When 4Kids first licensed one of my favorite anime, Ojamajo Doremi, I expressed my disappointment on several message boards. On one, I was told to ‘be grateful that the kids of America get to watch Ojamajo Doremi on TV.’ But, considering the circumstances, why should I be grateful?

I certainly don’t have a problem with the idea of Ojamajo Doremi being licensed or put on American TV. Before it was licensed, I had a site that was dedicated to that very thing. It would bring me nothing but happiness if people saw and fell in love with Doremi. What scares me is that what 4Kids will be showing won’t really be Ojamajo Doremi at all.

4Kids is notorious for how it handles its anime licenses. They don’t simply dub the shows, but, rather, recreate them from the ground up however they please. I worry about characters being renamed and how their personalities will change. I worry about the score being replaced by a never-ending stream of droning ‘Saturday morning cartoon’ music. I worry about a lot of things, knowing that those worries will indeed be realized.

I wish that the company that licensed Ojamajo Doremi would have been someone that cared enough to treat it with respect. When I say ‘respect,’ I mean that nothing about the anime except replace the Japanese voices with English ones; no changes to names, music, or plot. Also, that a subtitled version would be available for those of us who love the original Japanese version of the series.

If there’s one thing I hate most about 4Kids, it’s that they never allow uncut, subtitled versions of their licenses to be released. The fans either have to buy the TV dub release, or else resort to Region 2 DVD and bootlegs; hardly a fair choice. Every other anime company in North America allows a subtitled version to be made; even DiC has subcontracted ADV to released uncut Saint Seiya. It’s time for 4Kids to catch up to the rest of the industry.

There are rumors that Ultraman Tiga and Ultimate Muscle of are going to have a bilingual release, however neither of them is very popular, so they probably won’t sell very well. Some fans theorize that those shows were chosen for that specific reason; when they don’t sell well, 4Kids can say that there isn’t a market for subtitled versions of their properties. I’m not sure whether there’s any truth to the theory, but it does prove that there’s a lot of hatred directed toward 4Kids in the fandom. Sadly, our hatred is justified.

Someone told me to be grateful, but why should I be grateful? Why should I be grateful as 4Kids continues to butcher anime, regardless of the fans? Tell me, what is there to be grateful for?