You can really tell 4Kids started out in marketing. Say what you will about their TV edits, but they knew how to _sell_ a show. Especially when it comes to theme songs.
4kids really deserves more credit it helped first bring shows like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh into existence and helped give dubbed and kids anime a stronghold I doubt anime and manga fans from the 90s and 2000s would even be the hardcore fans they are today without this unforgettable Saturday morning block.
Fun fact: they still exist......kinda. They rebranded as 4Licensing Corporation before going bankrupt for a second time and having one of the subsidiaries bought out by Konami which is now Konami Cross Media NY. Essentially a company that exists to make animated commercials for the west and give them links to the old 4Kids Yu-Gi-Oh! Voice Actors and dub the anime. They also work with other Konami properties in the west like Frogger and Bomberman.
At least I now know why attempting to introduce anime to Western audiences was very problematic for the time being because of how accustomed they were to the stigma of animation as a children's medium. That particular stigma might have started sometime in the 50s when TV sets started to become more prominent in numerous American households.
The issue with 4Kids was never that they censored content for TV. The problem was that, outside of a short-lived release of Yugioh, they refused to release uncut versions of their shows on DVD, even long after that became an industry standard. When Funimation acquired the rights to One Piece, they put out two versions of the show- One that was edited down for TV (to pick up where 4Kids left off) and one that was uncut for the DVD release. This is absolutely the right way to handle this situation; people would not have had nearly as much of an issue with 4Kids if they had just put out uncut versions of their shows.
4kids actually did do a short lived Uncut Yu-Gi-Oh dub on dvd. But it also landed them in legal trouble. I think you should be able to find dvd rips of this uncut dub online.
@@ghoulchan7525 I'm aware of that, I mentioned it in my initial comment. It's a pretty good dub and I wish they did more of it, and did that with their other series too.
Seems like the uploader was stuck in a copyright dispute. As for what brought 4kids down ultimately, I suspect it was running low on money (the block was brokered like an infomercial, after all) and local channels wanting more news time (the latter being Saban's largest "immovable object" when it came to Fox Kids).
I remember watching 4kids as a child as much as I loved my X-men and Batman cartoons. I give 4 kids on WB and Fox Box, which is props for opening the gates for anime
Another great video, I really appreciate the Mew Mew Power mention, Zoey in the thumbnail, and the fact that she showed up for a few seconds in the B-roll :D I also think the end of the video was really funny, and the 4Kids logo animation at the end was a nice touch. This video was very well researched and you covered all corners, I'm sure I've read their Wikipedia article a few times, you did perfect!
@@Cruxis_Angel I said MOST of them, not ALL of them. The Kirby intro was actually really good and is even better the original Japanese op (which I also liked but just doesn't surpass the dub intro), this was the only thing I prefered over that butchered dub. And both Mezaze Pokémon Master and the dub intro of Pokémon Season 1 intro are equally beautiful.
Now technically, 4Kids is now Konami Cross Media NY after Konami bought out 4Kids and then the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! in the US! And they've still got some of the voice actors on board, too! So, they're not technically gone if you really think about it! Just sayin', but yes, I do miss 4Kids so much and I would like them to make a comeback to life and bring the name back, just like with what CN did to bring back HB with the rebranding of their European studio formerly know as Cartoon Network Studios Europe into HBSE, and they've been producing European shows now, and it's great! So anything can happen! But anyways, thanks for doing this video, bro! I appreciate it so much, I love it! Keep it up, man! You're doing amazing and I love your content! I can't wait to see what you cover next on the roster, dude! Incredible! I also love how you added the lifepoint counter in the video, that was funny as hell LOL! Please cover Funimation next! I would love to see a video on, my guy! And their history and rivalry with 4Kids as well! That would be so cool to see!
@@AniToonimationKawaii Ultimate Muscle does have the original Japanese version, but that version’s take on Kid Muscle is quite a mixed bag, as he may be an unlikeable brat but not too much of a dirtbag like J. M. Barrie’s take on Peter Pan. The 4Kids dub frankly made him more likeable in comparison.
This video was brilliant. 4Kids was my absolute childhood and it brought me so many good memories. Say what you want about them, but 4Kids put a lot of us on back in the day and was our gateway into the anime world. For that, I will always appreciate this company.
A new Kinnikuman anime is coming this July! It’s not ultimate muscle related, but it’s about Kid Muscle’s dad in the original universe that Ultimate Muscle spun off from.
I always wondered what happned to 4kids dissapearing all of a sudden back in 2008. thanks for the very insightful analysis. Really fun and unique take on it.
always enjoy these videos, so interesting what happens with this stuff, i watched my fair share of pokemon and yugioh when i was younger, i miss those days
This puts a smile on my face! I am AMAZED at how these shows came to be. :O Keep up the amazing videos! Your Awesome! :D From tmnt, to sonic x, pokemon, etc.. this is just *mind blown*
Great video title, these franchise wars sent many anime shows to the "Shadow Realm". The Lehman br.... involvement is interesting considering their collapse after the popular "Too Big to Fail" phrase.
Growing up watching 4kids was such a treat especially later on learning about the crazy censorship 4kids did. So disappointed that Sanji had lung cancer instead of cripping diabetes. But what 4kids really Excelled at was the songs and intros, all bops I still listen to this day.
