4Kids Entertainment now currently being delisted from the NY Stock Exchange.

[Tyrath]

Now that I think about it though, I dont think I've ever seen a black person in anime not portrayed that way.......hmmm

Lets not label all anime as having the blackface >_>

 

[Tristam Green]

This thread's going circular now, despite Tyrath being absolutely correct: there are plenty of anime that don't do the blackface portrayals, it's generally found in your "general audience" anime, and that's even sadder.

Let's keep in mind some givens:

- 60-40 years ago, it was perfectly acceptable to see blackface in the United States (reference Little Black Sambo, or Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby).
- It is no longer acceptable in the United States to see blackface except in notable exceptions (Tropic Thunder).
- Japanese people on the whole do not take well to outsiders.
- Just because *you* don't find it offensive doesn't mean others won't. Be more sensitive to other people.

If you can't understand those basic things, then you need to take a hard look at yourself and stop being so insular.

 

[Miros]

Jeez TG, little bit of a harsh tone there man.

It's clear that it's no longer acceptable for blackface or a lot of other PC junk on television and that's pretty frustrating if you ask me. One of the things that has bugged me about this for a while as I've been watching this thread is that because we don't find that face racist, somehow we're ignorant. I'm on the side of the group of who gives a crap what color they are. Don't sum up these issues like you won or something TG. Both sides of this argument have some valid points (and some off the wall ones too) that have to be acknowledged.

 

[Tristam Green]

how is it harsh? these are some genuine realities, and i'm not out to win jack.

i mean, if i need to go take some pictures of al jolson, mister popo, that one-piece fella, and jynx out on the street and risk getting shot at while i ask people "do you find these offensive?", take video and post the results here i will to drive the point home.

 

[Miros]

how is it harsh? these are some genuine realities, and i'm not out to win jack.

The harsh statements I'm referring to are ones like:

- Just because *you* don't find it offensive doesn't mean others won't. Be more sensitive to other people.

If you can't understand those basic things, then you need to take a hard look at yourself and stop being so insular.

Those statements just seemed pretty strong when you read them and to anyone who wasn't on your side it sounds like you're looking down on them and giving them a life lesson. That's why I thought it was a bit harsh.

i mean, if i need to go take some pictures of al jolson, mister popo, that one-piece fella, and jynx out on the street and risk getting shot at while i ask people "do you find these offensive?", take video and post the results here i will to drive the point home.

I'm sure people find stereotypes offensive, there's no argument there I don't think. The annoying part is having to bow to every qualm a group has when it comes to a color or religion or sexuality. Look at glee, there's an annoying flamboyant young gay guy who is conforming to a stereotype...right? Same thing applies except that nobody's really making any noise. Stereotypes are found everywhere...wasn't there like an oil man in mega man who wore a turban and his stage was in a desert? I really think the more we try to hide what makes us different the more boring we get.

 

[Tristam Green]

To me, the difference is that there are actually flamboyantly gay men in the world who act like that. No, not all of them do, but yes; there are some. There is no white man painting himself up in blackface running around pretending to be black. If there were, he'd have his ass not just kicked, but summarily curb-stomped.

I can understand where the comment outlined could be taken strongly, and I offer my apologies to anyone reading it who might take it as me looking down on him/her. It's not meant as a life-lesson, it's simply meant to highlight the point "hey, just because you don't take offense to stuff doesn't mean that a shitload of people won't either".

 

[Miros]

To me, the difference is that there are actually flamboyantly gay men in the world who act like that. No, not all of them do, but yes; there are some. There is no white man painting himself up in blackface running around pretending to be black. If there were, he'd have his ass not just kicked, but summarily curb-stomped.

You're right, there are flamboyant gay guys in the world. There are tons of other stereotypes too...they come from somewhere right?

 

[Tristam Green]

fair enough, yes; all stereotypes have an origin. Could Glee benefit from the gay character being indiscernible from other characters? Sure, why not? That'd be a good thing.

 

[Miros]

fair enough, yes; all stereotypes have an origin. Could Glee benefit from the gay character being indiscernible from other characters? Sure, why not? That'd be a good thing.

I'm certainly not complaining about a gay character mind you either. I'm very happy that we're finally getting some exposure in television shows that aren't on LOGO. When it comes to a certain group getting upset over something they find offensive and then go ahead and make a show like the boondock saints or claim a word is theirs to use...it gets confusing and rather offensive to me now.

 

[Tristam Green]

I'm certainly not complaining about a gay character mind you either. I'm very happy that we're finally getting some exposure in television shows that aren't on LOGO. When it comes to a certain group getting upset over something they find offensive and then go ahead and make a show like the boondock saints or claim a word is theirs to use...it gets confusing and rather offensive to me now.

i assume you mean the boondocks, because the boondock saints is just awesome.

