Do you prefer the 4kids/PUSA themes or the originals?

[GameCodeTrainer]

I prefer the eng dubs over the Japanese, I don't like the way the Japanese opening sound except for a few....

 

[Dogasu]

They've come a long way in making it, I guess you could say, "culturally universal".

Well, American.

But, I suppose "American" is seen as being "culturally universal" these days. After all, we've gotten so good at exporting our TV shows and movies and music and restaurants and everything else that it's hard to imagine a country that doesn't know a ton about us.

 

[Jesse GS the II]

But, I suppose "American" is seen as being "culturally universal" these days. After all, we've gotten so good at exporting our TV shows and movies and music and restaurants and everything else that it's hard to imagine a country that doesn't know a ton about us.

I know "South Park" has said it better, but I can understand why a bunch of other countries hate us.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

The opening to The Johto Journies and Advanced Challenge are the only one I can remotely stand.

I'm overwhelmingly in favor of the Japanese openings and endings.

We must share a similar taste in music because those are actually my favorite dub intros so far.

 

[ash_ley]

i prefer the original a little bit

 

[Jukain]

I can take or leave the JP openings. I've frankly gotten sick of how everyone glorifies the dub openings, although I will not deny some of them are catchy. I honestly think some of the endings in the raw were far better. I liked the original version of Dawn's theme, but I can't seem to find it anymore, it's usually the pop up version or the winter version.

 

[Team Gaara]

I prefer 4kids's openings. At least they were longer than 30 seconds and not all about friendship. For TPCI, I only really liked the DP Opening and the BW Opening.

 

[Fennekin]

I prefer 4kids's openings. At least they were longer than 30 seconds and not all about friendship. For TPCI, I only really liked the DP Opening and the BW Opening.

While I like the TPCi openings better, I do wish they were longer. But we should remember that the openings were allowed to be longer on Kids' WB while Cartoon Network is more strict, allowing them to only be 30 seconds.

 

[97SaturnSL1]

THE first Season 1 openeing (who doesnt), Johto 1, Pokemon Advance, and the first BW (all English versions). the others are not my favorites

 

[Team Gaara]

I prefer 4kids's openings. At least they were longer than 30 seconds and not all about friendship. For TPCI, I only really liked the DP Opening and the BW Opening.

While I like the TPCi openings better, I do wish they were longer. But we should remember that the openings were allowed to be longer on Kids' WB while Cartoon Network is more strict, allowing them to only be 30 seconds.

That makes a lot of sense. I've been noticing older shows having their openings shortened.

Though even so, even 4kids's shortest opening was better, in my opinion.

 

[CrackFox]

I'd say 4kids although the only good thing about PUSA was their catchy themes. Still, 4kids has the edge slightly.

 

[charizardmaster125]

My natural instinct would be to say 4Kid's because I mainly grew up with their songs and I still enjoy listening to them and Advanced Battle will always be number 1 in my list. The main nitpick with TPCi is of course the 30 Second limit that Cartoon Network have burdened them with and its only a select number of themes that get the "extended treatment" when the movies come around which personally is a shame because that seems to be the only time where David Woolfert and John Leoffler get to show some form of creativity in their writing. I think the only TV Cut that I like is Sinnoh League Victors because its currently the longest at 35 Seconds due to its slow and laid back nature, it also sounds complete.

The song in itself is ironic because it really sums up the writing for TPCi as a whole, yes Pokemon is about friendship and working together and I think that the franchise is already getting those types of messages across very well but I seem to think that the dub is sometimes forgetting who the anime is focusing on and that is Ash. The point that I'm trying to make is that most of the 4Kid's and Japanese theme songs are sung in the first person as if Ash is singing the song, the Japanese mainly having Ash's Japanese VA sing the songs in his voice and that I find is a nice personal touch.

