Why were guns censored on 4kids dubs but not other "kid friendly" american dubs?

LIke from what i remember, Digimon, which aired about the same time, had gun themed monsters not censored. Like Deputymon, RizeGreymon,

Gundam's pre-seed series aired Cartoon Network and didn't have gun censorship

Plus, the US in general is just more accepting of guns being normal to have among people in general, it's not like a taboo thing.

Even several non-anime like Static Shock had a full episode about guns (which aired on the exact same tv block, FoxBox/Kids WB, that Yugioh and there other dubs did)

Now keep in mind, i actually love 4kids and will go against the grain of them being the devil of anime dubbing, but still, this was just kind of weird

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Vorthod2026-01-01 22:34

Because that's what 4kids decided was family friendly. There's a reason people hate 4kids and not some hypothetical censorship law that forced their hand.

TaiQuanDope12026-01-01 22:36

Yeah, they also censored any and all mentions of bombs, even going out of their way to ask Funimation to re-dub Dragonball Z Kai to say "spirit blast" instead of "spirit bomb".

Radioactive242026-01-02 04:20

And smoking, religious symbols, alcohol, and even death.

Sanji's cigarettes in One Piece being lollipops and also some characters getting their skin lightened to "avoid blackface" are some notorious ones.

Ekkzzo2026-01-02 06:53

I always have the naruto scene with zabuza standing on his tree embedded sword flashing in my mind when censorship is mentioned.

In germany merely his sword hilt was holding him in the air. He is literally standing on a flying stick lol.

watcher10052026-01-02 11:53

Yugioh had guards pointing at people with closed fists and the pointer finger slightly bent aka edited out guns. First time I ever noticed the censorship .

Edge_Horizon2026-01-02 18:28

The Bandit Keith finger point to Pegasus is my personal favorite

ClubMeSoftly2026-01-02 20:18

"invisible guns" as YGOTAS put it

Vorthod2026-01-02 04:58

That one actually strikes me as kind of funny since both of those names are more intense than the Energy Ball name the original (roughly) translated to.

AprilDruid2026-01-02 09:40

Keep in mind they aired on Saturday mornings. The standards were different.

hollowtaku12026-01-02 21:04

Most of 4Kids censorship decisions didn't come from them, but from the BS&P departments of TV channels.

Bluebaronbbb2026-01-01 22:35

Digimon had puppetmons gun edited out... Gundam seed on Toonami had the infamous disco guns... Zatch bell had the green guns as well... Medabots had a finger gun too with a criminal Etc etc etc

foxfoxal2026-01-02 18:31

Digimon censure is hilarious, they literally need to redesign many digis because guns and bombs are too common lmao.

Bluebaronbbb2026-01-02 18:36

Yup, data squad with Citramon and the fusion dub with purple deputymon 😂

Super_Fightin_Robit2026-01-02 19:05

> Gundam seed on Toonami had the infamous disco guns.

I feel like this one is wild because wing had a robot with GATLING GUNS. Also, I don't thing the censored version of Wing cut out the "Treize shot a guy and then pushed him out the cargo elevator" bit early on.

EverGreatestxX2026-01-01 22:36

The execs at 4kids probably thought American parents wouldn't let their kids watch shows that featured guns.

APRengar2026-01-02 01:19

It's crazy, we're both the country that is fighting hard to get children sized rifles into the hands of 8 year olds with the company "Wee 1 Tactical" rifle "JR-15" which was renamed to "GOAT-15", but are also way more restrictive on guns in children's shows than a lot of other countries. I know it's probably goomba fallacy, but as a country as a whole, it's very weird to see.

monty8452026-01-02 06:45

The landscape on guns in the US has changed a ton in the last 26 years since Digimon started airing in 1999.

Toloran2026-01-02 04:00

To be fair, this is the same era where American parents got out the pitchforks over *fucking tarot cards* in Escaflowne, leading to its cancelation (on US TV at least).

BasroilII2026-01-02 04:27

The tarot cards were just one facet. Escaflowne was doomed from the start. They hacked up the episodes to make it more about Van and boy-focused. But at the same time cut any noticeable blood or death and were very clunky about it. Much of Kanno's gorgeous soundtrack was replaced. The scripts and voice talent quality were lacking. And there was little in the way of marketing for the show.

So it's no surprise that it wasn't getting a lot of viewers. And of course, most damming of all for a cartoon in a kids block...no merchandise was planned.

