Card(s) of the Day: Thunder: A dangerous card with the power of lightning, Thunder’s main weakness is Shadow.
Plot: A new boy transfers into Sakura’s school/class named Syaoran Li, and he seems to have some vendetta against Sakura from the moment he lays eyes on her. When he reveals himself to be from a family that has a strong connection to the Clow cards and demands the cards that she has in her possession, things get all the more complicated. The situation is made even worse when the Thunder card appears and Syaoran shows up during battle. Will Syaoran prove to be a problem or a useful ally?
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Title Change: Kinda. Sakura’s Rival Appears is changed to simply Sakura’s Rival.
Nitpick? The tower in Sakura’s dream is Tokyo tower. In the dub, they just call it ‘a tower.’
In the original, Kero tells Sakura that because she has magical powers now that the dream she’s been having could be a foretelling dream and that she might meet the boy in Chinese clothes very soon. In the dub, Kero basically tells her that she needs to find the Clow cards….in a very confusing way. I dunno what they were going for there.
A panning shot of the outside of the house is removed, but the actual shot of the house is kept.
Hey who wants another girly pop song? Me either, let’s move on.
In the original, Toya tells Sakura that she was slow getting out of the house because she ate too much breakfast. In the dub, he says she’s late because she spends all her time in her room talking to herself.
Two shots of Yukito are removed. One from so far away that you can barely see him and another shot of him under the tree.
Tori harps on Sakura talking to herself/her toys, unlike the original which mocks her for making noises ‘like a monster’ while having a bad dream.
In the original, Yukito’s foretelling dream was that he’d have roasted fish for breakfast, which he did, and was so amazed by it that he had six extra bowls of rice. That’s too Japanese, so let’s make it French toast!
Hey now, I believe we’ve had quite enough of Yukito in this episode. In the original, Tomoyo tells Sakura that she’s in a good mood today, and Sakura tells him it’s because she spent the ride over to school with Yukito. In addition, he gave her another candy just like the one from the first episode. We then see a shot of him throwing the candy to her as he rides away. Tomoyo points out that he always has food on him.
In the dub, we have a completely pointless conversation talking about Madison’s new digital camcorder and all the features on it. The candy, the flashback and any mention in the slightest of Julian is no more.
A shot of the teacher catching a glance to Rika, one of Sakura’s friends, and then coughing as she smiles at him is cut out.
Name…Change/Mispronunciation? Syaoran Li is changed to Li/Lee Showron. I had to look it up to see if they were just outright mispronouncing it or if they actually changed it and that is the correct spelling for the dub – Showron.
In the original, the teacher writes Syaoran’s name on the chalkboard. Nelvana digitally paints this away, but it’s incredibly obvious that the teacher was just writing something on the board. Is it invisible chalk, Nelvana, or did you forget how to write?
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Dubbed: 
A scene of the middle of class with Sakura trembling in worry from Syaoran is edited out.
A scene where Syaoran stops Sakura in the stairway to bring her outside to talk to her is edited out, which makes the sudden jarring transition to them talking in private…sudden and jarring.
The chant to use the Chinese compass is too long to explain exactly what was changed, but it was changed somewhat. Much in the same way Sakura’s chants get changed. Also, they removed all of the glowing Chinese text from the scene which makes it, dunanana SUPER BORING. Also, I’m gonna say this is a moment where they’re kinda missing the forest for the trees. That compass could not be more covered in Chinese markings, yet they HAD to paint away the glowing Chinese characters from this scene.
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In the original, Sakura tells Syaoran that Kero doesn’t have the power to become his true form anymore. Syaoran tells her that Kerberos uses the symbol for ‘sun’ in his name, meaning that the powers of Fire and Earth will restore his abilities. However, Sakura tells him that she doesn’t have those.
Later, she explains that she’s been collecting the cards since April and he mocks her for not having collected them all yet….To be honest, he has a point. She’s not so much ‘looking’ for Clow cards so much as dealing with them when they appear.
