Forum - View topicNEWS: 4Kids Cancels One Piece Production
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Crawly
Posts: 204 |
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I don't think that's how the deal with Pokemon actually worked. They were forced to let that go. Pokemon was still profitable for them, and if they had been able to keep it, they would have. Sublicensing the series for an uncut, possibly sub only release would allow them to keep making any possible profit off their version until the license expires, as well as making money off the sublicensing itself. Funimation distributed the uncut versions of Yugioh and Shaman King. They were still 4Kids properties, though, and 4Kids handled all the work on them. Which is why they were dubtitled rather than properly subtitled. According to 4Kids, they didn't sell well enough to continue the releases, so they were canceled. 4Kids isn't used to dealing in anime numbers. They're used to dealing in Saturday Morning/Cartoon Network numbers. |
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Nionel
 Posts: 357 Location: Nebraska |
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I find this ironic, especially considering that there hasn't been any Shaman King DVDs released outside of the unedited ones. |
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DoubleWide
 Posts: 80 |
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Thank You! There is a God!! Now all we have to do is wait patiently for a new company to pick up the rights.
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Malintex Terek
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As I said earlier, this is somewhat tepid news for OP fans, since the dub has accumulated a lot of connotative baggage with the series and it probably won't take off for a long time. In all likelihood, 4Kids will sit on the license until 2009 while profiting off of the reruns and DVD sales, since producing new episodes is apparently too expensive for even them.
Don't assume, though, that this entails 4Kids will drop the license, or that a "quality company" will pick the series up. I consider VIZ Media to hire inferior actors to 4Kids, though the directing of 4Kids is so utterly terrible they come off as worse in comparison. There are a lot of dichotomous qualities for a "true ONE PIECE" that deterred licensing until 2004, so why shouldn't we expect the same for the post-4Kids period? The same fate that befell Slam Dunk and Hokuto no Ken could easily apply to OP; people just don't remember those titles were also huge in Japan but are virtual unknowns in the states. I really, REALLY hope FUNimation reconsiders the merit of this series and actually puts out a bid for it...but it's doubtful that they would after the failure of Detective Conan. So, while this might seem as a victory for 4Kids haters, its a pretty hollow one at that. I'd like to see more action before I light my firecrackers.
That's probably not the case; we at Arlong Park freely admit and have data (somewhere) suporting the idea that the dub is actually selling well, it just isn't selling well in relative comparison to its status in Japan. I mean, if the BEST show in Japan isn't the BEST in the United States, it's not doing as well, no? This move is likely due to pressure from VIZ Media and Shueisha, who are getting hit far harder by the 4Kids' dub since fewer people purchase their manga. Toei supports 4Kids in whole, and author Eiichiro Oda doesn't care about what people do to his story provided people still enjoy it; the people who hate the OP dub are primarily on the internet and are merely a vocal minority. Most just ignore the show. |
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Tsukento
Posts: 89 |
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I dunno, it's kinda iffy there. 4Kids has said they usually only license things they can make a profit off of. When they really have nothing to profit off of other than edited DVDs and video games that end up having their prices cut so stores can get rid of their inventory of them, it kinda raises questions as to whether they should even continue supporting something that has virtually no product available to the consumers.
Wouldn't be the first show they've dropped due to lack of fan interest or zero marketability. |
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War Machine
Posts: 2 |
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Malintex, your post is too good (to me, anyway). I wanted to post something similar to what you did, but I don't have the knowledge and intelligence for it (really, I don't).
Anyway... As far as how I feel about this whole 4Kids-stopping-production-on-One-Piece ordeal, I take it (as how Malintex put it) as tepid news. I'm not going to be excited over this since other people mentioned here that 4Kids retains the One Piece license until 2009. After that, though... well... we'll see what happens. |
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chrlake
Posts: 4 |
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I suspect that 4Kids only purchased the actual license to the first 104 episodes with the option to purchase additional episodes if they so desired. (Similar to what occurred with the second season of AMG). If this is the case, their accountants/executives probably determined the show was not profitable enough to exercise their option for additional episodes.
