4Kids give up on One Piece?

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
In an e-mail posted on the ToonZone forums, 4Kids have confirmed that "at this time" they will produce "no additional episodes" of One Piece. However given the somewhat dubious nature of this source, fans should not accept this news as 100% truth until official word is published by 4Kids.

4Kids controversial "hack n' slash" treatment of the pirate adventure One Piece had been harshly received by the world anime community from the get go; they decided it was best to cut, edit and merge episodes as well as completely change the soundtrack in order to appeal to their intended Pokemon demographic of "tweens", though with One Piece being consistently amongst the best selling franchises in Japan, 4Kids have somewhat ruined what was originally winning formula. Comparitively - Naruto has been hardly altered by world license holders Viz Media and it has gone on to become one of the most popular shows around the world.
 
not to mention Fangirls...

I liked 4Kids' Luffy voice, she was good at playing Luffy.

Anyway, if this rumoour is true, maybe FUNimation will start to pick up on One Piece. Weren't they bidding for it aswell, until 4Kids out bidded FUNimation for it?
 
For the people saying its a bad thing because this means no games and no more One Piece to the masses.

This is a Dragonball Z situation. When that was butured FUNimation fixed it and look how well its done now. Its still being released, HD edition next year.

For the people saying that its too beeg to chance. It worked with Dragonball Z.

Lets look at the situation. 4Kids stops One Piece. Viz has Naruto. FUNimation needs something to have alongside it, how about One Piece? 4Kids may sell their rights to them. Or maybe because Viz has the Manga they would get One Piece. How well is the Manga doing? I'm sure people who read the Manga would want uncut versions. Also theres the fact that ever since 4Kids stopped releasing uncut DVDs (Yu-Gi-Oh and Shaman King) FUNimation has pestered them to make more. Didn't happen. This could mean new voice actors. Personally I couldn't care less in One Piece's case due to the VAs being bad. They may keep them should there be an agreement.

So to help the possibility I say we do this:

Email both FUNimation and Viz. It would certainly help, I know there are people here that probably don't like dubs in general (Or maybe don't like the VAs at FUNimation or Viz) and would rather keep watching the fansubbed version. But think of it this way, firstly there would be subbed versions included with all Uncut DVDs. Fansubbers will still fansub. More people have access to One Piece uncut. One Piece becomes more popular. More people see the uncut dub or sub. Or even come here. Games are released, new VAs (or old maybe). Theres also the chance there would be a chance to maybe change the games language to have the Japanese VAs.

FUNImations email:
[email protected]

VIZs contact form:
http://www.viz.com/about/contact/contact.php

Things remember in the email:

Be polite.
Remember we need the soundtrack for it to be perfect so put that in there.
Japanese version uncut with English subtitles.
English dubbed uncut version.

There you have it, One Piece has a chance to live.

If they continue from where 4Kids left off I wouldn't worry too much as long as uncuts are released. Look at Dragonball Z. Its finised and there releasing thr first redubbed sagas uncut now. You may notice that it looks like I'm contredicting myself by using it as an example. Whilst Dragonball Z doesn't have the soundtrack it does have a bit in common with whats happening to One Piece.

I'm gonna email them. For the love of One Piece it must be done. We cannot simply sit back and not try.
 
Espy said:
Viz distributes the OP DVDs for 4Kids, I believe, so it's most likely they would pick it up.
Click to expand...

Roll on the uncut DVDs, I can see Paul being happy like a little kid when that happens.

And also, I'm thankful that 4KIDS gave it up. But that means a change of Dub, a problem for people who actually got used to the voices.

Meh, I don't often watch one peice, so I wouldn't complain.
 
setochaos said:
For the people saying its a bad thing because this means no games and no more One Piece to the masses.

This is a Dragonball Z situation. When that was butured FUNimation fixed it and look how well its done now. Its still being released, HD edition next year.
<snip>
Click to expand...
The difference here is that Dragonball was popular despite the cuts and dubbing. 4Kids have potentially killed off One Piece as a going concern in the US with their handling of the franchise. It is unpopular right now due to 4Kids treatment so in 2 years time it will be all but forgotten except for the hardcore of fans. Most people's experience of One Piece, including anime fandom, will be via the 4Kids's version so already a large section of the community is alienated. That kind of negative publicity is not very easy to overcome and any future release of One Piece will have a fair hill to climb.

I hope it does happen but I am not sure it is going to.
 
Once people see the un-edited version dubbed [hopefully in the future] when Mihawk slashes Zoro across the chest they'll all be like "HOLYSHIT!" as to when Zoro is slashed across the chest and is un-harmed AKA 4KIDS dub, I mean, they take out logical crap? I mean, if you're cut aren't you meant to bleed? Is Zoro possibly not human!?
 
Gawyn said:
setochaos said:
For the people saying its a bad thing because this means no games and no more One Piece to the masses.

This is a Dragonball Z situation. When that was butured FUNimation fixed it and look how well its done now. Its still being released, HD edition next year.
<snip>
Click to expand...
The difference here is that Dragonball was popular despite the cuts and dubbing. 4Kids have potentially killed off One Piece as a going concern in the US with their handling of the franchise. It is unpopular right now due to 4Kids treatment so in 2 years time it will be all but forgotten except for the hardcore of fans. Most people's experience of One Piece, including anime fandom, will be via the 4Kids's version so already a large section of the community is alienated. That kind of negative publicity is not very easy to overcome and any future release of One Piece will have a fair hill to climb.

I hope it does happen but I am not sure it is going to.
Click to expand...

It was more popular than One Piece. But I believe it is the same situation because One Piece can still be brought back as Dragonball Z was to more fans than it had before.
 
Well if this is all true, then hurrah!

All fans must be just loving this news/rumour... heck even the kids who were watching the 4Crud versions were and still are complaining about the cuts, edits and such!

So all around, if true, this is great news, the best news of the year!! 8)
 
setochaos said:
Gawyn said:
setochaos said:
For the people saying its a bad thing because this means no games and no more One Piece to the masses.

This is a Dragonball Z situation. When that was butured FUNimation fixed it and look how well its done now. Its still being released, HD edition next year.
<snip>
Click to expand...
The difference here is that Dragonball was popular despite the cuts and dubbing. 4Kids have potentially...<snip>
Click to expand...

It was more popular than One Piece. But I believe it is the same situation because One Piece can still be brought back as Dragonball Z was to more fans than it had before.
Click to expand...

Only if 4kids put the license up for sale, they really interested in that?
The only way I can see that happening is if 4kids are convinced it'll never be more than a failure and another company thinks they can make it a success. Al Khan isn't stupid though, he's not about to create competition for himself. o_O; So gonna have to wait and see, there...
 
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