Cardcaptor Sakura Episode 10 Sub/Dub Comparison

Card(s) of the Day: Flower: A fun-loving card that produces flowers…..It’s about as useful as it sounds.

Plot: It’s Sakura’s school athletic festival, one of Sakura’s favorite days in the school year. However, things get complicated when not only does Tomoyo’s mom show up and reveal that she has a rocky past with Sakura’s dad, but strange flower petals start falling from the sky and burying the schoolyard. Is this the work of a Clow card?

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Title Change: Sakura and the Sports Day of Flowers is changed to An Unexpected Reunion.

A shot of the scoreboard is removed.

In the first scene we have Sakura explaining in inner monologue that it’s her school’s athletic festival today. Most students dislike the athletic festival, but she loves it. In the dub, there’s no inner or regular dialogue whatsoever.

Originally, the parent-only race that Yukito mentions is a 100 meter race. The dub changes it to 400 because…Nelvana hates parents and wants to torture them by making them run 300 more meters?

Yukito asks Sakura if she’s going to be participating in the cheerleading event. She says yes, and Yukito holds up his camera and says he’ll take lots of pictures…..which, I admit, is kinda creepy. I know she’s his best friend’s sister and her friend to a degree, but he’s not related to her…she’s a kid….Yukito, unless you’re taking those pictures for Toya or her dad, please put the camera down.

Sakura then grabs Toya and whispers to him to make sure that he takes some pictures of Yukito too, I guess for her own use….. Nelvana edited out everything past asking Sakura if she was in the event.

I’m not sure why Nelvana didn’t edit out this whole scene if they were gonna edit it at all, but here goes. Two boys walk by Tomoyo’s announcer stand and talk about how Sakura’s really fast and they’re not sure anyone in their grade could beat her. Tomoyo then pops up behind them and gushes that she’s not only good at running, but she’s also cute too. Nelvana edited out Tomoyo popping up and her entire joke, which makes the scene look pointless.

When Sakura runs up, Tomoyo asks her if that’s her uniform for the cheerleading event. She says yes, and Tomoyo gushes over it but says it’d be better with frills and other things as hearts bubble around her head. Sakura asks about Tomoyo’s mom, and she says she’s busy, but she’ll try to make it to the festival.

Sakura explains in inner monologue that Tomoyo’s mom is the president of a big toy company and that she’s always very busy. Sometimes, Tomoyo goes days without even seeing her mom and Sakura’s never met her either. As Sakura and Tomoyo’s pictures are overlaid on one another, she explains that Tomoyo’s never mentioned her dad. Sakura then says that she has to get going and leaves Tomoyo.

In the dub, Madison doesn’t mention anything about Sakura’s outfit and the hearts are edited away. Instead, Madison asks about Sakura’s dad and she mentions that he’ll be there soon, which prompts her to ask about Madison’s mom. Madison says she’s in a big meeting but hopes to make it there. We then get the same explanation of her mom’s job, but a key detail is changed. Instead of saying that she sometimes goes days without seeing her mom, dub Sakura says that Madison’s mom always makes time for her.

I get that it sucks that Tomoyo sometimes goes extended periods of time without seeing her mom, but why did this need to be changed? Tons of kids have busy parents that they can’t see as much as they’d like. Also, the entire scene about wondering about Tomoyo’s dad is removed as well as Sakura’s departure.

The same boys from before agree that Sakura is very cute after that scene. Tomoyo pops up with her camera and says she’s going to record Sakura’s bravery on film while blushing. This makes the boys comically fall over. In the dub, the boys ask each other if they want to watch the cheerleaders, which they do. (Yeah, I’m sure you’re going for the spirit of competition, eh?) Everything with Tomoyo and beyond is cut.

Most of the scene with Yukito talking to Toya while taking pictures is kept in (which is odd since they removed the scene of him talking about getting pictures of her) but they edit out when Sakura’s baton falls on her head.

When Yukito cheers Sakura on before the race, both Sakura and Syaoran smile in joy that he’s there. Then Syaoran straightens his face and tells her that he’ll never lose. The shot where Syaoran and Sakura are both smiling is edited out because that’s, like, totally gay and stuff. They could’ve just zoomed in on Sakura for that shot if it bothers them that much, but whatever.

The dub’s music for the race is boring. Why would they add that music as opposed to something more energetic like the original? It’s a race, not a gentle stroll through the park.

Originally, Syaoran trips because he was too busy blushing over Yukito. In the dub, he glances over for a second when Julian cheers, but the scene where he blushes is edited out. I guess we’re meant to assume that Syaoran tripped because he glanced over for a second?