Their dub of Yu-Gi-Oh is great. I can even say I think it is better than the Japanese version. Dan Green and Eric Stuart are the one true Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba. I love them.
@@dwainsimmons3447 people gave them too much crap though, for the longest time, many people, even myself gave them too much blame for something they really had no control over. Like this video said, and even Eric Stuart himself confirmed, they were under pressure by over the top parent groups and government to edit so many things.
4Kids was a...mixed bag to put it politely. There is no doubt they helped play a major part in introduced anime and Japanese media in the west...but I don't miss them. Not even a little bit. The good things they did don't outweigh the bad, sorry.
Stuff like this is generally not “missed” when you are an adult but certain aspects remembered fondly. Pumping out crap is par for the course for these companies.
I'd say their influence was greater in the U.S., if we use The West to refer to all countries outside from Japan, anime was already popular in various regions. In Europe shows like Candy Candy and Grendizer were incredible popular in the late 70s and early 80s, while in Latin America it was the success of Mazinger Z, Heidi and also Candy Candy. But in the 90s there was an explosion in popularity with shows like Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball The shows that 4Kids acquired the international rights were global successes as well, but that meant all of the international dubs were based on the censored U.S. version, despite the fact that many countries didn't have as strict restrictions towards what could be shown on kids TV compared to the U.S.
I don't think anime would have taken off in the west as quickly as it did without 4Kids but would have found its success eventually. It's an animation medium and those who love animation would have still sought it out.
Marvelous job with this commentary on 4Kids. I will admit as bad as they are. Without them we wouldn't get anime and they did the best they could. Kind of can't say the same about FUNi. BTW don't hold anything back when talking about their history. Especially the last parts.
Bobby Kotick mixed Blizzard with Activision and left both merged companies behind, so that he has become a Coca Cola boss from hell. In fact, he might’ve been so much worse than the already big bad Alfred Kahn, if he had been a 4Kids CEO for a longer time! A lot of us still think he’s such a hellish ghoul because he destroys people’s lives and slays off companies not living up to his messed up standards.
I only have small memories about 4Kids because my parents didn't have those channels back then until I found it on CW in 2008. The only cartoon I found was Sonic X (shivers). That show did not aged well. But I can say this, the way Amy behaved in that show is what inspired the rivalry between her and Jerry from Tom and Jerry. If you like to learn more how this happened, feel free to ask.
I really don’t care what people say about 4Kids. It was an amazing time to be a kid watching the early Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! anime along with all the other dubs.
As a Supreme Weeb/Otaku 4Kids is definitely the LJN of the 2000’s but for anime, nowadays I perfer watching these anime in it's uncut japanese format with English Subtitles although I do remember back in the late 2000's and early 2010s when anime fans in the US are roasting 4Kids for its cringe poor edits of them making rant videos about telling you to just watch the Japanese Version with Subtitles uncut etc Although I think that 4Kids went downhill after they ruined One Piece, which is a very Horrible American version of the great Japanese original which is a property in Japan that they don't care about it Although there are some good things about 4Kids manly TMNT 2003, and I do like and love the voice actors of Jason Griffin and Mike Pollock 😀 As all ways really good video 😄👍
I know for the sake of the full view of the video the censorship section had to be short here but the localisation issue was literally every US network. Even for Nelvana's Cardcaptors Kids WB demanded even more edits even after Nelvana took out the more "objectionable" parts of the show. Plus the whole deal with "Sailor Moon"'s original dub run. Apparently they had to take One Piece to get access to Yu-Gi-Oh so I don't really blame them as much now for how that turned out - they had to use it - but somehow make it "kid friendly" 4Kids really wanted to call the shots on the IP - peeved off TPC enough to convince them to go solo, and then tried to go around Konami. I think the closest to the ideal setup was TMNT for them.
I still look back on alot of their dubs and can still say they did have good ones. They had some amazing voice actors and they are part of the reason anime exploded in america. If they had'nt touched One piece and not gotten full of themselves there's a chance they might still be around today in peak form and I'd argue we need a company focusing on anime aimed at kids. Not with the censcoring habits of course but I can think of several kids anime that would be hits if given a proper english dub.
I remember watching 4kids for Kirby Right Back At Ya! in 2008 before it was taken off from On Demand. Ted Lewis giving King Dedede a southern accent in the English dub was the best part of the entire show.
I would say 4Kids' biggest mistake was licensing "One Piece" According to Norman J Grossfeld at the time 4Kids partnered with Shueisha and they wanted to bring it to America because of how marketable it was in Japan. Shueisha wanted to duplicate the success of "One Piece", but they underestimated the broadcast standards and editing duties of 4Kids.
4kids never wanted to dub One Piece in the first place. They want to dub Ojamajo Doremi and Ultimate Muscle as they got it as part of a package deal. So 4Kids have no other choice but to sabotage One Piece by making a dub so terrible which they did as they lost the rights to One Piece as Toei revoked the license and gave the rights to One Piece to Funimation/Crunchyroll.
