Plot: Ichigo runs into a shy girl named Lettuce who is constantly letting her ‘friends’ treat her like garbage. However, when Ichigo and Mint go to investigate a possible haunting at Lettuce’s school, they discover that Lettuce may be more than meets the eye.
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In the original, Ichigo is late because she ran 700 meters going to school before she realized that she forgot something and needed to go back. In the dub, she’s late because she was too busy watching reality shows, which, for some reason are on before 8:00 am and berates herself for being addicted to them. Because teenage girls and their reality shows, amirite?
In the original, Ichigo tells Lettuce that she’s sorry for bumping into her as well and asks if she’s okay, which prompts her to act surprised, I guess because she’s not used to people being that nice to her.
In the dub, Zoey asks Bridget if that’s her thing, to say sorry to everything – like if she said she liked Bridget’s hair would she apologize? She says she was kidding, but that’s a stupid thing to say to someone. She’s super polite and apologizes a ton of times for slightly inconveniencing you when it was mostly your fault and you just go and say essentially “What? Is that like your shtick or something? You apologize for everything? What are you Ritsu from Fruits Basket? Hurrr hurr”
4Kids, did you really need to add an iris transition when Ichigo’s flashback already had a swirl transition? Transition on top of a transition…..Transitionception!
Mint doesn’t call Ichigo a lowlife in the original. Also, screw Mint/Corina and her stupid snotty face.
They edit out a small scene of Ichigo cleaning before Shirogane’s part in the flashback comes.
Ichigo doesn’t say that Mint is taking all of her tips in the original either, but I wouldn’t put it past her.
The school Lettuce and her friends go to is called Okamura Junior High. In the dub, it’s Excalibur High School. ….Wait, does that mean that they changed the girls ages?…..TO THE WIKI!
Ah, in the manga she’s 12-13, in the anime she’s 13 and in the dub she’s 15 for some reason. Looks like the rest of the girls, barring Pudding/Kiki (Dubbed as being 14) have been changed to 16, which is weird, because isn’t Zakuro supposed to be older than the other girls?
In the original, Akasaka gets rid of the bitchy girls by wooing them and telling them that he’ll help clean them up after Ichigo spilled ketchup and mayonnaise sundaes all over them “on accident” for badgering Lettuce. In the dub, Akasaka says he’ll make it up to them by giving them a tour of the kitchen and giving them samples of their finest treats….Yeah, giving them cake….that’s show those skags.
In the original, Ichigo apologizes for being nosy and says that she couldn’t ignore what they were doing to her anymore. In the dub, Zoey basically brags about what she did and tells her that she probably enjoyed it just as much as she did. Yes, you’re such a hero for splattering girls you’ve never met with condiments. Yeah they’re bitches, yeah they deserved it, but stop acting like you verbally put them in their place and made them change their attitudes.
In the original….I’m not quite sure if those girls are ever named. In the dub, Bridget calls them the three Beckys…..Okay, what is up with having some group of popular girls all being named the same thing and having their group being called The (name)’s? The Ashleys from Recess, The Debbies from The Oblongs now the Beckys in Mew Mew Power?
Originally, Lettuce explains to Ichigo that she’s friends with those mean girls because she believes that they rag on her to mask some hidden sadness in their own lives, and she hopes that one day they’ll be good enough friends for them to confide in her about it.
In the dub, Bridget basically says that she puts up with it because the Beckys are the most popular girls in school, and since she doesn’t have many friends, she deals with it. That’s right, 4Kids. Why try very hard to understand that even nasty people can just be mean to mask something awful in their lives when you can say putting up with mean nasty people is okay, especially when you have no friends, because they’re popular and that means you’ll get popular too!
Original version of the scene where Ichigo says she’s afraid of ghosts is much funnier in the original. Nothing to note, just saying.
Ichigo gets hit in the head with a big boulder that says 100Kg on it. In the dub, this is erased. I find this funny because I’m almost certain this gag is poking at western cartoons like Looney Tunes. I mean, yeah, it’s using metric measurements, but they still could’ve left it on….
Subbed:
Dubbed:
In the original, Ichigo just yells at Mint for literally putting a leash on her to drag her to the school. In the dub, Zoey just keeps saying over and over and over that she’s afraid of ghosts like Corina will really let her go if she reminds her enough.
Corina (After Zoey says…..those awful….awful words that I have to suffer through every episode) – “You’re going to say that every time, aren’t you?” I certainly hope not. I’d rather avoid more prison time.
