” When I was in the 2nd grade I remember trying to sneak my Pokémon cards into school. Now I’m a 2nd grade teacher running a weekly Pokémon TCG club. It’s crazy how timeless this franchise is.

[@chaseredmoon407]

I was talking to some people who just got out of high school and was trying to explain the changes to media since I was in middle school. I mentioned, "I'm older than Pokemon" and they promptly lost it.

[@rougeelite1446]

My school back in i think 6th grade just gave up and accepted it. So since we had this morning assembly thing daily where we would wait for school to officially start. It was mainly a time for everyone doing Pokemon card trading

[@walkingonneedles]

literally just got multiple pokemon *vhses* yesterday, its insane how long its gone for.

[@WLTR-]

Not a great fan of pokemon but my sister is really mad with the tcg cards and my mother plays pokemon go. I can say that franchise is really timeless

[@Lumberjack_king]

@@chaseredmoon407 you’re ancient

[@Naterkix]

The jelly donut thing is pretty great but to me 4Kid's magnum opus of a scene is one from Yu-Gi-Oh shown near the end of the video where some dudes bust in on Kaiba (originally holding guns) and aggressively point at him. Kaiba reacts, as everyone would to being aggressively pointed at, by yelling, "You'll never take me alive!" and hurling himself through a window to seemingly die in the water below the cliff his castle (?) was built on.

[@davidlewis5189]

I remember that

[@redblade8658]

Yu-gi-oh was one of reason they got destroyed

[@arthas640]

I always wondered about that when i was a kid watching the series for the first time, I thought Kiba was just a melodramatic drama queen when they point at him and he jumps out a 10 story window into the ocean. Then i got my first Shonen Jump and learned that Japanese kids shows werent so neutered as American ones.

[@jmurray1110]

They also removed bandit Keith’s gun and change his revolver dragon into a laser canon Konami still does this shit and we hate it On of the weirdest though is mystic tomato It’s creepier in the west and despite them changing the card to the western version the hologram was the Japanese version (and it’s really different)

[@TheJezebeI]

Same energy as Prince Charmig yeeting out the window in Cinderella 3 :D

[@m4yr4i]

As a non American, your analysis of 4kids was pretty entertaining and interesting, good job!

[@anthonyminimum]

Fun Fact: Detective Conan/ Case Closed was supposed to air in the United States on 4Kids but it got rejected by the network because of the amount of murders that happen in the show, and it’s also the reason it aired on Adult Swim instead

[@anthonyminimum]

I would argue that Detective Conan would’ve saved 4Kids from going bankrupt for a few years if they allowed the show to air on the network

[@camharkness]

"oh man, they knocked this poor woman out!"

[@Draconic_Incenerator]

One thing ive always wondered is why does it have 2 names? I mean which is the "actual" name for the series?

[@bearerofbadnews1375]

That’s series is still going with over a thousand episodes now. And it still hasn’t completed its main arc of getting Conan back to normal.

[@turbohawk551]

Ouch!...they've missed out on a real money maker. A town in Japan was named after Conan.

[@rasheedsanders1067]

The craziest thing to me was getting older and finding out that the Shadow Realm was a fabrication by 4Kids to censor death.

[@sarahtaylor4264]

The irony is that the shadow realm is a fate worse than death if you think about the implications.

[@cutesyprincess14]

Fans love making jokes about the "Shadow Realm" till this very day. 🤣

[@DarkHypernova]

@@sarahtaylor4264 It's essentially confirming hell is real and guaranteed.

[@TheVodkaHaze]

Other things as well like "believe in the heart of the cards" was made by 4kids, the japanese dub is just them hoping that they get lucky.

[@RESURGAM.]

WAIT WHAT REALLY LMFAO

[@kpychamp13]

4kids may have done so many wrong things in terms of censorship especially what they did with one piece but one of the best things they gave us the current dr eggman voice actor who still voices eggman in the latest sonic games

[@chillarmyssbu]

Dub Piece Sanji 😂😂😂

[@warhammerguy]

Fun fact: The 4Kids dubs was also used as a template for foreign dubs with some taking their own liberties inspired by 4kids. For example in Norway the "jelly filled donuts" became "jelly filled Wienerbread" (also known as danish pastry in english).

[@HardDick-yx3ki]

Foreign dubbing companies: "Let's choose the worst anime dubs as a template for our dubs" Japanese dub: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@jonmcintyre1144]

12:36 Never thought I get to hear Batman saying “Pikachu” in the form of sneezing. R.I.P. Kevin Conroy

[@flashfunk0373]

@Adalux The merger has done them no favors

[@redonyx8591]

You should hear him sing Jigglypuff’s song.

[@Bowen_Landry]

Yeah. Also I teared up when i saw the white ranger begin to unmask. R.I.P. Jason David Frank

[@DaDualityofMan]

Those KidsWB promos were great, they were on all the drugs making those lol

[@nihatio3165]

@Fake Love OK, bots are one thing, but the fact that they are starting to mention something as dirty as this just surprises me

[@joliealbury6936]

For all the dumb things 4Kids did, you really can't deny that their theme songs were always bangers.

[@Dave102693]

Facts

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

They were usually the best parts of the show by far. So many things I cannot/won't defend about 4kids but the themes least we're pretty awesome.

[@cutesyprincess14]

Not the "Gotta go fast" Ugh.

[@cutesyprincess14]

Yu-Gi-Oh one and Pokémon one was really good. ☺️♥️🖤

[@pablocasas5906]

I admit I kind of prefer the first Pokémon opening made by 4Kids (mainly the Latin American version) compared to the original one, Mezase Pokémon Master

[@mraaronhd]

They didn’t just only dub those 3 anime- they dubbed TONS of anime! Kirby, Sonic X, Ultimate Muscle, Fighting Foodons, Mew Mew Power, F-Zero, Dinosaur King, Shaman King, and Tama & Friends! They were huge in dubbing lots of anime for tv!

[@bluebaron6858]

They even tried dubbing tokusatau with ultraman tiga!

[@Skallva]

It really bothers me how overwhelmingly US-centric this video is. 4Kids was enormous on a global scale. Tons of countries were buying licensing rights to their shows and airing their localised versions of their national channels. Shaman King is a huge name among 2000s kids all over Eastern Europe, for example. So acting as though only the US and its culture mattered to the story (besides the one bit in the conclusion) rubs me the wrong way.

[@bluebaron6858]

@@Skallva they are a US centric KZbinr(and they still got some things wrong in the video) I don't think it's even documented hiw well other 4kids dubs did international. Like the Tama dub aired internationally but is lost media, Ultraman Tiga aired in India but there's like no info on it etc

[@dwainsimmons3447]

That’s why most people hate them.

[@yellohammer8571]

When they dubbed Sonic X, this was when Ryan Drummond, then voice of Sonic, was let go of, and Jason Griffiths was cast instead. Apparently, the folks at 4kids needed someone who lived next door, rather than from across the country.

[@StrykerMagnum]

Honestly I like the idea of a Shadow Duel and the Shadow Realm, that's a way more metal punishment for losing. I'd rather die any day than be trapped possibly forever, alone, in a realm of infinite nothingness. Say what you want about the rest, but that's a legitmately good substitute.

[@MarshalMarrs]

I would rather be reincarnated

[@apinkchameleon]

I agree, which is part of why it's absolutely hilarious that they did that just to censor death

[@theotherjared9824]

This is another reason why I like adult swim. They were willing to show what most others wouldn't dare. They specifically helped redub some older anime to be more in line with the original script and aired them on toonami.

[@JamesTDG]

The only problem is that they make it too difficult to access those dubs via their site, so I am stuck with only knowing what happened in ep1 for Dr Stone, because I was able to catch it while it was airing. (Yes, I do own a VCR, but grandma keeps recording politics over other stuff, which is why I stopped using it)

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

@@JamesTDG Dr. Stone is on Crunchyroll, which I understands some people avoid on principle. But, uh, if you have a friend who has an account already, maybe talk to them about it. Wink wink.