@@TheShadowsega75ZXNorman said that it was Sheuisha that had a hand in 4Kids picking up the One Piece license. Sheuisha was wanting to duplicate the success of the series and sell merchandise. Also, the idea of 4Kids dubbing three Toei shows in a package deal doesn't seem feasible. "Ultimate Muscle", "One Piece" and "Ojamajo Doremi" all came out at different times. So the person who interviewed for ANN all those years back spread misinformation.
yes a lot of 4Kids translations were executive driven, but this is a reflection of an earlier approach to translation in the 70s and 80s wherein the localization of Japanese Media was seen not as a translation, but as a source of raw footage for an essentially American product. This is how you get things like Robotech, which cobble together multiple series into one thing and rewrite large portions of script. 4Kids was not exceptional, it was merely the most visible, and one of the last holdovers of this idea that you should take a foreign series as a cheap way to make an American one. It was a particular focus of by anime fans because it was visibly antiquated even in it's era, and symbolic of how backwards that perspective was, but the push against it was also a call for a respect for the source material of all anime in an era where there were many competing dubbing companies. For the most parts, studios listened. It's hard to envision the changes in the state of dubbing back then, if you were not around, but the hate of 4kids is a different beast than the comparatively minor changes we have today in even the least ethical translations. Like, it was taboo to even acknowledging in dubbing that countries other than America existed. Digimon Adventure was not an amazing dub by modern standards, was largely given a ridiculous punch-up which added a lot of weird gags, and took a long time to treat it's source material seriously, but was noted to have broken a lot of ground in it's era simply because it acknowledged the characters were Japanese and did not change the setting. Series previously altered entirely got re-translated in response to all the pressure, and there were decades of faithful dubs and translations as a result. So people have forgotten the status quo was not "Alter these to be a little more marketable in the west" but it’s really, "Be careful the kids don't assume this show is foreign." Legit, there was a time when the only faithful dubs were dubs mostly too low-budget, or series too universal, to bother altering, but at the same time, it’s better than getting a hack dub. Japanese media companies DID want their series to be seen in the west, but that does not mean they wanted it cut and altered in that manner. There are stories from that era: Miyazaki sending a katana to Disney demanding "no cuts" among the most famous showing that a lot of the creators found these habits rather disrespectful as well. Even famous cases like Ghost Stories are something of a misinterpretation: There was no evidence the japanese company which sold Ghost Stories ever said "Do whatever," they in fact said "Do not change the character's names," which by all interpretation seems like a push against the idea that they were given the ability to localize it however they saw fit. Certainly, a lot of the companies simply wanted to make money I am sure, but that in and of itself is not a reason to support something ethically. Anyways, the censorship and heavy localization of anime was not good then, and it's not good now; it's incorrect when people like this think that like 4kids was simply marketing something a bit for a wider audience.
To be fair yugioh Tmnt 2003 and kirby back at ya was actually pretty solid next to ABC kids if you had basic cable that was all you had growing up on Saturday mornings 😂😂😂 same with WB😊😊
Whoa whoa whoa. Ok lemme say this real quick before I finish ur video. That part about why 4kids got sued is missing a part. They were illegally licensing yugioh out to other companies without permission from TV tokyo and nas and taking in all the profits. When those 2 companies found out,that's when they decided to pull the license and sue. It wasn't just them making money and not paying the Japanese companies. It was more centered around 4kids not having permission to do what they did anyway. I remember reading about that as it happened way back when and I was like "damn how ima watch yugioh now" lol
This is why so many companies and creators are so protective with their works now. This lawsuit unleashed the idea that licensing companies could have a monopoly with no stop in them.
I feel like some of the complaints levied at 4kids are way to overblown. To be clear, there are some complaints that I do get and fully agree with. Why is it wrong for them to localize stuff? Other countries change media that we put out in order to make it fit with their nation
@@dwainsimmons3447 hostage? I thought that was just how licensing worked. It's a lot better than what Funimation did with Inter Species Reviewers where they stopped dubbing it after only a few episodes, but held onto the license anyways, now that's holding the ip hostage
@@dwainsimmons3447 Hostage? I thought that's just how licensing worked. Now what does count as hostage is what Funimation did with Inter Species Reviews
@@dwainsimmons3447 Hostage? I thought that was just how licensing worked. You want to talk about hostage, Funimation got the license for a show, stopped dubbing it a few episodes in for not meeting their "standards", but refused to let go of the ip. That is holding it hostage
Honestly, based on my experience the 4Kids hate you see online is probably overrepresented. I'd attribute that largely to media polarization and survivorship bias. Certainly people like the product more than the company, but that's typical.
I always found 4kids to be alright as a kid and now bizarre to look back on. But then you look at the culture of America at the time and what else could have they done? It's obvious there were a lot of things out of their control but at the same time it's surprising what they did get away with. TMNT 03 is still a surprising show with how "safe" it was advertised to be.
4kids did good theme songs for Pokemon, One piece and Yugi-oh BUT they also changed a healthy couple; Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune into cousins. It makes their relation disgusting and weird. Not sure it was the right choice 😂They also makes Mew ichigo rap instead of saying a simple phrase like " I'm here at your service, ready to save the world! '' Just make a cute magical girl rap for no reason, that won't be cringe at all!
