Forum - View topicNEWS: Tokyo Mew Mew Licensed
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Legato 2057
 Posts: 437 Location: Soon to be Japan |
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I understand the logic behind Khan's changes to the show, but I am appalled at how little he thinks of American children.
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orobouros
Posts: 14 |
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Honestly, I got mixed feelings about this.
As for "Hollywood," off the bat, I can't say why not. Hollywood is to Americans in many respects what Tokyo is for Japanese, so the feel is still there. Is there anything about it that makes it important to be in Tokyo specifically? From what I've seen, it's a pretty nice, catchy show. (Sailor Moon with catgirls! Wheee!!!) It's good to see it reaching a wide audience, and from what it sounds like, 4Kids may be pushing this as their "girl power" show. Good for everybody who can watch and enjoy the show. I plan on doing so. As for the demographic, this *is* pretty much a kid's show. It's originally aimed at Japanese girls age 5 to 13 maybe? Sure, that probably allows for some thematic and graphic elements you can't get away with in the US, but it -- the plot, the characters, etc. -- is all aimed towards a kid demographic. 4Kids is just optimizing the localization to maximize their profits. And the Japanese studio who sold them the rights is probably more than happy to let them change things around a bit to fit American needs, so long as they get their money. I can't really blame them for trying to make a profit; that's what business is about. The fans aren't going to make a difference under the big black line, only the millions of potential 6 to 14 year old viewers are. Finally, I do agree with his statement on kids. There are more kids now than ever that know exactly what anime is, and where it's from, and even spot out obvious cuts and edits. But there's still a whole crapload of kids out there that can't tell anime from captain crunch. At best, they think it's Chinese, from the Kanji that is kept in from time to time. Either way, they're not going to care much, having never seen the original. From the rest of the article, though, he seemed to have a pretty insulting view of kids. Most of them aren't smart, but he's apparently thinking every single person watching the show is an idiot. From what I can tell, their localization process is pretty much an attempt to conform. Squeeze everything into a mold, something prepackaged and ready to sell. That's what I really dislike about localizations. Changing some details ("OMGWTF! They changed the supermarket name to SAFEWAY!") are really of lesser consequence. Translation is an art, not a science, and there's no single right way to do it. But trying to force things into a mold takes away the concept. Trying to make Li the main character of Cardcaptors is a great example of what problems this leads to -- it takes away the dynamics and characteristic of the show. Leave those intact, and I can accept some cosmetic changes, even if I would prefer it otherwise. The right thing to do is put out a DVD release, that gives the remaining audience what they want. But, from their perspective, that'll mess with their target audience. Putting out two products that'll mess up their customers isn't good. I can see why they do things the way they do. I don't like it, but it the end, I can't blame them too much. I'll blame them for some unnecessary changes ("no, we need to call it 'karahtee' because nobody will understand kendo!"), but for the Americanization "watering down," I blame America. It's idiot soccer moms and fundamentalist politicians that are the cause. Their ethnocentric, nationalistic ignorance is taken up by a society of laziness, consumerism to the max, where everything you get should be custom fit to you. The anime and manga community is a minority that is willing to accept different contexts and will conform to accept something new. But the broad American tv audience, far bigger than our hobby minority, is pretty friggin' stupid. 4Kids isn't helping by catering to their whims, but 4Kids isn't the problem. At least, it's a push in the right direction. It's still anime, even if they don't know it, and it's still exposing people to a new artform. Yes, the stupification continues (honestly, maybe it's not such a bad thing; but my views on the out-of-control growth of fandom is another issue), but at the same time, I think most viewers who would appriciate it as anime will find out what it really is, and another fan is born. And, if nothing else, it paves the way for more anime to come to America. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I'm still in my 1995 mindset that any anime is better than no anime. |
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Louie-kun
 Posts: 420 Location: I'm back. |
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If you think that's bad, I found a thread there that declared ANN the enemy of "you-know-where". Guess who wrote it. Now I can see changing the character names, but changing Tokyo to Hollywood? Now that's underestimating the audience. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4364 Location: New York |
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One complaint letter coming up.
4Kids are idiots. This is exactly what Cardcaptors failed, exactly why Sailor Moon failed at first, and now Tokyo Mew Mew wil be added to the list. |
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Izlude
Posts: 323 Location: Wherever The Wind Takes Me |
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Samurai X isnt even an Americanized Anime Title, its the International name for Rurouni Kenshin, Sony made up themselves. Its like Knights of the Zodiac 
I dont really care what 4Kids does w/ Tokyo Mew Mew, their target audience is NOT anime fans, its kids. They dont care about anime fans, they care about the kids, whether they watch anime normally or not, they want to give them something to watch. They arent into doing traditional domesticitation of anime like other companies like ADV, Bandai, etc do. Seeing as us anime fans arent their targets, I'm not gonna be pissed, I'll just read the manga from Tokyopop, its alot better anyways  Let 4Kids try and run things the way they want, let'em succeed or fail, they arent into anime, just childrens programming.
