How 4KIDS Censored SONIC X | Chaos Emerald Saga 

Japan: *writes everything in English* English dub: "What is this moonspeak? Erase it all!"

English text: *exists* 4Kids: And I took that personally.

"It doesn't make any sense or reason to get rid of the sign." Of course there is, if we were just shown a blank sign without any context, then it would look awkward and out of place... wait...

"Sonic is a giant rodent" Not to be that guy, but hedgehogs aren't rodents.

Ahh yes...my favorite alcoholic drink: A G L A S S O F S A L A M I.

Amy's passport was actually issued April 6th, 2003. Some countries have the day listed before the month as opposed to having the month before the day like in North America.And there was an inconsistency scene with the crocodiles in the dub. It shows them belly up when Eggman's talking to Bocoe and Decoe EDIT: April 6th, 2003 was when the series started airing in Japan

Text: *exists* 4KIDS: *You disgust me*

07:13 Maybe they could’ve pulled a “Ghost Stories” and made Chris say “I was going to make a sign, but I forgot to write something on it.”

Gasp! English words.. one of 4Kids pet peeves. lol

English and Japan text: exists 4kids remover it our kids can’t read China: text exists 4kids: all hail money and all hail us we are “great dubs in the world and Saturday morning challenge every”

In the dub of Dam Scam, after the cut made to Eggman killing the crocodiles, it cuts back to a frame of Eggman staring at their lifeless bodies with a smile. This lead me and my sibling to believe that he "punched them" off-screen and we found that amusing.

I think the crescent moon and star is a symbol often associated with an used within Islam, much like the shield in Ocarina of time being altered (alongside the fire temple's chanting), it was probably done to avoid controversy, upset or offensive within countries with a predominantly Muslim population/ individuals who may not want such religious symbols in gaming (like Nintendo's old policy against things such as bibles, crucifixes etc.)

13:53 The sign, “Speed” is referring to “Sam Speed”, so no, the person he was rooting for has not changed, just his species bias.

14:02 4Kids did not change the guy to cheer for Sonic. Speed is Sam's last name, so if anything, the dub made the cheering for Sam more obvious.

Are we not gonna talk about how the toy store scenes in Episode 15 literally included E.T.'s spaceship? I think that was a pretty clever inclusion IMO

I remember as a young child watching this show on 4kids I actually thought some of the political drama was cool. It was such a change of pace.

Sonic X’s dub is okay, it’s bearable. My biggest issue though is the music. Episode 26, they took out Kotoba ni Dekinai by Off Course which, in my opinion, is part of what made the scene where Chris almost dies taking the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic emerging out of the ocean so emotional. Then in the later seasons, they took out Live and Learn during the Finalhazard fight. WHY? It’s an English song that a lot of Sonic fans know of, even in the US.

2:07 Hegehogs are not rodents. Rodents are strictly herbivores, Hegehogs mainly consume small insects. I get that Eggman/Robotnik frequently refers to Sonic as "that rotten rodent" but as Sonic says: "I'm not a rat... I'm a hedgehog!"

Speaks Japanese Written in English P.S. TMS removed the text.

15:51 you're telling me that 4Kids actually showed Rouge's cleavage for a mere 3 seconds? Blasphemy

I will never get over how out of place the burgar bar is.

The "Sonic hitting Amy" edit is so dumb cause they keep knuckles punching Rouge in the Shadow saga...

I'm guessing the Chinese was kept because Chinatown is a common setting in various media where you aren't supposed to understand anything if you don't speak Chinese and also, the Chinese text helps show that it is Chinatown. Still weird that the English text got removed though as it's set in America though, I guess they felt constant foreign text in non-English countries would get annoying after awhile and TMS just gave 4 Kids an international cut while keeping the Chinese text in that one episode. Edit: Oh they went to a Little Japan later and edited the Japanese text? Yeah, that makes no sense.

12:35 I’m not sure if I’m the only one who noticed, but before Sonic karate chops Amy, his right arm is blue instead of just having his skin

I'm fairly certain that the "Pandaman" text on the toy box actually reads "Pandam" as there isn't enough space on the box for the name pandaman, and pandam would make it a more obvious reference to gundam, which is referenced a few times in the Japanese cut.

