Ojamajo Doremi Episode 3 Sub/Dub Comparison: Transfer Student from Naniwa! Aiko Debuts

Plot: There’s a new kid in town, a girl from Osaka named Aiko. Doremi and Hazuki don’t exactly have a warm welcoming with her as they find her brash and insulting. But when Doremi uses her magic to follow her one day in order to get dirt on her, she finds that Aiko has a very humble home life with a single dad who works extremely hard to make ends meet while Aiko herself is responsible for a lot of housework. When Aiko purposely neglects to tell her father about the upcoming parents’ day at school, Doremi decides to help out her new friend with a little witchcraft.

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Before the theme song in the original, we see Aiko getting excited about moving to a new town as she goofs around on a jungle gym. This is removed from the dub.

Originally, Doremi was upset because her family ate all of the steak that they made for Hazuki (in guise as Doremi). In the dub, she’s mad at her sister because she said ‘Look under there.’ Making Dorie respond with ‘Under where?’, leading to the classic joke of haha, she said ‘underwear.’

In the original, Aiko says she can see Doremi’s panties, then laughs and says she’s dumb since Doremi’s wearing shorts making it impossible for her to see her panties. In the dub, Mirabelle says she can see their epidermis and laughs when they freak out saying epidermis is another word for skin.

Okay, so let me get their straight. Saying ‘underwear’ is okay, in fact they edited the scene to specifically say the word, but implying that another girl can see Dorie’s underwear is not okay……So I suppose we won’t be getting the classic gem of ‘I see London, I see France, I see Dorie’s underpants’ anytime soon then?

Also, this line change kinda makes this scene look worse. Saying ‘I can see your epidermis’ then covering your groin? Seems more like they’re making innuendo for her junk….

Name Change: Aiko Senoo is changed to Mirabelle Haywood.

Side note, Mirabelle’s voice is the most grating and annoying so far. Congrats.

The joke edit carries over into the next scene where Kotake, the boy who’s been teasing Doremi throughout the series, tries the same trick. Doremi yells the explanation of the prank, making her seem smart for not falling for it. In the dub, she just says she’s heard it earlier.

Name Change: Tetsuya Kotake is changed to Todd Washington.

After the teacher walks in the room, some girl who looks really snotty gets up and tells everyone to bow. They do and greet her good morning. This is removed.

Aiko points out that Doremi’s in her class, and the teacher asks if they’re already friends, which Doremi denies. In the dub, Mirabelle acts like Dorie’s going to bully her and asks her not to do so since she’s new. Her teacher then asks if she’d like to go to the principal’s office and Dorie declines. Nice to see that our new character is a continuous brat.

They paint over and reanimate the shot of Aiko writing her name since A) it’s in Kanji and B) her name was changed anyway.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also –

Mirabelle: “In case you can’t read, my name is Mirabelle P. Haywood.” Apparently you can’t read because there’s no P in there.

Also, originally, Aiko was saying that the Kanji for her name is written with the symbols for ‘L’il sister’ and ‘tail.’ In the dub, since this can’t be mirrored, it’s omitted.

Aiko is from a town in Osaka. Mirabelle is from a very small town called Butter Corn Ridge.

Some brat in class is amazed that they have a real Kansai person in the class now, which slightly irks Aiko. She then tells them to call her a ‘Naniwa-ko’ which I surmise means ‘Osaka kid’. Then the boy and his stupid friends mockingly apologize while following up by saying puripuri~ which, I don’t know if I’m not getting the right word here because the only meanings I’m getting that make any sense are ‘cranky’ and ‘bad smelling’. The latter makes a little more sense considering Aiko responds by saying ‘Yuck!’ but surely just saying ‘bad smell’ can’t make you want to say ‘yuck!’

In the dub, the boy asks her, calling her by the obvious joke of her name which is ‘Hayseed’ → Haywood, how to milk a pig. She corrects him on her name then says you can’t milk a pig, only cows. Actually, you can technically milk a lot of things, including pigs.

The boy follows that up by mockingly saying “Just so you know, you can tune a piano but you can’t tune a fish!”……As many times as I’ve heard that stupid joke…..the fact that it needed such a lengthy set up and doesn’t even work at all with said setup…..is just…..I felt my soul rot a little is all.

Surprisingly, they kept in the group name of these dumbass boys, the SOS trio. Their names, Sagawa, Ota and Sugiyama make up their title in the original whereas their dubbed names, Simon, Oliver and Stewart make it up in the dub. Also, they call themselves keepers of justice in the original whereas they call themselves the class clowns in the dub….Ya know, there’s a difference between ‘class clowns’ and ‘idiots who think they’re funny.’ The former usually gets laughs from people who aren’t them.

Aiko makes a joke out of their names by saying she thought that it stood for ‘sukuyounonai oboke sanbaka,’ which translates to ‘three worthless idiots.’ In the dub, she does the same thing but says they’re ‘stupid, obnoxious and smelly.’ I will give them props for actually adapting this as much as they could.

