For as long as there have been complaints about DBZ's treatment there have also been defenses in favor of it. Such as, "Say what you will about FUNimation and their treatment of DBZ. However, there would be NO DBZ in America if not for FUNimation! So you should just be grateful for them bringing you DBZ!"

Now instead of me repeating his arguements, first of all read Android 17's editorial called, "Rebuttal to FUNi Defenders." Read it? Good. Haven't read it and are skipping ahead? Well... go read it! However, some would (and still do) argue to that... "So what if DBZ is butchered? Whether a butchered dub or wonderful dub, there would be no DBZ PERIOD in America if not for FUNimation, so just be grateful to them for that!" Ah, good point, good point. We should just be grateful they brought this fine anime from Japan over to us, right? After all, even if we weren't introduced to the Japanese version directly by them then the series wouldn't be in America at all if not for them, right? FUNimation did an excellent job getting the series and, as the first ones to mastefully obtain the licensing rights this wonderful anime, it is their right and privilege to treat it however they wish, right?

Hmm... but how DID FUNimation get their hands on DBZ? Wait... I know! We'll ask the executives of FUNimation! Who better could know than them?



Barry Watson- "Well, the president here at FUNimation, Gen Fukunaga, is very involved with Toei Animation. They talked extensively prior to us getting involved with the project, and he was very instrumental in acquiring the rights. Basically, it's Toei's number 1 property, so we were very excited to get it.

Cindy Fukunaga- "We definetely were familiar with Dragon Ball, and were fans of it, and knew of its huge popularity. We'd been told, actually, that here was this number-one hit show in Japan, the most popular ever, and that it hadn't yet come to the U.S. So we actually went in search of it to find out why, and to try and bring it over ourselves. My husband, Gen, is an American, but he's of Japanese heritage, and he's very familiar with the Japanese shows. He went back and lived over there in the eighth grade, and just loved the Japanese animation style. It's gorgeous work. "

(Reporter, by Gen)- "Fukunaga, originally from Sunnyvale, Calif., recommended the series when his former IBM co-worker Daniel Cocanougher was looking for investments with his brother and father. "

Gen Fukunaga- "I loved anime when living in Japan in 8th grade. I was hooked on Uchuusenkan Yamato. This background, an entrepreneurial spirit, and great luck that my uncle is a producer at Toei led to meetings which led to my conclusion that DBZ was the best series Toei had which led to starting FUNimation through acquiring DBZ rights."



Ah. What a great bunch of people these guys are. Truly they possess the entrepreneurial spirit. I mean, if they were smart enough to snatch up this property before.... hey. Wait a second.... something smells fishy. Let's back up a little bit.

Gen Fukunaga- "I loved anime when living in Japan in 8th grade. I was hooked on Uchuusenkan Yamato. This background, an entrepreneurial spirit, AND GREAT LUCK THAT MY UNCLE IS A PRODUCER AT TOEI LED TO MEETINGS which led to my conclusion that DBZ was the best series Toei had which led to starting FUNimation through acquiring DBZ rights."

The puzzle's finally starting to look a little less hazy. Still... Gen did go for DBZ because he loved it so ver-. Nah nah nah, I covered how little the exec's give a damn about DBZ in my, "Why it'd be the epitome of arrogance and ignorance to replace Movie 8's soundtrack." Besides, I have an extra layer of icing I'd like to add to the cake. It comes from somebody at FUNimation (different person- by the Guardian of the Earth, I REALLY wish I could make this stuff up…) and it's about Gen and Barry.

"You're not going to get anywhere talking to someone like Barry or Gen who could clearly give two shits less about the production aspect of things."

So- these guy don't really care for DBZ at all. If they're to be believed, Gen and Cindy pursued DB (and later DBZ) and Gen asked his uncle why it's not in America, and he then ingeniously snatched up the rights. And Gen asked his uncle because Gen's "such a big fan of the series." Btw, off topic, but do you know that my penis is 12 inches long? And that my body is 99% muscle? And that my net worth is $100,000,000? And that I'm writing this from my beachside Mansion in Beverly Hills California? (though sometimes I write for the site on my private jet, or when I'm at my penthouse suite in NYC.) But enough about me and what a perfectly wonderful person I am, it's obvious that the exec's were lying just to make themselves look good to the public. So that means... that this isn't how they got the rights to DBZ. So how did they REALLY snatch up the rights to the DB series?