I had no idea the company responsible for "nothing beats a Jelly filled Donut" was also responsible for the monster that turned Activision into a hostile & toxic workplace. 4kids truly was a blessing & a curse.
“They made TMNT 03 is what they did and in this house 4Kids is not that bad, enda story” -Tony Soprano
Even TMNT 03 had its problems with 4kids.
@@dwainsimmons3447Yeah, like when they had Shredder hijack the FoxBox and threaten to kill the characters for some stupid sweepstakes!
@@dwainsimmons3447 it did I was just having fun with comment but I’d rather have fun then be upset YK
@@SolCresta3405 lmao I don’t remember that but I need to find that
@@TortugaBudds It’s the Insane FoxBox Color Drain Sweepstakes… Shredder hijacked the block and tried to destroy it.
You can really tell 4Kids started out in marketing. Say what you will about their TV edits, but they knew how to _sell_ a show. Especially when it comes to theme songs.
Yep 🎯
The one thing that is Meta is that they used a licensed soundtrack for pokemon the first movie.
@@dwainsimmons3447
True.
The theme song for Fighting Foodons is still one of the best things I’ve ever hesrd
@@yeez13 the songs were amazing
4kids really deserves more credit it helped first bring shows like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh into existence and helped give dubbed and kids anime a stronghold I doubt anime and manga fans from the 90s and 2000s would even be the hardcore fans they are today without this unforgettable Saturday morning block.
I agree
Agreed
No. They don't
@@vandagylon2885 I think they do
Yugioh was written in 1996
Fun fact: they still exist......kinda. They rebranded as 4Licensing Corporation before going bankrupt for a second time and having one of the subsidiaries bought out by Konami which is now Konami Cross Media NY. Essentially a company that exists to make animated commercials for the west and give them links to the old 4Kids Yu-Gi-Oh! Voice Actors and dub the anime. They also work with other Konami properties in the west like Frogger and Bomberman.
4Licensing went out of business as well.
@@LoyalmoonieProductionsNew Yorkers of RUclips better help.
4Kids stigma left a lot a children’s anime doomed to be left in Japan, while others failed to catch on like Doraemon on Disney XD.
Which sucks, because the Doraemon dub was actually pretty solid.
What about Yo Kai Watch? Does that count?
At least I now know why attempting to introduce anime to Western audiences was very problematic for the time being because of how accustomed they were to the stigma of animation as a children's medium. That particular stigma might have started sometime in the 50s when TV sets started to become more prominent in numerous American households.
Doraemon deverved better. I would've adored that show if it was dubbed in the 2000s when I was in it's target age range.
My family didn't have cable television for many years as a kid, so 4kids was my cartoon fix. Was sad when Pokémon left it :(
I remember watching Sonic X on the CW on Saturday mornings.
A lot of great memories, especially Ultimate Muscle, Kirby, and Funky Cop.
It reminds me of how much I despise the FCC.
From a company where its death is worse than not coming to Warner Brothers.
The issue with 4Kids was never that they censored content for TV. The problem was that, outside of a short-lived release of Yugioh, they refused to release uncut versions of their shows on DVD, even long after that became an industry standard. When Funimation acquired the rights to One Piece, they put out two versions of the show- One that was edited down for TV (to pick up where 4Kids left off) and one that was uncut for the DVD release. This is absolutely the right way to handle this situation; people would not have had nearly as much of an issue with 4Kids if they had just put out uncut versions of their shows.
The real problem wasn’t that it was censorship, but how they censored it that caused them ire from fans and critics alike.
4kids actually did do a short lived Uncut Yu-Gi-Oh dub on dvd. But it also landed them in legal trouble.
I think you should be able to find dvd rips of this uncut dub online.
@@ghoulchan7525 I'm aware of that, I mentioned it in my initial comment. It's a pretty good dub and I wish they did more of it, and did that with their other series too.
@@DylanYoshi the uncut dubs sounded stale as hell.
@@dwainsimmons3447 Hell is a pretty metal place man, don't think I'd describe it as stale.
I've been following your community posts about the progress on this video. I can really tell you put a lot of time into this, way to go!
I appreciate that!
And just like that, he’s back. Needed this video to bring some type of joy in my life right now..
Seems like the uploader was stuck in a copyright dispute.
As for what brought 4kids down ultimately, I suspect it was running low on money (the block was brokered like an infomercial, after all) and local channels wanting more news time (the latter being Saban's largest "immovable object" when it came to Fox Kids).
I remember watching 4kids as a child as much as I loved my X-men and Batman cartoons. I give 4 kids on WB and Fox Box, which is props for opening the gates for anime
Awesome stream and took me back....Most appreciated, Bro!
Another great video, I really appreciate the Mew Mew Power mention, Zoey in the thumbnail, and the fact that she showed up for a few seconds in the B-roll :D
I also think the end of the video was really funny, and the 4Kids logo animation at the end was a nice touch.
This video was very well researched and you covered all corners, I'm sure I've read their Wikipedia article a few times, you did perfect!
I think that people don’t give 4kids enough credit for being the one that perfected dub only soundtracks. The songs that they made still hold up.
Yeah.
If I'm being honest most of them aren't bad, they're just forgettable.