Toya originally states that the fighting stance Syaoran’s taking is one he’s unfamiliar with. Then he theorizes that it’s a form of Chinese Martial arts. In the dub, he just threatens Li.
Originally, Yuki mentioned he had nikuman as well as pizza bread and curry bread. In the dub, there’s no mention of what the food is. They show shots of it, though, so I guess kids are just supposed to think they’re bread or something.
They cut out a shot of a blush appearing on Syaoran’s face before he runs off.
A scene of Sakura with a cartoony confused face wondering what just happened is also edited out.
Semi-long scene time – in the original, Rika parts ways with Tomoyo and Sakura, then Sakura points out that her house isn’t in that direction. Tomoyo says Rika’s off to buy a gift for someone that she likes and apparently this guy is older than her. She then tells Sakura that she should take that kind of initiative with her crush.
This is edited out because yet another instance of a girl having a crush on an older guy. I realize this is ‘worse’ seeing as how the guy in question is her teacher and has to be like at least mid-20’s early 30’s instead of Yukito’s likely 15-16 years old, but it can’t be uncommon.
I can’t say I’ve been in that situation myself, but I imagine it happens all the time. Unless the teacher feels the same way, in which case, edit away, Nelvana!
In the original, Sakura says she’s tried to call Kero to talk about Li as he’s usually in a good mood when he first gets up, but he’s probably asleep. He won’t answer the phone, and he’s known to not wake up for anything until he’s ready to wake up. In the dub, they make a joke out of this. They have Sakura say that Kero’s probably planning their next move now, but then we cut to him sleeping by the phone.
In the original, Kero states that Syaoran Li is likely a member of the Li clan, which is stemmed from the creator of the Clow cards, Clow Reed. He was born of a Chinese mother and British father, thus the Clow cards are somewhat of a mix between western and eastern magics. This is apparent in the fact that the magic circles on the cards contain both English and Chinese characters. (This bit is shown when the Clow circle is shown behind Sakura.) Reed’s mother was part of the Li clan, so, in a way, Syaoran’s probably a very distant relative of Clow Reed.
In the dub, Kero basically repeats the same dumb catchphrase “Expect the unexpected” and says to forget about silly schoolyard rumbles and that the real thing to focus on is collecting the Clow cards.
This entire episode Kero’s being nothing but a broken record about collecting the Clow cards. It’s really annoying. The circle appears behind Sakura in the dub simply because they’re discussing the Clow cards, and the possibility that Li’s a descendant of Clow Reed isn’t brought up until the end of the conversation. None of the stuff about him being born of a British Father and a Chinese mother as well as the stuff about the magic being a mix between Chinese and English characteristics is kept.
They cut out a line exchange where Sakura asks why the outfit of the day has a cat theme, and Tomoyo says because it’s cute. Instead, they’re just talking about the lightning-resistant material it’s made out of.
Another small line about the compass being left to Clow Reed’s mother, making it a family heirloom, is removed.
During one of the shots when Kero’s getting angry, he says that he’s been in western Japan long enough to know that he can forgive being called an idiot, but not a moron. This is changed to just telling the two to stop arguing.
Dub Sakura: “Shadow! Release and Dispel! Return to your power confined!” Uh, Sakura, you’re catching Thunder not Shadow…you already caught that card remember?
Well, this is weird, the Shadow and Thunder cards are digitally manipulated to look more painted, I suppose. Forgive the crappy quality here.
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Dubbed: 
Leave it to Kero/Kero’s Corner: Because of a line change in Kero’s corner, a certain shot makes no sense. In the original, Kero states that the cat ears on Sakura’s costume for that week were cute, but then we see a shot of Kero’s ear and he says ‘not as cute as mine, huh?’ In the dub, he’s basically jabbering about high tech whatnot, and there’s no explanation as to why there’s a shot of his ear in there.
Next episode, Sword’s debut. A shopping trip to get some brooches leads Sakura’s friend Rika to the Sword card disguised as a brooch. It takes over her mind and wreaks havoc. Will Sakura have to fight her friend to seal Sword?
