4Kids Entertainment

**4Kids Entertainment** was an American company which was in charge of English productions for a number of anime series, as well as creating original series from 1997 to 2013. Among anime fans, the company is notorious for its heavy editing of Japanese versions of series such as *One Piece* and *Yu-Gi-Oh*. However, Pokémon is actually among its most faithful adaptations. The company also handled licensing for many other Nintendo products and properties, including *Pokemon (season 1-8)*, *F-Zero* and *Kirby*, until 4Kids let the licensing agreement expire in 2005.

## History

4Kids had been in charge of dubbing the Pokémon anime for English language audiences from the first season until season eight. Despite their massive contributions to the anime and the Pokémon franchise as a whole, there have been many critics. Some fans felt some important information, facts, or emotions expressed in the original version had been lost in translation. Frequent move errors, type matchup errors, and most infamously poor quality in the Pokémon Trainer's Choice segments have led fans to believe 4Kids had very little knowledge or interest in the Pokémon franchise.

4Kids exclusive content includes the English theme songs (not the intro animations), Pokérap, songs that appeared in Pikachu's Jukebox and Pokémon Karaokémon, and the 2.B.A. Master album.

Starting with the TV special *The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon* and continuing through season 9 onward, Pokémon USA (now known as The Pokémon Company International), maintained the English-language version of the Pokémon anime. Beginning in May 2008, 4Kids took control of the Kids' WB! block. The block was relabelled as The CW4Kids. 4Kids announced that in order to retain control of The CW4Kids, 4KidsTV will move online instead of being on FOX affiliates as of January 1, 2009. This block was later replaced with Toonzai, which was also owned by 4Kids. In 2012, 4Kids also ended the Toonzai block. Saban Brands then created the block called Vortexx, taking Toonzai's previous timeslot. This block was cancelled in 2014. As of 2015, many 4Kids television dubs no longer air on American Television (with the exception of the early seasons of Pokemon and the Pokemon Movies that they dubbed).

On June 1, 2010, the New York Stock Exchange delisted 4Kids from their listings.

TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems sued 4Kids Entertainment on March 24, 2011, due to "underpayments, wrongful deductions, and unmet obligations" concerning the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. TV Tokyo and Nihon claimed that 4Kids' collaboration with Funimation Entertainment violated their original contract and enabled 4Kids to hide income amassed from home video production. They sought $4,792,460.36 USD in damages as a result. [1] In the midst of the lawsuit, 4Kids filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on April 6, 2011. The lawsuit was settled on February 29, 2012, with 4Kids retaining rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise after a judge ruled that TV Tokyo and NAS had improperly terminated their agreement with 4Kids.[2]

In June 2012, Saban Brands purchased the rights to several of 4Kids' anime properties, including *Dragon Ball Z*, *Sonic X*, *Cubix* and the Toonzai block. The rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise were sold to Konami (who also acquired 4Kids Productions, reincorporating it as 4K Media).[3]

On December 5, 2012, 4Kids Entertainment announced that it had ended a dispute (over the so-called Pokémon agreement) with The Pokémon Company International under which TPCi would get a $1 million general unsecured claim against the debtor.

In December 13, 2012, 4Kids announced that they have exited their bankruptcy, and would be reworking the structure of their company.

In December 21, 2012, 4Kids was reincorporated as **4Licensing Corporation**, no longer licensing anime.

## Typical edits

Common complaints from fans concern 4Kids' tendency to edit some parts of the anime programming to make it more appropriate for the American audience (primarily children and pre-teenagers). There are various types of edits, which can be broken down into these categories:

* Cultural changes - Scenes relating to Japanese culture were often edited to be more accessible to American audiences. One example of this is the renaming of onigiri, which has been called a variety of things, from donuts to popcorn balls.

* Dialog edit - Sometimes a character's lines were edited so as to change the meaning. For example, in *The President of Tyrusvillge'*s dub, whereas they had known each other for years in the original.

* Puns - Occasionally, a pun was made in the original that was lost in translation. More commonly, however, puns were put in where they were not before, such as in *Malachi's Playhouse* where Coo *pun*-ishes Tiana & friends. Puns were also used in the episode titles

* Music edit - In the Dever the Last Dinosaur theme (Instrumental) in Opening & Super Smash Bros Melee Target Music in Ending, 4Kids replaced most of the Japanese music with their own music.

* Paint edit - Usually this was when Japanese text was removed, but it can be used for other things such as physically turning an onigiri into a sandwich in *Tiana New Shop Day!*.

* Cut - Sometimes a scene was removed completely.

* Scene Switch - Occasionally, scenes were moved around, For example, several attacks are performed out of order in *The Tyrusvillge War!*.

* Motto - Tiana's motto usually changed slightly in each episode in the dub, yet in most cases it was exactly the same in the original. he said We are Tiana & Friends.

* Opening/Ending - 4Kids created their own openings, using their own music. While the original had its own unique ending, the dub just had a shorter version of the opening along the left side of the screen. Alternatively, they may used an instrumental of the opening song in the ending.