@@Anonymous-oh4xw the original Pokémon and yugioh 4kids themes are forgettable? They overtook even the Japanese themes.
@@Cruxis_Angel I said MOST of them, not ALL of them. The Kirby intro was actually really good and is even better the original Japanese op (which I also liked but just doesn't surpass the dub intro), this was the only thing I prefered over that butchered dub. And both Mezaze Pokémon Master and the dub intro of Pokémon Season 1 intro are equally beautiful.
Great video,I appreciate what 4kids did for Pokémon and Yugioh during my childhood and teens for the 90s and 2000s.
Same here. Childhood memories im fond of.
@@jackieec that's great
The dub songs that they made still hold up.
@@dwainsimmons3447
True.
The intro got me
Now technically, 4Kids is now Konami Cross Media NY after Konami bought out 4Kids and then the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! in the US! And they've still got some of the voice actors on board, too! So, they're not technically gone if you really think about it! Just sayin', but yes, I do miss 4Kids so much and I would like them to make a comeback to life and bring the name back, just like with what CN did to bring back HB with the rebranding of their European studio formerly know as Cartoon Network Studios Europe into HBSE, and they've been producing European shows now, and it's great! So anything can happen! But anyways, thanks for doing this video, bro! I appreciate it so much, I love it! Keep it up, man! You're doing amazing and I love your content! I can't wait to see what you cover next on the roster, dude! Incredible! I also love how you added the lifepoint counter in the video, that was funny as hell LOL! Please cover Funimation next! I would love to see a video on, my guy! And their history and rivalry with 4Kids as well! That would be so cool to see!
I see, that likely explains why many of the dub cast is in duel links
The only good 4Kids did was Thundercats in the 1980s, TMNT 2003, and the Pokémon dub for awhile.
And yugioh, and shaman king as well as their dub songs.
@@dwainsimmons3447 4Kids gave away Thundercats to WB in the early 1990s. That’s why.
Ultimate Muscle and Kirby too.
@@AniToonimationKawaii Ultimate Muscle does have the original Japanese version, but that version’s take on Kid Muscle is quite a mixed bag, as he may be an unlikeable brat but not too much of a dirtbag like J. M. Barrie’s take on Peter Pan. The 4Kids dub frankly made him more likeable in comparison.
A great video to start back while after your hiatus, good to have you back! I remember that seizure episode but never watched it.
Yeah I wouldn't watch it
Oh yeah wasn't the CW Vortex the last legs of these shows heck, they only got to dub two out of the three seasons of Tai Chi Chasers
Appreciate that you get right into the meat and potatoes of the situation
Thanks for the history lesson, Red.
This video was brilliant. 4Kids was my absolute childhood and it brought me so many good memories. Say what you want about them, but 4Kids put a lot of us on back in the day and was our gateway into the anime world. For that, I will always appreciate this company.
I can accept this fact.
@@dwainsimmons3447Fact? *FACT?!*
@@SolCresta3405 well it did licensed anime that are only for kids and not teens or adults.
@@dwainsimmons3447The comment feels more opinion based if anything...
@@SolCresta3405 4kids really did help kids anime flourish in America back in the 90s and 2000s.
A new Kinnikuman anime is coming this July! It’s not ultimate muscle related, but it’s about Kid Muscle’s dad in the original universe that Ultimate Muscle spun off from.
I always wondered what happned to 4kids dissapearing all of a sudden back in 2008. thanks for the very insightful analysis. Really fun and unique take on it.
always enjoy these videos, so interesting what happens with this stuff, i watched my fair share of pokemon and yugioh when i was younger, i miss those days
This puts a smile on my face! I am AMAZED at how these shows came to be. :O
Keep up the amazing videos! Your Awesome! :D
From tmnt, to sonic x, pokemon, etc.. this is just *mind blown*
Thank you very much!
I got so angry the second i clicked on this because i immediately got rick rolled. You have earned my respect
Great video title, these franchise wars sent many anime shows to the "Shadow Realm". The Lehman br.... involvement is interesting considering their collapse after the popular "Too Big to Fail" phrase.
Epic audience bag fumble!!!
Why?
Growing up watching 4kids was such a treat especially later on learning about the crazy censorship 4kids did. So disappointed that Sanji had lung cancer instead of cripping diabetes. But what 4kids really Excelled at was the songs and intros, all bops I still listen to this day.
The songs still hold up.
Their dub of Yu-Gi-Oh is great. I can even say I think it is better than the Japanese version. Dan Green and Eric Stuart are the one true Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba. I love them.
I can agree with that.
Based take, both the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh dub are a classic and still are today, heck even better than the Japanese versions of the show.
@@pablodelgado7919 I think that they’re good despite of the changes 4kids made, not because of it.
@@dwainsimmons3447 people gave them too much crap though, for the longest time, many people, even myself gave them too much blame for something they really had no control over. Like this video said, and even Eric Stuart himself confirmed, they were under pressure by over the top parent groups and government to edit so many things.
It's not better than the Japanese, but I agree, I do love the dub in its own right.
Minoru Arikawa Left Nintendo in 1991.(Rather he was FIRED by Hiroshi Yamauchi) the President of Nintendo of America in ‘97-98 was Howard Lincoln.