3 words- Gen. Fukunaga's. Uncle. 4 more words- worst. Toei. Employee. Ever. Think about it- Toei is considered to be "the Disney of the East." For a guy to make it big in the corporate offices of Disney he'd have to be pretty smart, clever, talented, ruthless, knowledgeable, and/or extremely well-connected. Or maybe even all of those! Disney is a prestigious, wealthy company and is the creme de la creu of animation in America. Obviously, working at Disney is a very big thing... as would be working at Toei. In other words, Gen's uncle knows anime. He's been in the biz... for the Guardian of the Earth knows how long. For him to rise up in the hierarchy of the richest animation company in Japan- a country known for it's harshness and rigidity in jobs- this guy had to have worked his tail off and learned a LOT in the process while serving at the top.

He was there in Japan during the 10+ years DBZGT earned Toei somewhere within the range of $600,000,000. He KNEW how insanely successful it had been and experienced it first hand. It was the most profitable anime property of all time in the history of Japan! But- he also knew about dubbing. I don't know how much DB-Z had been dubbed foreignly by then, but in any case- probably not a lot. Yet, this anime Toei insider genius absolutely KNEW that the series could and perhaps probably would perform excellently in other countries as well... and maybe make as much money if not even MORE money. So why not work to put it in another country? That would absolutely be one killer investment to be in on! And which country should he choose? Libya? The Maldive Islands? Luxemburg? Hmm... why not the good ol' US of A, the wealthiest country on the planet! If I had to pick one country where I could make a series explode I'd go for best and most potentially profitable one- and that's exactly what he did.

However... Gen's uncle had a cushy job. He didn't want to just abandon it for a foreign country he knew nothing of- he'd spent his life working and living in Japan. Besides, this was a VERY risky investment that could possibly backfire on him. And then where would he be? A disgrace to his company, friends and family... jobless... much less wealthier for having bankrolled such a large investment. What he needed... was an investor to help him. Someone to put up the large money needed to do this project, with no risk to him himself. But who? Which well-established, animation dubbing company in America to choose from?

Wait a... he has a NEPHEW living in America! Why not pick him? And have him create his own animation dubbing company from scratch? After all, he's a full-blooded Japanese who knows the language well- he'd be perfect to work on anime! Besides, why should Gen's uncle find some snobby, arrogant, white gaijin to divy up the potential loot with? Why not... go for his family member? After all, families share their wealth and success, right? If your good ol' Uncle Herbie (who you're best friends with and who really likes you, btw) wins the lottery jackpot, then you've essentially just won a fair chunk of it yourself, right? Any money Gen would make... 100% of it would belong to the Fukunaga clan.

And that's what he did. He called his nephew and laid this idea before him. After all, why would Toei have "talked extensively to FUNimation prior to FUNimation getting involved with the project" if FUNimation didn't even exist back then, have much of reputation, (Chuckie Cheese? Cyboars?) or have any experience at all whatsover dubbing anime? So rather than working at IBM as a manager or whatever his whole life... Gen decided to pursue the once in a lifetime opportunity to be rich and make it BIG. Besides, if he failed and fell on his ass then he'd still have Uncle Warbucks (or in this case, Uncle Toeibucks) to help him out. They're family, it's all good, and it'd be his uncle's fault so Uncle Toeibucks would take care of him, right? Exactly.

But they still needed investment money. Gen's college buddy Daniel Cocanougher is a rich boy from Denton, he calls him up, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, DB comes, then FUNimation skips over to DBZ and hops in bed with Saban of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fame, and thus begin the wacky, comical, and truly fascinating misadventures of DBZ in America.

It all boils down to this- Gen ain't no anime pioneer. He didn't bring us DBZ- his uncle did. Had Gen's parents not humped like pandas 42 years ago then he would have never existed. And you know what? With no immediate family to potentially split the wealth with Uncle Toeibucks would have found someone else to give the rights to DBZ to. He would have hooked up with a well-established anime company- maybe Pioneer or Viz. How would things have turned out then? Who knows, but at least then the series would have been translated correctly and the original music would have undoubtedly been in there (like it was in the first 3 DBZ movies by Pioneer)... and they would have been able to afford showing all of the less popular DB first (like Mexico did... and Poland, and France, and Germany, and Spain, and...) prior to DBZ. And if the Sabanized DBZ Seasons 1 and 2 were such a big hit in syndication on CN, who knows what would have happened in this scenario with a much superior dub out there?

Like GT animator Mr. Fournier said to Gen, "In my opinion, this gives me more right than anyone else to complain over how a show we've worked on is being treated, much more so than a person whose greatest accomplishment is having a relative as a higher-up within the TOEI company. " Really FUNimation, your company's existence (and success in America) owes itself completely and entirely to the fact that Gen was related to a bigshot over at Toei... and that that bigshot wanted to make sure that as much of the potential profits as humanly possible would go straight into the coffers of his own clan. Now how exactly does that give you any right or "privilege" to butcher and rape DBZ and DBGT as you please?

- GreatSaiyaman777