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When last we checked thing were going well for Winx Club Fansubs. Translator, raw sources straight from Italy, and an encoder/subtitler. Well that was up until the encoder/subtitler left about a week before we began near the end of summer after training for a month. (yeah, hardy har har 4Kids. At least my articles on Winx Club are listed under Wikipedia's "Winx Club" entries and this one probably will be too.) Since then I decided to try to recruit some new people by contacting several groups and people about subbing this series. Some were nice, some were rude, some responded and some didn't... overall, not too bad. Unfortunately I haven't had too much luck recruiting anyone.
Why? Well I've asked around and there are a variety of reasons that have been cited to me in my efforts. Here's what they are, and here's my response to all of them.
Response- Well, what is anime? Anime is Japanese for animations and it refers to all animated shows in Japan. Tom and Jerry was even listed as one of the "Top 100 Animes" of all time recently.
However, it's international definition outside of Japan refers exclusively to animated programming from Japan. Yet- why should only animated programming specifically from Japan only be worthy of viewing and as a form of entertainment? Japan may be the best country and producer of animated shows but that doesn't mean they got a monopoly on them. Remember all those old shows in the 80's... Beetlejuice, Dinosaucers, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe... yeah, you know you do. You may be a bit old for them now but you probably loved em during their time. And guess what- they were ALL American made. And Smurfs? Well, that came from France/Belgium.
It's true that most animation (particularly foreign) is designed to appeal to children and that Japanese shows have a tendency to be more mature in various aspects, noteable in shows like Cowboy Bebop and Full Metal Alchemist. Yet, is that why so many animes are good- because they're made by Japanese? Nah, that ain't it- they're just good and enjoyable because they were made that way. And there are certainly plenty of really bad animes out there. Naruto may be awesome but don't forget about that Tekken movie.
You see, the origin of a show's country isn't what makes it good- it's the show itself that does. And increasingly, due to the popularity of anime many other shows/countries are trying to emulate and adapt the styles to varying degrees. (bad- Totally Spies. Good- Teen Titans, Megas XLR)
So what I'm saying is, give shows a chance even though they aren't from Japan. Just because everyone in Winx doesn't dress in kimonos, live in Japan, sip tea, use suffixes like san, chan and kun and the guys in it don't battle giant ghost monsters called Hollows using oversized soul powered-swords doesn't mean it can't be a good show.
I was talking to someone about the show- and they were getting really pumped up. "Hey, this sounds interesting." I explained about it's origin, told him some about the show and he seemed really excited. "Let me tell my group." Later... well, when they heard about the project they reacted like angry alley cats clawing at the idea. They'd seen the show and hadn't really liked it. Poof, potential partnership vanished just like that because of a bad stigma people already had of the show from what they'd watched of it.
"I've seen this show and don't like it."
Response- Have you really seen the show by watching it on Fox Box or Cartoon Network? It's dubbed by 4Kids and, well, gets the usual treatment. My second to last editorial already covered some of the changes- 1. Music's all gone and replaced with a localized score. 2. Animation is rearranged, edited and also sped up. 3. Plot/story elements are changed for no reason at all.
I mean, like at one point two guys at the Magic Fighter's School (I know it's supposed to be called the "Wizard's School" but I watched a whole season of Winx without seeing anyone there, besides a very old headmaster, cast a single spell. At best they have magically endowed weapons) who really hate each other are fighting it out really hard. Originally when they're interrupted one of the teachers complains they're trying way too hard for a practice match and that they need to save some energy for the Exhibition the next day. In the 4Kids dub he instead chastizes the two of them for starting a fight with each other. In one episode the heads of the Fairy and Witch schools are originally talking about a group of students who got punished. In the 4Kids dub they start up a chat about an ex-boyfriend that played both of them 100 years ago and wound up getting turned into a frog because
of it. Near the end of the series in the 4Kids dub one character comments that "Commoners can be cewl too," indicating a significant change from a prior classism/elitism and greater level of acceptance. Yet originally- that never happened! The person is kind of spoiled/elitist but not to that exaggerated a degree, nor do they undergo a metamorphosis of undergoing such attitude changes because they never had those attitudes to begin with. Also, pretty much all slang (especially "like", "yo") is also added to make the show "more hip."
Now you see? It'd be like trying to get a good feel for One Piece by watching the 4Kids dub. "Yo, dreamin- don't give it up Luffy! Ah'll be king of da pirates, yo yo ma nizzles, ah'll be king of da kings!" By watching the One Piece 4Kids dub you're not really watching "One Piece" (and by that I mean the original version of it, or a faithful adaptation of it), what you're really watching is an edited amalgamation of the original show designed in ways which 4Kids feels will make the show "more enjoyable."