12:28 If you asked me, the moment when Sonic's karate chop hand makes contact with a ghost possessed-Amy should've been censored with a White Flash.

idk if this is something you've realized later on or knew already, but another reason for edits is ad breaks. sometimes episodes might extend past was 4kids needs for ad space so they'd cut what they consider unnecessary content to reduce time. If you ever see a cut, like the pinky promise, that just doesn't make sense, that's probably why.

Everyone else in the comments: **talking about how 4Kids remove the text** Me who is weird: why is there a Barney rip-of in sonic??

I find it odd how they kept cutting out a lot of Mr. Tanaka's Japanese mannerisms, yet still gave him a very stereotypical Japanese accent.

Regarding Episode 16, the signs themselves were actually removed altogether at some point, probably as early as the DVDs. The official RU-vid stream has this change, for one.

Episode 19 is my favorite episode of Sonic X! There are actually a few more changes to that episode that you missed. During the sound director’s search for the noise in the castle, he stares at the symbolized wall after the ghosts disappear from behind him. This scene is removed in the English dub. After the ghosts’ hostages are shown unconscious as the ghosts laugh, there is an extra scene where, while descending the staircase, Amy clings onto Chris and nervously talks about wanting to move into a small apartment in Station Square and open up a restaurant named “Amy’s Kitchen.” This scene is removed in the English dub. Here’s a little piece of a localization oversight: despite the moon side of the hourglass artifact being changed to remove the star, during the scene where Sonic breaks open the symbolized wall, there is a _very_ brief moment where, just before Sonic kicks down the wall, you can see that the star on the moon side of the hourglass is actually intact. This is the only time in the episode where the hourglass’ original design is maintained.

I noticed you didn't talk about Episode 20's moment where Amy breaks the 4th wall in the Japanese Version. Huge missed opportunity 😔

17:29 it's so you don't complain about the signs being blank like that one scene in the previous arc with Sonic and Chris

The French dub is based on the Japanese one but uses the edited text by TMS. So you can compare with that one to see which is 4K & which was TMS the sign thing was TMS btw Flag of Turkey thing (if not trolling) Is the symbol for Islam itself (Religion of Turkey and most of the Middle East) Another good vid

I was so clueless when i watched sonic x when i was a kid till later on I found out about censorship 😂

6:29 Uh... The 03 of "AVR 03" is a year, not a day. It basically means "April 6th of 2003". 17:41 But... he's not a stranger. Chris has known him for a while now.

11:45 also that crescent moon with a star symbol on the hourglass is a religious symbol, most specifically the Islamic symbol.

17:02 the sign that shows up on the mid/left says "love poo" lmao. Yeah, I'm pretty sure why they removed that one.

7:29 This change here was still included in the Hulu Sub for some reason and I'll never ever understand why

11:51 I think the edit might have been more to avoid religious iconography, as the crescent moon with the star in the middle is also the same symbol of Islam, which is an edit we see in later versions of "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", where push blocks and the Mirror Shield have the same symbol changed to the Gerudo people's symbol, which vaguely resembles the head of a snake.

7:06: Not only that, but the "Lorem Ipsum" text on the right-hand side of the book is actually a Romanized transliteration of the folk tale "Urashima-Taro" (浦島太郎) :P (It's a different story, one about a young man who helps a mystical turtle, rather than the famous story, "Momo-Taro", about a boy born from a peach.) It starts with "Mukas(h)i Mukas(h)i", which is the Romanized form of "昔々”、or in English: "Once upon a time..." (Although I couldn't tell you why Japanese transliteration uses the spelling "si" to represent "shi"/し/シ) 7:46: Considering what is written there in Japanese, I think a perfect thing to translate it as would have been in the vein of "Kids, don't use Formula One racecars to chase hedgehogs!": Chris' placard: "Kids, don't try this at home!" Sonic's placard: "Except for me. I'm a professional." Second placard: "Again, don't try this at home!"

Hey dude, you forgot there’s this little 5 second clip with Amy wearing an Apron in Ep 24 saying “While you’re doing that l am going to...” That was also removed.

WE CANT USE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

17:00 Her head blocks part of the text and it reads "HELL" for awhile, they probably edited that to keep some Karen from getting upset, also it's possible that even though it's supposed to be HELLO that it would go against some kids broadcasting standard too.