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The Anime Madhouse 
Question! The dub seems to have put effort on editing a bunch of stuff. Why is that? Is the notion of japanese stuff a turn off for western audiences? I understand this is an old anime edited a long time ago as well, so it just makes me wonder about the status quo back then. Also, the shot of the cards looks exactly like the ones you can buy since I have those exact cards. So, maybe a marketing stunt. XD
I do understand the edit for the teacher crush though, since it was a very different time back then. I think Sailormoon had similar edits, so it’s really fascinating the lengths they go to.
Also, seeing the screenshots reminds me of my childhood. Omg, I am old and I really miss this old bulky character design. No shot of the kitty Sakura costume? Shame on you. XD
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In response to the question, ‘Americanization’ is probably the response there at least sometimes. Dubbing companies like DiC, Nelvana and 4Kids especially believed kids simply wouldn’t relate to anything that isn’t American. Or they’d be confused by it and become uninterested because of it. In some respects, I get this. There are some cultural barriers that can’t be crossed easily. Even today there are times when I watch anime and become a little confused during some scenes that just don’t lend themselves to a connection with western audiences who wouldn’t get the cultural reference. BUT, that is still incredibly stupid of them to think it would be such a massive problem that enough kids would be put off by it to affect their precious profit margin. I know there were numerous times when I’d see Japanese stuff in dubbed anime as a kid and, you know what, I just thought it was cool. I loved learning about stuff from different cultures, even if I couldn’t relate entirely. Kids would either completely overlook most of this stuff or they wouldn’t care or they’d actually like it. Dubbing companies have and still do add in editors notes and translator edits (for instance, they could’ve easily written ‘Syaoran Li’ on the chalkboard or in a subtitle.) but back then they just wanted to erase most of it. It’s pretty sad.
If your theory on the cards is right, then that’s confusing because kids shows are, by law, meant to be edited to ensure they can’t have exact replicas of toys and stuff in their shows. That’s why Yugioh had to edit their cards to have no text on them. Then again, I have no clue when that law went into effect and–boy I do feel like buying Cardcaptor Sakura cards no. Excuse me. To eBAY!
I don’t remember a similar teacher crush plotline in Sailor Moon, but they do have a big edit in common; the homosexual relationships. Neither is slamming the relationships in your face (YukitoxToya and MichiruxHaruka) despite being canon, yet each dub feels the need to erase basically any evidence of it from the show, one of the other reasons I think Yukito is so amputated from this dub.
Ever since I started this whole SDC thing, I have been endlessly amazed at the edits that have been done to some of these shows for seemingly no reason. I’d really like to chat with each company and get the exact logic behind a laundry list of edits I’ve found in the past. I fear that the reasons would give me a brain aneurysm though lol
I am so sorry about the lack of kitty Sakura. Here you go (Bonus!Kero w/kitty bell) 🙂
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Being not american, hearing that kind of practice is really weird. I personally love translator’s notes, because it gives tidbits from the culture and also some love and effort from the translators themselves. I actually kinda miss those, even in fandubs, but it is fair to say that anime back then is extremely japanese and it can be off putting to watch some of them. I guess I understand Americanisation, but I still think its weird. I heard of 4kids though, and their apparent hate for rice balls. Hahaha.
I know it’s exactly the same cards. I don’t think I have them now, but it’s the only anime merchandise I have. The art and the color scheme is exactly the same. I’ll fish around for it, and maybe tag you in twitter or something.
Well, yeah, I was referring to the lesby thing in Sailormoon but I know there are other shows that edited out the teacher student crush thing. It must’ve been an Animax dub though, but I know it’s from an old show as well.
Its weird how they even edit a 2-3 second scene from the show. Liek I said, max effort on their end, but why exactly? I think I’d want to ask them a list of questions as well.
And yes, this costume. This is one of my fave costumes she has, along with the orange frilly costume that has wings. I have a poster of it in my room, but it’s next to a Helsing poster so people won’t misunderstand. XD
Great post, btw.
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I remember all the previous for the new show “Cardcaptors”, and I tuned in since it sounded really good. I watched this first episode and left feeling incredibly confused.
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