DragonBall Z Kai TV Network Version (CW4Kids\Toonzai\Vortex)

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, then, I guess in light of that, Nickelodeon needs to be taken to task for being the racist bastards they apparently are...

[ThunderPX]

Who the hell is "Toonzaki", anyway?

[sangofe]

Who the hell is "Toonzaki", anyway?

Toonzai's Facebook Account.

[Strongbad456]

Toonzaki will be an uncut anime streaming website run by 4Kids and it should have subbed anime. Their website suggests it may launch September 15th.

[sangofe]

Toonzaki will be an uncut anime streaming website run by 4Kids and it should have subbed anime. Their website suggests it may launch September 15th.

It doesn't make sense they're defending the censoring on Mr.Popo, then.

[dan2026]

Oh god this is going to be censored so much every episode will probably run about 3 minutes long.
Its fucking One Piece all over again!

HAVE 4KIDS LEARNED NOTHING!?

[Zep]

I completely see where 4kids is coming from on this... Although I find it surprising that apparently there hasn't been enough outcry for all the years DBZ has been on western TV with a completely uncensored Mr Popo, yet suddenly they're worried about it now.

It all comes down to the execution. If they had maybe taken a different approach, recoloured him more subtly, or generally did a better job of it than this, I dunno if I'd have too much of a problem. In the end, though, this edit job is extremely jarring and will probably only confuse kids who may have already seen Mr Popo in all his golliwogg glory.

[Innagadadavida]

Jesus Christ in a hand basket. How many fucking times do you people need to be told. 4Kids is not censoring this. FUNimation is as mandated by the network. 4Kids only handles the broadcasting. They aren't even TOUCHING this series.

[Cipher]

According to Toonzaki we need a "reality check": " Anyone who does not recognize that Mr. Popo's character design would be viewed as racially insensitive in the US needs a reality check. " http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toonzaki/ ... opic=15923

Well, they're right. I mean, ignoring the fact that Mr. Popo and characters like Adjutant Black have gone uncensored for about a decade, he is a straight up Sambo character that would raise eyebrows if it came from anywhere but '80s Japan. Dragon Ball's always been hilariously insensitive, from Nam, to Black, to Blue, to Upa and Bora, etc. It's part of its charm, but it's easy to see where the concern comes from.

That said, did they run out of light purple or something?

It doesn't make sense they're defending the censoring on Mr.Popo, then.

Um, yes it does. Mr. Popo is racist as hell, whether or not we're personally offended by him, and airing the show on a network children's block is picking up a much larger audience than it ever has in recent years. The chance for controversy there is much greater than on an uncut streaming service or a premium cable channel. They just don't want to Jynx things.

Well, then, I guess in light of that, Nickelodeon needs to be taken to task for being the racist bastards they apparently are...

If it were a more widely available channel, they very well might be. No one's saying that showing black Popo is racist (even if, c'mon, he pretty much is in that innocent Japanese way). They're just avoiding very foreseeable controversy. Note the wording of "would be viewed as racially insensitive in the US." The only crime here is how stupid the particular edit looks.

[Gaffer Tape]

Nah. I'd say censorship is its own crime, but that's a topic of discussion for a different time perhaps.

[dan2026]

Mr. Popo is racist as hell

No he isn't, not at all.
Just because his design might be based on a blackface caricature, doesn't automatically make the character racist.
I don't see any malicious intent in the character at all, its just Toriyama's style of art.

Everyone in the early series was a caricature or a stereotype of some sort.

[ohaimynameiserik]

... Eh, I'm gonna have to agree that Popo is pretty damn racist. He is super offensive.

You can say it's just a style of art, but said "style of art" is pretty damn insensitive.

That and his original intent is for him to speak in a most primitive manner...

However, I don't think little kids should be watching Dragon Ball, anyway. I know I'm going to get a lot of shit for saying that because it's intended for young boys and blah blah, but it really isn't for anyone under the age of at LEAST like 13 in my eyes. Note that I'm only speaking of the uncut version.

[Codarik]

Why can't it air uncut on adult swim or something? Why bother even editing it for TV? It doesn't even have anything really bad happen in it. They show a lot more worse stuff on TV then what Kai has.

[linkdude20002001]

Jesus Christ in a hand basket. How many fucking times do you people need to be told. 4Kids is not censoring this. FUNimation is as mandated by the network. 4Kids only handles the broadcasting. They aren't even TOUCHING this series.

Actually, FUNimation hired Ocean Productions to do the editing. Or at least the Nicktoons version anyways.

[AgitoZ]

Why can't it air uncut on adult swim or something? Why bother even editing it for TV? It doesn't even have anything really bad happen in it. They show a lot more worse stuff on TV then what Kai has.

Well first it's not an adult swim show. Second most anime aren't AS material or profitable.

You'd think Nicktoons would air it uncut at like midnight. A la Toonami. It's not like they haven't showed DBZ Kai at night.

[linkdude20002001]

I was talking to my little brother (who watches Avatar: The Last Airbender), and he was saying there's punches to the face, blood, and even alcohol. So why is it that Kai can't have any of that? Kai was already censored for airing Sunday mornings in Japan, so it should be all good to show as is on US TV; especially alongside shows that are just as "offensive".

[Codarik]

Why can't it air uncut on adult swim or something? Why bother even editing it for TV? It doesn't even have anything really bad happen in it. They show a lot more worse stuff on TV then what Kai has.

Well first it's not an adult swim show. Second most anime aren't AS material or profitable.

You'd think Nicktoons would air it uncut at like midnight. A la Toonami. It's not like they haven't showed DBZ Kai at night.

I understand it not being AS material, and I agree with you about Nicktoons to air it uncut at midnight. Though I also think it would be good on the SyFy channel, they show anime and Kai has some sci-fi stuff in it.

[Innagadadavida]

I was talking to my little brother (who watches Avatar: The Last Airbender), and he was saying there's punches to the face, blood, and even alcohol. So why is it that Kai can't have any of that? Kai was already censored for airing Sunday mornings in Japan, so it should be all good to show as is on US TV; especially alongside shows that are just as "offensive".

Because there are no punches to the face, blood, or alcohol in Avatar: TLA. There's rarely any hand-to-hand combat at all in the show.The only thing that could be considered inappropriate in avatar is some very very light sexual suggestion.

Dragon Ball Z Kai, even when edited, is a hundred times more violent.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

What the hell does "Mr. Popo is racist" even mean? You could say, perhaps, that the design is insensitive (and to that, I say, "Here's a tissue"), but there wasn't any racism going on with him. If Toriyama was somehow saying that black people are inferior to Japanese people with Mr. Popo's character, that'd be racism.

[Innagadadavida]

Its the personification of a racist stereotype. The character design for Mr. Popo is not overtly racist by itself, but it calls to images that are. At the very least Popo wouldn't look that way if racism didn't exist. That is the only reason we have come this far with Popo as-is. If his speech had been faithfully adapted in the English dub, the situation would be much, much worse.

I have no feelings on the racism-in-question itself. I feel like Mr. Popo shouldn't look like that in the first place but he does. It's unfortunate but its there, what can we do about it? Paint him blue? Nah, thats sill--

I also feel like anybody that takes that image personally and is outright offended by it is also very silly. Their reaction is the only thing that lends credibility to the insult the design is based on.