[@jonahabenhaim1223]

Bot

[@aishaclaravella]

Nah they cancelled Moral Orel

[@KyrenaH]

@@OtakuUnitedStudio The folks that snub Crunchyroll are just pirates who want everything for free.

[@Duncaster]

I don’t know why but I suddenly have a hankering for a jelly filled donut.

[@patrickstrickin5123]

Make this the top comment

[@saspitite]

dammit now I do too

[@iffyhadadime]

Who can blame you? Nothing beats a jelly filled donut.

[@Mirnum007]

Why is it shaped like a triangle?

[@bzbprodofficial]

Now I am fuu-

[@LitereallyNobody7]

4kids dubs will always have a special place in my heart. Jelly donuts, and funny name changes will forever be remembered.

[@Petitfleur_]

There’s a restaurant where I live that has the 4 Kids logo above the kids’ menu section on their menu & I am always so amused by it. Like someone when putting together the PDF file for this small, locally operated restaurant was googling like “just for kids” or some shit to try to find a cute png they could illegally use in their menu, must have had no idea this was the logo for an existing company, & said “yeah that looks good, I’m gonna slap that on the menu.”

[@happybunnyntx]

I think my favorite thing to come from the "jelly donut" thing is the baker that made jelly donuts that look like rice balls with something like coconut flakes to coat it for the rice. My japanese friend was like, um....why would he do that? Explaining the 4kids censorship was embarrassing.

[@doublecontralto818]

My fiancee and I were at Otakon one year and we ended up going to a panel on Japanese dishes you can prepare an home. The chef presenting got to her slide with a plate of onigiri and asked if anybody knew what they were. I kid you not, the entire crowd said in unison "jelly donuts". The next slide said "NOT jelly donuts! Pokemon lied to you!"

[@bluerious5475]

@@doublecontralto818 I feel like in a convention like that with a clear focus on Japanese media, everyone knew what that was and said jelly donuts as a joke because localization funny lol

[@Idiotic_B_Purcell]

Congrats, good sir. You just gave me the idea to wanna do that irl (if I were actually able to cook, that is) for some kinda event

[@MarshalMarrs]

The world would better off if 4kids never existed.

[@joshuafrizzell7856]

Whoever was guilty of that stupid decision of changing rice balls to Jelly Donuts was an idiot.

[@TessuDraws]

My favourite 4Kids editing decisions was taking everything that has Japanese text on it and wiping it clean, replacing it with nothing. Idk if they did that with other shows but it was very much a thing in Mew Mew Power. Shops in the backgrounds didn't have names anymore, banners made to cheer for kendo fighters were just empty sheets... Really bizarre but funny.

[@gabbagoo9774]

I think that's the show that had a character standing on top of a cross and they made it just be a pointy nothing, but they forgot to edit a few frames and the corners pop back up for a couple seconds before going back to being pointylol

[@Idiotic_B_Purcell]

Not just Japanese text; They also did it with a lot of English text as well, most notable examples lie within Sonic X. It's almost as if the *entirety* of the "demographic" can't read rather than just a fraction of 'em

[@gamemaster2819]

@@Idiotic_B_Purcell I think the reason they took out English text too is to make more money. Anime is interesting because for Western countries, they dub the English dub, not the original Japanese dub. 4Kids wouldn’t make any money these dubs for voicing because all their work is now covered up by different VAs. However, by changing the visuals and music, they do get a cut because those were their edits (this is why even today, Pokémon International still uses their own music most of the time aside from Team Rocket themes)

[@dubbingsync]

Let us not forget an episode of Pokémon where Team Rocket were pulling along a banner that had a lot of Japanese text on it originally only to have a shot that went on for about ten seconds showing a fluttering banner with just Jessie and James’ faces on it spaced a long way apart.

[@somethingwittyandthoughtpr9243]

They did that sort of inconsistently in one piece

[@aarongemmell916]

Love hearing LK doing his Abridged series voices. He definitely deserves more love.

[@MrJechgo]

Great analysis Saber :) Here are a new few things: - As much as Pokémon was mocked for "donuts", it was the anime which was censored the least, to the point where today, Pokémon learned from that. On a sidenote, in one later episode in the first season, Brock makes riceballs and says "When life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. When it gives you rice, you make riceballs." Sure, some episodes were banned, but most of them remained intact. - Following my first point, you cannot say that Pokémon was "censored a lot" when you compare it to One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shaman King, Kirby and Sonic X. - Sonic X was also pretty controversial due to not using the games' voicecast. At first, it was thought that 4Kids couldn't hire them and replace Deem Bistow (who passed away) by Mike Pollock. However, it was simply because Sega changed from a NY-based studio to a CA one. That's why some of the Sonic games at the time used the 4Kids cast. The actors themselves did a fine job, but the sudden change rubbed fans the wrong way. On another sidenote, Sonic X used music from the games in the original Japanese version, but the English one didn't, which was awkward considering that Pokémon left its soundtrack intact. - There was one good thing with Shaman King: 4Kids and Konami held a contest about "creating your own spirit", and the winner's chosen design was featured in Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2. - There was also a good thing with F-Zero: GP Legends: the first GBA game was localised. However, the anime's first season was cancelled after 18 episodes... and F-Zero Climax, the GBA game's sequel, was never released in North America. The reason was because in Climax, you can unlock episode synopses from the anime, which was complete in Japan. Since Gp Legends never completed its run, it couldn't be released. - Non-anime series were better received, such as Winx Club, Chaotic and of course TMNT. However, due to the channel losing viewers, those series got screwed equally. Winx Club was eventually bought by Nickelodeon and Chaotic's 2nd second was cut in half and went to CW. As for TMNT, its 5th season was replaced by Fast Forward, with the actual 5th season airing as "lost episodes". Back to the Sewers was cut, like Chaotic and changed to CW. Fast Forward also had its second cut in slash, before moving to the final season. - FOX lost the license to Power Rangers after Wild Force, as Disney got it from Ninja Storm to RPM, and it aired on ABC. Saban got the rights back afterward for Samurai, but it aired on Nickelodeon. - FOX, like most other channels, cancelled their "afterschool block" following the events of 9/11, leaving only the "Saturday Morning Cartoon Block".

[@gamestation2690]

In another much later episode, Brock called the rice balls "popcorn balls."

[@dwainsimmons3447]

I think the problem is that the dubs. They were trying to be like every kiddy cartoon out there.

[@gamestation2690]

​@@dwainsimmons3447 Pokémon already had a tone that fit with most American cartoon shows for kids. What they did to One Piece was turn a show for teens into something that it was never meant to be.

[@jmurray1110]

Yeah maybe don’t turn the horror manga turned TCG into a kids show

[@Xilex90]

i love that you got the abridged actors to reprise their roles

[@starbound100]

Actor. Martin does all the voices in early ygotas

[@autumbreeze1129]

I agree, it threw me off for a second because I thought he'd just been using clips, then they seemed to be directly responding and I was like "wait..."

[@bcal8118]

It's only 1 guy lol

[@kdastronaut171]

Guido Sanji is the best sanji

[@TheLadyLiddell]

4kids may have had to deal with a lot of censoring and Americanization issues, but they gave us absolute gems in the forms of iconic voices and catchy songs.

[@GottaFistDemAll]

I NEVER want to hear Luffy sing the National Anthem ever again, it be forbidden by law! Master Splintter on the other hand, that rat has the voice of an angel.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

@@GottaFistDemAll Let's not forget that Sonic the Hedgehog is a TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT

[@MystRunner916]

The pirate rap was the ONLY good thing that came from the 4kids One Piece dub. I loved the One Piece manga but dear lord I was horrified by the dub.

[@Dave102693]

Facts

[@thehollyraven]

@Ynozzy thats a new one. and the illuminaughtii pfp still aint working though lmao

[@cui8789]

Whatever else you can say about 4Kids, there is no denying they knew how to make good theme songs. The intros for Yu-Gi-Oh, Shaman King and Mew Mew Power are so memorable. Even the One Piece them has its own odd charm.

