4Kids Entertainment gets a lot of flack from the anime community. They took anime and re-edited it for Western audiences, which they feel is somehow artistically wrong. I’m not saying they don’t have a point, especially given recent shenanigans where translators are inserting their views into characters’ mouths, like a crossdresser who still identifies as a boy being turned trans in the translation (no pun intended) when that’s not what he was in the original manga, or adding references to Gamergate into an anime made by people who never heard of Gamergate. I think there’s a difference however. 4Kids never sold their stuff as a anime dub studio. It was a studio who made TV shows and the occasional movie for kids. It was right there in the name.
It just so happened that Pokémon was big in the US and it was 4Kids, originally in syndication and then on Kids WB if memory serves, who brought it to Western kids. Their goal wasn’t to present anime to Western anime fans, it was to make a kids show just like all their other non-Japanese kids show. I’ve gone over 4Kids long library of shows in my defense of the studio years ago including my favorite version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the prematurely canceled WMAC Masters. Anime was popular and cheaper to dub than create shows like this or Cubix: Robots For Everyone and that’s what they did.
Some time ago YouTuber Saberspark went over the demise of 4Kids and why the company failed. There’s more to the story than their anime but did he touch on that? Let’s find out. It’s been a while since I dropped it into the potential article playlist. Also features a cameo by Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged.
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I wrote the following in the comments: I’d also make the case that the dark and gritty deconstruction has been done. Constantly. The big epic adventures where the fate of all creation (or the hero’s corner of it) has become the norm. Short adventures with a recurring subplot is no longer the norm. EVERYBODY is trying to make the next Watchmen or Dark Knight. Stop looking at what comics were when you were reading it and see what they are now. You aren’t doing something new, you’re doing what every other writer is currently doing.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on May 25, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged comic writers, Comics By Perch, commentary, writing tips.
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