[[OnePiece http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sd_helmeppo_macekre.jpg]]
[[caption-width:251:Don't move or else I'll [[strike:kill]] [[NeverSayDie get him]] with my... spring-loaded showerhead?]]

->'''Ichigo:''' ''"Mew Mew Style, think I'll pass, English dub can kiss my--"'' \\
'''Mint:''' ''"[[CurseCutShort Ichigo!]]"''
-->-- Fanart that made the rounds of the ''TokyoMewMew'' fandom upon the release of ''[[FourKidsEntertainment Mew Mew Power]]''

A strongly held opinion that a CutAndPasteTranslation of an {{Anime}} is a mockery of the original work.

Pronounced similarly to "massacre", the term was coined by anime fans from the name of producer/writer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Macek Carl Macek]], whose early "free adaptations" of [[{{Anime}} anime]] frequently bear little or no resemblance to the original Japanese stories. His usual procedure was to dispose of the original script entirely, and write his own from scratch. Often he would combine two or more unrelated series simply in order to have enough episodes to fulfill a syndication deal. He is particularly reviled for the seemingly xenophobic ruthlessness with which he purged any hint of Japanese culture -- what he euphemistically called "ethnic gestures" -- from the series which he adapted.

Fans (with some justification) feel that this practice is disrespectful to the creators, as the series is being treated as a pure marketing product rather really "getting" the draw. The practice has fortunately dwindled since the eighties because of the utter hatred modern fans hold for it, as well as the greater accessibility to the original product (although [[DubInducedPlotHole consistency can flounder]] at times). The importing companies have hopefully realized that the [[WidgetSeries quirks]] were what attracted many viewers in the first place. The increasing number of import companies born from fan groups (like {{ADV Films}}) may also have something to do with it. The practice has also largely faded, however, because ironically doing things like what Macek did -- replacing whole scripts and renaming whole casts, writing entirely new musical scores, having to spend days editing and re-cutting a show -- is actually ''significantly more expensive'' and time-consuming than a straight dub, especially now that the original source music and the like can be stored digitally and easily layered back into an English track. With the margins of the Western anime market being fairly tight, it simply makes more sense to give the fans what they want, since it's cheaper.

It's worth noting that there is in fact also something of a "sliding scale of macekre" here. On one end of the scale, you have shows that were, objectively, pretty severely changed -- but the changes were done by people who understood both the core appeal of the show in question, liked what they saw, and the changes were more to make the show even ''possible'' in another market -- a {{Woolseyism}}. A lot of people consider the anime brought over by World Events in the 1980s to be an example of this -- ''Go Lion'' and ''Star Musketeer Bismarck'' went through a heap of changes, but ''{{Voltron}}'' and ''SaberRiderAndTheStarSheriffs'' were both quite popular and a lot of fans would contend that the shows still "get" the fundamental draw while avoiding traps that would have made them unairable in 1980s America otherwise (such as ''Go Lion's'' occasional massive violence). On the other end of the scale, of course, are things like ''Tranzor Z'' (edited version of ''MazingerZ'') or the [[FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] ''OnePiece'' dub, which are done without any care whatsoever and without understanding why people like the show at all. Invariably this results in a failed product that buries a franchise in a market for decades and leaves licensors furious. Therefore, it's possible to still change a show dramatically in adaptation and not "ruin" a franchise... but it takes a ''lot'' of skill and care, and too many times that just doesn't happen, leading to some of the more onerous examples found throughout TVT.

Keep in mind that TropesAreNotBad. Some people use such dubs as a GatewaySeries, and the virulent fan reaction against the dubs may puzzle those not familiar with the original version, or even perhaps those that watched the dubs first. Also, the sliding scale of macekre varies from person to person; what one may consider bad changes another may not mind quite as much.

Contrast {{Woolseyism}} (where the changes are seen as more organic and workable), GagDub (where nearly the entire dialogue is rewritten from the ground up, and the changes are for intentionally comic purposes, often [[{{MST}} making fun of the original]]), {{Streamlined}} for when content for when the story is '''completely''' altered, and GoodBadTranslation. Compare {{Americanitis}}.

See also DifficultyByRegion, DubNameChange.

No examples, please. This just describes the concept. For the examples that were on this page, please go to CutAndPasteTranslation.
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