KNT in Cantonese

[felineki]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBTfYixTR8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBTfYixTR8</a>
Came across this today. The opening of a Chinese (apparently Cantonese? I don't know much about Chinese language...) version of KNT, featuring an original theme song. It would seem that this is a direct dub of KNT rather than one of the translated versions of Saban's SPC adaptation. The title of this version of the show is 功夫貓黨, which seems to translate to "Kung Fu Cat Group". (Interestingly enough, the "group" character seems to correspond to the one used for the "tou" in KNT's title... in fact, when converted to "Simplified" Chinese, it's the exact same character, "党"). Even more interestingly, this theme song uses the same drum machine as KNT's soundtrack does, the good ol' Roland R-8.

[Violet]

On the old Nihonbare board, way before it moved here, there was a Chinese SPC fan who posted a few times.  He did say KNT was shown there, but I don't know if he was from Mainland China or Taiwan.

[sjonnoh]

that's one short intro!
I think saban made the best theme, if you forget the japanese one

[Razgrizblaze1]

if you forget the japanese one

That's a really hard intro to forget. But Saban did well with what they had and had they done a terrible job...well, we probably wouldn't be here discussing it now would we?

In any case, that intro is...unique to say the least. I didn't realize KNT had actually been aired outside Japan. (While still retaining its core story and plot elements from Japan)

[Violet]

Really this should be titled as "KNT in Cantonese".  I don't think Saban had anything to do with it. 

[felineki]

Okay. I wasn't sure whether this was a more direct dub of KNT or if it was based on Saban's adaptation (which was translated into several other languages, IIRC). I'll change the title.

[Violet]

As I recall (and confirmed here http://www.edoropolis.org/forums/index.php?topic=2509.0) Saban didn't get the rights for Asian distribution.  So Chinese versions would be taken from KNT.
I do know SPC was shown in Malaysia, but it was the English version (Malaysia is a former British colony, so much of the population speaks English).  Taiwan and Korea are established markets for anime, so Tatsunoko probably didn't want to give that up or had already arranged for those versions before being approached by Saban.