There's a lot to be said about a name. "Pioneer" was chosen because they wanted to be pioneers at the forefront of the industry. However, it's now being replaced with "Geneon," a 2nd-rate sci-fi Star Trek/Star Wars-wannabe name that's a lame combination of "Generate revenue" and "eon = eternity." Basically, "make money for all eternity," which, I have to say, is the single most f**cking retarded name for an anime dubbing company that I've ever heard of (sorry, I just had to comment on how much the new name sucks and how much I hate it, especially since the old name was my absolute favorite for anime dubbing companies). The name "FUNimation" was chosen because, as Gen Fukunaga phrased it, "We looked for a name we could trademark, which is hard to find. Also, we did not want to take ourselves too seriously since, at the end of the day, we are handling cartoons, not curing cancer, so we came up with FUNimation." I have to admit, it was a nice choice for a name. Then there's... 4Kids.

What does 4Kids's name mean? Well- it means that everything they make is- "For Kids." Opps, I mean- "4 Kids." (lolz) It's their way of saying to advertisers, "we're a tyke-friendly group, don't worry, no parents will call and complain about dirty or naughty stuff in our shows! We're totally clean and inoffensive, and offer only wholesome entertainment for the entire family!" Unfortunately, many of their shows were already made by other people who weren't intending to market the stuff for over-zealous soccer moms and what all American companies and advertisers view as low-IQ, hyper-ADD, easily-bored kiddies. Thus, their animes wind up hacked, butchered, Americanized and have their essence taken out to "conform" to what 4Kids consider to be the "best format" for their target audience. FUNimation did the same thing- no silence for the music (Actually, this was just a "bonus feature" that came along with their replacing of the music. FUNimation originally wanted to "earn royalties for every second it's heard" and so the quality of the original music or replacement music had no bearing on their primary decision to replace it. Kind of makes you wonder why 4Kids hardly ever uses any original music...) and horribly butchered and Americanized scripts by individuals who obviously knew nothing and don't care jack about the series (cough, cough, Christopher Neel and Barry Watson).

However, this editorial isn't just about 4Kids, FUNimation or any other "colorful" dubbing studios and the work they do- it's about whether it's really such a good idea forcompanies to market and alter everything just "for kids." Think about it- the average life span for the average American is 75 and it continues to increase (and it's even higher if you're a girl). What's going to happen to all the little kiddies blindly watching the 4Kids dubbed "enhanced" versions of Yu-gi-oh! Shaman King and other animes? 10 years from now, all of those 2-11 year olds will become 12-22 year olds. And you know what? They'll all be a hell of a lot smarter and more mature then. Many of them will explore the net and learn more about their favorite anime dubs, and the companies that dub them. And many of them will still be anime fans longer after throughout their lives (don't knock the possibility, even directors Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg are anime fans, and they're pretty old dudes). And will they still be watching 4Kids shows? Most of them will move on. They'll get tired of hearing outdated slang like, "that's totally whack!" or, "Scyther is da bomb!" They'll see more intelligent, mature and well-dubbed shows like Cowboy Bebop and One Piece (well, assuming OP's dub isn't screwed over. Let's keep our fingers crossed on that one). And they'll leave 4Kids behind and buy animes from other companies that cater to their interests. And so will the next generation of kids who grew up with badly dubbed 4Kids animes. And the next generation. And the generation after that. And so on and so on.

Once fans they reach age 16 (the age when they enter the "uncoveted group, you're no longer interesting to kiddie advertisers so we don't care about you anymore." After studying FUNimation for over a year, I have yet to see ANYBODY from that company EVER, and I literally mean EVER, state that they've ever cared about catering DBZ to and making a DBZ product for anyone in or above that age group, is despite the fact that even their Funiball Z dub is already very popular with people into their late 20's and at many colleges. In fact, 12-15 is the highest level of "intended maturity" they've ever expressed in aiming their "version" of the show to, and they've only gone that high very, VERY rarely on sparse occasions) they leave 4Kid's "sphere" of desired age groups. As "The Moal" commented in regards Alfred Kahn (the CEO of 4Kids), "You know what one of the strange things is? This year's Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championships at Madison Square Garden had competitors who were no younger than fifteen (the oldest being twenty-two). Alfred R. Kahn said himself in a web conference that YGO had a great appeal to teens but also claimed that his main target age for marketing is much younger than that."

