Anime in Arabia.

I'm not sure what is meant by Anime gaining popularity in the Arab World, Anime was quite popular in the 1980s-1990s as well. Most anime dubs though were quite thorough, too. Changing the character names from Japanese into Arab names (except for the Pokemon dub, where they oddly kept yankee dub names). If I recall, the Digimon critters themselves had their names Arabized, interestingly, Pokemon critter names have not. *cough* yes, it's been years since I saw the show, but I don't recall any censoring of the digivolutions.

The Yu Gi Oh Arabic dub was also done using the English dub as a basis. Maybe it's the familiarity of English-language names compared to Japanese ones?

What irks me the most about the near-complete Arabization of the dubbed anime shows' settings is how in many cases there are still enough blatant clues in the scenery for the view to know that this show is not set anywhere within or even near the Arab world's countries. Captain Tsubasa is especially guilty of trying to pass off the central Cast Herd as Arabs when not only are several of the characters' houses made in traditional/classical Japanese style, and not only is Japanese written text very prolific and clear across the show, but while playing in the "unnamed Arab country"'s national team, the scoreboard for their match against France clearly shows both the flag of Japan and its name in big English letters. Even the average elementary school kid is smarter than to not notice that Epic Fail.

edited 11th Sep '12 12:14:11 PM by MarqFJA

Hahahaha. I remember when the Japanese national team is formed, you could hear the commentator describing the team as "The national team of the Arab World, from its two parts in Asia and Africa"...then the camera centers on the Japanese flag on Captain Tsubasa's shirt. :p

I think it's because 4Kids pre-censored a lot of it already.

Yeah, that would save them a lot of the effort. Don't know why 4Kids censored stuff like Mai's outfit, though; would it have been difficult to market Yu Gi Oh to teens instead of young children, if they were worried about the Moral Guardians?

And Digimon Adventure. Oh God, how stupid did they think the viewers are to not notice the distinctively Japanese design of the antique buildings in the Kyoto episode? And the stupid made-up names they gave for most of the Digimon, too! I mean, why would you name something as grand, magnificient, and clearly mythological as Garudamon the local equivalent of the plain and generic word "raptor" (as in "bird of prey")?!

edited 11th Sep '12 5:16:23 PM by MarqFJA

4Kids's target audience is really young kids though. All the censorship was taking things meant for Japanese 12-year-olds and trying to re-market them for American 7-year-olds.

Maybe they just think Arab kids wouldn't know what Japan is like or don't care? It's like how they referred to what were obviously rice cakes as 'donuts' in the Pokemon dub.

I wonder if Code Geass would fly over there.

Not bloody likely — at least, not without as much heavy censorship as Dragon Ball (which, BTW, I estimate had roughly no less than two thirds of its material taken out and replaced with repetitive "safe" frames that are so obviously artificially copy-pasted). For one, the copious Butt Focus shots of female mecha pilots, particularly Kallen. For two, the abundant fanservice courtesy of many female characters, with Milly being the biggest "offender". And Viletta's skimpy signature outfit. And Euphemia's very cleavage-revealing dress. And... Well, you get the picture.

Wark

edited 12th Sep '12 9:39:53 AM by Colonial1.1

Yeeeeesh!

What about in some of the Maghrebi countries?

You don't have to go that far. I'd vouch for whichever dubbing studio that dubs most of MBC 3's anime shows (e.g. the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series), which IIRC is either based in or originates from Egypt, Syria, or an actually liberal-minded Arabian group (like MBC itself is, BTW).

Isn't Code Geass's sense of Morality also an issue, how it sorta glorifies Lelouch's usage of deception and such. There's also an episode where Cornelia wrecks the shit of some unnamed Arabic nation, but that probably wouldn't be much of a problem to censor.

Btw, if you don't mind me asking, which Arabic country are you from?

edited 13th Sep '12 12:33:30 PM by Scherzo09

Who said I was from an Arab country? Yeesh, just show a little proficiency in the language and more general know-how about the socio-cultural and political facts of the region, and you are immediately assumed to be a native.

edited 13th Sep '12 7:39:57 PM by MarqFJA

Well I kinda thought you'd have least spent a good deal of time there, since you talk about what channels air anime and how they went about it.

You do know that those channels are all satellite TV stations, right? You can watch them from practically anywhere on the planet that the satellite's signal reaches, so long as you have the requisite receiver (and, in some cases, like MBC's HD channels, a subscription to the channel in question).

Of course, you could also make do without that if you already have a reliable contact/friend in the region who can keep you up to date on the local news and stuff.

edited 16th Sep '12 7:39:00 AM by MarqFJA

I live in Central Europe, yet I can receive signal even from (Northern) Sudan. Doesn't matter though if only Arabic word I know (apart from few religious terms) is one connected to certain body part which I won't quote here.

Speaking of censorship, Dragonball here in my country was sometimes censored when it comes to what characters said, but only 15 minutes of material were cut. It was obvious that Roshi was pervert even if his lines weren't so perverted.

edited 16th Sep '12 7:46:49 AM by CaptainKatsura

Why would someone waste time watching badly chopped anime in a foreign language and getting familiar with it when there are so many other ways to enjoy that anime in much better formats?

Hmm, I suspect in some Arabic countries, especially those of dictatorship leaning, viewers might not have much of choice.

I mean for those who live out of Arabia, of course.

I mean, there are Arabic tropers in this thread, right?

That's right and I'm one myself. Like I said there was less censoring in Arabic dub anime titles back in the 80's, it's just that a company like Venus (Al Zahra) who owns Space Toon has a monopoly on popular anime shows out there. If Toei is serious of releasing the new Sailor Moon anime a worldwide release then they should stay away from that company and maybe strike a deal to air it on Cartoon Network Arabia or possibly the arabic branch of F/X, which shows Simpsons, Family Guy and Neighbors from Hell

Honestly, back when I saw that show as a kid, I didn't even know what Japan was. Captain Majid, Captain Majid, 3ada ilaykum min jadid!

And Code Geass, if they put the thing in the hands of a capable editor, could be immensely popular. Britannia is the USA, the Chinese are Soviet Russia, the Concession is Israel, Japan is basically everyone who ever got occupied and is struggling with acculturation, racism, and largely self-inflicted neocolonialism. That is to say, basically everyone. Seriously, I could write an essay on how Arabs could wholeheartedly project themselves into the show, completely unaware of the Unfortunate Implications of doing so. Some Arab kids I know got to watch the english subs through the Internet, and Lelouch's "remove contact lens" routine became a nonverbal meme among them, that's how bad it was.

All that is needed is an animation studio that would rework all the indecent bits. As for the blood, for people who watch Al Jazeera and are used to grey, bloody, recently-dead Palestinian, Iraki, Syrian children, just to give one example... I think a Moral Guardian would have to be blind not to admit that people would be jaded.

Heck, in the context of this thread, I'm pretty sure Emperor Chuck's Social Darwinism would simply be one more trait of him being.. a blasphemous.. vill—oh shit.

He tried to Kill GOD. And then his son GEASSED IT. How do you dub your way around that?

Making USA and Israel potential villains in a dub wouldn't be the wisest choice. It's not that Palestinian militias and countries that USA invaded are all white knights, and Hebrews, and Yankees and Dixies, are clearly villains. Both sides are more or less grey at this point.

This is Code Geass we are talking about. As far as I'm concerned, everyone in that show is either black or dead. That's why I said people projecting themselves onto it would be making a big mistake. It should be educational, when, years down the line, they look back and understand precisely what they were so blindly rooting for.