The first introduction to One Piece for the Western World, the 4Kids TV Dub was definitely not the intro fitting for the series. A heavily censored version of the East Blue saga first premiered nineteen years ago, and it hasn’t aged very well. There’s a lot of history behind the controversial dub, and even some (including this writer) that love it for different reasons. Still, the 4Kids Dub needs a lot of explaining for some people to see the charm or hatred behind it.
Before we get started, there’s really no decent way to watch the 4Kids Dub these days other than YouTube or various shady corners of the internet. There are plenty of clips online though, and those will give an impression of just how zany it was, even for One Piece.
What Was 4Kids TV?
4Kids Television was a programming block and licensing company that aired on Saturday mornings in the United States. The biggest thing to know is that they bought up a ton of younger anime licenses, mostly the Shonen genre, and dubbed them over for a cheap turnover. In turn, they broadcast all these on Saturday morning cartoon blocks across the United States, maximizing toy sales and ad revenue at the time. Honestly, not the worst business plan, but there’s no way they could have continued One Piece today.
They made numerous cuts in both story material and content, mostly to make the shows more “kid friendly” and appeal to advertisers. Other instances of 4Kids shenanigans include the old Shaman King dub, which cut a TON of blood and exorcism rituals. Yoh wasn’t even allowed a crucifix for crying out loud. They had a ton of other shows too, like the Pokemon anime when it originally hit the United States, but those didn’t require as many changes.
Dub Acting
Might as well start with the most obvious offender, which was the awful, terrible, cringe-inducing voice acting. The voices are just… not the characters. Not in any capacity does anyone sound like the Straw Hats today. This isn’t even a dig at the dub voice actors, because it’s not their fault that’s what the directors wanted. It’s just so misaligned from what characters look like that it completely throws off any sense of tension in early One Piece. There are two worst offenders though, and those are two of the main Straw Hats.
Sanji is given a Brooklyn accent, but sounds like a poor caricature of a New Yorker. It’s just awful because he’s constantly coming off as an extra from an old mob movie. Then there’s Nico Robin, though she only really appears as Ms. Sunday, and thankfully the series ends as she joins the crew. Did the producers just see Robin wearing a cowboy hat and decide that she needed a Southern accent? Because it’s so, so bad and doesn’t fit the character at all. Imagine if this dub ever made it to the “I want to live!” scene in Enies Lobby. Would it have nearly the same impact?
That’s not even getting into the issue of Irish(?) Shanks, who sounds… not fantastic.
4Kids Censorship
Considering they were dubbing and licensing this to American kids, 4Kids decided it was best to censor anything that wasn’t kid-friendly. That includes guns, blood, and just about anything that references death or dying. Arlong doesn’t even kill Bellemere, it’s just traded out with a scene of him pointing at her, and then telling her she’s going to a dungeon. Then the Arlong Park arc ends and they just… leave with no other mention of Bellemere. Not the worst thing they’ll cut out of the show.
The censorship gets comical at some points though, like when it comes to smoking. Sanji has his cigarettes changed into lollipops thanks to rules against smoking on public television in the United States. This one could have been excused, but then Smoker made it even worse. The character constantly has two cigars in his mouth, breathing smoke at all times, and they only censor out the cigars themselves. He’s still smoking like a damn chimney, it’s now just assumed that it’s a natural thing with him though.
There could be entire articles about the changes from each arc, but it would take pages. Even censoring the Usopp Pirates’ weapons for kitchen utensils is insane.
Lost Arcs
Probably the biggest sin of the entire dub, 4kids removed entire arcs from One Piece. It’s an absolute crime, because the most egregious removal is an essential part of a Straw Hat backstory. The Reverse Mountain arc is completely absent, and instead of hitting Laboon, the Going Merry hits a massive iceberg. Instead of going full titanic they just bypass it fine and move right along. It completely just leaves Crocus and Laboon behind, and not only that but the first introduction to Vivi. It’s a crime against humanity and myself on a personal level.
As if that wasn’t crime enough, the Little Garden arc is completely gone. There’s no Dorry and Broggy, no confrontation with Mr. 3 and Ms. Golden Week, none of it. The absolute audacity that 4Kids had to have to cut these arcs is insane, especially since Drum Island was kept in but Nami was sick for no reason now. They would have cut Jaya before Skypiea but left in Long Ring Long Land if they were allowed to get that far.
Strange Changes
Some things change for just odd reasons, some for censorship, and some for reasons that are to this day entirely unknown. Like Zoro changing to Zolo, which is just a strange decision, but completely unnecessary. Though that’s not nearly as bad as Captain Smoker, whose name becomes to Captain Chaser for some ungodly reason. The guy is still breathing smoke at every possible moment. Yet for some reason his name is now Chaser, make it make sense.
Then there’s the change from the rice balls Zoro is gets in the first episode into cookies for some reason. Or changing the gun Helmeppo threatens Koby with into a weird hammer. Changing the name of a lot of Luffy’s signature moves was definitely a choice too, as Gum-Gum Pistol is now the Gum-Gum Blast. American television censorship of guns is really weird considering how prevalent they are in everyday society.
Cut Characters
Of course, cutting Laboon out is the greatest sin. He’s a pivotal character in Brook’s backstory, as the Rumbar Pirates left him at Reverse Mountain almost fifty years ago. They promise to return to him after three years, but unfortunately, all die of starvation or disease while out to sea. There’s no shortage of tragedy in later One Piece, and it’s doubtful that the 4Kids dub would even make it that far anyway. Hell, Brook would be the least of their worries in that case anyway. The 4Kids Marineford dub would be wild if they ever made it that far.
Then there’s the issue of cutting out Dorry and Broggy, who are the entire reason that Usopp has his dream. He wants to be a brave warrior of the sea, just like the giants of Elbaph. Cutting out the Little Garden arc not only cuts them, but it also cuts crucial character development for Usopp. Not to mention the eventual resurgence of Mr. 3 as an ally for Luffy and the Straw Hats in Rain Dinners makes no damn sense without this arc.
Ending in Arabasta
The Arabasta arc was the end of the 4Kids dub, as rights were soon acquired by Funimation instead. The Arabasta arc has all kinds of problems in the 4Kids dub too. That’s even before censoring of the fights between Mr. One and Zoro. Sir Crocodile running his hook through Luffy in the desert is now the weirdest panel of all time. He’s just awkwardly holding Luffy up by the hooked hand, not stabbing it through him or anything. The rubber body is really playing to the editor’s advantage too. Luffy is bent all kinds of awkwardly to cover up the real nature of the scene.
Overall, the 4Kids dub of One Piece was just one wreck among quite a few others. There were tons of problems, from the voice acting to the animation censorship, but it did have one overall decent quality that set it apart from all the rest. The 4Kids One Piece theme, which is an entire original rap about the Straw Hats, is a piece of absolute art at its finest. Seriously, it’s a banger and deserves to be turned up to max volume every time it comes on. The One Piece 4Kids dub didn’t give us much, but damn it delivered in the opening theme every Saturday morning.