[@justjoannak]

Agreed! Their theme songs *STILL* slap to this day

[@GeteMachine]

The dub's music for when Ichigo/Zoey uses the Strawberry Bell was also a banger in the first season

[@andrewnigo61]

Sonic X theme too though

[@Manthab]

The 2003 TMNT theme slaps

[@liyenong2017]

I have to disagree with the One Piece song, they butchered the We are! song luckily they changed to the rap style as the early version doesn't fit the characters. The only English-style song that everyone remembers is the Pokemon theme song. Other than that Japanese know how to do their songs for anime, you shouldn't mess with it, learn to read lol even most Asian kids non Japanese watch it in Japanese dub with English(other language) subs. At least Funimation did it right, their English dub matches the Japanese version well, and did not change the meaning of the song but later they just use the Japanese songs and add English sub

[@KingOfGaymes]

NOT YOU BRINGING IN LITTLEKURIBOH TO VOICE MY FAVORITE MEN AHHHH YES!! 💕 The Yu-Gi-Oh English dub is iconic and legendary, the censorship and all was stupid yes but also iconic itself in a way.. like the finger guns? The shadow realm? And Joey having a New York accent or Bakura being british for some reason? Absolutely incredible and hilarious. The English dub is so different from the original that it’s basically a separate experience from the Japanese. And I love it for that at least. I love Dan Green being the voice of Yami and Yugi and playing them both so well, I love Eric Stuart being a snarky smug Kaiba. (I’ve met both and they are so nice and great people) It’s just so fun and humorous. While the Japanese is more serious and dramatic. If it weren’t for 4Kids we probably wouldn’t have the big anime influence we have now in the western world. And despite all the dumb censoring and “Americanization” of the shows.. I’ll always be thankful to 4Kids for giving us these shows and their dubs. Specifically Yu-Gi-Oh, which I think was the best thing to come from them. 💜

[@gabbagoo9774]

>NOT YOU BRINGING IN LITTLEKURIBOH >NOT YOU Why are you saying this? Why have people been saying this? It makes no sense. Also, almost completely agreed with everything you said, minus Yu-Gi-Oh! being the best, I liked other ones better but I understand why someone might've liked it so much.

[@LuffyMcDuck]

You do know Shadow Realm is a thing in the original manga and not something 4kids invented?

[@caseyok7153]

Yeah give me Like 10 minutes to process what the hell you just said

[@surreal-starwhale9984]

100%! All of these shows were a majority of my childhood and I’m still into anime today because of it ♥️

[@JaZex_the_jester]

Say "yagami" backwards

[@bigtoblerone8446]

They did cringe dubs and bad censorships sometimes, but they had the most killer opening songs; everyone remembers their bangers as classics.

[@smallboi1007]

I WANNA BE-

[@ddjsoyenby]

finally someone telling the truth!

[@gamefan6219]

@@ddjsoyenby IT'S TIME TO D-D-D-D-D-Duel!!?

[@jamesnagle7566]

Ya yo yaaaa yoooo!

[@thewisegnomeman1260]

@@jamesnagle7566 Game on! Get Your Game On!

[@yeeyeeyeeye]

Their censorship was ridiculous back then (much like TV standards back then), BUT at least 4Kids gave us Kirby: Right Back at Ya! so it's not too bad

[@HardDick-yx3ki]

Meh, the sub to Kirby Of The Stars is way better. King DeDeDe looks so weird with a southern country accent.

[@AutumnsAntagonist]

The voice acting and dubbing in early Pokémon and yugioh were amazing. It’s not even nostalgia talking, they had talented voice actors and directors. The line delivery and dialogue flow in some episodes of yugioh and Pokémon are genuinely good and imo better than most of what Funimation puts out in the past 10 years.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Correct

[@whiterabbit8243]

they had no voice direction either. they all had to 'wing it' back then. the directors had no access to the japanese studio like they do today, so they were just left in the dark mostly.

[@pablocasas5906]

@@whiterabbit8243 they didn't have voice direction? That kind of reminds me when shows like Tiny Toons and Batman TAS were dubbed in Venezuela, the first major Spanish dubs made in that country, but unlike the Spanish dubs made in Mexico where they had voice directors since the beginning, some Venezuelan actors said that at they didn't have any directors, it wasn't until the 2000s when Spanish dubs made there started having voice directors

[@KlearChristal]

Don't agree with the last point at all lol

[@jmurray1110]

Hell apparently even takahashi loved English zero

[@bloodystatic4156]

Fun fact: 4Kids Productions was formerly a 4Kids Entertainment subsidiary that became a company that still is alive to this day, which is Konami Cross Media NY, which is of course part of Konami!

[@princesspikachu3915]

Isn't it called 4K Media now?

[@yuutaruu4242]

@@princesspikachu3915 that's what I heard too. Also K for Kids and Konami, smart move.

[@PC2000]

@@yuutaruu4242 They pretty much took over dubbing Yu-Gi-Oh and have been dubbing it up to this day, right? Isn't the show still pretty much dubbed the same way as it was back then?

[@RinsArc]

yeah except less censorship and sevens is almost exactly the same as jp version. arc v really shows that the censorship is far less severe

[@KingOfGaymes]

@@PC2000 pretty much minus censoring and name changes. They had the og English cast dub the new movie from 2016 too. And they’re all still voicing them in new things.

[@LordPachotron82]

You made a video about 4Kids without mentioning the best thing they did: The 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show. It was really awesome, dark, action heavy and with lots of character development. The fact the company only managed to ruin it on seasons 6 and 7, is a miracle. And things like 4Kids are the reason Latin American anime fans from the 70s, 80s and 90s must be grateful because we got all the shows uncensored here.

[@NovaCore777]

And the primary reason the show got changed was because new leadership and Playmates thought they were going too far with season 4, mainly regarding Insane in the Membrane, which I can understand why considering the amount of body horror in that episode. And at least the lighter stuff with Fast Forward was a fun attempt at reworking the show that would've given us an even better follow up season with Shredder taking over a Triceraton and Usagi's descendant who explores outer space. Instead we got Back to the Sewers, which is insanely dull, followed up by the enjoyable yet very flawed Turtles Forever movie.

[@MoodKapProductions]

@@NovaCore777 they cancelled an episode in season 5 for being too dark because it involved Hun and the Garbage man being conjoined twins who were separated by a back ally surgeon. I can kinda see why this got the boot though

[@bluebaron6858]

@@NovaCore777 they "shelved" season 5 ninja tribunal for fast forward ☠️

[@Thehunter905]

@@MoodKapProductionsSAY WHAT

[@Jamal2504]

The episode Same as It Never Was is easily one of the best episodes period and darkest.

[@urmom6701]

I can't believe that this was the same network that aired one of the darkest interpretations of TMNT ever. Also Splinter's got vocals, damn.

[@CrossoverFan4life]

Changing a chain saw into a laser saw with light saber sound effects was an awesome choice on 4kids part.

[@bloodraven432]

Ironically, it’s probably because of 4Kids censorship that I got to watch these shows and develop my love of anime. My parents would sometimes watch these shows with me in the morning and if they had aired the shows uncensored they probably would’ve stopped me from watching them ever again. I shudder to think what kind of upstanding gentleman I could’ve become if I hadn’t gotten addicted to watching anime.

[@mattwolf7698]

That's another reason they had to do this, as it was, my helicopter parents didn't even let me watch their dub of Yu-Gi-Oh (they still thought it was too violent and satanic or something crazy) at least Pokemon was allowed though.

[@toddclawson3619]

Yeah. The only reason I became a Gundam fan was because I saw Gundam, 8th ms team, and G Gundam on Toonami where they were censored.

[@Rodrigo_Vega]

for the same reason it worked for you, it might have driven a lot of other people away. A lot more kids stuck to anime _because_ their parents wouldn't allow them to watch it. Same as plenty of adults would probably given the shows a chance was it not for them sounding like childish entertainment. As a whole, anime is much more likely to have succeeded in the US _despite_ these changes and not because of them.

[@aerostrafe1075]

@@Rodrigo_Vega Sounds like a lot of "maybe" if you ask me.

