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What if Pokemon was dubbed by FUNimation instead of 4Kids?

MizuTaipu

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If Pokemon was dubbed by FUNimation, or some other dubbing company, do you think the show would have been popular as is was in the late 90's when it debuted? Would it influence Japan to make more seasons? Discuss!
 
I'm not quite sure. FUNimation's much better now than it was in the 90s, so if we're talking about current FUNi dubbing Pokemon, we'd at least get less censoring and would've had a more accurate script. And possibly, more Japanese music and less cuts of stuff like that. TPCi's a step up from 4Kids, but they're still disappointing with no Japanese tracks on DVDs, etc.

Pokemon doesn't suffer as much as Yugioh does, due to it being really more kiddier, so it can get by the way it does as of now, though.
 
Who the F*ck is FUNimation?!

It's hard to say. The original series would probably be more faithful to the japanese episodes to say the least.
 
Who the F*ck is FUNimation?!

It's hard to say. The original series would probably be more faithful to the japanese episodes to say the least.

Definitely. Just look at the uncut dub of Yugioh that was joint produced by 4Kids and FUNimation. 4Kids can do a competent dub, they just gave it up <__>

If FUNimation or another dubbing company had gotten rights to Pokemon, I know there'd be less changed regarding the Anime.

Such as the awesome Openings and such :C
 
Those openings would've taken years to get released over here, especially considering how long Funi has dragged their feet with an uncut DragonBallZ dub.

I would think the more bizarre edits wouldn't be as prominent, but honestly it wouldn't seem to different than what 4kids gave us, especially as Funimation in the 90s was just as prone to westernizing shows as 4kids was.
 
Those openings would've taken years to get released over here, especially considering how long Funi has dragged their feet with an uncut DragonBallZ dub.

I would think the more bizarre edits wouldn't be as prominent, but honestly it wouldn't seem to different than what 4kids gave us, especially as Funimation in the 90s was just as prone to westernizing shows as 4kids was.

That was mostly due to Saban being their boss at the time. And since they started with Z, they couldn't really change that.

They did Dragon Ball on it's own and it was much better than how Z started off here. And it had the original opening and ending.
 
It would be worse than 4Kids.

90's FUNi was horrible. They'd replace all the music, more ridiculous script changes... Did you know that back then FUNimation did not have a decent translator? That's why they made up B.S.'d lines and such so much back then; to compensate for what lines they didn't get.

4Kids made Pokemon VERY marketable with their dub. I hate 4Kids, but when Pokemon first came out they had the right idea. As a little kid I didn't give a damn about voices, music, or script, but the entertainment the show provided. Rather than FUNimation, I'd have ADV dub the series if 4Kids couldn't do it seeing how ADV usually dubbed children's anime in the 90s and dubbed them good too, like Flint the Time Detective, Shinzo(IIRC), and the Sonic the Hedgehog movie/OVA.
 
It would be worse than 4Kids.

90's FUNi was horrible. They'd replace all the music, more ridiculous script changes... Did you know that back then FUNimation did not have a decent translator? That's why they made up B.S.'d lines and such so much back then; to compensate for what lines they didn't get.

4Kids made Pokemon VERY marketable with their dub. I hate 4Kids, but when Pokemon first came out they had the right idea. As a little kid I didn't give a damn about voices, music, or script, but the entertainment the show provided. Rather than FUNimation, I'd have ADV dub the series if 4Kids couldn't do it seeing how ADV usually dubbed children's anime in the 90s and dubbed them good too, like Flint the Time Detective, Shinzo(IIRC), and the Sonic the Hedgehog movie/OVA.

Dragon Ball (2000) Never had any music replaced and it was a much better dub than what they had with Dragon Ball Z at the time. Not to mention that they had to take over from Ocean in the middle of the Freeza Arc. They sorta had to keep with the tone set up in the beginning of the show to keep it going.

