I usually open a paragraph with an example or allusion to something else. This time, though, if I really said what the overall theme  of this opinion is, you’d think of me as cheesy.
 Oh well. I’ll say it anyway. I’m cheesy.
 Everyone makes mistakes. Dubbers (duh) and even anime companies like Toei (don’t flame me because it’s true!) make mistakes. I will list exactly which mistakes they commit, and as a special bonus, tell you two mistakes that dubber should NEVER make, in any circumstances. You can skip that part if you like. I can’t force you to read the opinions; I only write them.  
 Dubbers, like 4Kids, are not doing well. They make very stupid, but common, mistakes. Here they are:
 1. Toning down an adult anime for kids- It’s happened before. Sailor Moon and Yugioh are fine examples. Both had nudity (though not anatomically correct), cursing and violence. What did 4Kids, DiC, and Cloverway do? They cut out most of the violence, eliminate any cursing, and censor and nudity (Cloverway censored the least in my opinion [heck, they even tried to keep someone nude, but Cartoon Network wouldn’t allow it]), which  meant major cuts and made fans howl with rage.
 2. Changing random things that prove to be essential to the plot (For no reason to change it at all!)- Like the above, it’s happened so many times that fans can hardly keep count. For example, in Yugioh we don’t learn what Yami no Yuugi’s real name is until the final arc. But 4Kids, who must’ve been eating Pixy Stix while looking over the episodes, went and gave him the name Yami. Ugh. Not only does this throw things out of balance, but they also make it appear that it really is his name. Yami means dark. A pharaoh named Dark. Not very bright.
 Same thing’s happened with Tokyo Mew Mew (Or Mew Mew Power as it’s now known). Pudding Frog (Mew Pudding, Kiki Benjamin in MMP), who actually has parents, is said to live in a shelter in her first appearance. (I’m not kidding. Check the website, Mew Mew Power Uncensored.) But there’s an episode where the audience meets her parents... Very lacking in thought and preparation. They must be doing one episode at a time without looking ahead.
 3. Giving voice-actors only a paragraph about their characters- Yes, 4Kids does this. So do other bad-dubbing anime companies, apparently. Why is this bad? Well, most of the time a paragraph can’t sum up a character, especially if they are enemies in the show at first, then slowly become good. If anything, the voice actors should see the episode/movie(s), analyze the characters, and figure out who can portray them and how. I haven’t seen the original Spirited Away, but getting the girl who played Lilo in Lilo and Stitch  to act as Chihiro was a good choice. She showed through her voice how Chihiro changes from a spoiled, scared brat to a polite, likable girl that will grow up to be a good character.
 4. Changing the original names- mispronunciations are better than complete changes. For those who say that if Honda had retained his original name in Yugioh, then that would’ve meant copyright issues with the car company of the same name. As JD and Kevin would say, pfft. Honda is a car company in Japan, so there should’ve been conflict when the manga and anime first appeared. But there wasn’t. Neither should there  be conflict in the US, therefore.
 Changing names also changes some meanings. Xiao-Lang (Japanese Romanization is Syaoran, Shaoran, or Shaolan) means “Little Wolf”. Xiao-Lang is a character in the anime Card Captor Sakura who falls in love with the same guy that the title character likes to. Then he realizes that it’s not because he’s gay; it’s because the guy (Yukito Tsukishiro/Yue) draws power from the moon, and that attracts Xiao-Lang. It makes sense if you know that, but in the Nelvana American dub (in which is name is changed to Li Showron) it doesn’t matter since they can’t have a boy liking a guy anyways.
 5. Replacing the background music- This mistake doesn’t make any sense, but dubbers do it. DiC did a fairly decent job with making their own background music in dubbing Sailor Moon, but other dubbers have stunk at it. Even the DiC background music is pop fodder compared to the original. Dubbers could save money by not replacing it at all and leaving it as it is. But there are probably people from 4Kids who are reading this and thinking, “Why listen to her? She’s just one kid on the Internet who likes anime.”