[@Rodrigo_Vega]

@@aerostrafe1075 that a bunch of a adults and edgy teens alike will overlook a show because it's too "light" and full of silly jokes but would otherwise stay for the violence and fanservice is an absolute certainty. Here in Latin America the adaptations of these shows were much more faithful and anime was adopted quite early and widely.

[@NadirEatsRocks]

You don't mention it in this video, but Studio Ghibli's first American release was so heavily modified that one of Miyazaki's employees sent a katana to the developers with the message "No cuts" when they tried to do it again with Princess Mononoke XD

[@jerricawilliams9989]

Nausicaa of the valley of the wind and its illegitimate sibling Warriors of the Wind

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

Pom Poko still has one of the most hilarious english dubs. Because you know they're tanuki and have um, what does the dub call them, oh yes pouches.

[@pablocasas5906]

That reminds me that in Latin America we got two dubs of Warriors of the Wind, and the worst part is that the acting is pretty darn good especially in the second dub, Nausicaa was given a more faithful Neutral Spanish dub but the acting was OK Castle in the Sky is the only Ghibli dub were a name change was necessary for the Spanish dub, but they regrettably stuck too close to the original and it makes the movie an involuntary comedy because of the titular island's name

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Weinstein ruined the Magic Roundabout back in 2006.

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

@@dwainsimmons3447 Yeah I have to be honest I had no idea of the doogal/magical roundabout along with the absolutely atrocious dub until very recently. I mean I knew bunch of famous people did the US voice work but I had no idea just how bad it was, it's true awful. The dub script was a complete hack job start to finish. I mean it wasn't the worst thing that Weinstein did but holy crap what an atrocious butcher job.

[@DKQuagmire]

i feel bad for those 00's kids growing up with censored shows/ anime, while my dad happily let me watch uncensored 90's kids shows like "The Animals of Farthing Wood" (i still have trauma revisting that show as an adult), and films like "Watership Down", which were marketed as "U" (universal = everyone), when really the film should have been labelled "PG", due to the graphic violence and blood in some scenes.

[@goldtheostrich]

I feel like I had the same thing happening on Netflix with Glitter Force, but unlike some of those people, I discovered the original series.. it made me love magical girl series! Without Glitter Force and Smile! Pretty Cure (the original), I would never know Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon (for some reason I might not know it without Glitter Force), Ojamajo Doremi, etc.

[@galaxy_kitten95]

I’m mostly an early 00s kid and honestly, I had most of my experience with watching anime on toonami and adultswim. My uncles wouldn’t allow me to watch adult oriented series since I knew they had VHS copies of Akira and Ninja Scroll.

[@GardevoirBoy1991]

Me too dude. It's no fun having to deal with helicopter adult watchdog groups play God with Japanese media as it ruined the childhoods of millennials who loved them in the first place. It's true that children shouldn't be prone to violent media, but normalizing anime just to appeal to younger audiences was unforgivable. Strict TV standards does not excuse the censorship anime shows we know, and love had to suffer back in the day.

[@absolite6]

The censors 4Kids made were often ridiculous, hilarious and straight up stupid sometimes. But by lord the memes that we got from it are and still legendary. The earliest memory me and my sister had with realizing the censoring that was happening was us discovering the remaining 8 minutes that was cut out of the Origin of Mewtwo short from the first pokèmon movie. You can't imagine the emotional whiplash we got once we found the full version.

[@ultgamercw6759]

Say what you want about 4kids, you have to give them two things. Firstly that they introduced anime to many people who might have never seen it had it not been for there adaption. Secondly that years after shutting there doors they are still providing countless memes to the community that will never be forgotten. Everyone knows about the rice ball jelly donut :)

[@LuigiTheMetal64]

That is like saying lies make everything better. It does not. Censorship is evil, no matter what your parents say. Anime companies can just release anime themselves, and people will know about the medium.

[@ultgamercw6759]

@@LuigiTheMetal64 I'm not saying censorship is good. I'm saying I'm grateful for them introducing many people to anime and for the many memes we can now make because of these versions.

[@Risingleaf77]

@LuigiTheMetal64 Honestly if censorship didn't exist we wouldn't have had anime back then, so idk deal with it? It was worth it

[@jsr3234]

@@LuigiTheMetal64 censorship is “evil” is a huge stretch especially with children involved. Guess we should just let kids watch porn while we’re at it huh? Since censorship is evil as you say then nothing should be off the table.

[@untunedguitar45]

@@Risingleaf77 anime was there even before censorship, Toonami was airing when Pokémon entered the scene, and they based their broadcasts off uncut dubs that were only slightly edited for Tv with the home video releases being uncut

[@TetsuDeinonychus]

They censored all this anime but they also co-produced the most adult and true-to-the-comics TMNT cartoon to date.

[@Waterdeerdroplet]

I Enjoyed The TMNT Alot more, 4Kids really did good with TMNT, I Love to see all the TMNT, speaking of which, I Defiantly Hope Saberspark checks out The Samurai Rabbit Series on netflix, The comic artist made TMNT As well :p

[@kpychamp13]

It also kind of double standard with what the 2003 TMNT got away with specifically with Baxter stockman because the show was made by 4Kids

[@thecodester6669]

As well as the best sonic series ahead of prime, sonic X

[@syloui]

tmnt 2k3 aged like a fine wine

[@Cosmic-Bear.]

@@kpychamp13 Companies are always harsher on international content, I've seen this attitude outside the US too

[@SecretIdentityStudio]

Never forget the multiple times they screwed over Mew Mew Power despite it being their highest-rated show at one point, because they didn't have the merch rights like they did for Doremi and Winx and because they wanted to push the shounen stuff more anyway.

[@bluebaron6858]

A shame, the show was looking to be a juggernaut here

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@bluebaron6858 but even if it was the high rated show, the dub was still universally despised by fans and critics.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

In fact their magical girl shows dubs were more butchered than the DIC/Cloverway dub of Sailor Moon.

[@bluebaron6858]

@@dwainsimmons3447 people online despised the pokemon, yugioh, and sonic x dubs back in the day. It doesn't matter as long as the products were selling like crazy about their production quality.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@bluebaron6858 they also despise the dic/Cloverway dub of Sailor Moon as well too?

[@mikaela7636]

It’s crazy how much anime has spread! In middle/high school it wasn’t cool to watch anime or wear merch I was def ostracized but today my husband is a middle school teacher and it’s so mainstream and accepted for kids to love and watch anime

[@TheSkullivan12]

Everyone always asks what did 4Kids ruin. Nobody ever asks what ruined 4Kids.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Because of the people realizing that the editing was so awful.

[@peepsg]

@@dwainsimmons3447 people have mental problem going nuts with changes

[@sagittariusseiya8310]

@@dwainsimmons3447 You're right!

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@peepsg you’re absolutely correct

[@lProN00bl]

It was so surreal having the 4kids dub end and the funimation dub just picks up and they go from saying potty and boo boo to threatening to kill each other. Glorious

[@Cloud-dt6xb]

Hands down the worst dub 4kids ever did and thank god One Piece is out of their hands today.

[@digimonlover1632]

@@Cloud-dt6xb Trust me. 4Kids was glad.

[@digimonlover1632]

That would be so jarring. Glad I never had that experience.

[@bernietea]

Some guy named Al did that rant like 15 years ago.

[@statesminds]

@@Cloud-dt6xb they are one of the reasons i didn’t like one piece anime growing up lol oh i can’t believe it took me this long to get into it

[@QueenMariposa5]

18:00 That's exactly what happened to me with Mew Mew Power. I saw a book in the library with Zoey on the cover, but it was called Tokyo Mew Mew and her name was Ichigo. Even KZbin had the original Ojamajo Doremi and season 4 of Winx Club free to watch with no ads.

[@compatriot852]

Ironic you show Senator Armstrong as a 4kids executive, yet he'd be the one who would want nothing censored and more violence

[@MoonMoon-cl4co]

They did have a lot of annoying censorship BUT! They did give us the Kirby dub with Southern Dedede and Paul Lynde snail so I would say it all worked out in the end 😌

[@Angninjin22]

Bro Dedede is and was a dededelightful

[@Luigislotsaspaghetti]

HAND ME ANOTHER BAG OF THEM CHIPS!

