Zhen Lin
10-01-2005, 07:38 AM
Editing of anime in international distribution:
New York City-based 4Kids Entertainment is likely the most controversial company in the United States, due to their penchant for licensing shows which regularly feature content deemed inappropriate for young English-speaking audiences and then trying to alter the shows to make them appropriate for those audiences anyway. Their common alterations of character names and original soundtracks (although in some cases not of their own initiative), and assorted cuts for time and content result in dubs which rank among the most divorced from their original versions, leading to low popularity among older fans, but great success with their target audience, many of which may not have been the intended audience of the original version. In addition, 4Kids removes overly much content from their dubs, removing content that even other shows aimed toward the same children's demographic--such as Teen Titans and The Batman have.
New York City-based 4Kids Entertainment is likely the most controversial company in the United States, due to their penchant for licensing shows which regularly feature content deemed inappropriate for young English-speaking audiences and then trying to alter the shows to make them appropriate for those audiences anyway. Their common alterations of character names and original soundtracks (although in some cases not of their own initiative), and assorted cuts for time and content result in dubs which rank among the most divorced from their original versions, leading to low popularity among older fans, but great success with their target audience, many of which may not have been the intended audience of the original version. In addition, 4Kids removes overly much content from their dubs, removing content that even other shows aimed toward the same children's demographic--such as Teen Titans and The Batman have.