Licensing anime in the west is difficult to digest, especially when dubs were expected of every property so some do become lost, especially when you get into the legal side of things. Here are ten dubs lost to time.
10. Futari wa Precure
Before Precure was a household name there was an attempt by 4kids to dub the series but unable to find a channel that would take it, the license ran out which was then picked up by Ocean dubs for Canadian and British release, it's unknown whether they got anywhere with it but there are rumours of a 4kids opening that was likely made as a promo.
9. Cyborg 009
The original dub for Toonami was lost after the broadcast when they re-recorded some episodes due to mild profanity, there's also episodes recorded of two different voice actors for the lead role and because Cartoon Network are dicks, they didn't release the final episodes despite already being dubbed.
8. Escaflowne
The Fox Kids alternative dub was butchered beyond belief to the point that it was barely recognisable, but it's been lost since it's cancellation with only the first dub in it's entirety on dvd being a clue of it's fox kids era.
7. Idaten Jump
A toy based anime expected to jump start another franchise ultimately failed leaving only a couple of dub episodes littered online with the bonus of the original Japanese also being notorious to find.
6. Gurren Lagann
ADV Film's last attempt at a dub was never finished as the company went under and the anime ultimately went to another company, this is also the reason why it started release as a subbed only until the rights were sorted.
5. Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
ADV Films again had this one but failed to find a broadcaster so the rights ended up expiring but TV Aichi who own the rights has the full completed dub in their possession with no plans to release it and still have it.
4. Keroro Gunso
Guess what? ADV Films again, they had three different versions of the dub with lots of switched around voices and even when it went to Funimation there were still unreleased dub episodes.
3. Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal
The death of 4kids animation came with it a lengthy bankruptcy period in which Yu-Gi-Oh was caught in the middle. This would need another post to explain but in short 4Kids dub still exists but another company made a dub which was never used and ultimately never will, Yu-Gi-Oh is dubbed by it's own company run by Konami with a few ex 4Kids employees who currently hold all the Yu-Gi-Oh dubs.
2. All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku
A British dub was made but no evidence of it exists on home release with only occasional videos popping on Youtube. I have seen these dubs but sadly I can't give evidence.
1. Dream Dimension Hunter Fandora
But I can with this one.
Youtubber Kenny Lauderdale is an expert at finding long forgotten anime but as to where this dub was found is a mystery, as you can see it's god damn terrible. It's probably at this time the most lost dub in existence as at least with the others there was proof that it existed. This one has no leads other than that footage.