[@CharlesWorkPPL]

Better get it with a money back guaranteeeeee!

[@brav141xd2]

“I need a monster to clobber that there Kirby!” - Dedede 2002

[@slinkbradshaw8674]

That show felt like a fever dream and I Ioved it

[@SkyBlueFox1]

One particular 4Kids moment that I like is how they outright commissioned the third and final season of Sonic X. Like, the show was just *that* popular in the west that they actively pushed for the extra content. And then, of course, 4Kids took the hatchet to it when they found out it was darker than they anticipated. Legit, I highly recommend looking up the changes made to it, because the second half of that season ranges from noticeable-cuts to damn-near-unrecognizable. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

[@CyberdustStudios]

They did that with the entire show as well. just not on the same levels as the 3rd season. TLDR: Watch the JPN dub

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

@@CyberdustStudios Yeah I could not believe it, anything from changing gun sounds to sound more pew pew to like deaths of characters being like more prominent to flat-out removed from the dub completely. That whole series got butchered bad. I actually remember being kinda impressed with what they were able to get away with in shaman king. But yeah most of the stuff they dubbed was awful. The writing is best described as current marvel at it's absolute worst.

[@crazizzle85]

It's a shame because the Sonic x western va's are pretty competent by anime standards at that time. The dubbing wasn't bad. But the censorship, sheesh.

[@KumoriGurasu]

They commissioned extra episodes of Ultimate Muscle, too. Though I have a feeling that one corresponded with them trying to make up with Toei for what they did to One Piece, as the timing on the last 13 episodes match up.

[@peterkrochmalni673]

The most unforgivable thing that 4kids had done was erasing Rouge’s chest. Those barbarians. Oh and cutting away when Shadow hits Chris, twice. Monsters!

[@liquidsnake23]

i really love this. in my 30's this is exactly the way it was and i love hearing you talk about it. It would be great to hear more thoughts on this topic or even preserving, as some didnt make it past vhs distribution. As a last almost non related, my heart broke with the saban part seeing jason. anyways keep up the good work no no, GREAT work. Stay safe and hope to see more soon.

[@MortalMercenarae]

The jelly donuts aren't a censorship issue. It's a localization consideration.

[@MrMariosonicman]

two things 4Kids were great for. Their theme songs, and dub cast. I litterally cannot hear Yugi without Dan green.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Correct

[@thecodester6669]

Mike pollock and eggman

[@normadgarmez7026]

You are right about that. Maybe if they called their company 4Everyone entertainment it would of had more broad ( kids, tweens, teens, and adults) appeal. Not to mention airing some programming on adult swim... But what a bone headed decision to sell a 3% stake in Pokemon.

[@simplysteve68]

Also hearing Brock and Kaiba being the same voice actor. Lol

[@whiterabbit8243]

you never listened to their other tracks outside of their theme songs? cause theres a lot better stuff they have like pikachu's jukebox for instance... the "i wanna be the very best" song isn't even that good, iconic but mid...

[@bryankutchens7495]

I only found out about Yu-Gi-Oh being incredibly dark a few years ago. And I loved 4kids in the early 2000s. I was so shocked to discover season 0 and the manga being a completely different genre then what I grew up on. After reading the manga and watching season 0 it does explain some lose ends that didn't really make sense in the show. But they were both fantastic. Even season 0 has some redeeming qualities. If anyone hasn't seen or read the real thing, I super recommend it.

[@rwberger6]

Yeah, really changes your perspective when you realize the pharoh is actually sending people to hell.

[@dickle9604]

Season 0 had the potential to make each battle unique with a new game for Yugi and friends to play, and make the stakes much more higher considering all of them could’ve actually died in the Kaiba tower. It also makes the title “KING OF GAMES” much more fitting considering the Pharoh was capable of adapting to any game in Season 0

[@bryankutchens7495]

@@dickle9604 exactly. That's what I mean when I say there were some loose ends that didn't add up in the anime. Since he only played one game. But following the manga, he actually earns the title king of games. U challenge him to chess, and he'll listen to the heart of the piece. Lol

[@bryankutchens7495]

@@dickle9604 my personal favorite was the game where each player places dragon statues on the field with different typings like water or wood. The idea that u can't see the opponents moves, makes it more strategic

[@GeteMachine]

Yugioh was also originally going to be darker and similar to Death Parade (differnt anime) were it was about gambling and people dying in all forms of games, but the card game chapter in it got popular and the concrept of yugioh eventially became about the card game. Yugi is the "king of games" because in the original he actually was supposed to be a master of gambing games. Its interesting.

[@TravelocityKirby]

The best thing about the calling onigiri donuts debacle is that a few episodes later, in Pokémon Paparazzi aka the Pokémon Snap tie-in with Todd Snap, they did call them rice balls because Brock was shown cooking the rice, so they really had no choice there.

[@denjeez]

They really are the goat for doing this on Saturdays. Loved getting a bowl of cereal while watching these

[@Phono_Wizard]

I remember watching angry rant videos about all the censorship 4kids did back in like 2007. Good times. I love hearing the history of the company and why they did what they did. Thanks for all the context. ✌🏾

[@bernietea]

You remember as well? I think one of those ranters voices a character for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

[@TheArceusftw]

@@bernietea Do you remember who it was? Because the only KZbinr I know being a VA in JoJo is YongYea as Pucci.

[@bernietea]

@@TheArceusftw Tiana Camacho, she used to hang around this gang of ranters back in the late 00's.

[@DaDualityofMan]

@@bernietea That's actually a cool story going from ranting about dubs to working on them, be the change you want see and all that.

[@LoveMyUnusual]

Right? The jokes from YuGiOh and Naruto Abridged about it were fire lol. Lanipator, the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged also had a mini series called Yusuke Rants where he went off about content and corporate decisions around shows and games he liked. Unfortunately, I don't think it's up anymore. Good times.

[@theggamer83]

It should also be noted that many of these edits were done because their dubs were airing on broadcast networks, so it would have been illegal for these anime to have aired uncensored without intervention from the FCC, not because 4Kids necessarily wanted to censor their licenses. That's why anime dubs that went straight to Toonami/Cartoon Network had fewer edits done to them in general due to the lighter restrictions. Another note I'll make is that 4Kids actually made subs of their anime back in the day (completely uncensored), such as Sonic X, but only for internet distribution. In essence, they kind of hastened their own extinction even more on that one. EDIT: In no way am I excusing 4Kids or the networks from any disrespect to Japanese culture or the nature of the edits themselves. I'm simply stating a reason as to why the edits occurred.

[@lainiwakura1776]

Not illegal. This is also a BS excuse considering what Batman TAS had in its show. The problem was that 4Kids didn't bother arguing their position like the Batman showrunners did. Cable is not regulated by the FCC in the first place.

[@theggamer83]

@@lainiwakura1776 It wasn't on cable. It was a broadcast feed. Over the air.

[@knightwolf3511]

@@lainiwakura1776 they would have been fined because of Children's Educational Television act, FCC regulated over the air antenna but they couldn't regulate private networks like comcast and such en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulations_on_children%27s_television_programming_in_the_United_States 1968, activist Peggy Charren established Action for Children's Television (ACT) early-1970's, ACT successfully pressured the major networks to remove "violent" superhero cartoons from their children's programming,[11] and in 1971, first proposed restrictions on airing any advertising during children's programs.[12] Children's Television Act 1990 Children's Television Act (CTA) 1996 regulations 1995, then-FCC commissioner Reed Hundt began campaigning for stricter children's educational programming regulations "The FCC ordered that by September 1997, all commercial television stations must broadcast at least three hours of core educational programming per-week, regularly scheduled between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Beginning January 2, 1997, television stations were required to use the branding "E/I" to promote these programs on-air and in programming information supplied to TV listings" this regulation does not apply to cable channels. basically from 7am to 10pm tv stations are required to show educational tv

[@DaDualityofMan]

That give the vibe that 4Kids was actually for kids while Toonami was more for older kids, and that made Toonami so much cooler lol

[@theggamer83]

@@DaDualityofMan That's fair. Kind of worked out, didn't it?

