User blog:TheIkranRider/My 4Kids Retrospective

know what you are all thinking as I write this entry, and yes, I agree about 75% that 4Kids is the king of failure when it comes to anime dubbing. You're all pretty much right, they had their sour reputation of making poor business practices, laying off talented individuals and transforming the FoxBox into an abomination, and later the CW. But starting the 25%, I didn't mind the editing, though, as I appreciated there was no hoarse language, alcoholism, or brief nudity. I liked the idea since Japan was well-known for these things. But sometimes they would edit and "Americanize" things far too much. If it was the small details for localization, then by all means.

There is a skinny sliver in this dark cloud of corruption, and this is my experiences with it. Most of it was positive, but I'll get to the negatives later on. We all know that it started humbly making accessories for Nintendo, as well as small stuff for ThunderCats in 85 (which I saw till 97), and making that cringey rap song for Zelda (NES). But what really started for me was of course the mega-hit known as Pokémon.

Much like Toonami with DBZ, they too started me with anime. It was back in 1999 when I first got into the series, and I had to thank 4Kids for that since I first watched the anime, as well as the movies that followed. There were the obvious games, but that's what started it all. I always wished that it would continue on during the Ruby/Sapphire series, as well as other sagas; unfortunately, Nintendo and Pokémon International bought them out. That really sucked when EVERYTHING changed for the worst, including the cheesy voice acting, despite having Ash sound better, the uninspiring music, and so forth. But it wasn't until the Unova saga in which I realized that 4Kids wasn't in charge anymore and it lost its credibility and the nostalgic memories I had.

The second positivity I had was with the original Yugioh; back in the summer of 2004, I noticed my brothers watching it. Soon enough, the movie was about to come out as well. It looked awesome and it reminded me of the epicness that Pokémon once had, so I took a gamble. Yugi/Atem and Joey would always be my favorite guys, no one else. Not even Kaiba. Still, 4Kids is what made it a hit. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as Pokémon was. It was very complicated and difficult to follow as the show went on...even during the saga while they had to awaken the dragons. The Marik saga was pretty creepy, and the Virtual World saga was memorable. However, it was short-lived despite some of the beastly monsters and the two main Duelists. Heck, they even inspired me to write some fics featuring them. Speaking of which...

How could I ever forget F-Zero: GP Legend? It still is by far the most underrated series that 4Kids, or rather, the FoxBox, has ever put out. Unlike Yugioh and Pokémon, I felt this was an exclusive to the animated block, as it was my one and only reason on tuning into it in the first place. And well, it is in first place in my book, and I've no regrets that I loved the English dubs with a passion that still resonates to this day! I was playing F-Zero GX during the summer of 2004, and I solidified myself as a fan to the franchise. Starting my junior year, my bros pointed that out to me. I was interested on seeing it, although it wasn't what I expected. Instead of Falcon, there was Rick dealing with Samurai Goroh. It took me awhile, but I began to get accustomed to him, as well as the Task Force and the new characters. I was hoping that after they repeated the episodes starting on Christmas, they'd begin newer ones as a way to bide some time, since translating Japanese is never easy. But, when March arrived, it was canceled; you wouldn't believe how crushed I was. It was the one and only series that had both the games and anime work hand-in-hand. And that was when I noticed in January that the FoxBox was no more; 4Kids assimilated the TV slot, and I can definitely agree that it had lost its way since. Shame on the transformation as it would've given it a chance to try again!!

From there, I just jumped ship. I never had the chance to notice the Biker Mice from Mars 2006 revival. Oh there was Kirby, I was interested in the series due to using him in Smash Bros, which at first seemed cool as I hadn't played the games yet. But by the time I did, starting with Superstar then Ultra, they overshadowed it completely. I never cared for the other shows like the oversaturation of Sonic X, or the pisspoor job of dubbing One Piece which they weren't willing to do. Nor did I immerse myself with Winx Club, Dinosaur King, Ultimate Muscle, or Fighting Foodons. By spring 2005, it was over.

...You could've stopped this. You could have prevented this. You could have stopped it here as 4Kids.TV or on the FoxBox. But no, they just kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing and pushed TOO FAR AND--


 * hear Gohan's wussy voice* Oh, God MY EARS!!

I eventually heard of DBZ: Kai being aired on the CW's Toonzai block and soon Vortexx, so my naïve mind wanted to give it a go. Man was it salt on a wound! I'll give it credit for being more shorter and concise than the original, and eliminating the dreadful Garlic Jr. saga entirely. Despite that, the music, animation, and especially the voice acting and dialogue were its low points. And DON'T get me started with that weak, putrid voice they gave to Gohan!! And that was when I decided to quit for good. It was kind of a blessing in disguise when I found out that 4Kids went through bankruptcy twice (one on 2012, another just last year). Those resulted in 4Kids' greediness, their lack of empathy toward their target audience, laying off and bastardizing the cast and crews' careers, and never allowing their original content to be aired elsewhere in the States! Look, I wouldn't mind if the latter happened or not, I'm not a huge anime fanatic, but 4Kids has really insulted us all and only had their precious money to back them up while still stealing licenses!

I can't tell you how sorry I am for those who have suffered when they worked underneath their resentful roofs. They all deserve better than this, far better, especially to those we have cherished, like Dan Green, Greg Abbey, Veronica Taylor, Caren Manuel, Amy Birnbaum, and even Sean Schimmel as well as others. I mean what was the point of re-dubbing an anime that had already been done to a better extent by Ocean and FUNimation?! 4Kids had really lost their way by 2005, and all they cared were the profits, NOT the welfare of their staff, nor the fairness, creativity and fun for us that the FoxBox entailed.

I'm glad that 4Kids bit the dust, and became 4K Media Inc which is owned by Konami. If only they never pushed so hard when the FoxBox was taken over by corporate leeches; what's more horrible is that we're still surrounded by greedy, heartless entertainment today! I'll defend the FoxBox, but 4Kids I was on the fence about after seeing these videos from Mother's Basement, TASproductions, and his mentioning of 4Kids in Saberspark's vids on why cartoons are censored and what ruined Saturday morning cartoons.

So...yeah. Like I said, there was a very thin silver lining in that humongous cloud, and I hope that the voice cast would find better jobs in the future. And perhaps have GP Legend finish its story; if only the FoxBox still existed or would have a second wind somewhere. Anyway, that's my take on it. Feel free to share your own memories, whether they'd be good or abysmal.