So my point- you ain't watching a real version of the show by watching a heavily-edited dub of it, and judging a show by an inferior and edited dub isn't a fair way of gauging an opinion of the show. Don't listen to some 3rd rate rap group sing about pirates doing their pirate thing and don't turn on Fox Box to see One Piece, download fansubs to see the real One Piece and get a real fair opinion on the show.
The same can be said of Winx Club. Don't judge the show by the dub 4Kids put out, go buy an Italian Winx Club dvd which comes with the original Italian version and.... a high-quality U.K. dub. (which, for whatever licensing reasons, wound up not running in the U.K., probably because 4Kids gave Rainbow more money and decided they didn't want a rival, more accurate English dub readily available on the market to compete with their's.) As for the dvd's, well, my last editorial about reviewing the first Italian disc gives you a link where you can order the dvd's as well as translated (albeit lengthy) instructions on how to order the show for yourself.
If you're a fansubber then chances are you've probably ordered more than a few dvd's from Japan. So spending about $20-30 to order a 5-episode dual-dvd from Italy shouldn't be a trick. If you don't like Winx, that's fine, but at least come to that conclusion after viewing 1-5 episodes of a good, highly accurate dub and don't decide it's bad by watching or having watched random episodes out of order of what you know is an already bad dub of said show.
Response- What does it mean if a show's already licensed? An anime that is? Well, for one it means it can't be listed on animesuki.com. But- even if Winx was unlicensed why would it be listed? Animesuki.com exclusively lists Japanese shows so Winx wouldn't get listed even if 4Kids didn't own it.
Secondly- legal problems? Let's take a look around at 4Kids- huge financial losses, large loss of support and an increasingly hostile and angry anime fanbase that insults and harasses them at almost any given opportunity. It's kind of like how Bill O'Reilly sued Al Franken once for using the term "Fair and Balanced", creating a huge controversy that swept Al's book to the number one spot, then refused to sue Al for making a radio show called, "The O'Franken Factor." (Al later renamed it, but he initially said that he went with that name in hopes that Bill would drum him up more publicity by suing him a second time)
O'Reilly learned his lesson the first time. Efforts to attack the other side give them a huge amount of publicity and support depending on the issue. Al's book was even intentionally released earlier just to capitalize on that controversy.
The point is, 4Kids would be afraid of going after fans and the repercussions that would happen because of it. Now, this isn't like a good company like ADV protecting it's shows from pirates who don't give a crap that ADV bought these shows- this is company that releases shows in a poor-quality format edited/dubbed only and that quickly pulled off it's popular uncut/dual dvd's off the market and which suffers from massive reputation problems.
That's why one particular group is still up and operating, up to 162 episodes of 242 along with 4 movies, 2 tv specials and 1 OVA in just 3 years of existence. 4Kids hasn't sued them or stopped them- why?
Because it'd lead to a massive fan outcry against the show. And virtually all of anime fandom would rally behind them and against 4Kids. Even worse for 4Kids- this would lead to a greater recognition and viewership of One Piece fansubs and distribution would undoubtedly continue as well as fansubbing. The end result of this would be more people watching One Piece fansubs then ever before and a huge outcry against 4Kids. (who's skipped, cut and edited out almost 30 episodes of content thus far in only one mere year, breaking both DBZ's and I think even CCS's former records)
So if they were going to close down fansubbers they'd go for the biggest one first. (and not say, those that do Mew Mew, Kirby, Shaman King or Sonic X) Even if they did go after Winx Club Fansubs (say, at a time in the future when some eps have been done) they'd bring the group and the fansubs done thus far significant attention which would lead to heavy debate/awareness about editing of the show and subs of it to those already fans of 4Kids' dub of it, and ensure that more people downloaded the fansubs and saw them for themselves.
And there ya go. Licesned or not, that has little effect on Winx Club's ability to be distributed and downloaded. And though licensed, 4Kids isn't going to risk a backlash or give any fansubs of any of their shows such huge support and publicity by going after them. So there's no reason to worry about this issue.
Response- Erm.... I think I just covered this in response 2.
Basically you already get the idea though- if you want to really get a good idea and feel of the show then watching 5 episodes, in sequential order from the beginning and in the form of a highly excellent dub, is the best way. Watching it completely out of order and randomly on CN or Fox Box, already knowing that it's a bad dub, probably won't make you decide that you like it or want to fansub it.
Response- Simple. I've gone over this before but, the more fans arguing for dual/uncut releases from 4Kids the sooner they'll start seriously doing uncut releases. It creates more problems for 4Kids and forces them to have to address them sooner.
For Funimation it wasn't until 2000 (5 years after existing) until they finally release dual dvd's. 4Kids hasn't been really attacked much until 2003, with it being 2005 right now. And although they did dual, uncut-dvd's briefly (and yes, the "dubtitles" issue was fixed despite what some sites have inaccurately stated) now they're in limbo with just vague promises and repeatedly missed deadlines. Will it take until 2008 for 4Kids to start taking releases seriously? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, the more activism against them the sooner it'll happen.
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