[@xcelentei]

Master Splinter off the shits with that vibrato

[@JCBro-yg8vd]

4Kids was a pioneer that helped anime become more popular in the west, they were the Blockbuster of their time. They just were unable to keep up with the changing market until it was too late for them.

[@coranbaker6401]

I was wondering if Chaotic would show up in this. Shame it was never actually mentioned, but that game was a big part of my childhood. It made me so made when I learned years later that the reason they stopped making cards is because they went after the original creators of Chaotic and tied the franchise up in legal restrictions. Such a shame.

[@Silver_light77]

Luckily now that 4kids and 4licensing is defunct the rights fully return to the creators, show and all

[@Dave102693]

@@Silver_light77 hopefully if the og creators feel like it, we’ll get an actually good show of the card game like Vanguard and Buddyfight does.

[@wafflebroz]

I think Jordan Fringe talked about it recently

[@coranbaker6401]

@@Dave102693 To be fair, the 4-Kids show was actually pretty solid. Nothing groundbreaking, but they were actually willing to be a lot more mature than they were with a lot of their anime, like with Hoton's backstory where he accidentally murdered his entire village.

[@coranbaker6401]

@@wafflebroz Oh yeah, I think I saw that when it came out. That was cool to see.

[@MarioKaiba]

Okay, you managed to get LittleKuriboh off his butt to do some lines? I'm impressed. Jokes aside, I have to thank you for your research on this. I did my own digging years ago and was shocked that the predecessor created ThunderCats. Still, you forgot to mention the fate for 4Kids Productions, their dubbing studio. After the bankruptcy, that was bought by Konami as a means to keep dubbing the show in the US and other English speaking countries. It's currently called " Konami Cross Media NY".

[@sabrinamiller3671]

He ain't lazy. He suffers depression, ok?

[@JoTokutora]

I used to work at 4kids. I will tell you what was the first reason that set a chain reaction to their fall. It was in 2008 When Leahman Brothers banks collapsed with the housing bubble. The company had 100million debt free in that bank. Over night they lost 50 million. That changed everything for 4kids. Adding injury to them when Japanese companies did not renew their top shows licensing. They never recovered after that

[@braedenmclean5304]

I have to say, I love the contrast between littlekuribo doing his kiba and yugi voice and cutting to saber dubbing over Armstrong, it’s wonderful.

[@TheDapperDragon]

What contrast?

[@inuyashafreakforever]

Glad to see LK mentioned. I thought of him immediately when I saw this video. Was hoping for some sort of crossover episode.

[@braedenmclean5304]

@@TheDapperDragon the contrast of LK kiba and yugi voices sounding pretty close to the characters and then Saber just doing his normal voice over Armstrong.

[@TheDapperDragon]

@@braedenmclean5304 i don't know about close, but you could say LK is at least trying, that's true.

[@Moxhstyle]

I was surprised to hear littlekuribo once again

[@TheEngieTF2]

It's sad that no one is mentioning about the 4Kids dub of one of the most popular Tokusatsu show since 1996, Ultraman Tiga. That show is what spawned the several Ultra fans throughout the entire globe. The reason why it was cut short and cancelled is because Tsuburaya Productions (the company behind the Ultra Series and several other of their Tokusatsu heroes such as Gridman) was not satisfied with the outcome of the dubs 4Kids made. In fact, they didn't even like it at all. Because of this, 4Kids decided to release some Ultraman Tiga DVDs that has the original japanese episodes with subtitles to them. Also fun fact, the guy who voices the previews for the 4Kids dub adaptation of said show is none other than the legend himself; Mike Pollock, the voice actor for Dr. Eggman. I recommend everyone checking it out, it's very interesting.

[@bluebaron6858]

It's a shame the full Tiga dub is lost media

[@justinarzola4584]

I do wonder if the tiga dub continued the other ultra shows would be dubbed in America, though I think it was because tsubaraya had legal troubles at the time so Ultraman wasn't as big as it could have in America like power rangers.

[@redstreak9430]

That was my introduction to Ultraman as well. I didn’t even notice as a kid that it was essentially a gag dub. Looking back, they even re-edited the henshin sequence NOT to include the iconic rising punch pose and instead opted for an AMV esque edit showcasing Tiga’s powers.

[@PowerJusho]

Funny. I barely remembered watching the Ultraman Tiga dub on TV and last year, I gotten back into watching Ultraman with Trigger and Z

[@bluebaron6858]

@@justinarzola4584 there's an article that mentioned that 4kids plan was to air the next ultra series yearly after Tiga and so forth.

[@ninjaemilee]

I remember picking up the first volume of the Yu-Gi-Oh Manga after having watched the first season or two on KidsWB and being surprised with how dark it really was. I do understand how the censorship landscape played a factor, and I'm glad we can watch these shows as they were intended nowadays.

[@BigBossMan538]

4Kids making Southern accent King Dedede was the best thing that they made

[@hopemullinax6839]

The localization of DiC's version of Sailormoon is such a delight, but I always wondered if the company fell by the wayside as well thanks to corporate choices. I would love for you to cover DiC's rise and fall one day. This was an excellent video! Those 4Kids day was my childhood and so very nostaligic

[@dwainsimmons3447]

DIC’s version of Sailor Moon sucks.

[@kenirainseeker539]

Sailor moon dub censored all the LGBT couples, so it gets an L from me

[@hopemullinax6839]

@@kenirainseeker539 oh I’m a queer person so I get that wrath and how I had to work through my own internalized homophobia because of that, Cardcaptors, Fushigi Yuugi, and more being censored. I had real anger finding out in high school when I dove into Napster and angelfire sites and learned the truth. That said, this Sailormoon was my first exposure to anime and that world. I had never seen anything like it and it blew my 6 year old brain. Those Sailor Says segments lived with me as I grew up. This was my 4Kids by several years. This was my nostalgia

[@dcb99filmz]

someone else made a whole video about that...I forget who.. anyways, DiC's Knights of the Zodiac made me want to die tbh.

[@QueenMariposa5]

I still have fond memories of the dub music and voice actors of DiC's Sailor Moon even though it was the bad version.

[@--Paws--]

As someone who grew up watching DBZ no subtitles; my next door neighbor at the time was Japanese and was privilege to watch new unaired episodes, his aunt worked for the company. When I moved to the US; it felt disappointing that DBZ was censored or some episodes were not even aired. I could finally understand what I was watching but it was totally missing somethings or somethings that were supposed to be there aren't.

[@Danielle_1234]

I grew up on international TV. Back in the 90s when I was a kid what massively got under my skin was how US censored villain backstories. (DBZ in the US censored this too.) It's one of the key parts of anime, knowing why the "bad guy" is doing what they're doing and feeling empathy as the hero does when they ultimately have to put them down. Why does the US feel the need to censor anything gray? Why is there only allowed to be black and white stories with only good guys and bad guys? As a young kid seeing this censorship seemed harmful to me, like there was something wrong about it. It sapped some of the best parts of a show reducing it to monster of the week type stories, removing any sort of character development. Today I know that nuance creates maturity, something vitally important for a growing child. The US right now has a culture of anti-maturity ie sheltering children's entertainment and from that we grow up to live in a world full of cultural problems. Over 50% of the US population has a psychological disorder and over 60% can hardly live on their own from not gaining necessary skills during childhood. They have to grow up on their own after they've moved out. 1 in 3 people in the US has a conviction. It's insane. We need to stop sheltering kids. Also, just going to say it: DB was better than DBZ. XD

[@zwillscoopchannel9689]

@@Danielle_1234 I think that’s why Funimation wanted to dub kai since they wanted a second chance to make it faithful

[@charlesintune]

4kids really made me wonder why those chainsaws by Yugi's ankles were meant to send him to the shadow realm like not just amputate him??

