An American film and television production company. Their most notable voice actor is Jason Anthony Griffith also known as J.Griff and Adam Caroleson. The CEO is Alfred R. Kahn.
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Pokemon Black and White Looks Delicious in Motion
First video of a Pokemon battle in Black and White. |
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Comment & Win: One Piece Vol. 52, 53
Time for a giveaway folks! Now, act civil, we don't want anyone to get hurt in the mad rush to win. |
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Beginner's Guide to FLCL
Gainax's madcap, surrealist anime, broken down for new viewers. |
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Ballz Deep
Steve gets intimately close to Dragon Ball Z, for science! |
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Top 3 Awful Anime Dubs
Grit your teeth and get your ear plugs ready cause this week we're taking on the three most amazingly bad dubs of all time! |
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GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET #2 - - Special Review
The spring show that's better than ATTACK ON TITAN. |
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One Piece Ending SPOILER?! -- THE VICE PIT
How will ONE PIECE end? And what's happening in the show RIGHT NOW? Tom gives Sam the shake-down as they cover the high-seas insanity. |
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FUSHIGI YUGI - - My First Anime Experience
Our resident anime novice reminisces on her middle-school love affair with the epic fantasy romance. |
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ATTACK ON TITAN #2 - - Watch & Learn
There you are, TITAN! I like you more from this angle. |
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ONE PIECE #595 - - Special Review
This part was cool... and also kind-of gross. |
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An Anime Novice’s Take On… THE ROSE OF VERSAILLES
So here’s the thing about THE ROSE OF VERSAILLES: it is just gloriously silly. |
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MAGI #17 - - Watch & Learn
Somebody caption this image immediately! |
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Best Anime Transformations: Majin Buu Edition -- THE VICE PIT
Sam and Tom debate their favorite Majin Buu transformations and show their TRUE FORMS!!! Also, a rapid fire analysis of other transformations in anime. |
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AV MOD MATERIAL: NARUTO Ch. 629 Review
Obito admits that he truly is a character of little substance and a serious dissociation complex. |
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GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET #2 - - Special Review
The spring show that's better than ATTACK ON TITAN. |
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AV MOD MATERIAL: Ash Ketchum - - Character Spotlight
He's been doing the same thing, over and over again, for over a decade. And he seems to constantly be re-learning lessons. But Ash deserves still deserves your respect! |
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One Piece Ending SPOILER?! -- THE VICE PIT
How will ONE PIECE end? And what's happening in the show RIGHT NOW? Tom gives Sam the shake-down as they cover the high-seas insanity. |
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ATTACK ON TITAN #2 - - Watch & Learn
There you are, TITAN! I like you more from this angle. |
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AV MOD MATERIAL: ONE PIECE Ch. 708 Review
The sins of the grandfather have been passed down upon Luffy. |
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MAGI #17 - - Watch & Learn
Somebody caption this image immediately! |
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ONE PIECE #595 - - Special Review
This part was cool... and also kind-of gross. |
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toona? get it ? tuna?
I'm sorry that was horrible
If only there was a block for hardcore anime fans. They could call it Toondere :D
how about a whole channel?
I see someone has watched Metal Gill Jawesome.
Anyways, great that there will be more anime, not so great about the censoring. Thankfully I still have my One Piece, thank you Funimation and your streaming awesomeness.
I think as trends progress towards streaming and digital media, maybe we'll see some form of service using a new kind of pay/distribution model that somehow fuses current ideas e.g. Hulu, Crunchyroll in order to deliver content.
But this is all baseless hypotheticals, so ignore me :) .
Im guess thats what they were going for but they really dropped the ball on it. The conspiracy nut in me to totally saying this is a plot by a secret underground Nazis that are trying to brainwash the children of America through poorly localized Japanese anime. We all know that the Japanese were ailed with the Nazis in WWII. Just look at all the connections. Why won't anyone believe me? Im not crazy *shifty eyes*
I know you don't agree with their goal, but in theory if they do it well they will make a lot more money off of those kids than they would off you and I. To take something with mainstream appeal, especially something that's worked before, and market it exclusively to the niche fans-- closing off the possibility of non-anime-fan kids having access to it --would be pretty foolish.