Never knew Viva pinata was a "Rare Games" title ngl
It's a good thing I'm watching this on a Saturday morning
I think the real problem that problem have with 4kids is that the audience became more wiser and more aware that anime was censored in the 2000s.
But on the Bright Side,Pokémon Anime still has a grand record of Twenty Six Seasons.
I love the life points of four kids like Yu-Gi-Oh
Been enjoying the content on your channel!!
Keep it up 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Without 4Kids, the pokèmon anime would’ve never saw a release in the good ol’ USA.
New to this channel, but I know the Funimation video is gonna bang. 🙏🙏
4kids was my teenage years
Lucky for me, I never watched the Crash Dummies cartoon growing up. But we did have that one toy from the line that was literally a torture chair.
4Kids was a...mixed bag to put it politely. There is no doubt they helped play a major part in introduced anime and Japanese media in the west...but I don't miss them. Not even a little bit. The good things they did don't outweigh the bad, sorry.
You’re going to have 2000s nostalgia of this.
Same.
@@dwainsimmons3447
Me too.
Stuff like this is generally not “missed” when you are an adult but certain aspects remembered fondly. Pumping out crap is par for the course for these companies.
I'd say their influence was greater in the U.S., if we use The West to refer to all countries outside from Japan, anime was already popular in various regions. In Europe shows like Candy Candy and Grendizer were incredible popular in the late 70s and early 80s, while in Latin America it was the success of Mazinger Z, Heidi and also Candy Candy. But in the 90s there was an explosion in popularity with shows like Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball
The shows that 4Kids acquired the international rights were global successes as well, but that meant all of the international dubs were based on the censored U.S. version, despite the fact that many countries didn't have as strict restrictions towards what could be shown on kids TV compared to the U.S.
If 4Kids didn't exist, so many anime fans wouldn't be anime fans at all.
I would, and I can thank Spacetoon and Venus Center for that. I've been a fan of Detective Conan ever since!
@BSReese93 but what about Cartoon Network Toonami?
Oh, 4KidsTV, we miss you. Please make a comeback one day... I miss my childhood. 😢
Same 😢
No. Don't.
@@vandagylon2885 and why not?
@@vandagylon2885
Shut up!
@@dwainsimmons3447
Ignore him.
Say what you will about 4Kids, but without them neither Pokémon nor Yugioh wouldn't be a sucess in the west.
You’re right
I don't think anime would have taken off in the west as quickly as it did without 4Kids but would have found its success eventually. It's an animation medium and those who love animation would have still sought it out.
Growing up with this TV show was amazing.
Nice informational video
At least 4Kids gave Ojamajo a chance.
8:37
Just found mine while going through some old boxes during a move. Takes me back, I tell you what.
You know, i never knew that Viva Piñata whas from 4Kids. That show i loved to watch it along my brother while eating lucky charms
GOOD JOB 4KIDS ENTERTAINMENT! 🤣👏
Marvelous job with this commentary on 4Kids. I will admit as bad as they are. Without them we wouldn't get anime and they did the best they could. Kind of can't say the same about FUNi.
BTW don't hold anything back when talking about their history. Especially the last parts.
Bobby Kotick used to run 4kids in the 80s.
Bobby Kotick mixed Blizzard with Activision and left both merged companies behind, so that he has become a Coca Cola boss from hell.
In fact, he might’ve been so much worse than the already big bad Alfred Kahn, if he had been a 4Kids CEO for a longer time! A lot of us still think he’s such a hellish ghoul because he destroys people’s lives and slays off companies not living up to his messed up standards.
I only have small memories about 4Kids because my parents didn't have those channels back then until I found it on CW in 2008. The only cartoon I found was Sonic X (shivers). That show did not aged well.
But I can say this, the way Amy behaved in that show is what inspired the rivalry between her and Jerry from Tom and Jerry. If you like to learn more how this happened, feel free to ask.
None of them aged well, honestly.
I really don’t care what people say about 4Kids. It was an amazing time to be a kid watching the early Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! anime along with all the other dubs.
Me too
@@dwainsimmons3447
Me three.
As a Supreme Weeb/Otaku 4Kids is definitely the LJN of the 2000’s but for anime, nowadays I perfer watching these anime in it's uncut japanese format with English Subtitles although I do remember back in the late 2000's and early 2010s when anime fans in the US are roasting 4Kids for its cringe poor edits of them making rant videos about telling you to just watch the Japanese Version with Subtitles uncut etc
Although I think that 4Kids went downhill after they ruined One Piece, which is a very Horrible American version of the great Japanese original which is a property in Japan that they don't care about it
Although there are some good things about 4Kids manly TMNT 2003, and I do like and love the voice actors of Jason Griffin and Mike Pollock 😀
As all ways really good video 😄👍
There’s a rule that 4kids never had a ver bad vocal song in their shows.
9:00
By the words of Slick Rick: Here we go!!! 😅
I know for the sake of the full view of the video the censorship section had to be short here but the localisation issue was literally every US network. Even for Nelvana's Cardcaptors Kids WB demanded even more edits even after Nelvana took out the more "objectionable" parts of the show. Plus the whole deal with "Sailor Moon"'s original dub run. Apparently they had to take One Piece to get access to Yu-Gi-Oh so I don't really blame them as much now for how that turned out - they had to use it - but somehow make it "kid friendly"
4Kids really wanted to call the shots on the IP - peeved off TPC enough to convince them to go solo, and then tried to go around Konami. I think the closest to the ideal setup was TMNT for them.
