Censorship in the American Versions of the Original Japanese Anime One Series 4kids and Funimation Dubs
There have been a few different English renditions of the popular Anime One piece. But two that are the most talked about are the 4kids and Funimation dubs. Which one is better isn't really a matter of debate for me. I think Funimation has done and is doing a much better job. There are quite a few differences between the 4kids and Funimation Dub. I believe the Funimation Dub honors the Toei Japan Original because of the censorship in the episodes, the translated lines used from Japanese to English, and the overall togetherness of the show as a whole.
The Censorship between these two compared to the original are like comparing Identical twins to fraternal twins. Starting off with 4Kids, while it took a bit of digging, I did notice a few differences that I never noticed as a child. I noticed that 4Kids made quite a few edits, more often than not the edits were not needed. This show is one of the more graphic shows that 4Kids acquired and as such had to be edited to fit the "demographic" that they were aiming for. Because of that the edits I came across were very noticeable when looking back. 4Kids not only edited out blood and severe bruising where is should be apparent.
They changed the weapons used or what the character was holding when doing a certain action. In episodes where the give background on the Straw Hat Pirates there is more than a few graphic scenes that were "written out" such as Nami's adoptive mother being shot in the head (4Kids Vs Funimation: Arlong Kills Bellemere Dub Comparison #89), the death of Zoro's childhood friend Kuina who had fallen down a flight of stairs, and Usopp losing his mother to illness. While others like the loss of a limb from Shanks, to protect Luffy from being eaten by a sea monster, or by Zeff, sacrificing his leg as food for himself and giving all the food he saved to Sanji as they were standed at sea were left in, they kept those in but edited out all the blood.
Order custom essay Censorship in the American Versions of the Original Japanese Anime One Series 4kids and Funimation Dubs with free plagiarism report
450+ experts on 30 subjects
Starting from 3 hours delivery
Going back to the Death of characters, they never mentioned it in the show but made some situations, like Kuina's, worse by claiming she slipped into a coma after being brutally assaulted (4Kids Entertainment). They did edit one of the main seven characters, Sanji the Cook, "iconic" trait. When Sanji is introduced in the 4Kids version he is seen with a lollipop in his mouth, but later on in one of the combat scenes he has a lit cigarette (4Kids Announces Fox Box Schedule). Having done a compare and contrast of 4kids and Funimation it is seen that Sanji does smoke in the original Japanese and Funimation versions (4kids Vs Funimation: Sanji and Kuroobi Talk Smack Dub Comparison #109). A few
other edits were minor and done to make the show appear less offensive. Changing of a characters "race" or name. The edits done to these characters were minor when you are not paying attention to them in particular. However, they will have become much harder to hide later on if they kept the rights to the series or watch the Funimation/Toei Versions. As far as Funimation's censorship goes they didn't edit out too much when they got the rights to the title in June 2007.
With the new title in hand they went through a cast change for all the characters. They did however keep they name changes and edits in the TV aired episodes on Toonami to keep to the 4kids "Casual viewers". However, after being cancelled from the Toonami block in America back in 2009 it was added back into the mix and started at the beginning. When Funimation had picked up the rights to One Piece they had a very strict deadline to meet after 4kids left the picture in September 2009. While they adhered to the edits and name changes they have since changed back to the original content with the release of Uncut Versions of the TV series.
Much like any foreign film it needed to under go some kind of translation. With five other shows under their belt 4kids also acquired One Piece. Aside from the visual edits, the translation from Japanese to English wasn't an easy road since they wanted the show to be "child-friendly". More than a dozen jokes about the characters' quirks where either written out in scenes or just.
Cite this Page
Censorship in the American Versions of the Original Japanese Anime One Series 4kids and Funimation Dubs. (2023, Jun 26). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/censorship-in-the-american-versions-of-the-original-japanese-anime-one-series-4kids-and-funimation-dubs/
Run a free check or have your essay done for you