[@CsStoker]

I'm so glad for growing up with non censored anime, from Candy Candy in the late 80s to everything aired on national TV on the early 2000s. The funny thing is Toonami was airing stuff that was already airing on South American channels years ago like Inuyasha or Saint Seiya

[@TVkingOmega]

Saber? The thing is 4Kids actually did have to deal with a lot of pressure from the network executives. A lot of what they were infamous for was primarily BECAUSE of network standards. The primary reason they erased text in their shows? Was to make things more understandable to international markets to get the widest demographic possible. And that was TMS doing. When they dubbed Shaman King they were met with legitimate outrage by parent groups. Primarily by the ending where the villain rips open Yoh’s chest and devours his soul, completely uncensored! Many things like the invisible guns, removing death and such? That was because of the WB and fox network standards for children. They didn’t actually WANT to dub One Piece! It was forced into their hands by Toei when they got it in a package deal with Ultimate Muscle and Magical DoReMi. By the time they actually saw the show? They were horrified at what they obtained, realizing they could never make this show work within their enforced standards. But if they didn’t dub it? They’d lose the other licenses. So instead they just dubbed what they could until the license expired in 2006. And yes, Toei did indeed approve every single change they made to the show. They didn’t care, they wanted One Piece to reach an American audience and sought to give the series to anyone who’d take it.

[@TheVodkaHaze]

The 4Kids One Piece dub is still a guilty pleasure of mine. I don't care what people say, when I hear Sanji in English, I expect David Moo, not Eric Vale.

[@twistedgaming9185]

Out of the package deal, only Ultimate Muscle succeeded. Magical Doremi was such a failure it never got past the first season and plans for more toys were cancelled.

[@TheSSUltimateGoku]

The license never expired in 2006 they elected to give it up to Funimation. Even after Funimation took over in 2006 4kids was still selling DVDs and releasing some DVD products in 2006 of one piece. The license didn’t officially end until 2008 they just stop dubbing it. In which after that Funimation negotiated a full license with Toei. And they Funimation were made to still have to this day.

[@jadenbryant9283]

@@TheVodkaHaze me but it's the Yugioh 4Kids dub

[@QueenMariposa5]

They must not have wanted Ojamajo Doremi either. They only aired the 1st 25 episodes on TV (at the earliest and most inconvenient timeslot) the rest were only available on their website *years* later with no advertisement. By that time I'd already found and watched all 4 seasons in its original format for free on KZbin. Plus, the merchandise was only sold in select stores

[@comettamer]

That end monologue was choice, Saber. I do agree that without 4Kids to distribute the product to a more worldwide audience, Anime might well not be near where it is today.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Fans and critics don’t by that excuse

[@taylorgonzalez2212]

4Kids was my favorite block growing up in the 2000s. SonicX and TMNT 03 were great shows.

[@alessandro6885]

Man, I remember Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sonic X, and so on from 4Kids. I grew up on a lot of these anime and I’m grateful to 4Kids for bringing a lot of these shows to the western world, even if they censored them. If it weren’t for 4Kids I likely wouldn’t be as in to anime as I am now. Also having LittleKuriboh play Yugi and Seto Kaiba in this video during the censorship joke at the beginning was absolutely genius. I love LK’s Yu-Gi-Oh: Abridged series.

[@TidusX16]

Man I remember when Yu-Gi-Oh first came out it was a huge thing in my elementary school! We literally had Yu-Gi-Oh speakeasies because teachers we tired of us playing it. It got to the point that my princpal decided to learn more about it and then hel a school tournament for 4th and 5th grade. Top prize was a duel disk and I won it which was awesome! (Warrior equip deck, my bread and butter) 4Kids was pretty much my childhood.

[@DiscoTimelordASD]

Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh... Those were the days :)

[@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger]

In kindergarten we would get our pokemon cards taken away by teachers - didnt matter if you had them at recess/lunch, during free time, on the bus, in class: if you had them at school, they got yoinked. We basically adopted drug dealer tactics. We'd trade cards with handshakes, slip them under our lunch trays and slide the trays around on the shared tables, do dead drops under decorative rocks or bits of grass on the field (like we'd remove the eraser, flatten the metal part, cut a rectangle of grass out of the field, put the card down, cover it again, then set a small rock on top to show where it was). We also had little mailboxes for notes we wanted to pass around but weren't allowed to pass in class; we'd hold drawing contests and leave cards in each others' mailboxes in unmarked handmade envelopes (they looked like scrap paper and had crude drawings on them so they wouldn't call much attention - we knew a bad drawing meant pokemon card but the teachers didnt). Yugioh cards got similar treatment but by then the teachers had really cracked down, so it was less common to trade (we still hid them in library books though).

[@ntfoperative9432]

Now that's a cool principal

[@foxinabox5103]

@@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger banning toys will always be a mystery for me, its not like the kids used the toy to idk.... Bludgeon each other with it? LET KIDS BE KIDS

[@Barkit]

@@foxinabox5103 It’s for the same reason pets aren’t allowed in school. It’s seen as just a huge distraction and keeps kids from learning in class. I agree that not allowing use of them during recess and other break times was a bit excessive but I understand the other side of the argument too.

[@perpetualsalt]

God I love these "history of TV"-esque type videos. I loved 4kids growing up and always wondered what happened. Thanks you for the info, Saber☺

[@hadesedits1501]

Yeah I wish he did more of these this is what I came to this channel for tbh

[@goofywill90]

2:36 at least you learned that difference early. I was like 19 in college when I was learning about japanese culture (learned the term of rice ball but not exactly what it looked like) I mixed up jelly filled donut with the origiri that I saw on display in the Japanese shop and then I was hit with a silent epiphany.

[@mintstar3703]

Still can’t believe it has been nearly a year since Takahashi died. We never knew what was his opinion on the 4Kids dub of his work (as far as I know at least)

[@lucere3674]

"will Butterfree leave ash!?"... Too soon saber, too soon. That was my very first experience crying while watching any type of media.

[@SodaPopBarbecue]

Especially with more recent events.

[@bearerofbadnews1375]

Soon Ash is gonna be leaving us.

[@watchforever1724]

@@bearerofbadnews1375 yeah

[@watchforever1724]

I just watched that episode last week

[@bluebaron6858]

Spoilers: ash met Butterfree again in a recent episode.

[@electricrage272]

People hate on 4Kids so much, but you gotta give the voice actors a lot of praise. Especially Eric Stuart... he gave us Hispanic Meta Knight

[@tendoukiryu6989]

The actors were great, but severely toning down and censoring anime for an American audience is very bad. In some cases, barely the same show.

[@exaltedfalcheon1793]

@@tendoukiryu6989 Gave us good memes tho

[@edengeekydork]

I loved the voice actors they suited the characters i feel like more than the Japanese sub its weird-

[@chandlerwright5460]

That, and the soundtrack

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

@@tendoukiryu6989 Yes, but they had broadcasting standards and practices to answer to. If they didn't make the change, the show would not be allowed to air.

[@allieg.5143]

Anybody else remember the forums 4kids had?? I have such vivid memories of countless RP threads people made

[@smilingsaiyan8357]

i remember them quite fondly xD I made like an anime justice league with some friends on there :)

[@TheL1arL1ar]

Man my kids will never know that feeling…Saturday morning was my shiznit being a 90’s kid. But they still have cool things like instant access to media.

[@SapphireAngelBunny]

Despite some of the strange censoring issues 4kids had, they are the biggest reason for me getting into anime and manga. And that love for anime/manga got me into drawing.

[@sheacorduroy5565]

At the very least, we got the 4Kids Sonic voice cast for 6 years.

[@KitsuneFyora]

Best thing that came out of 4Kids

[@bluebaron6858]

Which ALOT of people online hated back in the day

[@gallibon1319]

Really? I didn't think they weren't that good in the roles. I was a kid then and they were my first exposure to Sonic and I still didn't like the voices they gave to them.

