One Piece anime (English adaptation)
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[edit] North American English version
[edit] Censorship and Editing
In producing a version of One Piece for the North American market, 4Kids considerably changed the animation[1].
[edit] Cuts and Removals
As of June 2006, the equivalent of 32 episodes of material had been cut from what were originally 102 episodes. Among the removed was the Warship Island arc, the Laboon arc and the entire Little Garden arc. All removed episodes and arcs were written around, sometimes contradicting the continuity established by the dub.
For example, in order to explain Mr. 3's presence after the Little Garden arc, it was told that he followed the Straw Hats since Roguetown, when Baroque Works didn't even know about them at that point. Also, how 4KIDS will write around Little Garden's role in Enies Lobby, where it has an important role in, remains to be seen.
During the series, another reaccuring removal is the removal of all kanji. It should also be noted, however that Kanji is not the only thing removed - English text in the background is also often removed. Such removals usually are due to censorship issues, such as the removal of 'Rum' and 'Casino'. However this is not excluded to censorship text alone being removed, other background text, such as the word 'Milk' on a cup, are constantly removed with no apparent reason at all.
[edit] Sound
Removing the original symphonic score and replacing it with music produced on a synthesizer. Replacing the opening theme (originally a succession of upbeat pop songs) with a "rap" theme (though an English version of the original theme was used in an early promo). So far each time a new member of the crew has officially joined, another line of rap has been added to the middle of the song. A new introduction has yet to be released for the series without the rap.
Several characters received accents, often matched to common stereotypes based on their outfits. Nico Robin/Ms. Sunday was given a southern/cowgirl accent due to her cowgirl style outfit when she is first introduced and Miss Father's day was given a French accent due to her frog outfit. Other characters who have received accents include Red-Haired Shanks who receives a cockney/irish accent, Dracule "Hawk-Eyes" Mihawk who is given a French accent and Sanji who is given a Brooklyn accent.
[edit] Alterations
There are large numbers of alterations made to the series throughout. The alterations include altering some dialogue to utilize different types of humor aimed. Usually, this is aimed only at the 6 - 11 age range, often using references to toilets or 'poop'. In the orginal Japanese version humour suitable for even older audiences, such as adults, was present throughout most of the series. Sometimes humour is added even during scenes meant to be entirely serious even though there was no humour present in the orginal verison of such scenes. An example includes Luffy describing one of Sir Crocdile's attacks as "It looks like a giant toilet!" during the first match between Luffy and Crocidile.
Another alteration is the changing of Japanese references to something more "American". One example was the edit out two onigiri, which were then replaced with cookies instead. However, more Japanese references have started to slip in as the series has progressed, such as an onigiri being kept.
Like other 4Kids productions such as Pokémon, changing the skin colors of characters to avoid potential racial insensitivity also occurs. This includes changing at least one apparent "blackface" within the storyline.
[edit] Renaming
Renaming many locations and attack names. Many attack names in other non-English languages (i.e. French, Italian, etc.) are given English names. These are often not proper translations of the name, and are sometimes different names completely (for example, most of Sanji's attacks, which were originally French cooking terms, are changed to food-based puns).
Altering many character names. Some names that were originally English were changed to apparently make them sound more exotic. Examples include Portgas D. Ace (Portgaz D. Trace) and Edward Newgate (Ward Newgate). In addition to this, several other names are changed for content, like Captain Smoker (Captain Chaser) and possibly Cobra (Nebra), while others use uncommon romanizations of names, like Zoro (Zolo), Nefertari Vivi/Cobra (Nefeltari), and others.
[edit] Censorship
The censorship of the show has seen the toning down of violence and other extreme situations.
Removal of all religious references (Mihawk's cross dagger was changed to something else, and Mrs. Merrychristmas's Christmas tree was colored purple, and her name changed to Mrs. Groundhog's Day). Other religious censorship has included the alteration of every nun during the Whiskey peak arc to either a completely black (often changing the uniform into a full cloak) outfit or was edited to look like a normal person.
Virtually no death scenes are shown, regardless of their importance to the plot. Scenes like Belle-Mere's death in front of Nami and Nojiko were completely removed. However, death has been referred to more often in the recent episodes. The series also sees the removal of all blood, even when significant to the plot, such as in the third Luffy vs. Crocodile fight. In this fight it was changed to Luffy using his own sweat, as opposed to blood.
