I'm a huge anime fan. At first I was apathetic, and now I've set off to become an Asian studies major. I'm a total "purist" nowadays, and because of that, I've constantly come back to this page. That's surprising, because I am not a DBZ fan. In fact, I haven't seen more than one movie and a few minutes of a few episodes--FUNimation style. (Does it give me points that I think "Cha la head cha la" is one of the coolest songs ever? ^_^)

So why am I writing this letter? Why do I even care what happens to this show that I never watch? Because I can sympathize with all of you people. I am a Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon fan. I have watched another evil corporation, DiC, hack to pieces a wonderful anime series. Everything that makes me love this anime was destroyed by that horrible excuse for a dub. I could go into detail about why the word "scout" makes me want to kill, but this isn't the place. I think it's obvious that I feel the same way that every fansub-possessing Dragonball fan reading this must feel. Why do American companies assume that just because an anime series has made a mint in merchandising, that it's suitable for kiddies in THIS anal-retentive country? This is the place that still thinks South Park is a kids' show, just because it's animated--just ignore the warnings, the fact it's on at 10PM, and the actual CONTENT of the show. So they pick up the rights to it, and realize, "Oh my god! there's something unsuitable for children here!" and proceed to hack it to bits. How the superior musical scores are unsuitable is beyond me. How things like DEATH are unsuitable. DBZ now has "another dimension," and no one in SM dies, they just get "sent to the Negaverse." When I was 8, I saw Mr. Hooper die on Sesame Street. Not on camera, but they explained it. It was educational. I dealt with it. And in a day & age where violence is supposedly all over the place, what's wrong with showing a little death? Is it because they come back to life? If your kid is that stupid that they don't understand that in real life, people don't come back to life, they shouldn't be sitting that close to the TV! I hear the word "die" on lots of American-made kids' shows anyway.

Plus, any sign of a non-Christian religion has got to go! The kids might get ideas! ...And the list goes on and on. There's enough terrible shows on kids' TV, why do they have to hack up wonderful anime to make MORE terrible shows for kids' TV? A girl at my school once saw Akira, and commented "I'll just stick with my Bugs Bunny cartoons." Why can't DiC and FUNimation, and any other like companies, do that? Their ignorance is my bliss. The less they dub, the more fansubs for me! ^_^

- Alyson Strother
<dulcinea@ccia.com>
http://lavender.fortunecity.com/pulpfiction/191/index.html