Plot: Shou gets a supposed love letter from Asuka that is really a plan gone sour by Chronos to get Judai expelled. Shou arrives at the Obelisk Blue girl’s dorm in the middle of the night as per the love letter’s message, but ends up getting accused of being a peeping Tom. Judai comes to his rescue, and Asuka proclaims they’ll let him go if he manages to beat Asuka in a duel.
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The Obelisk kid in the back says even kindergartners know what field spells do. In the dub he says even “Pre-Duelers” ….Like pre-schoolers….hahhahaaaaaaaaa…..Also, it’s DuelISTS. Not DuelERS so this joke doesn’t even work on a basic level.
Shou just says he got stage fright. In the dub, Syrus says he let all of Slifer Red down. Geez, Syrus it was one random question in class. Not like Red’s piss poor rep could get any lower anyway.
Also, why the hell are the three different groups being taught in the same class? If this school is segregated into three groups based on skill level and knowledge, why are all three of the groups taking the same class? Especially when the questions are ungodly easy like, “What are the various types of Duel Monster cards?”
Shouldn’t the Obelisks be in some advanced class and the Ras in some intermediate class? Just seems to me like classes where they’re all together would mean the Obelisks and likely Ras would either be learning basic stuff that they already know ten times over or the Slifers would be learning stuff way above their heads- And judging from this scene, I’d say it’s the former.
Judai says technical knowledge of the game and skill are two completely unrelated matters (well, let’s not go too far, Judai. If you don’t know even the bare basics, you can’t have much in terms of skill) and says that he’s got poor enough grades to be in Osiris Red but he beat Chronos anyway. In the dub, Jaden says to not make fun of Slifer Red students because, since Jaden beat Crowler, him making fun of them essentially means he’s making fun of himself.
After Judai gloats, we see Asuka staring at him before we get our title card. In the dub, they edit out Alexis staring at him and replay a scene of Crowler getting mad with him saying he won’t tolerate having Jaden there another second.
In the original….and I still don’t understand this….Chronos says, as he’s applying lipstick in the mirror, “Melanzane, Melanzane” which apparently means “eggplant, eggplant.”……….I’m sorry wut? Why….is he repeating ‘eggplant’ over and over? There’s a reason he’s applying lipstick (he’s forging a love letter) even though I think he wears purple lipstick all the time, but why is he saying that? Just because it’s the shade of purple lipstick?
They remove the labels on Judai’s shoes that say “Judai” either because they changed his name and were too lazy to try and just write “Jaden” or because it’s text and text is evil.
Subbed: 
Dubbed: 
Name Change: The PE teacher’s name is originally Emi Ayukawa. In the dub, it’s Vonda Vontaine….Also, 4Kids did everything in their power to make her sound like a hyper annoying aerobics instructor, whereas in the original she sounds normal.
We’re never given a reason why Shou is late in the original. In the dub, I guess he went to the girl’s gym on accident…..Wait, the GIRL’S GYM!? Whaa…….there’s two separate gyms for girls and boys? I think they wanted to say he went to the girl’s locker room but then switched to ‘gym’ because…I don’t know. What could possibly be different in the girl’s gym? Is everything pink? Do the basketballs have the WNBA logo or something? What?
Judai says that there’s still plenty of hot water in the bathhouse if he wants to go. In the dub, Jaden says the OUTHOUSE is now free because he’s done in there…..First, I’m pretty sure that no matter how crappy the Slifer dorms are, they have indoor plumbing. Second, I guess in order to understand how weird this is, I should mention that Judai enters the dorm room…..while drying his hair with a towel….so couple that scene with saying the outhouse is now available makes me think Jaden just went swimming or took a bath in the outhouse. Ew.
Okay, I have to ask, what is up with bathhouses and women in anime? Every time I see women in a bathhouse in an anime this scene always occurs.
“Oh Female Character, your figure is amazing!”
“Oh stop, it’s embarrassing!”
“And your boobs are so big!”
“EHHH!? WHERE ARE YOU TOUCHING!?”
It happens all the time.
Anyway, this exact scene happens as Chronos is outside of the Obelisk Blue dorm’s bathhouse. We can’t see inside, but we can hear the girls. In the dub, obviously this is removed. Instead we get one of Alexis’ friends asking if she wants to go into the wading pool. Alexis says no because she doesn’t want to deal with guys asking if she wants to play Tackle Marco Polo which, in my opinion, just makes this scene as inappropriate as the original because that game sounds like a grope fest. Her friend reminds her in typical exposition-y fashion that it’s the girl’s dorm, no guys allowed.
