Breaking News for One Piece Fans!

[Tommy]

It was a dark and stormy night.

The Going Merry was tossed and turned in the rolling waves, and the Straw-Hat pirates were thrown back and forth. One Piece, the anime phenomenon in Japan – whose original manga by Eiichiro Oda broke sales records, whose TV series is among Japan’s best rated, and whose made billions in merchandise – was sinking in America. Licensed by 4Kids Entertainment, it was transformed from a teen show to a series safe for 7-year-olds – any scene with a hint of violence was removed, as well as several full episodes (so that 4Kids turned 143 episodes of the Japanese version into 104); dialogue was totally rewritten; characters – main characters – were given wacky, horrible accents. And then 4Kids announced they were no longer creating their version of One Piece, and the Going Merry seemed lost at sea.

Land ahoy.

FUNimation has exclusively confirmed to animeOnline that they are taking charge of Luffy and his crew, and sailing them to newer, less troubled waters. In this feature, FUNimation reveals their plans for the new TV version of One Piece, along with the fate of the long-hoped-for uncensored DVDs. So fans of the Straw-Hat pirates can breathe easy – this treasure won’t be buried for much longer.

Source: http://animeonline.com/index.php?page=news_featured&ent_id=101234

My dream has come true.
Funimation has acquired One Piece!

The only bad thing is that when they start the new dub on Toonami, it's going to be exactly where 4kids left off so Little Garden still isn't going to be shown.

Well, I suppose it beats watching 140+ episodes again.

The new dub will premier on Toonami this summer.

This is something to celebrate!

[Tenshi no Ai]

I read it just a minute ago, and I'm quite surprised. Too bad for fans that they won't get around to doing the earlier eps right away though, but they still have plans for it. heh, I guess it all depends for just HOW long the series will air for, and when it'll end (and like other popular series like Naruto and Inuyasha, well, the manga, that is, won't it be FUN to see just HOW many more years it'll go for?)

[Roy Mustang]

Knew about it last night. Just didn't feel like linkng the page.

They only going to do ep 144 through 205 for now and the reason for it.

Well, it was kind of a group decision between FUNimation, Cartoon Network, and Toei Animation. Cartoon Network wanted the series to continue from where the previous version left off. And FUNimation and Toei wanted to keep One Piece on TV – that’s good for everybody.

Col. Roy Mustang

[mitsuki lover]

Though I wonder who will be replacing Kerry Williams as Nami.

[Tommy]

Nami's voice actor did do a good job for 4kids.

Oh yeah guys, watch the comments concerning 4kids.
Don't wanna get this thread locked.

[Myoti]

Everyone can just take a guess at my excitement over this.

[Netbug009]

Dangit. Somebody beat me to saying it. XD

This is not only good news as a OP fan, but this also means that if this does well, some other dubbing groups may step off and fix other series 4kids has ruined. A redo of Sonic X and Kirby would be nice.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Yay! I hope to love Sanji's voice this time!

[Fish and Chips]

Tom Dincht beat me to the punch. I figured Funimation would pick it up from 4Kids. Maybe now would be the time to give the series the second chance I've been talking about.

[ilikegir33]

This is not only good news as a OP fan, but this also means that if this does well, some other dubbing groups may step off and fix other series 4kids has ruined. A redo of Sonic X and Kirby would be nice.

Sonic X and Kirby? Yeah that would be nice. Those people at 4KIDS changed 'em up making the series unfaithful to the original games.
Also I infer the OP uncut ver will be rated TV-PG. It's great for FUNimation to license OP!!!!!!

[Fish and Chips]

Sonic X and Kirby? Yeah that would be nice. Those people at 4KIDS changed 'em up making the series unfaithful to the original games.
Also I infer the OP uncut ver will be rated TV-PG. It's great for FUNimation to license OP!!!!!!

Sonic X is still disappointing even without dub. One of these days, I'm banking on a true Sonic Anime to be made, one that will be awesome. I actually even had some ideas for one. But that'll be for another thread. This is One Piece.

[MasterDias]

Well, I admit I was surprised to hear this, and even more surpised that it was Funimation and not Viz. And Funi's even taking the cue from Naruto, and releasing the series in boxsets.

But it's about time this series got the proper treatment.

[rocklobster]

Yeah, maybe this'll be what we need to get 4Kids out of here!

[Tommy]

4kids does an excellent job at making Anime for older children more aimed for youngsters.

I personally think the only thing wrong about the One Piece dub is that they cut story arcs and they didn't air it uncut as well.

[Fish and Chips]

Good VA is really very subjective. I've heard different people praise and bash the English VAs in the same series. And removing story arcs can be understandable to a point, as long as they don't detract from the overall plot (which is fortunate for One Piece, as it has no plot aside from said arcs). I just think some of their edits were ridiculous. Apparantly, you can run an effective Naval force entirely on supersoakers.

I don't even watch the show, and I'll agree the edits are lame.

[Nate]

Good VA is really very subjective. I've heard different people praise and bash the English VAs in the same series.

Yeah, same here. I've heard people slam the English cast of Naruto when to me, they're absolutely brilliant (and yes, I saw the series in Japanese first). I felt that a handful of voices in the 4Kids dub were excellent, and hope they retain at least some of the original voice actors.

And removing story arcs can be understandable to a point, as long as they don't detract from the overall plot (which is fortunate for One Piece, as it has no plot aside from said arcs).

Removing story arcs can be understandable to a point, but I'm not sure what you're trying to imply with the "no plot aside from the arcs." That isn't true. They ended up cutting out a filler arc at the beginning of the series; this wasn't a big deal because it was filler and didn't have any bearing on the plot (aside from the fact that one scene in the filler explained why you can't sail into the Grand Line from any of the other four oceans).