Like Alfred Kahn says, those aren't the people they're targetting. And because they're not targetting them, some of the fans may still stick with them but of the many fans who grew up with 4Kids will abandon them in droves for companies that do target them and their tastes. Hell, even FUNimation has mature animes for older audiences, like Blue Gender for instance. So fans who don't like DBZ or their other dubs might pick up something like that. But for 4Kids the older their fans get, the less money they'll hand over to 4Kids. Look at it this way- imagine that the average anime fan buys only ONE DVD per year for his entire life (and that's REALLY stretching it, since most buy a lot more than that each year). And a guy becomes a 4Kids fan in 2nd grade at the age of 7.

7-11- 5 years as a fan, 5 DVD's, $100. All of which goes to 4Kids. The kid is still loved by 4Kids as an adorable little scamp, and he happily gives them his money. All is well and there is peace in the world.

12-15- 4 years as a fan, 4 DVD's, $80. 1/2-3/4 of which goes to 4Kids. The kid is "growing up" and 4Kids anticipates he'll be "leaving the coop" at some point. They lose interest in him as their advertisers target 2-11 year olds to sell toys and, "he's just getting too old to be worth giving a shit about marketing any of our merchandise to. And if we let our animes remain remotely mature, ratings will drop and advertisers will flee." The kid is also maturing and has become more intelligent and developed a greater level of knowledge and sophistication when it comes to anime. Perhaps he's seen some Ranma, Yu Yu Hakusho, Fist of the North Star, etc. by this time. In any case, his tastes in anime have been broadened a bit.

16-18- 3 years as a fan, 3 DVD's, $60, 1/3rd of which still go to 4Kids. The "kid" is now a teenager. By now he's losing interest in 4Kids. He views their shows as childish and unappealing. The outdated slang from several years ago he heard in the latest dubbed episode bothered him greatly- "Wow, what a sick technique you just did!" ("Sick? Man, that's such OLD slang! People haven't been saying that in years. Can't they at least use NEW slang that's actually modern? They look like lame idiots when they pull this stuff out in an attempt to appear "hip" and "cool.") Also, the dubbed show/s that the teenager watched was/were lacking at least (or all) of the following.

Anything involving:

1. Blood

2. Violence

3. Religion or religious content (good or bad. They don't want to "promote" or "diss" any religion. Whether a guy's praising Jesus or reciting the Koran, any "promotion" of anything remotely religious is deemed too taboo.)

4. Nudity or anything "too revealing." (Is there an episode where female characters go to a beach? Then you can take it to the banks that some poor schmoo's had to spend hours digitally painting and cutting the whole thing.)

5. Sexual content. (that perverted joke told on the Simpsons, Friends, and/or Southpark that's mirrored here and that was also funny? It's now gone! It was altogether cut, or censored out with censorship-filler dialogue inserted instead.)

6. Alcohol, cigarettes. (something that adults do. A bit "too mature" for the people 4Kids is going after. Besides, their mommies might write complaint letters if they see this on the air waves, and 4Kids must cater to the whims of overzealous, censor-happy and overly protective parents and censorists)

All of this the "teenager" fan has seen in other animes, but it's completely lacking here or anywhere that has the 4Kids logo on it. "Man, this stuff is sooo immature! It might be good but it's all in badly dubbed, and it's all in heavily-censored formats only. I want something more interesting, exciting. This stuff was either just originally made for dumb, hyper-ADD, easily-impressed little kids who like fight scenes and explosions, or it's being heavily watered down."

