4Kids Entertainment is a company headquartered in New York City that licenses children's television shows in the United States and in other countries outside Japan.

Titles

It produces several shows in the English language, including translated anime. Its distribution services are handled by FUNimation. All programming on 4Kids TV (formerly the Fox Box) is licensed by 4Kids.

A list of shows that it produces includes:

• The Cramp Twins
• Cubix
• Fighting Foodons : Prepare for Battle! (a joint effort between 4Kids and Enoki Films, the licensor)
• Funky Cops
• F-Zero GP Legend
• Incredible Crash Dummies
• Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (in association with Twentieth Television)
• Mew Mew Power (The English manga and original Japanese version is Tokyo Mew Mew)
• One Piece
• Pokémon (in association with Miramax Films and Buena Vista Home Entertainment , the latter two units of The Walt Disney Company.)
• Shaman King
• Sonic X (A joint effort between 4Kids and ShoPro Entertainment, the licensor)
• Tama and Friends
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 cartoon) (in association with New Line Television)
• Ultimate Muscle (Kinnikuman II Sei in Japan)
• Ultraman Tiga
• The Winx Club
• Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters in Japan (in association with Warner Brothers Television Animation)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX in Japan (airing in 2005 in North America)

In addition, 4Kids has licensing agreements with the American Kennel Club, Clear Channel Communications' "Monster Jam" series and Xavier Roberts' Cabbage Patch Kids toys.

Criticism

Many anime fans in the US are highly critical of 4Kids because of its policy of extensive Americanization of the anime titles it licences. On one hand, such alteration alters the series from what they originally were, and some feel that it defaces the original work and demeans the original author. On the other hand, 4Kids tends to licence only titles targeted to preteens, and is modifying the titles to appeal to the same demographic in the US - leaving the title as is would limit its access in the US, as well as potentially raising the ire of parent groups.

However, in order to combat the complaints, 4Kids has allowed FUNimation, their DVD distributor, to release unedited versions of Shaman King and Yu-Gi-Oh! on DVD as a test (similar to how DiC allowed ADV Films to release unedited versions of Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac)). If the unedited releases do well, 4Kids may expand them, as well as release uncut DVDs to other animes such as Sonic X, Ultimate Muscle, etc. to its entire lineup.

External links

• 4Kids Corporate website Alternate URLS: [1]
• 4Kids Home Video website
• 4KidsTV website