Shin Chan (English, Funimation)

This version is a highly raunchy and Americanized gag dub. It premiered on Friday, August 18, 2006 at 12:30 AM ET on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim block, with a test run of six episodes. The dub resumed with new episodes on April 17, 2007. The first two seasons were aired on the channel. The third season instead released through Funimation's website and Hulu, with a DVD release coinciding. Funimation lost the rights to the series in 2020 after moving the show from Hulu to Amazon Prime Video in 2019, and it was removed from any remaining streaming platforms.

Cast

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Music

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Dubbing history
Funimation announced that they acquired the Shin-chan license for North America on February 14, 2006 in a press release. As per all international licenses for the series, TV Asahi remained a licensing partner for North America. When the dubbing process began, FUNimation was aware of Adult Swim's Keith Crofford being a fan of the series and passing on the Lacey Entertainment dub, so they pitched the show to the network again, but this time with the intent to re-write the show's dialogue for an older audience. Adult Swim accepted, but because of their hesitation with comedy anime like Super Milk-chan (and their choice to air a more faithful dub garnering poor audience reception), they decided not to go with a full season order and instead go with a 6 episode temporary lease. FUNimation asked Adult Swim to recommend some Williams Street writers, or former writers, to help them with the English adaptation too ensure better success. Eventually, Kim Manning also suggested several different Adult Swim-affiliated writers for the re-scripting job. FUNimation settled on the writing duo of Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer (who even contributed names such as "Action Bastard"), and the two worked on episodes 1-8, 10, and 11, in addition to their own writing talent, which was a Los Angeles based group of comedy television writers hired by Jared Hedges, the show's head writer.

The dub's test run premiered on Friday, August 18, 2006 at 12:30 AM ET on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim block, with a test run of six episodes that ran until August 29 and repeated for a month through September 9 (although its official premiere was on August 21). The test run now makes up the beginning of the first season. Due to the success of the test run on Adult Swim, the series was picked up for more episodes due to be released on TV and in season box sets. Season 1 returned to Adult Swim on April 9, 2007, at a 12:30 AM ET time slot. The dub resumed with new episodes on April 17, 2007, with the notable exception of Dorkin and Dyer, who were cut from punch-up work for unknown reasons. Dorkin speculated in his LiveJournal that it may have been a combination of lateness in his scripts and a cost cutting measure. He also figured that FUNimation was in favor of keeping scripting in-house to speed up the process. This is despite the fact they were thanked for their role in getting the show on Adult Swim by email when the show was picked up for a full run. For the full run, writers Joel Bergen, Jared Hedges, and Alex Muniz were major participants, along with a few other part-time writers. With Funimation aiming for a different audience, the writers monitored forums and the official Shin Chan MySpace page for viewer feedback. In fact, some of the show’s characters had their own official MySpace pages. A website also once existed, at shinchanshow.com. For instance, the writers made a reference to the MOTHER series of video games, which they had never played, but noticed when the fandom reacted to the obscure joke.

Season 1 later debuted on digital specialty channel Razer in Canada on Monday, September 17, 2007 at 10:00 p.m. ET. Another episode aired at 10:30 p.m., and the first episode repeated on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Two new episodes aired every week until December 10, 2007.

Season 2 began airing on Adult Swim on April 12, 2008. While initially airing at 1:30-2:00 AM ET/PT, it was later moved to 11:00-11:30 PM ET/PT. However, this only lasted for two weeks, after which the show was pushed back to the midnight slot on August 9, 2008. After the September 6 airing, the show was removed from the broadcast schedule with six episodes of the season remaining, which were still shown on Adult Swim Video as online exclusives. As of November 8, 2008, reruns of the program aired on Sunday nights at 2:30 AM ET/PT, but was later pushed to 2 AM on January 18, 2009.

The first two seasons were premiered on Adult Swim from April through December in 2007 and 2008, and reruns lasted until the summer of 2009. According to the Adult Swim message board, Adult Swim no longer has the broadcast rights to the show as of August 1, 2009, with episodes no longer viewable on Adult Swim Video, and the show's subforum removed. The third season instead released through Funimation's website and Hulu, with a DVD release coinciding instead of releasing later like the first two seasons. Netflix streamed the series in the United States from April 6, 2011 until November 13, 2012. Seasons 1, 2, and 3 were once available for streaming on the US version of Hulu from 2010 to 2011, and returning from 2016 to 2018, and they were also temporarily available for streaming in the US on the streaming service of Funimation. Tubi added the first two seasons on April 29, 2018. FUNimation also uploaded the Star Wars parody Shin Wars on YouTube in November 2009. The series is currently unavailable for streaming.

Prior to August 1, 2009, FUNimation episodes were streamed online weekly at Adult Swim's free broadband service, Adult Swim Video. Also, the tenth episode that was dubbed used to be available at AdultSwim.com for free as an interactive video. In addition to watching the episode, one could watch video commentary from the FUNimation staff, booth recordings, script comparisons, bios, show artwork, and other special features. This feature however, has since been removed from the website.

