Yu-gi-oh in the states- a reason why 4kids insults anime
Written: Sep 30 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Well, the Japanese version is good.
Cons: Worst.Dub.Ever
The Bottom Line: This anime was once good in Japan. Now that it is dubbed, I recognize why 4kids doesn't deserve to dub anime.
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| dawnyoshi's Full Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! |
Please note- since this is my first review on televised anime, I will be sticking with a simple format. The show is graded not only on plot and entertainment, but is also graded this way based on a comparison between the dub and the original uncut version.
REVIEW CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS! YOU ARE WARNED!
Yu-gi-oh has become a long running hit in Japan. The manga (comic) first started up around 1996 in the popular Shonen Jump magazine that is making its way to the states. The manga became a huge success, and spawned the interest of an anime after going through dice games, card games, and a load of marketing gigs with the idea. The first anime was not much of a success due its small budget keeping the visual quality at a low. In 2000 however, a new version of the anime was released, much higher of quality based on the card game Duel Monsters, which became the theme to the manga not too long after its release. The anime was slightly toned down compared to the manga, but was still very successful and very well done. Then, we hear news of Yu-Gi-Oh coming to America. While I would normally support this, the company in control of production and dubbing was 4kids Entertainment, infamous supporters of the “should be” dead Pokemon and the irritating creation Cubix: Robots for Everyone. An anime with suggestive themes being dubbed by the Pokemon dubbers is NOT a good sign. Now that the anime has been out for a year, it is safe to say that my predictions are right. However, it is best I give you a summary of the anime before I begin the main critiquing.
Yu-Gi-Oh stars a short freshman by the name of Yugi Motou. The kid is very smart and loves mind games such as puzzles and role-playing, which makes him a target for bullies at his school. One in particular likes to harass Yugi for kicks, the bully having the name of Jounouchi Katsuya (Joey Wheeler in English). Honda (Tristan) is a prideful student body president and Anzu (Tea) is one of Yugi’s only friends. Yugi has been working on completing an ancient Egyptian puzzle known as the Millennium Puzzle, which is said to give the one who completes the puzzle dark powers. While Yugi was GOING to complete the puzzle, Jounouchi took a piece away and tossed it in a small city stream. However, when a senior “Policeman” beat the living crap out of Jounouchi and Honda in a way to make Yugi look like he hired the big bully (and force him to pay a guardian fee o_O), Yugi stood up for his bullies, thus letting Jounouchi and Honda see a newer braver form of the little target. This brought a warm feeling of friendship into Jounouchi, who gave the last piece back to Yugi, when he was beaten into the wall by this senior student. When his friends were in need, Yugi completed the puzzle, which bestowed a much darker version of himself into his soul. This darker Yugi was not only taller, but played games with people called “Games of Darkness”. The games are sick and twisted, while the cheaters of the game are severely punished.
If I continue to on, the plot will be spoiled. From this moment I am forced to use the English names of Yugi and his friends to avoid more confusion. It’s only fitting since most of the story I described doesn’t even exist anymore…
Storyline
One can describe the story of Yu-gi-oh as action packed, dramatic, sad, funny, but most of all very unique. The story is actually very addicting. However, a recipe is made to bring Yu-gi-oh to the states.
Take 1 part original manga
Makes slight changes to anime for a broader audience
Import fresh anime to United States
Add one part Political Correct and one part fundamentalist
Add one 4kids Productions with scissors and paint can in hand
Stir, mix well, and you get Yu-Gi-Oh and its story in America. Yes, it is pretty much how I described it. The story has been shot. Let me explain.