19-75, 57 years, $1140. All of this money goes to other anime dubbing companies... but none of it goes to 4Kids. Because of their treatment of their animes, 4Kids completely lost this fan. Instead, the fan buys other DVD's- dual-language ones because he likes seeing some of his shows in their original versions, or uncut dubs because he's still a dubbie but he also wants to see his dubs uncut.

So you see, by marketing just "for kids," 4Kids is hurting themselves in the long run. Their current strategy automatically closes off most of the future potential market for them- and if a company wants to be successful in the longterm, then isn't that what they should focus on the most? "Well, we've got the kiddie market totally cornered," they might argue... but you know what? They don't have the rest of what is a very large and rapidly growing market covered at all. New and old anime fans don't keep getting any younger, they just keep getting older. Each year that passes, they all age. Yes, younger fans join up and take their place, but they also age one day too. And DBZ, which has been the most successful anime across the world has also been the most successful anime to be heavily butchered and Americanized for "mass-consumption" here (Just goes to show that even the worst of the dubs can't completely kill off how good a series really is.). And FUNimation has actually released most of the series uncut and even sells the original episodes on DVD! I repeat, the most succesful "Americanized" dub of all time has had uncut and dual-version releases made available to countless fans. And yet, NONE OF THIS has stopped FUNimation from posturing DBZ for kiddies. FUNimation's still got their coveted "kiddie market," and they've got their "non-kiddie market." Plus, their general reputation in the business community and among parents is still very much intact. And just look at Blue Gender- the character Marlene is seen walking around naked in the closing sequences of each episode. They've got a naked chick walking around at the end of each episode for a series they've been promoting heavily that's sold pretty well and that's been seen by lots of people, and not even THAT has made them look bad to parents and advertisers? If they can get away with that just fine with one of their series without hurting their "parents and kiddies" rep, then how much does 4Kid really have to fear?

They could just release some episodes uncut on VHS- fans pay extra for them because they have "extra stuff." And it doesn't hurt tv ratings since most fans don't care (like they didn't with DBZ) and continue to watch the series on tv for free (ie, "not worth $100's to see the dub w/out censorship"). And then there's the "hardcore" group. They've got their DVD's and are happy. (well... for Yu Yu Hakusho, at least. In DBZ they massively overcharged and cut out stuff they didn't have to, but that's a whole 'nother story) And contrary to whatever you or your overpriced consultants might say or think Mr. Kahn, NONE OF THIS DESTROYED FUNIMATION'S SELF-CREATED KIDDIE IMAGE FOR DBZ. They got to have it all ways- release "uncut" English episodes and original episodes for sale to fans, and show their heavily edited dub on tv. And lookie- no soccer mom protest outside FUNimation headquartes. And sales were very high, and the show did well.

Thus, making the original version and an uncut dub available wouldn't hurt 4Kids and their image. Instead, it would help bring more fans into their fold. And even those that might hate them with a purple passion? That's what the DVD's would be there for. So enjoy your fanbase for now 4Kids, but watch out- as they get older they'll become more mature and intelligent and less of their money will be going into your bank accounts. Besides, with Shonen Jump and Shaman King showing the original mangas uncut in their true glory it'll just get harder and harder as time passes by for you to attempt to maintain the facade because more fans will see the shows for what they really are and will abandon you guys. So why not just make the original version and an uncut dub available, which would only make everybody happy and make more money while you're at it too? If that didn't hurt FUNimation's self-created "kiddie" image for DBZ (which has had more fans watching than any other anime shown on tv- meaning that it had the HIGHEST "potential-parental offender possibility" of any show to also pursue the the uncut/original version for sale strategy. Everything else out there would thus have a much lower or simply lower "risk-possibility" potential) and actually helped increase their profits and make more fans happy, then there's no excuse for you guys to pretend that it wouldn't do the same thing for you. Anime isn't just solely "for kids" 4Kids- it's for everybody.