The problem is 4Kids cut out the Little Garden arc. This is a HUGE problem because it was the introduction of an important character that was vital to the plot. It was also the point in the series where Usopp vowed to stop being a coward and began to be a contributing member of the team. It also harmed the running gag that the lies Usopp told Kaya end up becoming true. Later in the series you can see Zoro's legs with stitches on them; Little Garden explains how Zoro got these wounds.

So yeah. The problem is the arc they decided to cut was extremely important to the storyline, which made them have to make ridiculous edits later in the series regarding Mr. 3 (the character who first showed up in LG) and leave certain things such as Zoro's wounds unexplained...it also forced them to cut out many of Usopp's heroics in later episodes because Usopp never matured in the English dub. He was still a huge coward because as far as 4Kids was concerned he never gained any courage in LG.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I know one of the translators in FUNimation. Apparently they're pretty excited about them acquiring One Piece as well.

[AsianBlossom]

Totally good news for teenage fans that don't like watered down shows. (Hopefully, they'll change Sonic X a bit; I only like a few of the 4Kids actors in this, but as mentioned before that's for another thread) About the editing, I heard from my friend that one of the guys on the show had his cigarette edited by 4Kids to look like a lollipop. Sounds rather clever, but what does he do when he pulls the lollipop out of his mouth? Whistle? If smoke still came out of his mouth, they could've said maybe he was eating a jalapeno--or tabasco--flavored lollipop, lol.

(Note: hasn't seen OP, but has heard about it)

[Nate]

About the editing, I heard from my friend that one of the guys on the show had his cigarette edited by 4Kids to look like a lollipop. Sounds rather clever, but what does he do when he pulls the lollipop out of his mouth? Whistle?

Yeah, all the smoking was edited out. Well, most of it. For the record:

Sanji - had his cigarette changed to a lollipop. This looked ridiculous in a lot of instances because it looked too small, and the fact remained that even if it looked like a lollipop, he still held it like a cigarette. All smoke was edited out.

Crocodile - His cigars were edited out completely, often by using "mirroring" techniques on his face. This led to a lot of scenes with Crocodile looking extremely stupid. All smoke was edited out as well.

Smoker (was changed to "Chaser" in the dub) - The dual cigars were removed, also by mirroring techniques (and causing Chaser to constantly look like a mouth breather). The smoke pouring out of his mouth was kept]Cursed[/i] Fruit) powers.

[mitsuki lover]

I hope that Funimation gets either Colleen Clickenbeard or Laura Bailey to do Nami
when they get around to doing the new dub.
Kerry Williams' Nami was one of the better depictions in the 4kids version.She was always able to make the character drip with sarcasm when dealing with Usopp and
Luffy.
Of course the person who would make a really great Nami would be Tiffany Grant.
All you need do is to listen to her doing Asuka on Evangelion to see that she'd be near perfect for the part.

[Kawaiikneko]

YEEEESSSSS!!!!

They're really changing the voice actors?! That makes my day. No offense to those of you who like them, but they really weren't my cup of tea.

So what we’re going to do is 13 episode releases at $49.98.

The most beautiful sentence in the article....

[Fish and Chips]

Removing story arcs can be understandable to a point, but I'm not sure what you're trying to imply with the "no plot aside from the arcs." That isn't true.

My bad. Just back when I was checking out One Piece, each story arc seemed fairly self-sufficient aside from bringing in new crew members to Luffy's ship. Then again, I didn't read into it that far, so maybe that's just my loss.

[Myoti]

My bad. Just back when I was checking out One Piece, each story arc seemed fairly self-sufficient aside from bringing in new crew members to Luffy's ship. Then again, I didn't read into it that far, so maybe that's just my loss.

The beginning is mostly like that, but much of the pre-Grand Line arcs were simply to set up everything that would come later. The Baratie arc (the one Sanji appears in) is actually where the overall story starts to open up a bit more. Each arc is pretty self-sufficient, as you said, but the overall plot is revealed piece-by-piece during each arc.

[MasterDias]

A number of the arcs(especially the early arcs) are pretty self-sufficient to an extent, but there is an overall plot. However, it does tend to get developed really slowly and things that are mentioned early on aren't ever brought up again until volumes/episodes later.

One Piece is by no means a series for those who don't want to be in for the long haul. At present, it doesn't appear to be even close to finishing.

[mitsuki lover]

From the way I read the interview it appeared that Funimation is going to first do the tv version starting where 4kids left off and then decide wheter or not they want to go over and redo the DVDs from the beginning or simply start with episode 144
and later work back.
Considering the number of episodes in Detective Conan/Case Closed One Piece won't be the first series they've done with over 100+ or more episodes.
Though when it does come out I think it will be hard for the first couple weeks to get used to the new voices.

[WrestlingOtaku]

[quote=" Justin Cook"] It’s still under discussion, but I assure you we will not be using the “Gum-Gum Rap.â€

[mitsuki lover]

I think the editing out of Sanji's smoking was probably either Toei or 4kid's idea.
Certainly considering the time slot that One Piece is on Saturday nights on Toonami the fact that a major character smokes shouldn't be too big a deal.Especially considering one of the grownup characters on Naruto,half hour earlier,is frequently shown with cig in mouth.

[Tommy]

It was originally meant for 4kids TV though, wasn't it?
Not Toonami.

[creed4]

this is very good news, I actually like the one piece dub and now I'm thrilled that we are getting it uncut

[Roy Mustang]

It was originally meant for 4kids TV though, wasn't it?
Not Toonami.

Yes, Toonami never did any editing work to One Piece, because 4kids arleady did the editing. When 4kids drop One Piece from their line up, they give all their copys to Toonami.


Col. Roy Mustang