While the Yu-gi-oh series is based on the original low budget episodes and the manga, the English version assumes too much. People will not understand what happened before the Kaiba (main rival) vs. Yugi episode 1. On top of that, each episode dubbed gets increasingly worse as the story is chopped up day by day. While the senior bully I described in my long summary was punished by the Games of Darkness in the Japanese version, the dub is magically “kid-ified” stating that big evil bully was expelled from school. They also make Joey state that he knows that Yugi has a dark side and magical powers in his Millennium Puzzle. Since most of you would know this if you have watched Yu-gi-oh’s first episode, it’s safe to say that was spoiled. Yugi’s friends were not supposed to know about the dark Yugi (except for Tea who discovers it early) until episode 37 (episode 35 in English). On the topic of the English series being behind, two episodes were horrifically modified to shorten the duels. This was a mistake since it was not only poorly done and had Yugi introduce some of his wondrous cards for the first time, but they replaced the edits with clips of their cuts and theme songs sung by overpaid Pop boys. A tragedy to the show indeed. In general, the story has not stayed the same, and (from the episodes I have seen in Japanese season 2) will not stay the same. Try editing the thought of dueling with stakes too high. I do not think 4kids will allow someone to bet that “if they lose, a saw blade will cut their legs off”. Let’s move on.
General Appearance
The graphics in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime is very well done. The character designs are to drool over, and some of the facial expressions are a new touch to anime design. Thankfully not many of the graphics were changed in the show, but that’s a given. The sound and music on the other hand was changed. The Japanese version had very nice sound effects for attacks. The monsters also sounded like monsters, while the human fighters in the card game are very mystical. The human sounds are not even existent in the dub, and I have no clue why. The sound effects were nothing offensive, yet they insisted on replacing them. The music in Japanese was also well done. The theme songs were very catchy pop and hard rock beats. The in-show music was either techno, pop, or orchestra, another plus. The dub completely replaces every song and theme. Good musical compositions are replaced by bad techno beats. The well written theme songs have now become a Back Street Boys paradise. Every musical aspect was changed for the worst.
Dubbing Quality
If you thought I was on rant mode before, you were right. This on the other hand is my super rant mode. There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING good I can say about this dub with the exception of about 2 things. The voices are very grating to the ears at times. Joey now sounds like a Bronx reject. Mai Valentine sounds like an even more irritating yuppie. Pegasus laughs when he shouldn’t, and Kaiba sounds like an evil character when he’s only misunderstood. One of the things I appreciated was that some voices were good. I personally liked Tea and Mokuba’s voices. On the topic of cuts and censors, they are all completely pointless. The cuts made are mostly for time, but the censors are pitiful. Every gun that you see becomes a fist of a finger. This insists that guards are going to threaten you with their massive evil finger pointing! This alone if one of the most irritating things I have seen. There are also have card censors blotting out hexagrams, pentagrams, and other potentially lawsuit starting things. Just about every name is changed in this game either to sound American, to be politically correct, or to sound like they are keeping a Japanese name. Monsters like Black Magician are now called Dark Magician. Elven Swordsman is Celtic Guardian. Holy elf is mystical elf. Likewise this continues for 90% of the monsters. One of the worst is the monster Dragon Egger, which is now called Ryu-Ran for some reason. Unfortunately, the chaos sees no sign of ending. The next season, names are changed even worse. They will have to deal with deadly situations. Direct damage is now part of the game, meaning monsters can attack the players instead of waiting. There’s no possible way of keeping this in tact. Your first sign of another bad season is the character Malik Ishtar. He is the leading antagonist of season 2 and 3 and is an Egyptian. Although I have heard it is confirmed, it may be a rumor. However, his scheduled name in the dub is…get this, TERRANCE. I think I’ll leave it at that.
The overall talking and ranting
While the Japanese anime is quite good, although lacking in the manga to anime conversion, the dub frankly just sucks. It ranks about as low as Saban’s dub of Dragon Ball Z. Avoid this dub at all costs! O_O
Storyline- 4
General Appearance- 2
Dubbing Quality- 0
Overall- 2
THIS DUB=BAD!
Recommended:
No
Type of Program: Cartoon or Animated
Program Quality: Turn the TV off
Best Suited For: Kids to Teens
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Epinions.com ID:
dawnyoshi
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Member: Mike Rosenberg
Location: California
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Movies, games, rants and raves. That's about what you can expect from me.
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