Syaoran initially refuses Sakura’s request to have lunch, but after he sees Yukito having lunch with them, he blushes, bashfully grabs Sakura’s shirt and agrees to have lunch with them. Syaoran is so insanely adorable in these Yukito scenes. In the dub, Syaoran just agrees from the start in order to avoid the whole ‘gay’ vibe.

A shot of Tomoyo reacting to Yukito eating so much is edited out because dot eyes.

Sakura shaking her head in disagreement with Yukito stating that he’s eating too much is edited out.

Yukito says that the food tastes really good. Syaoran stands up shyly and states that it’s a sign that you’re healthy when food tastes good. Yukito smiles at him, Syaoran blushes, puts his shoes on, thanks them for the meal and runs off as they all stare at him. This is all edited out of the dub.

Name Change: Tomoyo’s mom is named Sonomi Daidouji. In the dub, she’s Samantha Taylor.

I’m surprised that they left the scene where Sakura gets a big blush on her face when Tomoyo’s mom gets close to Sakura, calls her cute and says she reminds her of someone she knows…They edit out all of those scenes with Yukito and Syaoran, but not that…Seems like a double standard to me.

They edit out where Tomoyo’s mom freaks out at the sight of Sakura’s dad.

Name Change: Sonomi’s maiden name was Amamiya. In the dub, it’s King.

In the original, Sonomi explains that Sakura’s dad actually met and married Sakura’s mom when they were teacher and student. Sonomi always felt angry at this, especially since she was her best friend since they were in kindergarten. (Also, seeing as how she called Nadeshiko her ‘precious’ she might’ve had a similar friendship to her that Tomoyo has to Sakura.) She is upset that he’s so whimsical when he let Nadeshiko die at the mere age of 27. He says that he promised Nadeshiko that he would never cry, which makes Sonomi back off a bit before claiming that she still won’t forgive him.

In the dub, all of this explanation is removed I guess because of parent/teacher relations, mentions of death (despite the fact that we know Nadeshiko/Natasha died in the dub) and Sonomi’s similar affection to Nadeshiko as Tomoyo has for Sakura.

Some parts of the scene are removed such as Sonomi pointing at him, yelling at him, turning around before she speaks, and pointing at him again. Fujitaka basically says let the best racer win.

Name Change: Fujitaka Kinomoto (Sakura’s dad) is changed to Aiden Avalon.

Originally Sakura says that her dad and Tomoyo’s mom know each other. In dub, she explicitly states that they were best friends when they were kids.

Oh boy…I hate when they start delving deep into plot points like this. It usually means whole scenes being changed….LIKE THIS! 😀

Originally, Toya said that Sonomi and Nadeshiko were more than best friends, they were cousins. Nadeshiko was an heir to some conglomerate, but that changed when she met Sakura’s dad, whom, at the time, was a rookie teacher.

They got married when she was 16, and they faced many hardships. She had to do modeling while she was in school to make money. Sonomi had apparently taken care of Nadeshiko since they were very young and she greatly opposed their marriage. Yukito points out that, despite this, Nadeshiko always looked happy in her photos at home whether they were modeling photos or not. Toya says “In any case…” and then trails off to say that there’s many flowers flying around.

In the dub, most of this is changed. It’s never mentioned that Natasha and Samantha were cousins nor had the same last name before she got married. Instead, all three of them, Samantha, Natasha and Fujitaka were best friends as children.

Samantha and Aiden constantly battled for Natasha’s attention, but were rivals who didn’t much care for each other otherwise. When Aiden married Natasha, Samantha just kinda stopped hanging around them. Also, there was some big race between the two and Aiden beat her out for a spot in the national championship, so it’s a lasting grudge.

Julian then points out that he never knew that Sakura and Madison’s families had so much history together and that it’s a shame that they couldn’t have stayed friends. The rest of the scene plays out the same.

Originally, Sakura asks how good of a runner Tomoyo’s mom is and Tomoyo responds that she was in the national championships back in high school. Uh oh, that contrasts with the previous dialogue change. Better remove that scene entirely. Doopdedoo.

Toya says that their dad is the most athletic person in their family. Tori says that he neglected to mention that their dad won the national championships that year. I’m just imagining Nelvana taking Sonomi’s trophy away and handing it to Fujitaka while saying “Screw you.”

I love how Yamazaki refuses to let Syaoran go in an emergency situation on the chance that injured people might come to them for aid since they’re on the medical staff for the event. (They really have no adults there to do that job? Seems irresponsible.) He even tackles him to the floor to keep him there. Isn’t it more important to go out and help people who may need to be saved instead of sitting there waiting for already injured people to go to you?…Granted it’s just flower petals falling from the sky, but still.

