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How much did 4K!ds have to do with the success of Pokemon?

sdp

The Pokeball
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4Kids didn't just dub the show they also had the international licensing which included shirts and other merchandise (correct me if I'm wrong). Was it Nintendo that came up with "Gotta Catch 'em All!" or could 4kids have come up with that? The iconic theme song, the PokeRap which all definitely helped the franchise as a whole to start the craze. The TCG was a success but I doubt Wizards could have done it without the Game/Cartoon bringing all those people in. And I wonder how much of a craze the game would have caused, I'm sure the game would have been a million seller with Nintendo's marketing alone but not create a craze of that size no videogame has that power. The anime is what helped cement the craze, but I wonder... if someone else had dubbed it instead of 4kids it would have still been a hit, no doubt but did the little things that 4kids changed (for better or worse) did make it appeal to more kids like their dialog change/VAs?
 
- The dialogue changes... not really. Removal of the Japanese jokes that people worldwide in general wouldn't have understood (mushi = ushi?) would not have been something exclusive of 4Kids - other dubbing companies would have done so as well. The question is, would other companies have been as faithful to the original as 4Kids was? Script changes aside, their dub was actually pretty decent when it came to sticking to what happens in the show, aside from the removal of anything Japan (not just the jokes).

Every other change was rather useless and left us in confusion later (Lola apparently being brought back by the Dragon Balls in the dub). They weren't really helpful in making Pokemon a worldwide success, they were pointless. We all know that the religious controversy ("Pokemon worships Satan!") that revolved around Pokemon during the early days would have been more calm if they kept in the references to God in the first movie, and keeping Takeshi Shudo's original intent in making the film appealing to both kids and their parents wouldn't have made them loathe the movie so much... not to mention, the critics wouldn't have been as hard on it.

4Kids helped make Pokemon successful by bringing us the anime dub back in the late 1990s. However, any other company could have done the same thing as long as they didn't screw around with the content, as with the other 90s dubs back in the day.

- "Gotta catch em' all!" was the English equivalent of "Getto daze!", which screws up the original meaning of the phrase entirely. "Getto daze!" refers to the series premise of capturing a monster ("Get it!"), while "Gotta catch em' all!" sounds like it's referring to capturing all the monsters and the products. It reeked of 90s commercialism, especially when they inserted it into the main theme a dozen of times. "Getto daze!" is more of a catchphrase for the anime than a slogan for the entire franchise. "Gotta Catch em' All!" was plastered in front of the game boxes and merchandise. I guess you can say that helped with marketing success, but it kind of gave people the "lol they're after my money" impression whenever they saw the phrase plastered on every single thing that had to do with the franchise. At least, the people that were aware of it. It helped bring in the kids, who are the target audience - big plus there, I suppose.

I actually have no idea if "Gotta Catch em' ALL!" was created by Nintendo of America or the product of 4Kids' dirty work. Both companies are pretty devious when it comes to marketing.

- The English Pokerap was pretty damn catchy. But - even though it's an assumption - it's pretty safe to say that, within a franchise revolving around a bunch of different monsters accompanied by rather strange names, someone would have made some kind of catchy song about naming them all, not just 4Kids.

~Nyoro~n
 
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Apart from the annoying censorship, 4Kids did a lot with the anime and their dubbing along with their choice of voice actors was really good.

I actually have no idea if "Gotta Catch em' ALL!" was created by Nintendo of America or the product of 4Kids' dirty work. Both companies are pretty devious when it comes to marketing.


I'm not sure if 4Kids' had anything to do with the slogan. It was included on the covers of the original games too, except for Yellow, which was replaced by "Special Pikachu Edition"..
 
I'm not sure if 4Kids' had anything to do with the slogan. It was included on the covers of the original games too, except for Yellow, which was replaced by "Special Pikachu Edition"..
I'm questioning whether or not they were responsible for it. It's entirely possible that Nintendo of America used a slogan created by 4Kids for their English localization of the games.

Remember, the dub was released to the public first before the English games in America, so the subject of "whose idea was whose?" gets kind of confusing.

~Nyoro~n
 
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4Kids simultaneously made the animé a success while also breaking it.

The popularity that the show achieved in the West is undeniable, and I tip my hat to the company that helped me first get into Pokémon.

But looking at it, 4Kids had way too much freedom. They should never have had twisted plots such as Kasumi's feelings for Satoshi or dare I say it, make their own weird branch of dub canon. I don't think that by chance there are more vocal fans in the West then there are Japanese fans who would like Kasumi to return. I think in some respects, 4Kids meddling in a show that they didn't have that much control over screwed them, because from what I keep hearing over the forums, they lost a major part of the fandom because of it.
 
Well, PokeShipping wasn't exactly dub-created, but 4Kids did tease the ship more than what was present in the Japanese version.

Japanese fans actually like Kasumi as much as the people over here do - perhaps a little more due to her tsundere personality, which was most prominent in her early episodes - but the Japanese fans also love having anime versions of the protagonists from the games, hence the reason why they don't have much of a problem with it as the fans over here do.