Anything for the kids is cool in my book 
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cookie
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 2460 Location: Do not contact me for support. |
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Lemme put down a different viewpoint:
I think what Kahn was attempting to say was that... Kids do not watch anime BECAUSE it is anime. Kids watch anime because it is attractive to them. The characters are good-looking, but unrealistic enough that most parents won't complain about lewdness. The "cartoon violence" won't be misinterpreted as "real violence" (such as some groups tried to label Power Rangers in the early 90s). The plots are relatively entertaining (or can be easily manipulated to fit American kid-sensitivities/sensibilities). The cost of production is minimal and the potential for marketting is enormous. Kids are interested in it because it's fun to watch. Adults watch anime BECAUSE it is anime. Thus, according to Kahn, anime isn't popular because of its story, characters or music. Instead, anime is popular because it is known to be foreign, and thus the viewer feels "exotic" for having watched something their culture did not produce. Additionally, if an anime series is popular, it is BECAUSE of its use of anime stereotypes (ultraviolence, pretty girls in skimpy clothes, guns, etc). Combine all the stereotypes together [in appropriate portions!], and label it "anime", and (provided the audience BELIEVES it is "anime") you have a successful product for adults. (I should note Noir, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Trigun, Inu Yasha and other "popular" titles all fit this stereotype well. Here is Greenwood, Maison Ikkoku, Magic Knight Rayearth, Fushigi Yuugi, and such do not fit the stereotype as well. Guess which titles sold the best? Guess which ones are on TV?) THAT is what I believe Kahn is saying. My opinion? Well, I'll reserve it for now. [update] And: No DBZOA trashing. If you don't like them, fine. If you like them, fine. But I'm not about to start another site-war just because one of their posters doesn't like ANN. |
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Izlude
Posts: 323 Location: Wherever The Wind Takes Me |
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Cookie, you've totally hit the cream
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orobouros
Posts: 14 |
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People still watch anime just because it's anime?
I remember back in the day you would, because that was one of the only ways! It was chop tv or nothing. But these days you got dvds all over the place. I won't watch Ping Pong Club or Colorful, because I just don't like them; there's plenty of other stuff to spend my time and money on. Is anime really so trendy now people watch it just cause it's anime? I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad. I could understand kids watching something just because it's anime, but adults? That would seem out-of-line with what he was saying. Of course, I'm still hoarding those VHS tapes like they're irreplaceable, even though they're far more replaceable now that they were when originally released. |
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AstroNerdBoy
 Posts: 413 Location: Denver, CO |
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This is proof of the evils of domestication...'nuff said.
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10420 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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LOL, do you know what domestication means? http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=domestication The term you want is "localization" |
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Kumori-Sama
Posts: 1 |
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Hi, I'm Kumori-Sama.... I completely agree with you on the subject of changing Tokyo Mew Mew to Hollywood Mew Mew. That's like saying that it won't take place in Tokyo at all! I fear to see who they have cast for each character. I'm so glad I decided to download the Subtitled version. Well, I shall return sometime again.
Kumori-Sama 
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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One "poor" translation to dozens of other mostly accurate ones? And we don't even know if this one will get any more editing beyond the name yet at this point. How is that proof? |
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xstylus
 Posts: 263 |
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Ladies and gentlemen...
www.HollywoodMewMew.com is ONLINE!  [EDIT - Note that this URL is an unofficial website, unrelated to 4Kids. -C]
Save TOKYO Mew Mew! |
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GATSU
Posts: 15292 |
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Alright, I'll play the devil's advocate for 4 Kids. 1)You can read the manga. 2) 4Kids has helped push anime into mainstream television a lot more effectively than Saban, Dic, and Nelvana combined. 2a)If it were up to the latter companies, you'd have to wake up at 3 a.m. every other week(or month) to see the same shows. 2b)Based on their press release, they acknowledge the fact that girls and people older than children watch animation, which is again, more than other companies would be willing to accept in their desire for a quick buck off of little boys. If their gamble pays off, it could lead to more mature animated content on network tv, which means everyone wins. They're obviously better at marketing anime than FOX was with Escaflowne, or WB was with Card Captor Sakura, so let them continue to pave the way. 2c) In spite of their success with Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh, they did not continue to solely license those types of shows, but actually chose to diversify their content, which actually made programming on weekday afternoons and weekend mornings entertaining again, instead of the place where you endure Riki Lake, the 700 Club, sugar and toy ads, and infomercials. 3) There's enough cat-girl anime out there already. What makes Tokyo Mew Mew so effin' unique?! 4) Many of those series-such as Shaman King-have numerous episodes, so think of it as a way to watch them for free without having to wait x amount of hours to download it off Kazaa or Bit Torrent and without having to pay y amount of dollars for numerous dvd's which are likely to contain more filler and/or recap episodes than episodes which actually continue the story.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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Err.. the presence of Tokyo landmarks such as Tokyo Tower, and the complete absense of any Hollywood landmarks are the first that come to mind. I mean, you could possibly get away with Paris Mew Mew.. |
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