Bluebaronbbb2026-01-02 09:17

All 26 episodes were edited down to 23 edited tv dubs and they aired all of those on ytv Canada too.

porpoiseoflife2026-01-02 20:08

Also too: Cardcaptor Sakura

Mean_Net99832026-01-01 22:38

I mean tom and jerry, looney toones also had guns for a long time

bravetailor2026-01-01 22:56

Cartoon Network is a lot more liberal when it comes to what they allow on their network.

4Kids was making stuff for Fox Kids and Kids' WB, which were much more hyper sensitive about their content.

Also 4Kids often pre-censored their own stuff before they released it to the networks so they were overly nitpicky as well.

American censorship has always had an obtuse and contradictory history. It's never been consistent and often seems to vary from program to program.

BanishedLink2026-01-01 23:03

Another thing to point out is that CN was a cable channel vs Fox and WB being free over the air channels.

BasroilII2026-01-02 04:29

A lot of people either seem to forget that syndicated local TV stations worked differently than Cable TV, or just are too young to remember when they were the majority of television available.

KatsudonFatale98332026-01-01 22:58

I will never forget them making Sanji’s cigarettes into lollipops 💀

ManufacturerWest11562026-01-02 03:33

Or removing the gun from bandit Keith. Just finger pointing lmao

IriFlina2026-01-02 05:58

Good news, season 3 of one punch man brought it back!

r1ddle072026-01-02 01:16

Censors were done inconsistently in the US as there are no federal content guidelines like in other countries because it is considered a first amendment violation. Occasionally when a real-life tragedy happens, they get strict about certain stuff for a bit. For example, when 9/11 and the Columbine shooting occurred, violent stuff or references were removed or pulled from broadcast to avoid potential backlash to violent media that rose after Columbine. Eventually, they release the stuff with no alternations later on.

4Kids was prominent during that time (the 1990s and early-mid 2000s), so that is one of the reasons there was censorship on a lot of 4Kids stuff. They wanted to avoid attracting controversies like what happened with video games (GTA, for example), Beavis and Butthead, and South Park to name some examples. Those works received pushback from some people and groups seeing them as violent and antisocial works that are making kids violent and behave badly. There were also people that saw anime such as Pokémon and Card captor Sakura as satanic and evil. I remember as a kid, who grew up during that time, hearing some news stories about some groups criticizing some Card captor toys for “recruiting kids to the occult” and other similar stories.

IIRC 4Kids received a negative response for a scene in Shaman King when they showed a character getting kicked in the face. That and the moral panic around certain media that was around during the 1990s and early 2000s was what led to 4kids censoring their works.

Cowboy_Cassanova2026-01-02 01:20

Because 4Kids were the most extreme dubbing company.

Where others would tone down the blood, they removed it completely. And typically with no regard for how their changes effected the series.

Luffy vs Krieg from One Piece is a perfect example, the change makes the fight seem far less dire and dangerous than it was, and almost makes it a comedic fight.

BoostedSeals2026-01-02 03:03

Some of these guns are different enough from an actual gun that censors and creators self-censoring think it doesn't count. A pistol in hand that character pulls the trigger on is different than the metal wolf with cannons in it's shoulder. The first one is easier to imitate

LegendaryZXT2026-01-02 05:04

I remember hearing its because they were trying to license it for the strictest law of every country they broadcast in. So if in one country you couldn't have guns they'd remove all guns, and if in another you couldn't have cigarettes they removed cigarettes.

Corgiboom22026-01-02 06:11

In the name if censoring they went and changed entire plot lines to the point they make no sense, like the deaths of characters were edited out to the point where other characters motivations would be entirely different.

AprilDruid2026-01-02 09:41

SEED had censoring but wasn't running on Saturday mornings.

Akuuntus2026-01-02 13:50

Because they wanted to. They weren't dealing with some regulation that forced their hands, they just chose to heavily censor stuff.

Rossum812026-01-02 14:53

Different companies have different standards. And remember, you’re normally dealing with the companies that localize the content, you’re dealing with the networks that would broadcast it. And the offices of ‘standards and practices’ each network are puritanical to differing degrees.

Quiddity1312026-01-02 17:40

The Gundam Seed situation was quite hilarious, as while it was clearly edited to air during the day time as it was edited so the guns looked like toys, they ended up airing it on Adult Swim at like midnight. And yeah, as you mentioned, earlier Gundam airings that were during the day like the original show had lots of guns in them that had no such censoring.

ClubMeSoftly2026-01-02 20:23

I will point out that the Static Shock episode in question was about gun violence. Not just something casually bandied about, and used to threaten, like in Yugioh, Pokemon, or One Piece

Bluebaronbbb2026-01-02 20:33

Shame people can't see the nuance in that. Smh.