What if the Viz dub aired on Disney XD

[ChampionOfNuggets]

@Tsundereshipper thread about Disney got me thinking. Let's say Disney got the tv rights to the Viz dub back around 2014ish. Of course it would have to be edited to some extent but how much?

-I think the opening and endings would be completely removed because "American kids are dumb and would be confused by Japanese singing" probably just replaced with instrumental versions.

- all the hells and damns and bastards would be replaced with kids tv friendly variants. Also a bunch of lines of dialog that seems innocuous would get redubbed like Morga saying she'll she send Naru and her mom to the world of the dead would be replaced with "send you both to the underworld" or something like that

-I doubt they'd go the trouble of redubbing Zoicite with a woman and replacing all dialog referring to him as her but they'd probably edit the hell out of any scene with him getting too intimate with Kunzite. The last we probably would see of him is him getting blasted by Beryl's crystal blast since the shot of his smoking corpse and "beautiful funeral" would be too much for BS&P. Fish Eye would be a lot harder to edit , I think they would end up skipping most of his focus episodes and edit around his crush on Mamoru.

Chibi Usa's toy gun would definitely be edited out ala DiC. No way in hell would that pass with America's school shooting epidemic

Nephrite's death would probably be skipped or censored to make it less obvious the thorns impaled him.

Michiru and Haruka's relationship would be edited to some extent. Partner would get redubbed with friend. Any of the too intimate scenes Iike the "I like your hands" would be removed. Haruka making passes at Usagi would be removed

Episodes 45/46 would be edited to some extent. Possibly reducing it to one episode ala DiC. I don't think the girls would be "captured" by the Dark Kingdom but they would suddenly disappear after their kamikaze attacks and any explicit references to their deaths would be removed

Naked Usagi in Stars would get a pink one piece or something

 

[NeoJupiter]

So basically the DIC dub w/none of the fun nostalgia or great voice/effects/sings

 

[MsImagination]

Fish eyes they probably would tone him down.

 

[NJ_]

Viz dealt with Disney X D before when they had Naruto Shippuden on there after Cartoon Network canceled the first show in 2009.

-I think the opening and endings would be completely removed because "American kids are dumb and would be confused by Japanese singing" probably just replaced with instrumental versions.

Their handling of Shippuden was no different from later episodes of the first show on Cartoon Network except the EDs used the Japanese songs this time.

 

[Tsundereshipper]

Michiru and Haruka's relationship would be edited to some extent. Partner would get redubbed with friend. Any of the too intimate scenes Iike the "I like your hands" would be removed. Haruka making passes at Usagi would be removed

I doubt they'd go the trouble of redubbing Zoicite with a woman and replacing all dialog referring to him as her but they'd probably edit the hell out of any scene with him getting too intimate with Kunzite.

Why would this be censored? Disney is more than willing to feature gay content in their IPs now what with The Owl House and Buzz Lightyear.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

Why would this be censored? Disney is more than willing to feature gay content in their IPs now what with The Owl House and Buzz Lightyear.

2014 happened before both of those. I was talking about when the redub was new not now

 

[Tsundereshipper]

2014 happened before both of those. I was talking about when the redub was new not now

Had LGBT rights not made great strides even back then? Wasn’t that just after gay marriage was legalized throughout America? I seem to recall the 2010’s being the decade when being LGBT was just becoming mainstream in the public eye. Pride Month started to be made into a big deal and celebrated by all major corporations, Caitlyn Jenner had just come out and was on the cover of Vogue, even originally animated kids shows featuring queer themes such as Legend of Korra and Steven Universe was coming out around this time.

Disney themselves would even outright confirm their first openly gay character Le Fou in the live action Beauty and The Beast that came out only 2 or 3 years later.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

Had LGBT rights not made great strides even back then? Wasn’t that just after gay marriage was legalized throughout America? I seem to recall the 2010’s being the decade when being LGBT was just becoming mainstream in the public eye. Pride Month started to be made into a big deal and celebrated by all major corporations, Caitlyn Jenner had just come out and was on the cover of Vogue, even originally animated kids shows featuring queer themes such as Legend of Korra and Steven Universe was coming out around this time.

Disney themselves would even outright confirm their first openly gay character Le Fou in the live action Beauty and The Beast that came out only 2 or 3 years later.

LGBT making strides doesn't equate to kids shows letting up on what they're willing to sho.

And Le Fou is REALLY the character you want use as an example? The characters whose gayness was only confirmed in a LITERAL blink and you'll miss it scene of him dancing with a man and otherwise his gayness was pretty much coded.

Also let's think about this, if it took Disney until 2017 to finally introduce its "first" gay character (not to be confused with the 20 other times Disney later had its "first" gay character) and it was a movie aimed at a wider audience what in the hell makes you think they would okay a gay character 3 years prior on their network block aimed at kids?

 

[Clow]

When it comes to good LGBTQ+ representation, Disney has to top Fox’s musical-comedy-drama “Glee” (2010-2015).