Not that I don't think what 4Kids did to One Piece and other shows wasn't god-awful, to be sure-- it's a great example of doing the mainstreamification thing poorly. On the other hand, 4kids also handled the first eight seasons of Pokemon, which they also edited heavily and even left out episodes. But how many anime fans today can claim Pokemon as at least part of the reason they got into anime? On this week's podcast John and AHR were extolling the virtues of the Pokerap! With that kind of success at stake, anyone with half a mind for business can hardly blame 4Kids for trying-- even if we all still make fun of them when they fail.
That they "assume" would be more lucrative. More often they aren't. Such as in the example of One Piece. That series was just utterly butchered by 4Kids with no alternative offered. They dumbed the series down in order to target an audience that the series was never intended for. Yet, it was this alteration that got all the air time and attention. Giving the false impression to the uninitiated that this is what the series was about.
By the time FUNimation started doing it right. The damage was already done. The online fans were too suspicious to care, and the casual audience wasn't informed enough to know that FUNimation wasn't doing as drastic of edits and thought it was the same crappy series. When it aired on Cartoon Network again they couldn't even get through a single canon story arc before it was taken off again. It didn't help matters that the airing started from the point of right before a long series of filler episodes.
I'm not speaking of the work done on series like Pokemon which was originally intended for a much younger audience. I'm talking about altering series so the would be more "appropriate" for age groups that the series was never intended for in the first place.
What is the point in bringing an anime to the US? Isn't it because you think it will be popular as it is in Japan? Why do they think it will be popular by basically altering what made it popular to begin with? Imagine taking a recipe that you hear is incredible and that people really love, but when you make it you decide to change most of the ingredients and wonder why it doesn't taste as good as the original.
Much in the same way they do with anime movies produced in Hollywood. Why do they always think these movies will be popular by making them nothing like what they are originally based upon? More often the only thing they have in common with the original property is the title. Best example being that of Dragon Ball Evolution. The idea is that they are targeting a wider audience, but end up hitting no one.
When most animated series begin they have no real audience. With anime and manga you have a base audience already built in for the US market. It's beyond moronic to ignore an audience that wants a product in a supply and demand market place. They are refusing to supply to a demand that exists.
All while expecting the US based audience to only consume their alteration and offer no alternative. Giving US fans who want to purchase the series nowhere to go but online pirating sites.
Much like with building a house. First you build your base and then expand from there. Why would you be targeting non-anime-fan kids with an anime? By definition. Non-anime fans aren't interested in anime.
They alter the content of the story and then wonder why fans go online for pirated version. It was this perversion of the series that was treated as the primary. I was utterly shocked by first watching this 4Kids version of One Piece, then going online to fan sub sites and watching the real thing.
EDIT: Does anyone else not see the irony of editing a series that is an already edited down version of the original?
I certainly agree. Censorship is bad.
It's often silly when you see movies with incredibly graphic violence shown on basic TV and completely censored and edited, such as the Die Hard of Saw movies. It just makes you wonder what was the point.
Come on people! Fox, though it's in Primetime, has Animation Domination. I remember not that long ago, when I watched American cartoons, some of these channels had good names for their Saturday morning blocks. I agree that Toonzai is awful, but what about other play on words? How about Anime-fun? They could have a voting game called SSO (Saturday Shoutout) for which show was most popular the last Saturday and what fans look forward to the next Saturday. Kids want to be drawn in and involved so if you allow for them to feel part of the programs they watch the more they will like it and spread the word. Other names could be..umm...shit. There is no logical name for a block of anime for Americans so CALL IT WHAT IT IS!!!!
You mention One Piece but skip over all of the successful shows they've brought over. Nobody bats a thousand. Even unedited I don't think it would have taken off here and the DBZ edits are nowhere near the same degree as One Piece.
Not to mention that this article has NOTHING to do with censorship yet you went on a 3,000 word rant about it.
"tone down blood"?
So, they are 'toning down', censoring even, the violence in a series that revolves around fighting and violence. If they can watch acts of violence, why can't they also see people drinking beer?
I mention One Piece as an example of just how horrible things can get if people allow such censorship. Understand that 4Kids didn't just give up on the One Piece series to hand it over to FUNimation. From what has been reported. It was due to some undisclosed financial issue. If this financial issue had not come up. It's highly likely that 4Kids could still be butchering that series today, and offering people in the US no alternative to their horribly produced product.
When they alter series like that and it eventually goes on sale in DVD. It's the alterations that are treated as the primary. While the version without edits is either regulated to a higher priced "Director's Cut" or they don't release an unedited version at all.
It has to do with 4Kids. A company infamous for their censorship. So, it is an issue when it comes to them.