In the original, Cronos plans to snap a picture of Judai in front of the girls’ bathhouse to peg him as a peeper and get him expelled. In the dub, I have no clue why getting a picture of Jaden there will ‘ruin’ him. He mentions nothing of peeping, and I doubt merely being outside the girls’ dorm is grounds for expulsion. At most it’s trespassing and being out of your dorm after hours.
Asuka’s friends lament that there are no good boys who enrolled this year. They single out Judai in particular and say he’s crass, rude and full of himself. Asuka says that she doesn’t really care about him and leaves. Her friends then start gushing over Misawa.
In the dub, they talk about how Jaden was such a disrespectful jerk to Crowler in class earlier, and Alexis says it was kinda cool. Yeah, it was really cool…in a totally egotistical and snobby way. Then her friends say “Yeah, maybe if he had the skills to back it up.” I hate to flip-flop here, but uh, ‘if he had the skills’? He beat one of the professors at the school who was using his own deck as his entrance exam. Why do you think he sucks?
Oh and also, since it’s a bathhouse obviously the girls are naked. They’re submerged in water so you see nothing, but they are. In the dub, 4Kids draws on these blaring blue swimsuits to get rid of any suspicions that they might be naked.
Subbed: 
Dubbed: 
CHronos is repeating “O sole mio” or “Oh my sun” in the original for….some reason. In the dub, Alexis is thinking over this that she won’t know if Jaden really has the skills to back up his attitude until she duels him herself.
Chronos just calls Shou “Signore Marufuji” in the original when he realizes that it’s Shou not Judai. In the dub he calls him “That field spell stuttering nitwit”
Asuka’s friend says there’s no way the Queen of Obelisk Blue would send a love letter to an Osiris Red…..Ya know, I’ve noticed that all of the main characters have three character cliques. Judai has Shou and Hayato – Misawa fills in when Hayato’s not around, or maybe I should say it’s really the opposite. Jun has his two cronies, and Asuka has these two bitches. Hm. Anyway, in the dub her friend says there’s no way Alexis would be interested in him because she’s tall and he’s short, she’s great at dueling and he’s not, she’s really hot and he’s not. Geez, what a witch.
Asuka says she’d never write such vulgar words. In the dub she says her name’s not even spelled right in the letter, which makes no sense to me. Crowler seems to adore Alexis/Asuka and he doesn’t seem like an idiot. How many ways can you spell Alexis anyway? Alecksas?
Also, I get that Shou/Syrus was very enamored by the note, but he didn’t even bother to read all of it and see to whom it was addressed? What’s even weirder is that notes usually start by addressing the main party anyway, so this entire plot is incredibly flimsy.
They really wanna make that female gym teacher annoying. I guess she’s the master of the Obelisk Blue girls’ dorm too. She says in her grating voice that they better keep the volume down because she has Pilates in the morning. Seeing as how the island just seems to be home to the school, I don’t know where she’d be taking Pilate–…..WAIT A SECOND. I’m embarrassed I took so long to connect this, but earlier Syrus said he accidentally went into the girls’ gym, right? Yet the boys have a woman as a gym teacher? Huh?
While Asuka and Alexis both come up with the same plan, Asuka’s the only one who suspects someone had planned to trick Judai into going to the girls’ dorm and pegging him as a pervert.
Eyecatches: 
Is the only way to access the Obelisk Blue girls’ dorm really just a rowboat? Must be a pain for the girls who live there…
Well, okay, I guess the big crime really is merely trespassing in the dub. You know, in one episode of Spongebob they had Spongebob, Patrick and Mr. Krabs go on a panty raid….yet 4Kids can’t imply peeping even when 100% nothing was seen.
So all of the girls barring the dorm master saw Shou and knew he was trespassing and believe he was peeping. Yet the only girls who handle it are Asuka and her friends, and the only one with authority on whether or not anyone can report him or say anything about it is Asuka? I know she’s called ‘the Queen of Obelisk Blue’ but that seems ridiculous.
The arrangement in the original is basically only using Shou as a bargaining chip. They all say he was peeping and that’s an expulsion offense. If Judai refuses to duel or loses, they’ll report Shou. So basically Judai is dueling for Shou. In the dub, they say that Syrus was trespassing and now Jaden is too since he took their invitation. If they don’t want to be reported, Jaden needs to duel Alexis.
