Top 10 Anime Characters That Were Changed In America

“Yu Yu Hakusho” (1992-94)

This is probably one of the least harmful examples of western changes you’ll see in a classic anime dub. Aside from being able to manipulate the wind, what this demon is best known for is his accent, which is rather difficult to discern even for Japanese audiences. How do you translate that into English? Pick a tricky western accent and slap it on! Thus, all retro anime fans now and forever associate Jin with having a thick Irish accent, and you know what, it sort of works for him!

“Pokemon” (1999-)

Oh? You don’t see what they did to change up this Gym Leader? Well best check your copy of Pokemon Black and White again, because if you do, you’ll see that the dubbed version of the anime just happened to remove her signature apron. This is likely because her original design was deemed too similar to the black ‘mammy’ stereotype, which you see in a lot of older American media. On this point, she is also never referred to as ‘mama’ like she is in the Japanese version. Again, probably the right move.

“Ghost Stories” (2000)

Quite possibly the most radical and nonsensical change made to an anime character, and all for the right reasons. Given how the original Japanese narrative was a giant croque of shambles, the dub actors decided to have a ball and turn this little lass into a radical born-again Christian who would take and any all opportunities to spread the wisdom of Jesus. That and the condemnation of anyone with contrasting beliefs... It’s hilarious and crass in all the worst ways, to the point where we consider this version of Momoko canon, and you should too!

“Cardcaptor Sakura” (1998-2000)

And you thought they did Tomoyo dirty. Sorry, we mean “Madison.” (XRef) Ugh. Turns out, the greatest sin this dub of this classic series committed was a fairly common one back in the day, and that’s the ceremonious un-gaying of its blatantly homosexual characters. That means Yukito’s desire for Sakura’s brother (a character trait and subplot that’s a huge part of the whole series) simply becomes another tragic case of “excessive bromance.” Because you know, America just wasn’t ready for the yaoi back then, right?

“Shaman King” (2001-02)

We can just about get over them turning Ryu into a Spanish swordsman, (XRef) but making Ren full-on British when he and his family are so obviously Chinese? And then calling him Lenny instead?! That’s a bridge too far. In all fairness, Andrew Rannells is trying his hardest, with this terrible attempt at a British accent…but wouldn’t it have been a better idea to give Lyserg the voice since he’s the one who’s actually canonically English? Oh wait, this was 4kids, of course it doesn’t make any sense!

“One Piece” (1999-)

Speaking of those guys. Let’s be honest here, 4Kids’ handling of One Piece produced a mountain of awfulness and hilarity. With mass censorship across the board and swapping Laboon out for an iceberg, there’s seemingly no end to it. However, the biggest offense without a doubt is what they did to our boy Sanji. The accent and the weird, laughable attack names would be bad enough, but not even that can compare to the travesty of switching out Sanji’s signature cigarette for a lollipop. Yes, you’re trying not to encourage kids to smoke, good for you, but this is just excessive!

“Digimon Xros Wars” (2010)

Granted, it does seem that this particular God is a tad more…ravenous in her design that she should be for a kid’s anime. You didn’t see the likes of Angewoman and LadyDevimon flying around and flaunting their camelmon toe in every fight. Mervamon obviously didn’t get the memo, which was great for the older fans (because c’mon, lads) but apparently the team working on Digimon Fusion weren’t going to risk any loss of innocence, and as such her wardrobe got an immediate do-over. Digital genocide? A-okay. Digital cleavage? Get out of here with that filth!

“Yu-Gi-Oh!” (2000-04)

Is it bizarre that a teenager from Japan sounds like a guy in his thirties born and raised in Brooklyn? Absolutely. Does that mean we’d change it? Absolutely not! Most of us have grown up with Katsuya Jonouchi being Joey the Brooklynite and wouldn’t have it any other way. In hindsight, it does make him sound like he’s way too old to be hanging around the other kids and playing card games all day long, but the accent is just so endearing and rooted into western anime fans’ subconscious that this is one ludicrous change we can firmly get behind! Nyeeeh.

"Sailor Moon" (1992-96)

Lesbian sailor-skirt wearing superheroes? Not in my anime! At least that was the opinion of the original dub, who decided that instead of exposing the fact that these two Sailor Senshi were all about that yuri on American TV, a rapid change was required. Something a little more… accidentally incestuous? Yeah, their excuse for having Neptune and Uranus clinging to one another like a wholly devoted couple is because they’re cousins. Cousins that just happened to be very, very close. Kind of ironic that in their bid to try and “dub away the gay” they ended up turning their relationship into something legitimately ugly.

"Dragon Ball Z" (1989-96)

Okay, so maybe those uninitiated in the way of Dragon Ball might have found this lovable caretaker deity to be…well, in the same camp as Jynx from Pokemon i.e racially insensitive. It is pretty hard to get away from the whole “blackface” looking design, so naturally 4Kids decided to step in in order to make a last second change before parents could lash out. Their solution? Turn him blue. To say it’s jarring would be an understatement, and while this may have stalled some initial outrage, it was eventually dropped in favour of the original Popo later down the line.