The 4Kids lineup is one of the earliest sources for catching anime in the West. This Saturday morning cartoon block gave kids around the US a chance to check out shows both made in their country and out whether they knew it or not. One thing they probably also didn't know was how much 4Kids was doing at the time for anime as a whole.
The 4Kids station did a lot and in doing so impact anime for generations to come. In this list, these impacts will be looked at whether they were for the better or worse.
10 RUINED CERTAIN ANIME
One of the reasons that 4Kids is most criticized by anime fans that grew up with it is the fact that they ruined certain anime with their localization rules. 4Kids was a channel aimed towards the children's demographic. This proved to be quite the issue because many anime contain acts of violence, drinking, and smoking which wouldn't slide.
This lead to shows being heavily edited and in turn, ruined for this growing audience. That's why the channel is blamed for things such as One Piece's current status in the West while its insanely popular everywhere else.
9 CONFUSED YOUNG ANIME FANS EVERYWHERE
Jumping right off of the last point, 4Kids not only ruined certain anime but it also ruined the brains of young anime fans everywhere. Their localizations sometimes came with rewriting and replacing episodes which meant changing the airing order when it came to certain series to fit their narratives more.
This means that many viewers would end up confused as one episode would end in one spot and pick up somewhere else. Once grown up many look back to these old shows and find they witnessed something completely different.
8 INTRODUCED VIEWERS TO ANIME
While the localization of these anime from 4Kids proved to be a pretty bad time there were good things that came from it as well. In fact, despite maybe not knowing about the medium at the time and just seeing these shows as more cartoons, many viewers were first introduced to anime through the 4Kids block.
Thus, putting this flawed station up there with Toonami as one of the sources that truly birthed a new generation that made anime the cool thing to be interested in.
7 GAVE NICHE ANIME AN AUDIENCE
Another good thing that 4Kids brought over was the licensing of very niche anime that the West may not have been introduced to otherwise. These niche shows include but are not limited to are: Bomberman Jetters, Dinosaur King, F-Zero: GP Legend, Kirby Right Back at Ya!, Magical DoReMi, Tokyo Mew Mew/Mew Mew Power, and Kinnikuman Nisei/Ultimate Muscle.
Without 4Kids these great shows may have never had a chance with this foreign audience so they really should be given props for even taking the chance to air them.
6 GAVE ANIME FANS A FEAR OF CENSORSHIP
Although they've been shown to do some good, everything that comes from 4Kids isn't all sunshine and rainbows. In fact, there is an argument for this children's cartoon block doing more bad for the anime audience than good.
The censorship that these shows had to go through largely ruined multiple shows due to them having plotlines and awesome action removed. One can look to the infamous One Piece changes for examples of this tainting. But One Piece certainly isn't the only anime that was affected by this censorship.
5 INTRODUCED A NEW AGE OF ANIME MEMES
The censorship, however, did birth something great when it comes to the current fanbase of anime. A new age of memes that currently have spread far and wide on the internet was born due to the absurdity of the censorship and blatant Americanization of anime that made appearances on the 4Kids block.
These memes go from hilarious to just plain sad due to them being based on actual decisions that are constantly mocked by them. One look at these memes can show how 4Kids would edit just about any anime one can think of.
4 INTRODUCED VIEWERS TO "AMERICANIZATION"
As said in the last entry, 4Kids was very heavy on Americanizing the localized anime that it licensed. These shows weren't simply censored and overedited but they were truly localized in the worst sense of the word. Things like Japanese foods and anything else relating to their culture was heavily edited out.
This means that one of the main draws of anime was removed which means bad news for those that are into anime for more than just the fun stories.
3 HELPED MAKE YU-GI-OH! A THING IN THE WEST
Before 4Kids, Yu-Gi-Oh! wasn't even a thing in the West. 4Kids was the sole company responsible for licensing, localizing, and dubbing this now iconic shonen series. This means that 4Kids is to thank for an entire culture that is currently flourishing with a great scene in the States to this day.
Not only was 4Kids the original home for the original Yu-Gi-Oh! but the original home for many of its sequels that came in the following years as well.
2 MADE ANIME MORE MARKETABLE
4Kids not only introduced a new era of children to anime but introduced companies to something new and profitable to market as well. While anime was already a thing in the States, 4Kids made it a new type of thing with one of the main things behind it being the commercialization of these children's anime.
This is one of the reasons that the channel was so huge on making these shows more for children. Who else would go around buying these toys right?
1 SHOWED FOLLOWING LOCALIZATION COMPANIES WHAT NOT TO DO
While 4Kids did do some good by localizing certain shows it was highly evident that they went about it the wrong way due to the wants of the heads of the company. This has served as a blueprint for years to come for other companies to learn exactly what not to do when dubbing and localizing an anime.
Following the end of 4Kids, anime localization has become more normalized than ever with even the most casual viewers knowing exactly what this medium is. The mistakes of this company definitely have played a hand in this newfound success.