Remember, the adaptation displacement didn't exist in Japan, since the games got popular long before the anime did. People over there tend to look at Red without confusing him as his anime counterpart Satoshi, unlike over here. There's also the fact that Americans tend to put on nostalgia goggles more than the Japanese do when it comes to their cartoons.

~Nyoro~n
 
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Oh I know that, but what I mean is extra hints being added to make it appear to be more then it actually was (and just look at Pokémon Live, 4Kids started crap that began to extend out of the actual episodes), and if I remember correctly, a tour of Europe for Pokémon Live was cancelled due to its bad audience numbers.
 
Pokemon Live was a good example of tampering with anime and universal game canon (Diamond Badge? What? MECHAMEWTWO?), as well as giving people a bad impression about the series.

There was also Kasumi's love song, which even a shipper like myself can do without. Tampering with canon was one of the reasons why I didn't stick around with the dub that long.

~Nyoro~n
 
Japanese fans actually like Kasumi as much as the people over here do - perhaps a little more due to her tsundere personality, which was most prominent in her early episodes - but the Japanese fans also love having anime versions of the protagonists from the games, hence the reason why they don't have much of a problem with it as the fans over here do.

Is this really true? Everytime I've visited Pokesho or other Japanese sites, Misty is the least popular of all the main girls over there. I'm not sure if its because Misty has been gone so long or what, but I always see both May and Dawn ahead of her on their lists.
 
Is this really true? Everytime I've visited Pokesho or other Japanese sites, Misty is the least popular of all the main girls over there. I'm not sure if its because Misty has been gone so long or what, but I always see both May and Dawn ahead of her on their lists.
Really? Kasumi seemed pretty popular on fansites like 2Chan and
other japanese websites.
 
Pokesho had character polls before. Ash was #1 with Dawn at #2, May at #3 and I don't remember the rest from there.

It was only a Top 10 list, but from what I remember, Jessie and Brock didn't even make the top 10.
 
Pokesho had character polls before. Ash was #1 with Dawn at #2, May at #3 and I don't remember the rest from there.

It was only a Top 10 list, but from what I remember, Jessie and Brock didn't even make the top 10.

Pokesho is a fan site. I thought you were talking about official sites with Pokemon influence like 2Chan and TV TOKYO.
 
Pokesho is a fan site. I thought you were talking about official sites with Pokemon influence like 2Chan and TV TOKYO.

Its the same over there too. Misty was never more popular than any of the girls who came after her.

I don't know about Iris though, from what I've seen a lot of them are disappointed the Black/White heroine wasn't a main character.
 
Its the same over there too. Misty was never more popular than any of the girls who came after her.

I don't know about Iris though, from what I've seen a lot of them are disappointed the Black/White heroine wasn't a main character.

I don't think you can make that call. TV TOKYO is visited by children 6-17 y/old the true target audience as well as grown up fans. "Pokesho" is just a fansite not official.
 
Well go ask any Japanese speaking fans on this site, its not like the info is hidden.
 
How well-known was 4Kids at the time? They seemed to do a professional job with the Pokemon dub, barring....all the plot stuff they did.
 
I'm pretty sure Pokémon was the first dub they ever did.

Must've made people feel like the company was decent at the beginning. =P
 
Is this really true? Everytime I've visited Pokesho or other Japanese sites, Misty is the least popular of all the main girls over there. I'm not sure if its because Misty has been gone so long or what, but I always see both May and Dawn ahead of her on their lists.
Like I said, in Japan, the anime characters based off of game protagonists are often more popular than others (especially anime-only characters). If you visited more Japanese fansites, fanart for the in-game protagonists greatly outnumber the fanart for Gym Leaders and anime characters.

Kasumi gets a lot of fanart and is actually pretty popular for a Gym leader, though, especially her anime version. That's saying something. Kasumi and Takeshi having high chances of making it into top tens over here is mostly just us putting on nostalgia goggles.

Besides, I'd say a site like 2ch is more reliable when it comes to character popularity than Pokesho, since it has a bigger following.

How well-known was 4Kids at the time? They seemed to do a professional job with the Pokemon dub, barring....all the plot stuff they did.
They were new at dubbing when they first did Pokemon. That's why the script for the first several episodes actually seemed like a translation instead of being a script that involved them taking liberties with the dialogue - they were extremely careful with it. Most of their paint edits back then actually included translating the text on signs instead of just erasing them and replacing them with...nothing.

~Nyoro~n
 
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4Kids was kewl :D They did an AWESOME JOB
Was pissed when Meowth's VA died thou..

The only thing I really hated was when they said 'Rai-KOW' instead of 'Rai-KOO'
Also the jelly donuts for those riceballs
And edits..
 
About the slight change to Getto Daze, considering the entire premise of the games is to complete the Pokedex by catching all pokemon, Gotta Catch 'em all is way more appropriate then what roughly translates to 'Get it!'
 
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