 6. Censoring skirt flare-ups- You see it in comic strips daily. How come you can’t do it on air? It’s not like the underwear is real or anything. It happens, even in real life. Deal with it. (This might be a bad mistake to point out as censors might consider flare-ups innappropriate, but in my opinion, nudity is worse than underwear, even animated.)
 7. Eliminating any words in either kana (katakana or hirogana) or English- 4Kids all over. Kana, I can understand since it’s Japanese, but English? Wow, 4Kids, you’re only contributing to dumbing down Americans! Maybe that’s why you make all of these mistakes! 
 8. Replacing cultural jokes- How many anime fans know the joke that if you talk about a person behind their back, that person will sneeze? Lots, probably. It translates into English, because it’s kind of explained when the person sneezes. 4Kids was pretty stupid when they had a chance to be funny, but didn’t take it. (Explanatory note: In one episode of Yugioh, Anzu [Tea in America] and Yugi were sort of talking behind Honda [Tristan] and Shizuka [Serenity]’s backs about their dueling skills, and they sneezed.)
  9. Dubbing a series that has been successful, but doesn’t really have substance-  Pokemon! Don’t you wish that they’d stop airing it already? (No offense to Pokemon fans.) Some good series could be translated beautifully into English (Fancy Lala) but they’re not because they don’t have as much publicity. Hayao Miyazaki’s films have been successful, but Disney gets to dub them (pretty well, I must say) because his movies have themes and messages that should be brought up in today’s society.
 
 Whew. That was only the dubber’s mistakes that happen. Here are the mistakes that they should never make:
 1. Dubbing a series’ season when that season is still airing in Japan- not very notable, you say? But if the entire season is aired, then you can watch every episode and see what you can cut out and what you must keep. Otherwise you may cut things that are essential to the plot (see “Changing random things” above).
 2. If doing a musical, keeping the songs in Japanese- sorry, but that doesn’t work out. You’d need subtitles, and many people wouldn’t get the literal translations. Pay for a translator to get through the song, figure out how to translate the meaning without confusing the audience.
         
 Only two? Small, but crucial mistakes that could ruin a series. Oka, now let’s get on to the company that makes the original anime’s mistakes. “How do they make mistakes?” you ask. I’ll show you:
 1. They let a company like 4Kids dub their anime- really, haven’t these companies been paying attention? 4Kids mangles dubs and makes them barely recognizable. You’d think that they’d learn from this mistake. Stay away from 4Kids! Even their name is ominous to all teenage and adult animes. Disney is a better choice because they’ve done well with Miyazaki’s films (Spirited Away won an Oscar for Best Picture! Yes! Go Disney!).
 2. Not stating in the binding contract that nothing can be cut or changed in the anime- Disney and Studio Ghibli did this with Princess Mononoke, so why not do it for television shows as well? The concept has to be kept, the names have to be kept, that sort of thing. Nothing can be censored, not even the most violent thing.
 3. Not raising a stink when they find out how it’s dubbed- only Hayao Miyazaki is known to have done this when his anime movie Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. You see, this company called New World Pictures got ahold of Nausicaa and wanted to tone it down for a children’s audience (see dubbers’ mistakes #1). So they ended up renaming it Warriors of the WInd, changing names, and making a lot of cuts and censorship. Miyazaki was horrified when he had heard what had happened. Fortunately, New World’s rights to Nausicaa expired in 1995, and Disney has gotten the rights for it instead. Thank goodness.
 Only mistake that Miyazaki did here was to try to forget about it. Uh-uh. We can’t do that, Miyazaki-san. As Santeana once said, “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.” We can’t forget what New World did because that’s what 4Kids is doing right now to MMP, Yugioh, Shaman King, and One Piece. It’s what DiC and Cloverway did to Sailor Moon. We can’t let this slide in the future. How, though?
 I’m not going to tell you my idea here. I did have two paragraphs on it, but they didn’t fit. Either I can email you fans individually (provided that you respond) or I can write another opinion on it. The choice is really yours. Let me or the webmasters know what you think. Till then, matta ne!