TCPI doesn't get enough credit for preserving the original 4 kids dub

[Galactic_V]

I remember that they kept referring to rice balls as sandwiches in Brock's return in AG

Oh yeah I do remember watching this episode on CN the day it premiered and laughing at Takeshi screaming: "MY SANDWITCHES!". I kept thinking all the time "Come on, those aren't sandwitches" xD

It is a bit surprising to me that TPCI hasn't tried to use the purple Jynx edits from the Japanese version to include those episodes in the dub. I assume that would be relatively easy to do when they don't have to recolor Jynx themselves and they wouldn't have to redub those episodes either. I suspect that it's just too much work for them to consider doing for what are basically filler episodes.

They probably just don't have those edited Rougela episodes. I mean, from all the streaming services that includes Pokemon in Japan, a bunch of them still use the unedited ones. Taking this inconsistency in consideration, I wouldn't doubt Japan hasn't provided the West with the new version of those episodes.

 

[Dogasu]

Not saying it never happened in 4Kids!

You're missing my point. A single instance of the dubbers neglecting to edit a piece of Japanese text (whether that's 4Kids with the fire extinguisher or TPCi with the Dr. Ookido segment) does not reflect the companies' overall policies toward on-screen text.

4Kids was always rather inconsistent with the Japanese texts for their dubs. Sometimes they erased it completely, sometimes they translated it and sometimes they didn't do anything with it. It was really weird.

There were some patterns to their madness, actually. If it was a sign from early Kanto (like, first ten episodes early) than it usually got translated, but the further 4Kids got into the season they were like "hey, this is actually a lot more work than we had counted on, let's just erase the text and call it a day." By Season 2 onwards the overwhelming majority of the text edits they did was just them erasing stuff.

A common excuse for it was the standards from Kids' WB/CW, which I never thought was believable considering how inconsistent they were with their edits.

Yeah, that "the network made us do it!" explanation was always bullshit. There's this commonly repeated idea that Kids' WB! had this problem with their shows having on-screen text and that that's the reason the shows 4Kids dubbed for the network (Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!) were all textless but then literally all the non-4Kids shows on the network had no problems showing text so that rule obviously didn't exist.

They probably just don't have those edited Rougela episodes. I mean, from all the streaming services that includes Pokemon in Japan, a bunch of them still use the unedited ones.

What do you mean "a bunch"? The only one I know of that still uses the old version is Hulu; both Netflix and Amazon Prime switched over to using the purple versions years ago.

I wouldn't doubt Japan hasn't provided the West with the new version of those episodes.

I think it's more likely that TPCi just never bothered to ask Japan for them.

 

[PaperSplash]

There were some patterns to their madness, actually. If it was a sign from early Kanto (like, first ten episodes early) than it usually got translated, but the further 4Kids got into the season they were like "hey, this is actually a lot more work than we had counted on, let's just erase the text and call it a day." By Season 2 onwards the overwhelming majority of the text edits they did was just them erasing stuff.

Well, I know that at least some of 4Kids' other dubs (Kirby and Sonic X) erased text across the board regardless if it was in plain English or not, although apparently some of the edits were done on Japan's side in Sonic's case. I won't rule out laziness as a potential factor, but oftentimes, like I said, the dubbers seemed to do more work than is actually necessary. So I think another factor was the misguided idea that (from 4Kids' point of view) "non-English countries will react to English text the same way we react to Japanese text". Nothing could be farther from the actual truth, of course, but perhaps 4Kids thought they were doing foreign dubbers who use their work as a basis a favor. Which is why I think you sometimes see Japanese text replaced by a picture or logo as they believed it was more "universal".

 

[snowmint]

Well, I know that at least some of 4Kids' other dubs (Kirby and Sonic X) erased text across the board regardless if it was in plain English or not, although apparently some of the edits were done on Japan's side in Sonic's case. I won't rule out laziness as a potential factor, but oftentimes, like I said, the dubbers seemed to do more work than is actually necessary. So I think another factor was the misguided idea that (from 4Kids' point of view) "non-English countries will react to English text the same way we react to Japanese text". Nothing could be farther from the actual truth, of course, but perhaps 4Kids thought they were doing foreign dubbers who use their work as a basis a favor. Which is why I think you sometimes see Japanese text replaced by a picture or logo as they believed it was more "universal".

It does seem like 4kids asked Japan for shows to have text subtitles removed like in the Kirby fitness episode that had karaoke Jpn text removed from fitness monsters sing along on screen and same for Ultraman Tiga having explanation Jon text for monsters and locations removed cleanly too.

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

Well, I know that at least some of 4Kids' other dubs (Kirby and Sonic X) erased text across the board regardless if it was in plain English or not, although apparently some of the edits were done on Japan's side in Sonic's case. I won't rule out laziness as a potential factor, but oftentimes, like I said, the dubbers seemed to do more work than is actually necessary. So I think another factor was the misguided idea that (from 4Kids' point of view) "non-English countries will react to English text the same way we react to Japanese text". Nothing could be farther from the actual truth, of course, but perhaps 4Kids thought they were doing foreign dubbers who use their work as a basis a favor. Which is why I think you sometimes see Japanese text replaced by a picture or logo as they believed it was more "universal".

Some of the Sonic X edits were indeed done by TMS for international releases. But this whole issue with on-screen text getting edited is rather silly. A lot of anime producers will often send textless versions of their shows to potential licensors. To blame 4Kids for “erasing” it is ridiculous, as it’s just the way it was sent to them.

Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the text on signs, as those edits are clearly the dubbers’ doing.

 

[POKEMONMASTER260]

I think it's more likely that TPCi just never bothered to ask Japan for them.

Maybe they will if the speculation of a Hisuian Jynx ends up being true loljk.

 

[PaperSplash]

Some of the Sonic X edits were indeed done by TMS for international releases. But this whole issue with on-screen text getting edited is rather silly. A lot of anime producers will often send textless versions of their shows to potential licensors. To blame 4Kids for “erasing” it is ridiculous, as it’s just the way it was sent to them.

Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the text on signs, as those edits are clearly the dubbers’ doing.

Yeah, that's about what I thought the situation was. I personally don't see that as a big deal.

The dubbers going the extra mile to erase text on signs, even when it's already in English feels unnecessary though.