 

[HappyMoon]

When it comes to good LGBTQ+ representation, Disney has to top Fox’s musical-comedy-drama “Glee” (2010-2015).

ABC Family / Freeform (Disney owned Channel) had outstanding representation. Of course Glee was the forerunner, but Fox wasn't always as receptive as Freeform.

 

[Clow]

ABC Family / Freeform (Disney owned Channel) had outstanding representation. Of course Glee was the forerunner, but Fox wasn't always as receptive as Freeform.

I suppose I have not seen many ABC or Freeform TV shows.

The making of “Glee” was a mess, but it was an inclusive and fun show. I still sing some of the songs.

“Don’t Stop Believing”

 

[Tsundereshipper]

LGBT making strides doesn't equate to kids shows letting up on what they're willing to sho.

I mean it should, since homosexuality would no longer be seen as inherently inappropriate for kids to watch/learn about and chaste homosexuality would be considered on the same level as chaste heterosexuality.

what in the hell makes you think they would okay a gay character 3 years prior on their network block aimed at kids?

Because kids shows like Legend of Korra and Steven Universe were also doing it at the time, granted they weren’t Disney IPs so do you somehow think Disney was always behind the times and the least willing to budge on having LGBTQ representation? If so why? If other kids shows were willing to do it at the time why couldn’t Disney?

and it was a movie aimed at a wider audience

Beauty and the Beast’s target audience was always children, even though it’s a movie that can be enjoyed by all ages, like pretty much all Disney movies.

Anyways history aside, if Disney has always aired Viz licensed anime on Disney X-D without they themselves owning the license then what’s stopping them from letting them air the Viz dub of Sailor Moon today?

 

[MsImagination]

I mean it should, since homosexuality would no longer be seen as inherently inappropriate for kids to watch/learn about and chaste homosexuality would be considered on the same level as chaste heterosexuality.



Because kids shows like Legend of Korra and Steven Universe were also doing it at the time, granted they weren’t Disney IPs so do you somehow think Disney was always behind the times and the least willing to budge on having LGBTQ representation? If so why? If other kids shows were willing to do it at the time why couldn’t Disney?



Beauty and the Beast’s target audience was always children, even though it’s a movie that can be enjoyed by all ages, like pretty much all Disney movies.

Anyways history aside, if Disney has always aired Viz licensed anime on Disney X-D without they themselves owning the license then what’s stopping them from letting them air the Viz dub of Sailor Moon today?

Um no, Legend Korra only hinted Assami and Kora was together.It was confirm by staff .When it was over It was not confirm by the show.Steven Universe why did push the envelope and boundaries still got flack.Cencerenship ,the whole Ruby and Saphire wedding.While cartoon network did allowed it.They still had to end the show early because funding from other countries ceasing because of it.
Just Same-sex marriage legal does not mean they still get shown the same way in kids media?

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

I mean it should, since homosexuality would no longer be seen as inherently inappropriate for kids to watch/learn about and chaste homosexuality would be considered on the same level as chaste heterosexuality.

Yeah this is an incredibley naive point of view

Interracial marriage has been legal since the 60s. You wouldn't expect Disney to hesistate on showing an interacial kiss in the 90s. Right?

Right?

4 things you never knew about 'Don't Look Under the Bed,' the scariest kids' TV movie ever

Because kids shows like Legend of Korra and Steven Universe were also doing it at the time, granted they weren’t Disney IPs so do you somehow think Disney was always behind the times and the least willing to budge on having LGBTQ representation? If so why? If other kids shows were willing to do it at the time why couldn’t Disney?

Because Disney is usually much more milquetoast and tries to be more neutral about these sort of things. For [BLEEP] sake they pretty much had to be told stop giving money to homophobic politicians
Disney to Fund ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Backers, But Vows LGBTQ+ Support – IndieWire

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/23/1088...s-response-to-the-so-called-dont-say-gay-bill

Beauty and the Beast’s target audience was always children, even though it’s a movie that can be enjoyed by all ages, like pretty much all Disney movies.

There's still a difference between something like Beauty and Beast which is seen more as a movie parents watch with their kids (or in the case of the remake that and pander to nostalgia of 90s children who are now grown adults) abd theoretically airing a cartoon on a kids television block. Kids shows have always had harsher eyes on them than kids movies

But this is really irrelevant because again it took until 2017 for Disney to have it's" first "gay character" a gay character that again, because I can't stress this enough, you would miss his confirmation of actual gayness if all you did was blink at the wrong moment.

Anyways history aside, if Disney has always aired Viz licensed anime on Disney X-D without they themselves owning the license then what’s stopping them from letting them air the Viz dub of Sailor Moon today?

The lack of interest on Viz's end to show the anime on tv for one Even if Viz was interested in getting the show on tv Disney X D would have to be interested in buying the show to air.

 

[SM458]

I wouldn’t even watch it with Viz voice cast. Nope.

