This episode was the first one that mostly disappointed me. Not saying I hated it, but it was weird and didn’t feel like it knew what it was trying to do with Zakuro.
First and foremost, Zakuro is now primarily a singer, like in the dub of the original anime, instead of being primarily a model/actress which is fine, but I almost feel like they made this decision purely for OST purposes. I say this because that song she sang during the auditions could not have felt more out of place and commercial. It literally was edited to look like an end credits sequence in an anime. Why would she just break out into song like that?
In the original series, she got up on stage to show the girls, who were dancing, dance moves as an example or inspiration, and she did it on request of the other judges. But their role in this version was to act in a scene, not sing. Zakuro comes in of her own accord, does part of the scene and then breaks out into a long song number. I was so confused when she started doing this. It came off so much more like she was just showing off (and somehow had the proper musical accompaniment on standby) than setting an example for the girls (even if they told her later that her performance allowed them to continue their scene.)
Second, did they completely remove the religious aspect of her character? There was absolutely no hint of it in this episode. She didn’t even wear her cross. Her weapon is a still a cross, but did they just keep it that way because it’s the way the weapon was originally designed?
Third, Zakuro’s actual debut was a little weird as well. A wolf, that was somehow howling on top of a nearby building, is what triggered her transformation? Excuse me? What is that about? I get that she was in danger either way, and that triggers transformation, but they purposefully framed it to make it seem like hearing the wolf put her over the edge.
Speaking of her transformation, it was ridiculously short. Is that all there is to it? It can’t be…..right? It’s not a bad transformation, I just felt like it was super short and like she didn’t get to finish it.
As for her new design…………….I….don’t…..like it. When she’s not transformed, she looks perfectly fine. She barely looks any different from the way she used to look. Transformed, now that’s a different story. I honestly can’t pinpoint anything I really like about her new look, which is pretty damn weird for the model.
Technically, they didn’t change much. She still has basically the same outfit – the tube top, the shorts, the long boots. However. Her shorts in this version seem like they’re way too short. Like they would come off if she actually did run on all fours like she does sometimes. Not that she ever could run like that in those platform boots. Her old boots had a heel to them too, but not a high full platform. Honestly, the running comment is being a bit generous. They pretty much look like they require censorship if she moved the wrong way even slightly.
And why does she get to keep her shorts but Pudding doesn’t?
But what really kills it for me is her hair. Who the hell approved her hair? It is WAY too long and does not, in any manner, convey “wolf.” Granted, her old hairstyle didn’t convey that either, but her hair unreasonably long. It shouldn’t cover the floor when she kneels down. It very nearly touches the floor when she’s standing. That’s so ridiculously non-conducive to battle situations it makes me a little upset. Actually, forget battle situations. That looks like it’d be annoying to deal with just walking around.
I agree that her hair being in a ponytail is a good decision, but that practical decision is ruined 100x over by giving her ten feet of hair.
I don’t even particularly care for the ribbon in her hair. The one on her neck is fine, but the one in her hair just seems unfitting
And to cap it all off, her flute looks weird, too. I guess it looks more like a flute of some kind, but the end of it looks too wide. Unless that was just the animation for this episode making it look particularly awkward.
Kisshu’s attack was pretty pathetic. He comes out of nowhere and attacked with a bunch of Chimera Crows. It was just a bunch of more-or-less regular crows that were controlled. They weren’t particularly monstrous.
Pudding was annoying in this episode too. I get that her ruining the audition was in the manga and the original anime, but that doesn’t make it less annoying. And then they have her ruining Mint’s attack during the battle and acting like it was a good thing. I usually love Pudding, but she was irritating today.
As before, Zakuro’s debut is a two-parter, so maybe the second part will make up for this episode, but as a whole it just disappointed and confused me.
Next time, Mint deals with being rejected by Zakuro.
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Today’s episode is a bit of a mixed bag. I didn’t firmly dislike anything I’m about to mention, but I feel like this could have been organized a bit better.
As I mentioned, today’s episode is Pudding’s debut, but you don’t see her until the episode is nearly half over. The rest of the episode is taken up by Aoyama and Ichigo on a date at the zoo. The date is really relatable, adorable and sweet, I just kinda wish it was in a different episode.
In the original anime, Pudding’s debut got a dedicated episode, so I don’t know what the logic was with slicing her debut in half. She’s kinda just thrown in there, too. We learn absolutely nothing about her besides the fact that she’s very energetic, desperately wants tips and is basically like a human monkey. She suddenly performs her circus routine in the zoo during Ichigo and Aoyama’s date, and Quiche also debuts to give Ichigo her kiss, further derailing the attention from Pudding.
Then Quiche turns a bunch of animals at the zoo into Chimera Animals, the girls (Lettuce and Mint show up – Lettuce doesn’t transform in this episode *pout*) try to fight them off, but there are too many. Ichigo is about to get crushed by an elephant that is either insanely slow or they purposefully slowed the footage for dramatic effect, it’s hard to tell, and Pudding transforms to save her. She also encases all the animals in the gelatin thing she makes. Really helpful of them to group up so tightly for her to target. Then Ichigo blasts them all, and that’s that. Pudding’s a Mew Mew now.
