One Piece (found 4Kids English dub of anime; 2004-2006)
Comparison of edited 4Kids version (left) and uncut version (right).
Status: Found
Date found: 10 Feb. 2016
Found by: Anonymous (Nyaa.se)
One Piece is an anime series based off of Eiichiro Oda's manga of the same name. The series focuses on a man named Monkey D. Luffy, as he and his crew of Straw Hat Pirates set off on an adventure to find the titular treasure and proclaim Luffy as the King of the Pirates. The first episode aired in Japan in 1999 and was an immediate hit.
Seeing the popularity of One Piece and wanting to cash in on the growing appeal anime in the West, American licensing company 4Kids Entertainment sought to bring over One Piece to an English-speaking audience with an original English dub.
Initial Run
On September 18, 2004, the first English dub episode of One Piece aired on FoxBox block on The WB (now the CW) in the US, Cartoon Network in the US and UK, YTV in Canada, and SABC 2 in South Africa.[1] The 4Kids dub also started to air on Cartoon Network in 2007. Many fans started to take note of the drastic changes that occurred with the 4Kids dub of One Piece. Much of the key plot points, plot devices, and violence were toned down in order to appeal to a younger demographic.[2]
On December 6, 2006, Anime News Network reported that 4Kids Entertainment would not continue to dub future episodes of One Piece. Only 104 episodes were dubbed by 4Kids, but only 78 episodes aired.[3] These episodes spanned seasons 1-5, but many episodes were never dubbed in the first place. The last time the 4Kids dubbed aired was on March 15, 2008, on Cartoon Network.[4] That same year, Cartoon Network stopped airing the 4Kids dub.[5] No reruns of the 4Kids dub were aired after 2008 as Funimation Entertainment acquired the rights for One Piece and re-dubbed all of the episodes to fit the show's more mature theme.[6]
Resurfacing
On February 10th, 2016, an anonymously sourced torrent was uploaded to the anime torrent site Nyaa.se, featuring every episode of the One Piece 4Kids dub. Most of Season 1 is ripped from airings on YTV Canada, and the rest of the dub is ripped directly from the initial UK Toonami airings. The Nyaa.se torrent link can be found here, with the torrent's contents mirrored on MEGA here.
Gallery
References
- ↑ 4Kids press release for FoxBox's Fall 2004 lineup. Retrieved 27 Jan '18
- ↑ Odyssey article documenting some of the changes made to the 4Kids dub. Retrieved 27 Jan '18
- ↑ 4Kids confirming the cancellation of the English dub. Retrieved 27 Jan '18
- ↑ Last recorded time the 4Kids dub of One Piece aired on Cartoon Network. Retrieved 27 Jan '18
- ↑ Cartoon Network confirming no plans to re-air One Piece. Retrieved 27 Jan '18
- ↑ Funimation acquiring the rights to One Piece. Retrieved 27 Jan '18