The first thirteen episodes were released on DVD May 13, 2008, by FUNimation Home Entertainment. The second half of season 1 was released on September 16, 2008. Season 2, Part 1 was released on February 10, 2009, and Part 2 on May 12, 2009. Season 3, Part 1 was released on July 26, 2011, and Part 2 on September 27, 2011. Complete season sets were released on May 11, 2010 for seasons 1 and 2, and on January 15, 2013 for season 3. Each release featured two discs (four for a complete season) in a slim case with a decorated slipcover. The first two seasons contained bonus features, most notably special commentary on certain episodes, storyboards for certain episodes, and a selection of outtakes for the episodes featured.

Funimation's version features a Texas-based cast of voice actors. FUNimation's dub was in a comedic gag-dub style, similar to ADV Films' dub of Ghost Stories, and takes many liberties with the source material with heavy Americanization. Since most episodes do not feature extensive continuity, FUNimation took advantage of this by producing episodes of the series out of their original order, and segments were reordered, because Funimation was able to choose from about 100 different segments from various episodes. As a result, characters such as Ai are introduced much earlier than in the series' original Japanese run. This was especially an issue early on, as the writers chose segments that looked interesting in art style or concept, or anything they thought they could work with, instead of picking those from a similar time frame to each other. This caused episodes to have significant jumps in visual style between segments. As time went on with more feedback, they began to include segments with fan-favorite characters like the Happiness Bunny, but started to use episodes with similar animation so there were no sudden drops in art style.

Additionally, many characters had their names changed to American-sounding ones, usually for comedic effect. Multiple text edits were made to accompany new jokes. Many sexual references, dark humor, and references to current popular American culture were added. Some of this makes episodes appear to be set in a slightly more modern time than in Japanese. For example, in one scene, Ai and Penny argue over which one of them is Jessica Simpson (whose first album was not released until 1999) and which one is Ashlee Simpson (whose first album was not released until 2004), which is very different from the original Japanese script that dealt with many social issues within Japan at the time. At least two episodes reference Rudy Giuliani and his unsuccessful bid for president. Entire episode plots were modified and the fourth wall was frequently broken, especially in reference to changes from Japanese culture or tropes of the show. For instance, Futaba Kindergarten is named "Super Happy Fun Time American School" in order to explain the American political and pop culture references in a Japanese setting.

New, previously non-existent backstories were created, as well as significantly different personalities for the characters. For instance, the unseen father of Nene was suggested to be physically abusive toward both his wife and daughter, and this was used as a source of black humor. Principal Enchou was rewritten as a half-Peruvian, half-Romani man with a complicated prior life that includes a stint as a magician, in which he accidentally injured scores of audience members, a similarly shady backstory to that in the previous English dub. Miss Ageo, Shinnosuke's teacher, was rewritten as a kinky nymphomaniac, while Shin's schoolmate, Kazama, was portrayed as a hawkish young Republican. Season 3, released in 2011, culminated in the official finale, which was constantly mentioned in the final episode, effectively ending the Funimation series.

Most episodes of the dub have received a rating of TV-14 when aired on Adult Swim, for its relatively strong suggestive dialogue (D) and coarse language (L). However, upon later releases, the show is rated TV-MA for more offensive language, stronger sexual dialogue, and objectionable humor/content deemed too strong for a TV-14 rating.

Writing process
One of the dub's full-time writers, going under the handle Shincowriter, informed animation news site Toonzone.net how the show's ADR writing process occurs. Unlike traditional ADR writing, which is merely adapting overtly literal translations into proper English, Shin Chan's process is more intensive and requires a larger staff.

Six to ten scripts were written for each episode, and it was up to the recording staff to pick which jokes matched the lip flaps and hit the best.


 * Step 1: The original series is translated to English. These translations are extremely literal, which is par for the course when it comes to translating for ADR writing.
 * Step 2: Head writer Jared Hedges gives the individual vignettes to the episode writers. The writers adapt the show and intentionally insert their own comedic dialogue.
 * Step 3: The head writer double-checks and approves the scripts with the director, Zach Bolton.
 * Step 4: No longer used - Scripts are sent for a re-write to the punch-up script writers, who proceed to add their own dialogue to the show. The punch-up writers also add alternative improvisational dialogue to the already added lines from the initial writers.
 * Step 5: The head writer receives the rewrite and chooses what lines to use and what not to use. He may also add his own lines. He hands the final copy to the director.
 * Step 6: The director modifies the script in the booth for mouth movements and lip-sync; a common practice for any ADR work. Actors are also encouraged to improvise while in the booth for Shin Chan's dub. (Principal Ench was given his accent while in the booth by his actor, Jason Liebrecht.)

Episodes
Episode segments were selected from different Japanese episodes, and scripts rewritten and localized. The show focused on more mature themes and dark humor, and was described as more of a "gag dub".