I remember seeing that large salami, thinking it was a giant cigar, because the president seemed like the type of guy to smoke cigars

14:08 I can actually explain this edit. In the dub, Sam called himself Sam Speed. The man who held the sign saying 'Man' in Japan is still cheering for Sam in the dub, but he is using the last name of Sam's alias, Sam Speed.

The only reason I can think of why they would remove the English text is because other languages exist. The 4kids version also airing in other countries (just dubbed). They would want kids from other countries read unreadable text(even though most kids would understand it anyway and a lot of other cartoons keep the English text)

7:13 The sign should've said "I am a Doofus ".

I remember watching the original Adventure with Knuckles and hawk bar scene with beers not a burger joint on CW, and I can recall both versions of "Sonic's Scream Test" on CW and I remembered seeing G.U.N. on the vehicle only once, but never again in later showings of "Countdown to Chaos".

Text left in by accident 4Kids: my WORST *ENEMY!!!*

I love these videos! I find it really interesting as a subject! You do a very good job! Keep it up! I can't wait the part 2 of One Piece Skip Filler Guide video!

Not to mention, the Panda toy box says “Pandam” a pun of “Gundam”.

The epilogue of the first season aka the ending of episode 26 demonstrates how bad localization can change the meaning, significance and feelings of a scene with boring stock music, extra dialogues and different structure. Kotoba ni dekinai is a beautiful song that represents the (overhated) character of Chris.

Thank you for making these videos. I’ve been searching for these kind of videos for years :)

12:08 the glow coming from the star is still there though

A lot of these are pretty interesting. But no, censorship of any kind is a bad thing. And you shouldn't try to justify it either.

Pandam looks like a parody of Mobile suit gundam kit

4:24 It's a bit obvious, but still, the title on the box says "Pandam" as a reference to "Gundam", not "Pandaman", as the toy itself is a battle robot (like Gundam) resembling a panda

Cartoon Network: DragonBallZ is the most popular anime of all time 4Kids Fans: I think you forgot about Sonic X

Those episode title changes. Just.. wow.

17:12 Having just watched the uncut Japanese version, this scene blew my mind. Mr. Stewart counsels Chris on Sonic leaving once he obtains the chaos emeralds. Chris doesn't want Sonic to go because of all the excitement Sonic brings him even though he knows this is selfish of him. Hence, Stewart gives him a piece of candy to illustrate that there is joy in eating something sweet like candy but like eating candy that sense of joy dissolves. However, Stewart tells Chris that although that joy is gone, the memories of Sonic will stay with him. I knew right away this wasn't in the dub because I never felt that emotionally overwhelmed watching the 4Kids version and it's a shame this was taken out just because of some stranger danger stigma.

Ep 14...is so sweet... And fucking silly "WE NEED TO GET SONIC HERE!" "ʷʰʸ"

I am... Completely baffled to see that the French version of Sonic X was actually the unedited Japanese version just dubbed in French ! Though I do see some changes here and there, it's actually the original cut. I just... Wow, and here I thought it was the 4Kids version.

Where’d you get all this high quality footage from I just wanna know

I grew up watching sonic x on Jetix. It was pretty much 4kids for scandinavia, but I never knew about these changes.

how do you only have 4k subs? i know that a lot of your content is just about censorship and stuff but you still deserve more attention

12:08 but alas the laser for the star is still there.

HOODZ: I see you did realize what I said in the last comment. That's good. If you can find the Hulu rips of the Japanese version of Sonic X, I think that will help you know which airbrushing it TMS and which ones were change by 4Kids.

Hensama, I believe there's one scene you miss in Episode 24: During the beginning of Operation House Mouse (name of the plan in the Japanese version), Amy putting on her apron and winks at the viewer ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QQq50O3CPsU.html I actually upload the scene which was removed by 4Kids. The reason why the scene was removed by 4Kids, to me, not only because of the time constraints but the camera didn't show Amy tied the back of her apron which confuses the viewer to think that she scratches her freaking... Oops! Not gonna mention that.

I'm confused as to why there is even English text in the original Japanese... but I'm guessing Sonic X isn't set in Japan? That's something I'm so used to in early anime dubs, Japan is more or less erased and the setting becomes an "Anytown, America" of sorts.

7:14 the "textless signs" need to become a new meme format.

Imagine looking at the blank white signs and seeing Dream's face on it.