Sakura originally asks Tomoyo where she was holding that cell phone…I’d like to know too because it looks like she either took it out of Sakura’s back or pulled it out of the back of her pants…Dub Sakura just says “Remind me to thank you later.”

I love how they have to call Kero to realize that maybe they should look for the source of the flowers….Also, the fact that they didn’t notice a giant ball of pink light about 50 feet from them is baffling.

I know that this is part of the joke in their characters, but Sonomi and Fujitaka really don’t find it odd that they’re being buried in flower petals? Just keep on truckin’ in the race, huh? They’re also not worried about the welfare of Sakura or Tomoyo when this height of flowers could bury them, possibly suffocate them and children are screaming all around them?

They edit out where Sakura comically falls over after Tomoyo says that she forgot to tape the Clow card capture.

Yukito says he can make a bunch of jam with the flower petals. Julian says it’s a shame you can’t eat flowers, which, as you can see, is the exact opposite of what he said in the original. I guess they might not have wanted kids to eat random flowers or plants, but plenty of flowers are edible. I’ve eaten some in my time. Some are very sweet.

Originally, Sonomi was very, very mad that she lost to him. She explains how frustrated she was when Nadeshiko married a teacher and how they lived in a tiny apartment, went to school together, walked home holding hands and he made her lunch with matching husband and wife bento boxes. Fujitaka says that it would’ve been dishonorable to lose on purpose for her sake.

In the dub, Samantha’s more passive-aggressive if anything. She does the whole “First you beat me in high school, go on to the nationals, now embarrass me in front of our kids so now you want to rub it in my face.” Blah blah blah, rivals, blah blah being rivals meant they pushed each other to their limits and he owes much of his victory at nationals to her.

Sonomi continues on saying more stuff about how cutesy Nadeshiko and Fujitaka were in school while Samantha says “I’m the president of a toy company now, ya know?” Yeah, but you didn’t win the nationals.

They omit the part where Sonomi says that Nadeshiko would always go to her with a smile whenever she was upset about their situation.

The flower that…well, Flower, gives to Sonomi and Fujitaka is a nadeshiko flower. Much like Sakura’s named after a flower, the cherry blossom, Nadeshiko was also named after a flower, which is a bright pink and white flower. In the dub, since her name was changed and they probably doubt kids would know what a nadeshiko flower is, they just say that the flower, whatever it is, was Natasha’s favorite.

Sonomi was crying because, despite the fact that Nadeshiko always smiled, she noticed that she always had her biggest and brightest smiles after she met and married Fujitaka and it pained her that she died so early in life. Fujitaka apologizes, and states that he regrets that she felt that way since that meant that he basically got the time with her from her 16th birthday to her 27th. Sonomi then breaks the hug they were in and pinches his cheeks saying that that what she hates about him.

In the dub, she says that she hated how much time Natasha spent with Aiden and she was so pent up in her rivalry with him that she never told Natasha that what she meant to her. Aiden says that she knew and the rest of the scene is cut.

Tomoyo tells Sakura that her mom always told her about how much she loved her cousin Nadeshiko. In fact, she wanted Tomoyo to grow out her hair because Nadeshiko’s hair was so long. Sakura then says that her mother really loved Sakura’s mother. Tomoyo responds by saying she loves Sakura too, and Sakura says she loves Tomoyo. (D’awwww)

In the dub, a faraway shot of them at the beginning is edited away. I really thought this was edited away because they’re holding hands in this shot, but they leave every other shot of them holding hands alone. They basically say it’s cool how their mothers used to be friends and now they’re best friends. Also, they say that they hope that Sakura’s dad and Madison’s mom can mend bridges one day and that they can always work on them.

They edit out a shot of Tomoyo, I guess the word would be ‘admiring’, Sakura as she runs toward Toya.

Leave it to Kero/Kero’s Corner: The dub doesn’t mention the fact that Sakura’s baton case is embroidered by her dad to spell her name.

Kero gives a mini-PSA at the end of the segment and says that exercise is important. He exercises by flapping his wings 30 times a day. In the dub, this is changed to praising Sakura for being a natural athlete who always picks up sports easily, which is why he chose her to be a Cardcaptor. That whole thing with being the one to unleash the cards had nothing to do with it eh?

Also….did Syaoran never get away from Yamazaki’s clutches?

Next Episode, Shield’s debut! Tomoyo believes a Clow card is keeping a jewelry box locked in her house. It can’t be opened by any means, and both Tomoyo and her mother keep precious items in there so Tomoyo calls in Sakura to help.

….Previous Episode

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