Well, Jaden does have proof that he was invited to the dorm, and I’m sure it’s not rocket science to see who sent the message even though it seems like these futuristic PDA’s/phones don’t have caller ID. Syrus may also be able to get out of it through the note. Heck, Crowler might get in deep crap if they realize it’s his handwriting.
Crowler mentions in the dub that a duel between a Slifer and an Obelisk should be interesting. Well, there have been three duels in this series so far. Crowler (Obelisk) vs Jaden (Slifer), Chazz (Obelisk) vs Jaden (Slifer) and Alexis (Obelisk) vs Jaden (Slifer). Yeah, that’ll be a real changeup.
Saw this coming from a mile away. Etoile Cyber’s outfit had to be censored.
Subbed: 
Dubbed: 
Asuka asks if Judai is done. Judai says his turn is finished, and Asuka says it’s her turn. In the dub, Alexis asks if he’s impressed. Jaden says he’s not only impressed, he might be in love. Alexis says he’s sweet and it’s too bad she has to crush him.
I’m noticing that Jaden just seems to not give a damn about his cards…or the duel as it goes on a lot of the times. He’s always saying sarcastic comments, and when his monsters die he just basically says ‘oh well.’ Judai seems to actually care about his monsters and reacts much more emotionally when the duel takes sudden turns.
4Kids removes Asuka’s friends showering her with adoration and also egging on Judai and Shou. They even ask Shou and Judai if they want to try swimming naked. Shou says that’s sexual harassment, and the girls say he’s got a lot of nerve saying that since he’s a pepping tom. This is all just excess dialogue that could’ve been changed yet 4Kids decided to remove the entire scene.
The only part of the audio that is ‘kept’ is replaced with one of the girls saying it was probably just luck that he beat Crowler.
Jaden: “And, thanks to his super power…” Ya know what? Screw it. Entire Show Edit: I guess, for some reason, the dub claims all of the special effects of Jaden’s cards are ‘super powers’ just because they’re hero based.
Cyber Blader’s special effect is called Pas de Deux or Dance for Two. In the dub it’s left unnamed.
In the original, Judai seems fascinated that Cyber Blader’s attack got jacked up to 3600. In the dub, he fails to care and acts like it’s nothing.
Asuka and her friends say Judai got full of himself when he beat Chronos and imply it was likely a fluke since he’s losing now. They then say that the idea of Osiris Reds beating Obelisk Blues is just ridiculous. In the dub, they just mock him and don’t say any of the above.
After this, Shou says he doesn’t care what happens to him because he knows he did nothing wrong, but he won’t let them badmouth Judai or let him get expelled when he was just trying to help him. All of this is removed.
Asuka wonders what he can do with 200 life points and Judai mentally goes over all of the facts on the field right now. In the dub, Alexis thinks to herself “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t deliver.” and Jaden thinks “I hope I didn’t make a promise I can’t deliver.”
Shou says the function of field spells as a callback to the first scene. (Field spell are continuous magic cards that give the entire field a special effect.) This is removed because I guess 4Kids really hates showing when characters learn things.
Asuka’s friend originally told Judai to not get too full of himself because it was probably just a fluke that he won—Yes, yes, every time he wins it’s a damn fluke. In the dub, she says she thinks they should report them anyway.
Judai tells Asuka that she’s strong. In the dub, Jaden tells Alexis she’s “got game.”
Asuka doesn’t think to herself that she wouldn’t have turned them in anyway. I mean, she likely wouldn’t have, but she doesn’t say it in the original.
Asuka’s friend only implies in her thoughts that Asuka has a thing for Judai. In the dub she outright tells us.
Chronos says he’ll think of a way to take Judai down later since he’s tired. In the dub, he says he needs to find a way home.
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This episode was very much okay as a proper introduction to Asuka, but at this point it’s very much the same song again – An Obelisk Blue underestimates Judai and then he beats them in a duel, showing how awesome he is. Even though I would probably say that Asuka, as far as my memory allows, is probably the best female duelist in the franchise at this point, she’s just never been all that interesting as a character to me. There’s something about her that’s very bland even in spite of her maturity and knowledge and skill as a duelist. Maybe I’ll grow to appreciate her more as I do this comparison, as I have gained more respect for Judai, but I’m not really holding my breath.
Also, this whole ploy to get Judai expelled is silly, but poor Shou. It always sucks to think someone likes you then you find out you were being tricked by someone else into thinking so.
Next episode has Judai facing off against Jun again. Are we ever going to see someone besides Judai duel? And four episodes in and we’re already having a rematch? Okie Dokie….
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The Anime Madhouse 