One way you can figure out what text was removed by TMS is to watch the French dub of the show as they dubbed the original rather than the 4Kids version

I think 4kids didn't remove most of the text. They just didn't add what supposed to be there. Like they got the materials but not the instructions. To be sure we need to check version of other countries.

2:45 They predicted the Beats Pill

11:10 There's nothing violent about being pushed away.

I thought the "Karate Chop" was PRETTY COOL. Although I see your point on "Physical Assault toward Women," it was a Simple "Chop in the back" in order to release that demonic ghost that was possessing Amy. It's not like Sonic punched her in the face or anything.

6:32 yoooo, my mans sonic came to Canada lol, that's now our official tourist attraction

Hedgehogs aren't rodents dude.

3:58 I notice that Amy talk more in Japanese version of sonic x (or it could be because Japanese use longer words than English dub) so yeah pay attention to the mouth movement

the star and crescent icon isnt on only the flag of turkey, its an important symbol in islam as a whole.

I would love to go to a 4kids employe party and everytime i saw anyone drinking any alchoolic beverage i would go there take it away and give them a glass of orange juice xD mwahahaha

A decade later and I still don't know why sonic x (ENGLISH DUB ESPECIALLY) is hated like hell.

One thing that needs to be mentioned: You say you have to give credit where credit is due because of the extra effort it took to remove the Book Store text. Why? When it's something like rewriting the article about Eggman's base to be grammatically correct, sure, that's a sensible change and good on them for making it. What purpose is there in removing the words Book Store from a building for a few frames? Was that too confusing to children? 4Kids made a handful of good choices and a huge majority of terrible ones. If they had put more effort into making good shows and less effort into wastes of time like these nonsensical localization changes, we would've had better English dubs of classic shows. They shouldn't be celebrated for their bad choices.

Hensama : *talks about anime* Also Hensama : "They remove this Chinese text"

There's versions of Episode 16 where the signs are removed altogether using digital paint and recycled animation.

The Sign didn't give Sonic instructions. It was a joke told through text. The sign read "Good kids don't try this at home", Sonic's sign had the response "Does that mean I'm not a good kid?"

the worse thing they did was removing Rouge's cleavage.

In live in canada. It's funny English and French text on passport as Amy got this from canada lol

Was there any mention of when Sam Speed changed his name from when it was originally Manhen or was it Manhan to his current name? It's pretty rare that fansubs managed to translate his actual name back in the early 2003's but when it was localized even in Netflix subs and Hulu ones it was always referred to as Sam Speed, the only existence of his older name is seen at time part 31:41 where you see the sign saying Sonic and on the other side it said Man with the "Hen" cut off... what I wonder is when did that name get said in the Japanese one I have watched it several times but only heard his usual name to make matters more confusing his non international title card says Sam Speed in English above the Japanese name.

Every second in every episode 4kids changes

They should be a uncut dub

I think the "Pandaman" you mentioned was just supposed to be Pandam, probably in reference to Gundam.

Sega said after 1998 that sonic is a teen targated videogame franshise....and the series shown that in the games....the anime sonic x in japan not meant to be for children....like other 4kids products dragon ball z...u gi u and others....the animes that also not meant to be for children too...if kids love what every person love such as animals sports superheroes action...etc...that Doesn't mean all of these stuff are made speceficlly for them.....if sonic is being so kiddy...that wont represent what sonic really is....what is sonic and his Friends are meant as a charcater...what sega themselves wanted the franshise to be....sonic is one of the coolest charcaters in videogame industry....please people just understand

Yet despite all the censorship for kids did it’s no longer the most hated dubbing company any more. Now everyone our the vast majority hate fundimation the most.

The passport is actually stating it was issued April 06 2003 as is the case with a lot of European and other passports

Can someone explain to me WHY english texts are removed?..i can accept drinking references...but censure signs with "shop shop" or "book store" heck even things we cant fully read are whiped out...i can't really see a reason to do that...

instead of salami it could've been another orange juice or soda

Eggman EN-US: I've never saw anything silly Eggman PT-BR: Nunca vi nada tão bobo

also continuing the comment of the previous part some scenes are changed and others that were in the dub were cut like the scene of sonic and the possesed amy originally cut from the japanese in the dub the netflix version cuts the dub scene so the possesed amy's ghost inside got out because of the pedestal.