[@minyumonet4746]

@@gallibon1319 honestly I think 4kids voice cast was one of the best

[@yumimakai]

I remember when I found out just how crazy different Yu-Gi-Oh season was via 4kids was when compared to season 0. It blew my mind, and was one of the main reasons why I ended up getting g even more into anime and manga to see the differences. Season 9 had knives, murder and CHAINSAWS. Despite all their censoring bs, I would have probably never been exposed to the majority of anime that opened the gate to my obsession, especially Shaman King. That anime deserves so much more love

[@maxspecs]

Always great to see LittleKuriboh doing content.

[@kobeanukam723]

I remember watching one piece on 4kids. The lollipops went crazy😭

[@watchforever1724]

Lol 😂

[@xxuberxjasonxx3456]

Is okay you're not the only one

[@ProtossTempest]

Never forget! To censor death, 4Kids made something much worse

[@L_A_Z_A_R_U_S]

in China they make the deaths look like uh, *cum*

[@robertthepunchwizard5964]

Welcome to the shadow realm kiddies, where all your worst fears are waiting just out of sight

[@fukinonapizzaroll]

idk what it is about your account but i can only fall asleep when i’m listening to your videos like a podcast😭❤️ you are hands down my fav youtuber

[@haakontherayquaza4046]

I feel like I had the same experience everyone: I watched these 4Kids series (Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!) as a kid, but then I grew up and after getting used to the more awesome and less censored anime I began to prefer it, That is the Curse and Prophecy 4Kids underwent: Their Fans liked the shows as Kids, but then those Kids Grew up

[@LadyDemonSlayer]

Love it or leave it with the 4Kids version, it's fascinating to me that the 2021 Shaman King anime would bring back a lot of the dub VAs. It was a real treat to be able to hear the formerly squeaky clean 4Kids voices being able to preform a more accurate depiction of their characters, especially for characters that really got put through the localization wringer like Jun and Horohoro.

[@KremBotop]

I heard that the same thing happened in some international dubs as well. It's good that many of the old casts are given a second chance to do their roles without censorship.

[@lainiwakura1776]

I would have killed for this with Yugioh back in the day.

[@redstreak9430]

They actually did release “uncut home releases” for Yu-Gi-Oh and Shaman King back in the day but they were short lived due to the actors not giving it their all considering they had to basically go back and do the episodes again and the market wasn’t there at the time. At least the Netflix reboot did try to bring back most of the voices from the original but I know Yoh and Tao’s original voices have distanced themselves from anime dubbing for their own reasons so a recast was unfortunately needed.

[@Brutaltronics]

Wabout Chocolove

[@mathieuleader8601]

yes Randells returned in the dub as Luchist Lasso having previously Tao Ren in the 4kids Dub

[@demonman905]

One of the things I found so funny about 4Kids Dubs was their selection of voice for some characters. In One Piece, Sanji is a habitual smoker. Obviously, 4Kids didn't want kids to be exposed to cigarettes, so they changed Sanji's cigarettes to lollipops sticks, even going so far as to draw the dumdum candy at the top in some scenes. The thing that gets me though, is that they decided to give Sanji a deep and pretty raspy/gravelly voice in the 4Kids dub, almost like he was a smoker. And yet, when we look at the Funimation dub, Sanji has a pretty "normal," non smoker voice, but has his cigarettes back.

[@rockinrootbeer1795]

I like to imagine 4Kids!Sanji was a smoker for years (hence the voice), but he's trying to kick the habit by replacing it with lollipops. A true role model.

[@_Overestimated]

He sounds like a barney with birth defects

[@ellanimation816]

@@rockinrootbeer1795 underrated comment

[@PataStonks]

Who is Saber?

[@sugaxshyxtype]

4Kids Sanji always sounded like he had a permanent headcold to me, like his sinuses were swollen shut and he couldn't breathe properly.

[@matthewbrooks5470]

Love the LittleKuriboh intro. I didn't really know much about anime as a whole until I was lead to one of the many piracy sites where I would see just how much I was missing beyond Toonami and the more kid-centric time slots (I barely knew anything about WB Kids and had no clue about Fox). Despite that, I was very much into the abridging scene after coming across TeamFourStar, Ninjabridge, and LK. I'd say they are what gave me such a strong appreciation for anime and animated works.

[@starfox5837]

Dude your ad for factor was dope saw your raycons as well bud. Love this vid.

[@mmangaboi_5355]

I think it's really interesting that 4Kids went out of their way to thoroughly censor and change all of the anime that they dubbed, but at the same time they also produced the 2003 TMNT series- AKA one of the darkest TMNT properties outside of the comics. (For example, there's an episode where Donatello time travels 30 years into the future and ends up seeing all of his brothers die right in front of him.)

[@ExtremeWreck]

Apparently there were double standards at the censorship bureau that 4Kids dealt with. If their approval of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series has anything to say, they pretty much didn't like the double standards.

[@andrewnigo61]

I think part of it had to do with some of the censorship being part of some kind of mandate from the networks they worked with like Kids WB and stuff.

[@theotherjared9824]

The 2003 TMNT show is such a miracle the more I think about it. Being an American based show with direct involvement by the creators of the original 1984 comic, they were able to build the show from scratch around these restrictions and even had the ability to push back on executive decisions to create a surprisingly dark, violent, and even mature show.

[@mak3x7]

but season 4 had baxter stockman decompose, so they refused to air season 5, skip to a friendlier season 6 about future antics, making the ninja tribunal cliffhanger confusing.

[@frostfyrezero1830]

As much as people give 4kids shit, they did give us one of the best adaptions of TMNT before it went off the rails in later seasons.

[@mttylerdurden9]

@@mak3x7 there was also a script that involved the revelation that the Garbage Man was Huns conjoined twin brother who was thrown in the trash.

[@justinarzola4584]

2003 tmnt was great but it started to get crappy after the first 4 seasons.

[@Chronoflation]

That show was wild and my personal favorite TMNT

[@bleeborg]

Great video. I was born in 94 so I remember all this as it was happening. I spent the early internet era riffing on 4kids with everyone else but nowadays despite their mistakes I have a true appreciation for 4kids. If it wasn't for them anime would not have become the global juggernaut it is.

[@Madamecat7]

3:08 Ngl, Master Splinter has a nice voice.

[@V-Jes]

Say what you want about 4Kids edits and stuff, but whoever was in charge of casting main characters etc was easily 1 of the best around.

[@Deoxyskian]

@@V-Jes…. TWO WORDS. SANJI’S VOICE

[@ericaoliva415]

@@Deoxyskianand shanks .. well I guess it’s good but still lol

[@QuixoteBadger]

As someone who grew up around a number of thriving asian-american communities, some of 4Kids localization decisions make even less sense to me. I ate homemade onigiri before the show had even aired. Funnily enough, the actual donut shop in my hometown is run by a lovely japanese/thai couple. their jelly filled donuts really are my favorite.

[@pablocasas5906]

I said it before, but I knew what an onigiri was because I watched the Spanish dubs of shows like Ranma 1/2 as a kid, probably months before Pokémon arrived in my country, and was confused why they called them "rosquillas" (donuts) while in Ranma they called them "bolas de arroz" (rice balls). The worst part is that both shows were dubbed in the same recording studio, but I guess the translators had to faithfully translate the 4Kids' script

[@ans1605]

The Little Kuriboh cameo was a welcome surprise. Great vid man!

[@rtyable]

Heard little kuriboh at the beginning and had to check the description to make sure it was him. Love that guy

[@MrGrislyTooth]

The soul jittering can't stay in my skin excitement I felt every time I seen that 4Kids entertainment logo is something I had yet to feel at any other point in my life. God I miss those days

[@redstreak9430]

3:21 yes and no. 4Kids as a dubbing license distributor is closed but Konami is still using them to this day for their Yu-Gi-Oh localization (both the TCG and anime process). They now go under Konami Cross Media NY, Inc. which is ironic considering them almost losing the Yu-Gi-Oh license played a role in their bankruptcy in the first place.

[@Dave102693]

Yeah, I wished that Saberspark would of mentioned that lol

[@thema1998]

@@Dave102693 I don't think Saberspark even knew that! 🤷