It did partly have to do with Saban, but I also think another part of it was that Dragon Ball Z was their very first license, and the company had wanted it to be successful here in the US in the 90s. I can understand that, but they've shown that they can do better than that and I think that the original poster used Funimation based on their recent Anime releases, which are much better than what the original Z dub was. While we are talking about 90s Funimation, I think that we should use the Dragon Ball (2000) Dub as the model for this Pokemon discussion, because I could see them doing that, due to there being less violence and stuff needing to be cut out like DB did.

Sorry for all the editing, I went back and refreshed myself with the history of the company. I sounded like a total dumbass before correcting myself.

If I don't make sense, ignore me. I'm sorta tired and all that. I still think that 90s Funimation is better than 4Kids, though. Even though both weren't really good at the time.
 
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They do have more actors than just the DBZ cast though.

Their other dubs have some radically different cast members that have never been on DB. Only sometimes do we have a few returning DBZ actors in their other ones.

Chris and Vic are pretty popular there though, so they might be a few recurring roles if they had dubbed Pokemon

...Oh god, what if Chris was the voice of a Pokemon?

*imagines tons of Vegeta jokes*

And TPCi would probably still own it though
 
They do have more actors than just the DBZ cast though.

At the time, they didn't. And those actors were just pulled off the street because they were cheap.

A Funimation dub would've been absolutely terrible. They were an absolute joke of a company back then. You could expect a completely new techno soundtrack, largely rewritten dialogue filled with bad joke, and random cheap actors pulled off the street to play the characters because that's cheaper than casting proper actors...

Yeah, you got it pretty good with 4Kids. Back when the Dragonball dub was starting, people were fantasizing about how much better that dub would've been if 4Kids had done it.

That was mostly due to Saban being their boss at the time.

Saban's bossing was the reason why a lot of stuff had to be censored out, yes. That's the least of the problems with their Dragonball dub.

Dragon Ball (2000) Never had any music replaced and it was a much better dub than what they had with Dragon Ball Z at the time. Not to mention that they had to take over from Ocean in the middle of the Freeza Arc. They sorta had to keep with the tone set up in the beginning of the show to keep it going.

The Ocean Group were hired by Funi to do the acting. They were not responsible for the dub's terribleness, that was in Funi's hands then too.

I think that we should use the Dragon Ball (2000) Dub as the model for this Pokemon discussion

That makes no sense. It didn't exist at the time.
 
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Yeah, you got it pretty good with 4Kids. Back when the Dragonball dub was starting, people were fantasizing about how much better that dub would've been if 4Kids had done it.

And it goes to show you how much FUNI improved at their dub, both them and their actors, when watching the Kai dub.
 
And it goes to show you how much FUNI improved at their dub, both them and their actors, when watching the Kai dub.

Even further back like I said (2000 or so) And watch the Dragon Ball dub. Not Z or GT, just Dragon Ball. It's a huge improvement over the original Z one, especially at that time.

And still, why the hell would they replace the Pokemon music with Techno? There's no reason for that.
 
And still, why the hell would they replace the Pokemon music with Techno? There's no reason for that.

Because techno is cool!! and awesome!! and hip with the kids!!, and 1998 Funi liked to make stupid decisions like that.
 
Yeah, you got it pretty good with 4Kids. Back when the Dragonball dub was starting, people were fantasizing about how much better that dub would've been if 4Kids had done it.

Well on the bright side I doubt FUNI would make shipping songs and add Misty comments in when they weren't in the original.
 
And the thing about 90's FUNi was that their VAs had REAL talent, but FUNimation couldn't direct for shit. Pioneer took those same VAs from Saban's dub sans Goku(they found him a better VA - Peter Kelamis, THE DEFINITIVE English Son Goku) and made the dub for the first three DBZ movies BRILLIANT(Movie 2 has to be my favorite English dubbed movie ever). That just goes to show you how much FUNimation sucked back then; when another company dubs your series with the same VAs but different directing and have the product be a work of art. Trust me, 90's Funimation would NOT make the Pokemon dub great.
 
The current FUNimation however would do a good Pokemon dub.

What bugs me most about the dub is they remove the Japanese music. It really is something when you realize how much more exciting watching an ep in Japanese is, and you realize that's mostly just cause of the music.
 
I happen to like Funimation, especially now. I think they'd do a great dub.
 
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