Was the people’s hatred towards 4kids really justified?

[snowmint]

I'm positive that they never mentioned Kanto during the original series's dub. I don't recall it coming up during the original series at least. They did finally call it Kanto during the Battle Frontier though.

Did the original version not mention Kanto at all in OS or was that 4kids deliberately removing that word?

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

I'm positive that they never mentioned Kanto during the original series's dub. I don't recall it coming up during the original series at least. They did finally call it Kanto during the Battle Frontier though.

Yeah, ironically 4Kids did call it Kanto in the few Battle Frontier episodes in AG's dub ironically near the end (I remember Scott mentioned it, in Season 8), before TPCi took over.
I also don't recall it being mentioned in the OS Anime dub, but I could be wrong, I'd have to check: they did mention Johto, as well.

@snowmint I think Hidden Mew is right here, but I'd need to double check to be sure. I don't think this was the typical 4Kids "must hide the Japanese origin to not scare American kids" thing, though, but I'm not certain of it.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Did the original version not mention Kanto at all in OS or was that 4kids deliberately removing that word?

I'm not sure. I don't remember Kanto's removal being mentioned whenever discussing the Japanese version of the original series.

Yeah, ironically 4Kids did call it Kanto in the few Battle Frontier episodes in AG's dub ironically near the end (I remember Scott mentioned it, in Season 8), before TPCi took over.
I also don't recall it being mentioned in the OS Anime dub, but I could be wrong, I'd have to check: they did mention Johto, as well.

@snowmint I think Hidden Mew is right here, but I'd need to double check to be sure. I don't think this was the typical 4Kids "must hide the Japanese origin to not scare American kids" thing, though, but I'm not certain of it.

I also remember May saying that Drew had a genuine Kanto Contest ribbon, so I'm sure it came up a few times during their last stretch of the Advanced Battle season. Considering that they named seasons after Johto, it would be weird if they didn't mention Johto in the dub itself. I'm pretty sure that they only started using region names with Johto though.

 

[SushiBurrito]

Dumb question but did the 4kids dub ever say the word Kanto in the OS series dub at all or anytime during their tenure?

They definitely didn't in the Indigo League portion and I don't think they ever did in Johto.

But to be fair Ninteno of America also removed any mention of Kanto in the gen 1 games so it's possible 4kids was never made aware it was known as the Kanto region until later.

I think the first time the term Kanto was used in English was the Gold/Silver game but it may have taken until the Firered/Leaf Green games

Though honestly 4kids really wanted you to believe the series was set in America or something anyways.

 

[Hidden Mew]

They definitely didn't in the Indigo League portion and I don't think they ever did in Johto.

But to be fair Ninteno of America also removed any mention of Kanto in the gen 1 games so it's possible 4kids was never made aware it was known as the Kanto region until later.

I think the first time the term Kanto was used in English was the Gold/Silver game but it may have taken until the Firered/Leaf Green games

Though honestly 4kids really wanted you to believe the series was set in America or something anyways.

Pokemon Silver was my first Pokemon game and I definitely remember them mentioning Kanto when you arrive there in Gold/Silver. I never noticed that Kanto wasn't mentioned in the original first generation games. Aside from Yu-Gi-Oh! DM, I don't know if 4Kids had their dubs take place in America. Doing it once is already one times too many and it still comes off as questionable at best, xenophobic at worst, but I don't recall if that was something they did that often.