Mew Mark Alert: I don’t believe we frequently see Lettuce’s mark in the first place due to its placement, but here’s her Mew mark on her chest.
Weapon Name Change: Lettuce Castanets is changed to Combat Castanets.
Attack Name Change: Ribbon Lettuce Rush is changed to Deep Sea Surge Attack/Tidal Wave Rush. Yeah, she attacks twice and the animation is exactly the same but they rename it the second time she does it so I don’t really know which is the actual attack.
Sadly, we don’t see Lettuce actually do her transformation in this episode as she’s basically engulfed with light for it instead. This means that I can’t do a side-by-side on her transformation this episode. Maybe next time.
Lettuce doesn’t call Ichigo “Pinky” in the original….I wouldn’t have pointed out such a small detail, but that’s just stupid, especially for Lettuce.
I just urgh….When Ichigo talks to Lettuce, she says that Lettuce is scared and that she understands. Her fear is prompting her to attack and cause water disruptions around school. She says that the Lettuce she knows is kind and gentle and that she’d never do this stuff on purpose.
In the dub…..*sigh*…In the dub, Zoey tells Bridget that she’s probably sick of being too nice and crap and that her attacking people is like her way of getting back at everyone. Right, yeah sure. Bridget is a villain in training. Go to hell.
Stuff like this really bothers me. I can laugh at even the stupidest of pointless edits and changes because it just shows how warped 4Kids and other dubbing companies are, but when they change stuff like personal character traits and important moments into garbage like this, it pisses me off. There was nothing wrong with the original reason for Lettuce’s actions, yet they turn her into a petty vindictive whiner for no reason.
Mint asks Lettuce how long she’s going to sulk and when she’s finally going to come out of her shell, Corina says that she probably has it out for the world because she thinks she’s all alone that she has a bad feeling deep in her heart like she just ate bad sushi. Well, you can go to hell too.
In the original, Ichigo asks why Lettuce thinks of herself that way. (Like she’s a freak who can never make lasting friendships) And she asks her if she believes she’ll hurt people like that. She then does her Ribbon Strawberry Check attack to symbolically kill the shy timid girl that Lettuce believes herself to be so there’s no excuse for her to say that can’t make any friends anymore especially since they’re her friends now.
In the dub, Zoey basically says “Boo hoo, cry me a river. We all have problems, suck it up, let’s finish our battle.” (Embellishing only slightly) and then she fake attacks Bridget because well, why not? Then she basically says that she’s, like it or not (her words exactly) a Mew Mew so that means she’s awesome and can save the world and stuff now and that they’re friends. Well, that’s a bit stupid of her to say. ‘Hey, come on, you’re cool now because you have superpowers, but you’d suck otherwise! And hey, we’re working towards normalizing ourselves again, which means after this is over you’ll go back to being a loser!’
Lettuce tells Ichigo that she can’t swim in the original right before they fall into the pool (it’s ironic because she has the powers of the finless porpoise…It’s even more ironic in this episode because it’s one time where she’s shown to have control over water.) In the dub, this is omitted.
Originally, as Mint grabs Lettuce’s hand in the pool, she says that they’re both right. I guess about being friends. In the dub, Corina introduces herself and says she’s the leader while Zoey freaks out and disputes it.
After that, we fade to see Lettuce in her new Café Mew Mew uniform and a following shot of her with the entire group. Edited away for no reason.
A closeup of Ichigo’s face as she’s being kissed by Kisshu is edited out.
After Kisshu kisses Ichigo, he licks his lips slightly and thanks her for the kiss. This is edited away
In fact, without the dialogue about the kiss in question, it makes the kiss seem really random and pointless.
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All in all, this episode was kinda lame, and we didn’t even get to see Lettuce transform nor do we know how she discovered her powers in the first place. I completely forgot that she discovered her powers on her own like Zakuro. How did she transform then? She has no pendant transformer thing that Masha’s supposed to dole out.
Oh well, Pudding’s up ne–….Oh she’s not….Filler? Aw.
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The Anime Madhouse 
I do completely agree with you: she hasn’t got her stuff to transform so, how could she?! As for Zakuro: mystery! In the manga there’s no problem with that since they transform by the power of their will, which I found cool…
I’m also glad to see I’m not the only one to sigh when I undersatand that the next episode is going to be a filler…
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