Why would kids wb demand more cuts for cardcaptor sakura?
@@dwainsimmons3447 the FCC is a mess.
@@dwainsimmons3447
Who knows?
11:41 Yeah…kinda ashamed to say it…I was hyped for the Fall Season for Kids WB! Because of Loonatics Unleashed…and yeah.
Good video good sir on your Saban video That was Pretty Cure
I still look back on alot of their dubs and can still say they did have good ones. They had some amazing voice actors and they are part of the reason anime exploded in america. If they had'nt touched One piece and not gotten full of themselves there's a chance they might still be around today in peak form and I'd argue we need a company focusing on anime aimed at kids. Not with the censcoring habits of course but I can think of several kids anime that would be hits if given a proper english dub.
I remember watching 4kids for Kirby Right Back At Ya! in 2008 before it was taken off from On Demand. Ted Lewis giving King Dedede a southern accent in the English dub was the best part of the entire show.
Millennial agnst hates this.
I would say 4Kids' biggest mistake was licensing "One Piece"
According to Norman J Grossfeld at the time 4Kids partnered with Shueisha and they wanted to bring it to America because of how marketable it was in Japan. Shueisha wanted to duplicate the success of "One Piece", but they underestimated the broadcast standards and editing duties of 4Kids.
4kids never wanted to dub One Piece in the first place. They want to dub Ojamajo Doremi and Ultimate Muscle as they got it as part of a package deal. So 4Kids have no other choice but to sabotage One Piece by making a dub so terrible which they did as they lost the rights to One Piece as Toei revoked the license and gave the rights to One Piece to Funimation/Crunchyroll.
@@TheShadowsega75ZXthat's not true.
Norman recently debunked that rumor on the 4Kids Flashback podcast with Tara Sands and Steve Yurko.
@@Father_of_Death Really?
@@TheShadowsega75ZXNorman said that it was Sheuisha that had a hand in 4Kids picking up the One Piece license. Sheuisha was wanting to duplicate the success of the series and sell merchandise. Also, the idea of 4Kids dubbing three Toei shows in a package deal doesn't seem feasible. "Ultimate Muscle", "One Piece" and "Ojamajo Doremi" all came out at different times. So the person who interviewed for ANN all those years back spread misinformation.
yes a lot of 4Kids translations were executive driven, but this is a reflection of an earlier approach to translation in the 70s and 80s wherein the localization of Japanese Media was seen not as a translation, but as a source of raw footage for an essentially American product. This is how you get things like Robotech, which cobble together multiple series into one thing and rewrite large portions of script. 4Kids was not exceptional, it was merely the most visible, and one of the last holdovers of this idea that you should take a foreign series as a cheap way to make an American one. It was a particular focus of by anime fans because it was visibly antiquated even in it's era, and symbolic of how backwards that perspective was, but the push against it was also a call for a respect for the source material of all anime in an era where there were many competing dubbing companies. For the most parts, studios listened. It's hard to envision the changes in the state of dubbing back then, if you were not around, but the hate of 4kids is a different beast than the comparatively minor changes we have today in even the least ethical translations. Like, it was taboo to even acknowledging in dubbing that countries other than America existed. Digimon Adventure was not an amazing dub by modern standards, was largely given a ridiculous punch-up which added a lot of weird gags, and took a long time to treat it's source material seriously, but was noted to have broken a lot of ground in it's era simply because it acknowledged the characters were Japanese and did not change the setting. Series previously altered entirely got re-translated in response to all the pressure, and there were decades of faithful dubs and translations as a result. So people have forgotten the status quo was not "Alter these to be a little more marketable in the west" but it’s really, "Be careful the kids don't assume this show is foreign." Legit, there was a time when the only faithful dubs were dubs mostly too low-budget, or series too universal, to bother altering, but at the same time, it’s better than getting a hack dub.
Japanese media companies DID want their series to be seen in the west, but that does not mean they wanted it cut and altered in that manner. There are stories from that era: Miyazaki sending a katana to Disney demanding "no cuts" among the most famous showing that a lot of the creators found these habits rather disrespectful as well. Even famous cases like Ghost Stories are something of a misinterpretation: There was no evidence the japanese company which sold Ghost Stories ever said "Do whatever," they in fact said "Do not change the character's names," which by all interpretation seems like a push against the idea that they were given the ability to localize it however they saw fit. Certainly, a lot of the companies simply wanted to make money I am sure, but that in and of itself is not a reason to support something ethically. Anyways, the censorship and heavy localization of anime was not good then, and it's not good now; it's incorrect when people like this think that like 4kids was simply marketing something a bit for a wider audience.
4kids also made the first yugioh film which was good
I agree
@@dwainsimmons3447 I wish they did the same same for sonic X
16:26
I don’t get it, can someone explain this to me
I guess it's a jab at Fox being heavily conservative
it was redbox that ran blockbuster out of business eventhough one still exists in alaska.