 

[Stine]

Well seriously, what have the characters been doing IN THEIR ACTUAL PERSONALITY AND ACTIONS that would be racist? Not the way they look.. ok? Bring an example, no one has. By saying "I think" I really more mean "I think back and can't recall them ACTING racist"

But it sounds like you're all shallow as fuck only carrying about their appearances in cartoons where no one is drawn really realistic anyways. "They look offensive" boo hoo stfu and stop getting a stick up your ass every time you think something is offensive for something stupid and shallow as appearance. What made blackface really offensive back then, as I have checked up on, was also the way the character was portrayed acting and whatnot. The character was offensive more than just the look.

Actually 4Kids took out episodes that focused on Jynx because people complained about it's behavoir and that it was making fun of African Americans who do or have ancestors that practiced voodoo. That's probably why you don't remember it.

I'm not trying to insult your intelligence or base things only on looks. In some of the animes they have portrayed the characters in blackface as goofy and unintelligent. I was just trying to be informative because you mentioned something about why would people care about it in modern anime.

I'm certainly not complaining about a gay character mind you either. I'm very happy that we're finally getting some exposure in television shows that aren't on LOGO. When it comes to a certain group getting upset over something they find offensive and then go ahead and make a show like the boondock saints or claim a word is theirs to use...it gets confusing and rather offensive to me now.

It does get confusing. Overall I'm not big on censorship but when it comes to a show with it's target audience is kids, then I don't have a problem with it. I definitely wouldn't want my kid watching Boodocks or Boondock Saints until he was much, much older and could decide for himself if he wanted to watch it.

 

[Dancingweapon]

anal stupid Americans :\ stop thinking everything is negative!!!

Just want to point this out though. Not everyone who browses and post on this forum is American you know. I'm British, am I still stupid and anal?

 

[Hexx]

Lets not label all anime as having the blackface >_>

I havent seen too many anime, save for some of the more popular ones, but point made, thanks Tyrath ^^

 

[Shadowneko]

Let's get off the blackface thing now k? That's the least of 4kids offenses:

1. Completely ignoring the Japanese story- This is what they did with Tokyo Mew Mew and Magical DoRiMI. In Tokyo Mew Mew they removed a main plot point: the fact that Ichigo was dating a guy who was basically her boyfriend!(it never goes much beyond a crush on Ichigo's part) and it becomes very important later in the series. In Magical DoRiMi they basically threw out the whole JP script and inserted a new story! As far as I know this has rarely worked and I know 4kids is not the only offender. In the 90s our main whipping boy for this was Saban who did this with "Samurai Pizza Cats" umong other things.(Samurai pizza cats was so bad it came off as a parody of the JP original. For some this made it more entertaining but that's rare! If you translate something you should try to follow the original as much as you can...maybe "Insert new joke here" since humor doesn't translate well) Also someone mentioned CardCaptor Sakura...This was stupidly edited by Nelvana to try to make it appeal to little boys because they thought a girls show wouldn't sell(silly Nelvana! I don't like that you did this but since you did Care Bears and all that kids stuff I used to like I can't be totally mad at you)

2. Making stupid edits- One piece is the crown jewel of this followed by Shaman King as those amines were never intended for kids. 4kids is obsessed with the TV-Y7 rating and this basically means you can't even punch a guy! TV-14 is Adult Swim which is the best anime on TV right now but you can't do this during the day.(even I understand this) Naruto Shippodun on Disney XD has been edited to TV-PG which cuts the blood and maybe some of the death references but retains the flow of the show(the DVDs/online steaming are best tho). CN also has a couple of American series that are rated TV-PG that are currently running: "Star Wars: the Clone Wars" and "Generator Rex" which I think some companies could follow suit on showing anime. The "Electric Solider Poygron" episode of pokemon is banned even in Japan so don't blame that on 4kids...the one I blame them for is the Sarafi Zone episode which featured a gun happy ranger and Jessie and James stealing the gun at a certain point(heck elmer fudd uses a shotgun all the time XD) Yu-gi-Oh's deadliness is way censored as are the true nature of all those shadow games...

3. Music- what's wrong with the JP music? Nothing really. I can understand if some people don't wana remix theme songs with Japanese vocals(translate) but replacing the instrumental music is a terrible offense(ruins the mood/flow)...not to mention a big waste of cash!(you could fire all those composers and save millions) Also if you write a USA theme song make it a good one and the worst offense here is that dang "One Piece rap"...man that thing was awful!

4. DVD/video releases- let's face it. Most of the people that buy DVDs are anime fans not kids or their parents so releasing super-cut amine on DVD with no options for uncuts is a bad move. Plus when they did do uncut releases they would always stop short and never release the whole series.(Shaman King...there are only three volumes!) I really hate this because I wanted to buy all those!