Editorial: Another Dub... Piece

This editorial was originally written on June 28th, 2007. "One Piece" is the property of Toei and FUNimation, and formerly of 4Kids. Other comparison shows mentioned also belong to the respective companies, a bit too many to list in detail here.

A good deal of the most popular anime to ever come to the United States all share several things in common. They are all victims of mismanaged dubs, and the companies behind them have taken a lot of slack for it. The same shows have also been 'rescued' by other companies and were given improved dubs. But the fact of the matter is... in all of those cases, how much they were improved by switching dubbing companies is certainly debatable.

It's been awhile, though, since this topic has mattered. After all, the previous four examples were all series that first debuted in America before the turn of the millennium, and all four are considered to be pioneers to the now-healthy anime boom. The four popular anime which began with shoddy dubs are "Sailor Moon" (U.S. debut in 1995), "Dragonball Z" (1996), "Pokémon" (1998), and "Digimon: Digital Monsters" (1999). "Sailor Moon" was dubbed by Dic, "Dragonball Z" and "Digimon" by Saban, and "Pokémon" by 4Kids. All four were subjected to most, if not all, of the following: inane name changes, horrible and/or generic theme songs and background music, voices that didn't match the original Japanese and/or were terribly acted, the editing of religious imagery, the editing or removal of weapons or mentions of death or scenes that were sexually suggestive, changing the genders of certain characters, and forcing the Japanese staff to make the series more American-friendly before dubbing. Some changes were necessary, given the outlets the shows were airing on, but many were just downright insane, unneeded, and plain idiotic.

But then, the four anime were 'rescued'... though the definition of 'rescued' varies. Toei set up Cloverway to dub Seasons 3 & 4 of "Sailor Moon." FUNimation took over Saban's dub of "Dragonball Z" when the show moved out of syndication and onto Cartoon Network starting in Season 3. When Saban folded several years later, the rights to "Digimon" were sold to Disney, who dubbed Season 4 and moved it from the now-defunct Fox Kids to syndication. And just last year, Pokémon USA obtained the rights to dub "Pokémon" starting with Season 9, as it also switched networks, from Kids' WB to Cartoon Network. All saw improvements for the better, with dubs that were more true to the original Japanese version. But the 'new' dubs weren't perfect. Many things from the old dubs had to stay, 'grandfathered' in for familiarity, such as dub-only theme songs and no reverting of the names of already-established characters. That wasn't so bad, but many things that were expected to change didn't, like the hope that more Japanese music would be kept in, or that the characters would now sound closer to their counterparts, or that there wouldn't be as many childish jokes, or that the violence and language would not be edited as much. We were sadly mistaken.

Which is why I am approaching the new dub of "One Piece" (U.S. debut in 2004) with cautious optimism. Despite the treatment of the above four dubs with their first companies, no one can say that those companies did a worse job than 4Kids did with "Piece." Not only did they do many of the above, they also merged and cut episodes, especially complete arcs, are guilty of having some of the worst voice actor performances on TV, and zapping both mood-fitting music and character development. Not to mention getting it wrong with the humor. Sure, "One Piece" was filled with many gags, both of the visual and spoken kind, but they also fit the characters and were well-timed. 4Kids not only seemed to insert jokes where they saw fit, but many were also lame and predictable puns that even young children could see coming from a mile away. Such a production has cost what was, undeniably, one of the best anime coming out of Japan, the popularity it deserves. Heck, it's not even near as popular as "Digimon," whose fanbase paled even in comparison to "Moon," "Z," and "Pokémon."

So given all that, you can't blame the anime fandom for rejoicing with utter glee the day it was learned that Toei, who originally sold "Piece" to 4Kids, had taken it away from them for 'under performing.' Though it was shaky for awhile as we all wondered if that meant the show was dead in America, the fandom rejoiced even louder when FUNimation announced they had bought the rights to the show and a new dub to pick up where 4Kids had stopped. It's understandable, given FUNimation is the #1 anime dubbing company in terms of satisfaction and DVD sales. But let's not kid ourselves here... the new dub won't be perfect. FUNi may stay true to the music, provide a more faithful dub, and give voice acting performances that not only aren't grating to the ear, but also fit their characters, but they won't do everything right. There may still be the odd, ill-timed joke every once in awhile. Certain characters won't be allowed to change their names back to their originals. And blood and violence may still be toned down to a small degree. We're virtually guaranteed that FUNimation will give us a much better dub than 4Kids did. But it'll still be far for perfect, all in the name of making sure the show is still suitable for its target audience... kids.

So, true to form, "One Piece" is destined to fall to the same fate as "Sailor Moon," "Dragonball Z," "Pokémon," and "Digimon: Digital Monsters" all did before it. The new dub will be better, but only enough to be noted as an improvement from the old dub. Thusly, I don't want to hear anyone crying when the new "Piece" debuts and there's complaints like 'oh, they said they'd keep that in and they didn't' or 'better voice actors... yeah, right!' I mean, I'm anticipating the new dub just as much as anyone. But anyone foolish to think FUNi will correct every single thing that was wrong with the 4Kids' dub and they turn on the company when it's revealed they didn't or couldn't...

Well, then, you obviously haven't been paying attention to the past, have you?

- Freedom Fighter


The remaining episodes of 4Kids' dub of "One Piece" continue to premiere every Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. EST, part of the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. FUNimation is in the progress of dubbing Episodes 105 and onwards, and those are scheduled to premiere upon the conclusion of 4Kids' episodes, beginning in August 2007.

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