@myogatheflea:
Enel's position in the world will be dropped from God to Leader. It's rather disturbing, if you ask me.
Much more than that, I would think. However, such edits will not be Skypiea's downfall; as omae mentioned a while back, Skypiea was where OP fans gained in Alabasta parted with the series. It's really long and really deep; like any buried treasure, it's worth the time and effort, but I cannot foresee any mainstream interest for those of weaker attention constitutions.
@TakinawaTonfa:
Don't forget about Shaman King. An anime which is not only themed around life here and after, but brings together a multiude of characters whom each express their ethnic/religious backgrounds one way or another.
Various ethnic and diverse cultures isn't what I'm pointing act; if anything, such would be ideal for American audiences, where political correctness is mandatory without being criticised (with possible harm on profits) of being controversial in some way.
Shaman King has some Japanese-themed material, yes, but this is overshadowed by the ghosts and whatnot. If anything, it's like an Eastern OP; OP's about pirates, allegedly, but we mostly see people running around with superpowers, fighting for their ideals while helping out the weak. The only real pirates in OP are the stupid gits who sail along with the captains; bloodthirty, stupid, and numerous.
Years ago, my old friend Seadra Reef told me something called "Shaman King" would become "the next Pokemon" when it came to America. Funny how that turned out.
@TakinawaTonfa:
Still, 4kids didn't seem to have a problem making any attempt to cover up such cultural references. (For example (episode 9), the dub of Shaman King never seemed to mention anything about about Horohoro/"Trey Racer" being a member of Ainu tribe.)
Not to mention names. Despite keeping the name "Yoh", "Hao" became "Zeke", which always makes me think of the plumber from Nickelodeon's Salute Your Shorts show. :sleep:
@CosmicDebris:
Because it is one of the hottest things in Japan, and therefore very expensive to license and it has been subject to bidding wars. It's also a very long series and still running series, so it takes a lot of long-term committment.
Is it really all that? The earliest licensing news for OP was centered around early 2004 when FUNimation relesed a press stating they didn't obtain the OP license. ANN wasn't established in 1998, but through its five years of history, I would expect them to report on the "violence" over the bidding wars at least once prior to FUNimation's statement and 4Kids press release shortly thereafter.
I point out successive licenses for Sailor Moon, Shaman King, Ultimate Muscle, Yu Yu Hakusho, Pokemon as timely releases. Yu-Gi-Oh is very simmilar to OP in that it was released a great deal after its original run in Japan, and despite dying interest in the show there, it became the "new" Pokemon. Not quite a marketing frenzy, but it did spawn an American-sponsored show.