 

[Clow]

they pretty much had to be told stop giving money to homophobic politicians

Apparently, Disney’s actions from the past do not reflect the present…

 

[Star Angel Haruki]

I don't like the Viz voices too much. Mainly Usagi's. Her voice reminds me of Linda from the English dub but way more squealy like.

The other cast sound passable I guess.

 

[Nadia]

If it did, there would have to be one heck of a replacement track. We're not talking about a line here or there and it would not be just the toning down of relationships/sexuality, but all those religious references in S that would require new terms. (You might get away with "Messiah," but "Holy Grail" is another matter; I can see them renaming "Black Lady" entirely.) And the Standards and Practices nightmares of U-Choten and ManeMane Girl alone would mean there'd be a ton of digital video editing. In a world of infinite money this would be doable and you'd get something like Funi's Dragon Ball Z as Sabrblade mentioned over a decade ago, but basically they'd have to make almost a second dub of the same show. Would anyone go through that, or would it be easier to accept TV as a dying medium and focus on streaming? For all the faults I have with Viz, this is one understandable decision they made. One dub means less work goes in the recording of lines, less video work, and less confusion. Heck, if they wanted to edit the dub for a younger audience, someone would probably have to study the old dub for cues on how it would work.

That's said...it's one of those things that probably couldn't have happened, no matter what. 2014,was not that good of a time for anime series on American television, although things were looking up from just a couple of years ago. At that time Toonami had started lumbering back from hiatus. There's a reason why Viz went to Hulu, because Sailor Moon was in that No Man's Land where it wouldn't be a good fit for younger fans but a new dub wouldn't be "nostalgic" for older fans. (sailor-diamond was spot on about this three years prior to the license). Anime was one of the earlier adopters of streaming as a genre for this reason. It's telling that only the Japanese-language version of Sailor Moon is airing on anything that can be remotely called TV these days, much like the International Channel used to air Japanese-language Dragon Ball Z in the late 90's-early 2000s.

It's fun to imagine, though.

 

[Tsundereshipper]

There's a reason why Viz went to Hulu, because Sailor Moon was in that No Man's Land where it wouldn't be a good fit for younger fans

Why wouldn’t it be? Have Gen Z/Alpha’s tastes changed so significantly since we Millennials were children? I would argue that the only reason Sailor Moon doesn’t get as much traction with the younger generations is simply because not enough people even know it exists and it’s not being widespread promoted anymore like it was during the 90’s and early 00’s. Even in the 90’s Sailor Moon only got big here in the West because it was shown on public television (back in the day when that’s all the public had).

focus on streaming?

Regardless if it’s Disney X D or Disney+ I believe the way to save Sailor Moon as a brand is to get it as much mainstream visibility and interest as possible (not just with anime fans) and Disney is the best company to do that.

 

[Nadia]

Why wouldn’t it be? Have Gen Z/Alpha’s tastes changed so significantly since we Millennials were children? I would argue that the only reason Sailor Moon doesn’t get as much traction with the younger generations is simply because not enough people even know it exists and it’s not being widespread promoted anymore like it was during the 90’s and early 00’s. Even in the 90’s Sailor Moon only got big here in the West because it was shown on public television (back in the day when that’s all the public had).

Sailor Moon wouldn't be a good fit for younger fans for a very simple reason. It's an old anime.

Yes, there are plenty of younger fans who do get into older anime, but a lot of kids will look at Sailor Moon, see the animation, the coloring, and the style will probably think "that's nice" and move on. They have no patience to watch a very formulaic show that has multiple seasons of approximately 40 episode apiece, especially with outdated visuals. If you have modern production values, you might get away with it. Also, if a series is considered a classic, people will look at it despite its visuals...if it's short.

People have always preferred new to old, but in the streaming era this has accelerated to the point where even things that were big four of five years ago drop off the face of the earth. Something like Sailor Moon isn't going to get younger viewers. Obviously, there will people people who will check it out now that the generic anime style has become iconic to the point where it's considered "90's anime style" but aside from that, there's not much appeal for Sailor Moon itself. If the movies had drummed up interest in Sailor Moon enough for people to check out the old anime, that would be one thing, but they clearly did not.

The failure of the the recent movies indicates something else has be done to revitalize the franchise If they had been successfully, they would have acted as a gateway to the older series. Re-airing the old anime is like re-aring old episodes of He-Man. It's not going to attract new fans in sustainable numbers.

Regardless if it’s Disney X D or Disney+ I believe the way to save Sailor Moon as a brand is to get it as much mainstream visibility and interest as possible (not just with anime fans) and Disney is the best company to do that.

Kids watch streaming services. Disney owns Hulu and dumps some of its properties that don't quite "fit" the Disney+ brand onto there. I think it has been discussed why Disney would not want Sailor Moon directly on its platform.

Gen Z does not approach watching TV the way Millennials did as kids. When Millennials were children , we were glued to the TV on a scheduled basis. By contrast, this generation is used to breaks and shorter bursts of shows.