4Kids give up on One Piece?

In an e-mail posted on the ToonZone forums, 4Kids have confirmed that “at this time” they will produce “no additional episodes” of One Piece. However given the somewhat dubious nature of this source, fans should not accept this news as 100% truth until official word is published by 4Kids.

4Kids controversial “hack n’ slash” treatment of the pirate adventure One Piece had been harshly received by the world anime community from the get go; they decided it was best to cut, edit and merge episodes as well as completely change the soundtrack in order to appeal to their intended Pokemon demographic of “tweens”, though with One Piece being consistently amongst the best selling franchises in Japan, 4Kids have somewhat ruined what was originally winning formula. Comparitively – Naruto has been hardly altered by world license holders Viz Media and it has gone on to become one of the most popular shows around the world.