Ft. Worth Star Telegram 8-9-1995

8/9/1995

SECTION: METRO, Northeast AM, Page 17

LENGTH: ??? words

HEADLINE: Japanese cartoon requires PC touch for U.S. viewers

BODY:

A North Richland Hills company is conforming the program to American sensibilities and tastes.

CARTOON PREVIEW

A preview of Dragon Ball, a Japanese cartoon being Americanized for audiences here, will air at 11 a.m. Saturday on KDFW/Channel 4. Regular half-hour episodes will run at 6 a.m. Saturdays beginning Sept. 16. NORTH RICHLAND HILLS - Never mind that Kevin Costner - his back to the camera - emptied his bladder in the opening moments of Waterworld.

Goku, the little boy star of Japan's most-watched cartoon, won't be doing that in the Americanized version of Dragon Ball, coming soon to major TV markets across the country.

"In the original, he stands on top of a mountain and urinates. It's something boys do," said Daniel Cocanougher, a partner in FUNimation Productions Inc., a North Richland Hills company that is conforming Dragon Ball to American sensibilities and tastes.

"In our cartoons here, we have the politically correct mentality," he said.

That's part of FUNimation's 2-year-long challenge of preparing the cartoon, produced by the creators of the popular Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, for its American debut. FUNimation receives the cartoon from Toei Animation, which provides a script translated into English. The text is given to writers hired by FUNimation for the conversion. The voices are added by actors in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dubbing the cartoon into English and adding new music are the easy parts. What is proving difficult is translating the cartoon so that its story lines are acceptable in a Western culture that has a puritanical bent.

"In Japan, they try to treat the characters more complete and round and real," Cocanougher said, noting that the Japanese aren't upset by depictions of bodily functions. "We have to be real careful with that, or we'll get a lot of letters to the stations."

FUNimation is co-owned by Cocanougher's brother, Robert, and his father, Allen, both of Decatur. They own Cocanougher Feed Co. of Decatur and invest in real estate. They formed FUNimation after being approached by Gen Fukunaga of Sunnyvale, Calif., a nephew of a Toei executive. Fukunaga knew Daniel Cocanougher from college and had worked with him at IBM in the 1980s.

The Cocanoughers declined to say how much they have invested in the cartoon project, but said they expect to have a winner. "The downside is we could lose our pocketbook," Allen Cocanougher said. "But how could it fail? It's been big everywhere it's been."

The cartoon, aimed primarily at children ages 4 to 11, is popular in other countries. "It's the No. 1 animated feature in Japan, Spain and France," said Karen Cage, public relations director at KDFW/Channel 4, which will air the cartoons. "It's lots of action, lots of music and real colorful."

The cartoon will be syndicated by SeaGull Entertainment to 85 percent of TV markets in the nation, mostly with Fox, United Paramount Network and Warner Brothers affiliates, Daniel Cocanougher said.

The cartoon is based on a Chinese legend about a dragon that existed before land and water, Cocanougher said. The plot twists and turns as the superhuman Goku, who sports a tail and carries a magic stick, and a blue-haired teen-age girl named Bulma travel through exotic lands and take on fierce monsters in search of seven magical balls. Once assembled, the balls will bring the Eternal Dragon out of hiding to grant a wish.

Even the dragon has gone through some scrutiny in preparation for American viewers. In the Japanese original, he's a dragon god.

"We talked to several priests and ministers, and most didn't have a problem with that, but they said some people might," Cocanougher said. "So we changed it to Eternal Dragon."

Author: TERRY LEE JONES, Star-Telegram Writer

Photos

CREDIT: Mark Rogers

CAPTION: Japan's most-watched cartoon, Dragon Ball, stars Goku, a superhuman boy who seeks the Eternal Dragon. The cartoon will debut soon in the United States - with some changes.

CAPTION: Daniel Cocanougher, left, and his father, Allen Cocanougher, run a North Richland Hills company that's Americanizing Dragon Ball.