Wait, so Dorie says ‘Ah, it’s you!’ and nearly gets sent to the principal. These boys disrupt class, make fun of Mirabelle’s name, where she comes from and her accent. She retaliates by calling them stupid, obnoxious and smelly. And the teacher just laughs and brushes it off like nothing? But Dorie says one innocent thing and nearly gets sent to the principal? Does she just have it in for Dorie? What the hell?

The dub teacher is seriously telling Mirabelle to share her favorite crayon color? Is this pre-k?

Mirabelle keeps the line about liking to sing, but Aiko says she’s not good at studying but loves gym whereas Mirabelle says she loves computers and shucking corn.

Aiko tells Doremi that she has a funny name. Mirabelle tries the same trick on her but with a different word, this time ‘cilium’ IE eyelashes, but Dorie just gets angry that Mirabelle’s even trying another trick.

While Aiko tells Hazuki to call her ‘Ai-chan’, Mirabelle doesn’t do anything similar in the dub.

While Aiko says Doremi’s reactions and personality made her forget that she saw Hazuki earlier, Mirabelle just flat-out calls her forgettable.

Aiko says she likely didn’t pay much attention to Hazuki since her clothes scream ‘Stuck-up bookworm’. Mirabelle says Reanne is plain and that there’s nothing special about her. I get that Aiko is written to be either a brat or someone who just doesn’t realize when they’re putting their foot in their mouth, but damn this kid’s irritating.

What kid in the class yelled ‘Mirabelle for class president!’ just because she caught chalk? Is this why politics is so screwed?

Also, the papers behind the kids are now and will always be painted.

The teacher says even the boys never cleared so many vaulting boxes. In the dub, she says it’s a new class record.

Aiko’s tag is removed.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The other girls have their tags removed too.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Name Change: I assume this is Reika Tamaki or Josie Huffington in the dub.

Reika says girls are only truly great when they’re popular with boys…..Well, uh….you sure are going to have an eventful high school career ahead of you…In the dub, she says Mirabelle being good at jumping doesn’t matter because she’s the most popular, prettiest and smartest girl in the school.

Mirabelle and the SOS trio omit talking about how Aiko’s father raised her. Also, they omit saying that she can join the SOS trio since her name has an S in it (Senoo) because Mirabelle’s dub name doesn’t start with S at any point.

Doremi acts like Aiko has nerve for shopping when she just moved there…..That….bitch….?? Dorie thinks that she can’t let Mirabelle see her spying on her since it’s really weird.

The magic words for spells remain the same in the original, and in the dub they’re ‘Yellow lemons, blue sky, make me like a butterfly!’

Between the magical girl shtick, the rhyming and the butterfly stuff, I’m feeling sufficiently over-girled.

I understand the flub of only giving Doremi a butterfly costume instead of actually making her into a butterfly, but if that’s the case why did it also shrink her to insect size?

The kanji on the woman’s apron is removed.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Aiko calls the woman ‘Onee-chan’ which surprises her since it’s an implication that she’s a girl or a young woman when she’s clearly around 40-50. Then she says she might be a young wife, which continues to flatter the woman. In the dub, the woman asks if Mirabelle has any ideas on how to get rid of the cat trying to eat her fish and she says to get a big junkyard dog, which the woman agrees with. Yeah, that junkyard dog’s gonna kill that cat. Also, yeah, Mirabelle, you’re a friggin’ genius for figuring out that cats don’t like dogs….

Aiko needs mackerel. Mirabelle needs salmon.

The store’s sign is painted blank.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The woman gives her some extra mackerel. In the dub, she gives her some bonus shrimp.

Doremi grumbles about Aiko using such obvious flattery tactics. Dorie says “Even fish lady’s being nice to her!” A) Why wouldn’t she be nice to her? Mirabelle’s been nothing but kind to her and we have no reason to believe she’s a mean or bad person beyond this. B) Maybe it’s because Mirabelle doesn’t refer to her ‘fish lady’.

More signs painted blank.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also, they mirrored the shot of the taxi to put it on the right side of the street. They’ve done this same thing numerous times in Yu-Gi-Oh and Mew Mew Power, so I assume this will be a constant thing. Gotta keep those American kids who can totally drive from driving on the wrong side of the street. Oh and as for everyone in other English-speaking countries who drive on the left side, enjoy your increased car accident tally.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The sign on the side of Aiko’s house is completely removed. I can’t even tell what it says.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The text on the food in the fridge is removed. This is on screen for literally two frames.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Aiko’s making takoyaki, which is basically a ball-shaped pancake filled with stuff like octopus and tempura. In the dub, Mirabelle makes her grandma’s chocolate doodles. Sure hope there’s no octopus in that….

Aiko’s dad has no nickname for her beyond ‘Aiko-chan.’ Mirabelle’s dad calls her ‘Bell-bell.’

Oh and hi Sean Schemmel.