[edit] Criticism
A sticking point for criticism from fans is 4Kids' marketing strategy for the franchise; although the show is enjoyed by a fairly broad audience in Japan and consistently scored high ratings from teens, children, and even adults, 4Kids decided to initially air the show on Saturday mornings and focus solely on the lucrative 6–11 demographic (which the show was only partially intended for originally). It now airs at night on Cartoon Network and has been receiving much higher ratings from the 9-14 demographic, but the new timeslot has brought question to the necessity of the excessive editing the series continues to receive. Also, the broader potential audience that could be reached through an uncut DVD release is still being ignored completely.
Despite the numerous edits, One Piece is one of 4Kids' more violent properties. The producers have left in certain unavoidable excesses; blood, appendages being ripped off (such as Shanks' arm and Zeff's leg), and a character being killed by gunfire. Errors are occasionally made in scene edits. Since the dubbed version of the Drum Island arc began, more violence and references to death have been included, and no new arcs have being skipped or episodes joined together.
Even with the poor reception recieved from fans of the Japanese version of the series, 4Kids figures on DVD releases show good progress in DVD sales and the show also reglaurly receives high ratings from TV airing.
[edit] Other Information
Madman Entertainment, holder of the distribution sublicense in Australia, had stated that it would be releasing uncut One Piece DVDs, but as of January 23, 2006, "for the time being, Madman will be releasing the TV edited version only." It is unclear when Madman Entertainment will release uncut episodes of One Piece. This might have stemmed from 4Kids' plans to release uncut versions of their anime series, which they have done with Yu-Gi-Oh! and Shaman King; however, they discontinued these versions in 2005.
When asked at an Australia convention why the uncut version of One Piece was not released, Madman repersentatives stated that they were not supplied with an english uncut version, and they could not only release the Japanese and cut English as it would not sell.
The anime's naming conventions are used in One Piece-related media in North America, such as the English version of the fighting game One Piece Grand Battle for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube.
[edit] Singapore English Version
In Singapore, the anime is licensed by Odex, which produces their own English dub. This dub is lesser known outside of the internet fanbase and equally less referred to in general both fanbase and media based. It contains fewer edits to names and animation with most if not all reference to blood, violence and death being left unedited.
[edit] Criticism
The main criticism towards the Singapore version is that many of the voice acting seems monotone or unenthusiastic, mostly put down to its low-budget dubbing. This version of the series, while is generally closer translated to the original Japanese version then the North American version by 4Kids, it also has many mistranlations.
- Example: In the inccident with Higuma the Bear, Shanks was listing the reason for him to to start a fight with Higuma and that hurting Luffy was the final straw. In the original Japanese version Shanks was stating no matter what you did to him personnelly, he would not fight Higuma at all, however Shanks could never allow Higuma to hurt his friends.
Unlike the North American version, the original Japanese background score is left untouched by the producers of the series and many of the storyarcs cut by 4Kids such as Little Garden remain undamaged.
Its low populaurity can be put down to the lack of means in which fans of the series may purchase this version of the anime and the main release of the episodes being onto VCD rather then DVD. Other factors in its lack of populaurity include it being released only into the Singapore market and not to the general North American Market, resulting in few fans outside of Singapore knowing of its existence at all. Generally, being the lesser known of the dubs, it is met with a lot less opinions and criticism altogether by fans of the series.
[edit] Anime air times
- In North America, the anime is currently licensed by 4Kids Entertainment. It is shown on Cartoon Network's Toonami block at 10:30pm Eastern Time in the United States, and Friday Nights at 7:30pm ET on YTV in Canada.
- The show began on the UK's version of Toonami during April 2005. It is currently shown 1:00pm on weekdays for one hour.
- In Australia, the anime has been seen on Cartoon Network, as well as on Network Ten, during the Toasted TV block.
[edit] Commentary
[edit] References
↑ "Australia Loses Uncut One Piece (2006-01-23 14:02:45)." Madman Entertainment press release reported on ANN 23 January 2006. Accessed 24 January 2006.