10:06 Not shown: Andy Heyward being fucking pissed.
At what
@@dwainsimmons3447 At DiC being outbid by 4Kids for Fox’s Saturday morning programming block lease.
So it’s saying that 4kids also never produced a good theme song or insert song.
No wonder why people hated 4Kids Entertainment. It's block on The CW got me into 4Kids.
The nicest thing I can say is that it gave Yu-Gi-Oh abridged lots to work with.
They did yugioh abridged already.
Remember that the dubs had a bunch of Broadway talent in them.
@@vandagylon2885
Be quiet!
If I’m being honest here the only reason why I watch yugioh alot is 4kids would always air it last and since I had no cable I would watch it lol
Miss 4kids tv 😢 . ...ty for ur amazing work
My pleasure!
4kids didn't even die. Unfortunately
@@vandagylon2885 they just do yugioh now.
@@vandagylon2885
Shut up!
@@vandagylon2885They’re not dead?
Kinda ironic that Saban would end up with digimon just a year later
I miss the kids WB and 4Kids, after the end of 2008 and 2010.
Everyone does
Same here. I miss Kids' WB as well as Fox Kids. Now it's shitty Edutaiment junk from the evil Hearst Corporation!
@@TheShadowsega75ZX yes
To be fair yugioh Tmnt 2003 and kirby back at ya was actually pretty solid next to ABC kids if you had basic cable that was all you had growing up on Saturday mornings 😂😂😂 same with WB😊😊
Whoa whoa whoa. Ok lemme say this real quick before I finish ur video. That part about why 4kids got sued is missing a part. They were illegally licensing yugioh out to other companies without permission from TV tokyo and nas and taking in all the profits. When those 2 companies found out,that's when they decided to pull the license and sue. It wasn't just them making money and not paying the Japanese companies. It was more centered around 4kids not having permission to do what they did anyway. I remember reading about that as it happened way back when and I was like "damn how ima watch yugioh now" lol
This is why so many companies and creators are so protective with their works now. This lawsuit unleashed the idea that licensing companies could have a monopoly with no stop in them.
@@dwainsimmons3447
Exactly.
WHY AM I STILL LOOKING AT LOGOS?
Sonic X was bueno bossman I didn't even know Pokémon was 4Kids and all that stuff.
Which seasons of Pokémon did you watched.
The "Yu Gi-Oh!"lawsuit wasn't the only thing that killed 4Kids Entertainment. They lost money with future products like "Chaotic"
Plus Peter Laird sold Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Paramount.
Most of the voice actors are Broadway stars.
A lot of that has to do with the operation being largely run out of NYC.
172 views, I see ya, keep goin 😎
Corporate goons pointing finger guns at Kaiba 😂
It was five star video.
I feel like some of the complaints levied at 4kids are way to overblown. To be clear, there are some complaints that I do get and fully agree with. Why is it wrong for them to localize stuff? Other countries change media that we put out in order to make it fit with their nation
@@jjb1908 the hate was really a company would held a ip hostage.
@@dwainsimmons3447 hostage? I thought that was just how licensing worked. It's a lot better than what Funimation did with Inter Species Reviewers where they stopped dubbing it after only a few episodes, but held onto the license anyways, now that's holding the ip hostage
@@dwainsimmons3447 Hostage? I thought that's just how licensing worked. Now what does count as hostage is what Funimation did with Inter Species Reviews
@@dwainsimmons3447 Hostage? I thought that was just how licensing worked. You want to talk about hostage, Funimation got the license for a show, stopped dubbing it a few episodes in for not meeting their "standards", but refused to let go of the ip. That is holding it hostage
@@jjb1908
Funimation is gone.
So shut your mouth!
18:00 - You madlad
2:05 mr sys'
Honestly, based on my experience the 4Kids hate you see online is probably overrepresented. I'd attribute that largely to media polarization and survivorship bias. Certainly people like the product more than the company, but that's typical.
That’s a fact.
4Kids One Piece is weird but good omg it's kinda funny
Please do a video on ABC's 1 Saturday morning
I always found 4kids to be alright as a kid and now bizarre to look back on. But then you look at the culture of America at the time and what else could have they done? It's obvious there were a lot of things out of their control but at the same time it's surprising what they did get away with.
TMNT 03 is still a surprising show with how "safe" it was advertised to be.
Especially with an overly sadistic scumbag like Shredder…
Did I just get… nvm do glitter force next
I look forward to when you’ll look into Funimation’s history.
Funimation is needed
Joel Perez from yugioh
4kids did good theme songs for Pokemon, One piece and Yugi-oh BUT they also changed a healthy couple; Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune into cousins. It makes their relation disgusting and weird. Not sure it was the right choice 😂They also makes Mew ichigo rap instead of saying a simple phrase like " I'm here at your service, ready to save the world! '' Just make a cute magical girl rap for no reason, that won't be cringe at all!
Dic/Cloverway dubbed sailor moon and I think the mew mew rap was not cringe.
I had no idea the company responsible for "nothing beats a Jelly filled Donut" was also responsible for the monster that turned Activision into a hostile & toxic workplace. 4kids truly was a blessing & a curse.
Thundercats.