Aiko says she can make the takoyaki since her dad’s so tired from work. Mirabelle says she doesn’t want him to make them since he’ll probably poison Dorie, implying that he sucks at cooking.

Aiko’s dad says it’s nice that Aiko’s found a friend so quickly and that he was worried she’d end up getting bullied since she just transferred. Aiko then says that she’d pound anyone if they ever tried to bully her and they laugh. In the dub, Mirabelle’s dad says some woman asked why he had to assault her ears with redneck music in his taxi. He said yes since it’s company policy. Mirabelle then cheers on her dad for saying that, he says he turned it up after that and they laugh.

Aiko says that she’ll start laundry. Mirabelle says she’s going to go around back and get….something. I cannot discern at all what she’s saying.

Aiko says her dad’s takoyaki is the best in the land, which is ironic considering 4Kids just said a minute ago that his cooking was awful. Mirabelle warns Dorie that her dad will talk her ear off.

Doremi kinda talks in an Osaka dialect as she says how great the takoyaki is and Aiko points this out. Dorie says the food is great in a normal voice and Mirabelle asks if she thinks they can put away a whole plate. So, I guess they really aren’t trying for a southern accent.

The poster behind the girls is wiped of text.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Aiko’s dad is only a taxi driver. Mirabelle’s dad has two jobs – one as a taxi driver and another making ‘something or another’ for ‘some company.’

Mirabelle adds that one of the reasons they sold the farm and left their old town was because there were too many memories floating around of her mom, who left them when she was four.

The scene gets cut after talking about her mom. Doremi says she admires Aiko because she never does anything to help out around the house yet Aiko does a bunch of stuff while her dad is doing the work of two parents. Aiko asks if she should be proud of herself and does a dramatic pose. She and Doremi then laugh.

We cut to Aiko’s dad sleeping, though I have no clue how these two elementary school girls dragged him to his bed from the living room. He mumbles something in his sleep about asking where someone wants to go and we cut to the next day. The commercial is placed right after the discussion about her mom in the dub, so I can only guess 4Kids either cut this for time or to avoid an awkward commercial placement.

I think they shortened the shot of Aiko talking about how her dad can’t take time off of work to come to parents’ day.

Slightly nitpicky, but Aiko’s dad says he could’ve asked to trade shifts if Aiko asked him earlier, but considering he doesn’t want to put his new job in danger it probably would’ve been impossible either way. In the dub, Mirabelle’s dad also says he could’ve switched shifts if she had asked him earlier, but it’s simply too late now. The original puts the blame on the situation while the dub kinda puts the blame on Mirabelle.

Aiko’s dad asks Doremi to tell Aiko that he’ll come to the next parents’ day. Mirabelle’s dad doesn’t.

Her transformation sequence is rather short, but do we really need it twice in one episode?

Apparently it’s mush mouth day in the dub. While the magic words are still the same in the original, the dub’s is ‘Just when….???….feel so bad, make a perfect copy of Mirabelle’s dad!’

The text on the top of the missing dog poster is removed…..so I guess it’s just a random dog poster.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Aiko’s dad’s clone doesn’t have an Osaka accent. In the dub, he talks like a robot.

So where exactly is this dad-clone being stashed for like five hours?

Reanne has a good point. Why is it only moms back there? It’s parents’ day, not Mother’s Day. Does no one besides Aiko have a dad? Or at least one that gives a crap? Also, where are Doremi’s parents?

The teacher asks Sugiyama to do the next question, and his mom tells him not to do it wrong. In the dub, she asks Stewart to pay attention and his mom scolds him for embarrassing her. Well, ladeeda. Your kid loves you so much he’s actively trying to say hi to you in class. What a disgrace.

Aiko yells out that she’s very happy. Mirabelle yells out that her dad’s stupid. She obviously doesn’t mean it, but still.

While both the original and dub teacher ask Aiko/Mirabelle to do the final problem, dub!teacher adds on “Feel like comin’ up here and making your father proud?” Little bit of pressure, there, Teach. She said earlier that she wasn’t good at studying, so you could be putting her on the spot. Though, I doubt it. She seems really confident that she can do—ah, nope, she can’t solve the problem. Welp….

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I actually very much enjoyed this episode. While Mirabelle is bit grating, she does grow on you throughout the episode. She doesn’t really mean to be a jerk, she just teases people and sometimes puts her foot in her mouth. It’s her dub voice that kills it for me for the most part.

The story with her dad was very realistic and endearing, and I like how Doremi’s magic didn’t really interfere with the plot at all. Her desire to help her friend leads her into telling Aiko’s dad about parents’ day, but her dad-clone wasn’t the one that showed up in the end. I will say that Doremi and Hazuki overacted quite a bit to Aiko’s behavior, but it’s more understandable in the dub where it even seems like Mirabelle’s trying to get Dorie in trouble.

Next episode, the trio of witches seems complete now as Doremi tries to turn Hazuki and Aiko into witches.

…Previous Episode

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