While TPCi have also recently used the first person, to me its not being used in the context that I'd like it to be. Ash is striving to be a Pokemon Master and so that should be the key focus and while the Adventures in Unova theme seemed to be getting things right, I literately groaned when I heard the lyrics "Oh Oh, we belong together, it's always you and me". That let the song down and I know that John and David can do better than this, they just need to look at what makes the Japanese and 4Kids (namely David Rolfe & John Siegler) songs sound better. I know that length can be a crucial part but whoever is giving David W & John L the influence to write about friendship and sticking together stuff needs to stop.

I have been able to listen to the Japanese themes and I think they are very good and even if I can't understand the language, the music itself sounds generally good and doesn't hinder my views at all. I just hope that when the dub come to do the next theme song, they won't make it a rinse and repeat job. If they are trying to emulate how good Advanced Battle was then they are not even close and if they are trying to emulate the Japanese then they are not trying hard enough.

I know that I've been critical of TPCi and I think that its good that they are trying to change things and make the dub their own by opening the door to new VA's and singers etc but I think that the theme songs have lost their focus.

 

[wizteddy13]

I've only recently heard the japanese openings, and I like some of them, like Challenger, Ready Go and Battle Frontier quite a lot. I do like the 4kids openings best tho, my favorites being I Believe and Unbeatable...especially the movie versions, very awesome and catchy. The Tcpi openings make me think of rainbow and ponies and cotton fluff and sparkles and saccharine...blegh.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

Now, I personally prefer the original JPN to the 4Kids intros to the TPCi ones. However, like the voice acting, TPCi has improved to a tolerable level in BW, so I'm pretty neutral on their stuff since mid-2011, but pre-2011 TPCi was pretty much my worst nightmare for the dub come alive. I'm not particularly fond of their intros, but at least it's not "POKE-MON...PO-KE-MON! S'all about the chall-a-nGEs it's a brand new game and a brand new woooruuudurld....!" = -_-

TPCi's intros lack substance, variety, and more importantly enthusiasm, along with the 30-45 second issue (but that's CN's fault). Honestly, I do think the voice acting from them is now better than the way they still do the intros (on both accounts, I definitely prefer 4Kids without a second thought, but that's another story). They don't even try to come up with anything special most of the time.

Galactic Battles and Adventures in Unova are the only intros I was happy with from them so far. The rest range from tolerable-horrific, IMO.

I'd say 4kids although the only good thing about PUSA was their catchy themes. Still, 4kids has the edge slightly.

I myself always hated their themes with the exception of BF myself (until BW- I like 2/3 of them), but I think they had some good insert songs like, "The Ultimate Challenge!" in DP. I prefer 4Kids overall for the dubbed version though.

In short, my order for the intros goes: Original JPN > 4Kids > TPCi

 

[Kb77]

Well i only heard Original opennings of banned episodes. So, i can't really say much
But from those that i watched, (translated) Lyrics didn't make much sense to me, It's the same with many dub themes too.
The only openings i could tolerate are First season's openning (Gotta catch'em all), OI theme, Johto journeys, Battle frontier and First season of Black & White. With Johto, OI, BF being my top 3 favorite. But i believe First dub openning was the most memorable.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

Definitely, the worst 4kids theme > best PUSA theme.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I really miss David Rolfe, speaking of that.

That man was a truly amazing singer. Best the dub's ever had, even better than Jason Paige or the Johto Group.

I do like Erin Bowman, though. That's about it, though.

 

[Trainer Lisa]

David Rolfe for the win! I love his songs!

 

[Utsune]

Mezase Pokemon Master ftw...!!!
Though I enjoy all kinds of music English and Japanese alike, the first JP OP particularly stands out, maybe it's because I love funk, and it was part of my childhood after all. In terms of movies, I definitely prefer the Japanese theme songs.
And then there is David Rolfe's Born to be a Winner everyone's talking about... which includes putting everything epic together in the OP animation.
Frankly I really like the current BW English OP too...