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Yes, there definetly is a God. There is hope now for One Piece fans, to recieve the true One Piece in how it was supposed to be. No matter how long it takes, we know that there is hope out there.
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TakinawaTonfa
Posts: 96 |
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Well, the only time I've ever heard of One Piece doing well were from ratings announcements and A Best Buy top ten list of top selling anime DVDs (One Piece vol. 1 was #10). Both pieces of data are a little over a year old. Maybe older. I'm definitely with you on waiting for more information about situation though. |
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Romuska
 Subscriber Posts: 802 |
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Fans - 1
Idiot Marketers and Executives - 0 |
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Malintex Terek
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They've got their fingers in the card game pie as well, and all those contribute to a profitable synergy. The only people who could possibly actually lose money relative to the dub are VIZ Media, the manga publishers, which is why I think they're responsible for this. In regard to inventory, 4Kids doesn't necessarily suffer from what retailers do. They sell DVDs to them on wholesale, and since their distribution range is large (due to OP's Y7 rating) they can profit a lot if they rely on large chain stores that don't invest a lot in DVDs anyway. They would suffer for the smaller general stores, but then again I've never heard a report from one of those stores buying SJ DVDs anyway. I'd say this whole mess is a product of attrition; remember the fiasco with PokemonUSA? Provided the rancor from the VA shift had remained strong for a long period of time, PokemonUSA would have caved in; such is the case with OP and 4Kids, which has recieved nothing but criticism for two long years. Combined with pressure from VIZ and only marginal profits, the series might not satisfy Al Kahn's new vision for where he wants to company to go.
Nor the last, but they're hardly an exception in that regard. Cartoon Network dropped Wulin Warriors after...what, two episodes? |
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Cheesemon
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Y'know, I've been wondering for the longest time how 4Kids was going to handle the Skypiea arc with all the stuff about God being evil and evil priests, etc., but I guess we'll never know. I wonder if the arc is one of the reasons why they dropped production. That and they're probably getting tired of erasing cigarettes every episode. :)
BTW, everyone's talking about uncut DVDs, but are you guys really planning to buy them? Costs aside, I personally don't have a shelf long enough to fit that many. It'd have to be like 25 episodes per disc in a Blu-ray thinpak before I could fit it anywhere. |
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AirCooledMan_2006
 Posts: 594 Location: Delaware, U.S. |
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(As rich Texan from The Simpsons) YEE-HAHAHAHAHA! **fires guns in air, dances** It's about time 4Kids stopped working on Hack Piece! Maybe now Viz, ADV, Geneon, Media Blasters, FUNimation, or Synch Point will pick it up, and make a GOOD, straight dub of the original. Maybe one that will be even BETTER than the Odex dub available in Singapore (That dub's on VCD and not DVD, the voices aren't much better than the 4Kids hackjob, the dubtitles can't be turned off, and there are a few edits, but then again, Odex doesn't take anime like One Piece that's meant primarily for teenagers and butcher the hell out of it.). |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7350 Location: Maine |
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More like: Uncut Fans - 1 4Kids - 105 Every episode 4kids trotted through was a win for them (plus the initial licensing), though I'm sure most people would hate to admit it. Also, with 4Kids' declining profits I doubt they'll just sit on a big license like this for the next 2-3 years. I'm also curious just how they went about their licensing, if it was purchased as an entire package, or if they bought it in season lots with first dibs on further episodes. If they only bought in lots and gave up their options to future episodes then i could see another company pull a DBZ and start subbing/dubbing from episode 105. So what about those remaining 26 episodes of theirs, will Cartoon Network be airing them? Emerje |
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Vash024
 Posts: 16 |
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I wonder if any company will pick it up now. One Piece is growing to be so long in Japan (close to 300 episodes) that it would be quite the risk of investment, especially with the horrible success 4kids had. Look at Detective Conan, for example. It's a great show but the entire series will never be released here.
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