Kinda disappointing, to be honest. I guess it’s safe to assume that her backstory and whatnot will be explored more later, but, still, it’s her debut episode. Why was she shoved into the sidelines like this?
That being said, oh my god, Pudding’s so adorable in this, guys. I love her new hairstyle. I love her tiny pigtails. I love her denim suspender shorts. Her transformation – GUYS – she has like one of the cutest magical girl transformations I’ve ever seen. It’s so perfect for Pudding. I love the way her hair changes to make her braids look a little like monkey tails. I like her shoes and her socks (although….would those not be more suited for Mint? They’re basically ballet slippers.) I like her gloves, even if they are missing the faux fur.
……Okay, so someone commented somewhere (sorry, I forget where) that they didn’t care for Pudding’s new outfit, and one of the main points of contention was the fact that they changed her from a pair of shorts, or I guess it was more of a romper kinda thing (I’m sorry, I don’t know fashion), to a dress.
……and yeah, I totally agree. A dress just doesn’t fit Pudding. She jumps all over the place. She’s literally the monkey of the group. A romper type deal or something with shorts is way more preferable for both agility and avoiding showing off her underwear to everyone she sees whenever she’s hopping around in the air like Tarzan.
I also don’t really like how wide the waist is. For her age, it just looks wrong. Also, the bottom of it being that wide just makes it more awkward to wear when she’s jumping around. It will easily catch the air and flip up.
Do I prefer the original design over her new one?….In this case, yes. Her original outfit made much more sense and suited her personality more than this one does. Even the shoes/socks are better since the way the socks bunched up around the strings gave off a little bit of a circus vibe. And I really do miss her faux fur gloves, even if her new gloves are pretty cool in their own right…..are they even gloves? They’re more like wrist bands that go up over the back of her hand without wrapping around any part of her hand.
One last note about Pudding before we move on…..what the hell was that last joke about? She offered Ichigo a special medicine from her family that she suggests slipping to Aoyama without his knowing……..Is this….a date rape joke? Please tell me I’m misinterpreting. I honestly can’t imagine any innocent intention behind this suggestion. Even if it’s an aphrodisiac or something it’s still very wrong to suggest slipping to him without his consent.
Back to Ichigo and Aoyama’s date, this was very sweet. I did enjoy it quite a bit for what it was worth. They were both nervous, he was being quiet because he was nervous, neither could express how nervous they were until they were forced to address it in a more comfortable setting. It was very nice and it reflected how they’re both becoming more comfortable around each other while also realizing that that level of comfort is actually scary to a degree – a good scary. And it somehow managed to make the scene in which he gives her a bell choker not as creepy as it originally was in either the anime or the manga.
They saw a little black cat in some cat…petting…room….that they have at a zoo? It was wounded, so they wrapped up its paw in a little bandage. I dunno why they didn’t contact anyone who worked at the zoo about it, but that was nice anyway. The cat had a bell on it tied with a red ribbon. Later, when the Chimera Animals attacked, the cat came back to save Aoyama, who had been separated from Ichigo before the attack, from a Chimera Parrot. In the process, the bell fell off, and then the cat ran off.
After being shaken so badly at losing Ichigo again, and realizing she lost her own choker in the battle, he ties the bell around her neck saying that he needs the bell to ensure he never loses track of her. He then calls her his kitty, which is weird, but then he says that was a corny thing to say so I guess it’s not that bad.
I mean, it’s kinda weird to give her a literal cat bell that was on an actual cat as a necklace, but it’s a sweet gesture.
What I’m wondering is, is there something with this cat? Why did it save Aoyama? It was a bird Chimera Animal, so maybe it was just instinct, but that’s still a really weird coincidence. Also, the cat is watching them as they walk away after this interaction. I’m pretty sure this cat isn’t Shirogane because his cat form is in the ending credits and his colors don’t match this cat. Is it just a weird cat? Hm.
Anyway, I liked this episode, truly I did, but I just wish the date and Quiche had been in an episode separate from Pudding’s debut. She kinda got shafted here. Just a bit. Hope we see look more into her character soon.
Next time, Zakuro’s debut!
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Card (s) of the Day: Mist – A card that creates an odd green mist that destroys anything that it touches. Its weakness seems to be Shadow as it can contain Mist and keep it from spreading and causing harm.
Plot: Toya’s school is holding a fair, and he’s set to be in the play of Cinderella. As Cinderella. The play is actually gender-swapped, meaning the boys play all the girl parts and vice versa. A girl named Yoko, who has a crush on Toya, gets the part of the prince. However, the Clow card, Mist, appears and puts Toya and Yoko in danger. Sakura has to stop Mist before they’re hurt or worse.
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Title Change: Sakura, Toya and Cinderella is changed to Play Misty for Tori, which makes sense, but also doesn’t?
Sakura’s ticket is painted over in English and the details are changed. The Seijou High School Fair is changed to the Reedington High Culture Fest. The dub gets the date right, but the original doesn’t state that it’s the 24th annual fair.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Also, I have no clue why they erased everything but one of the x parts of one of the kanjis.
Hey guys, guess what? Yukito was cut out some more! As she looks at the ticket, Sakura flashes back to Yukito giving it to her. They talk about how Toya’s been staying late at school the past few days to prepare for it, and say he might be worried about the play. Yukito hands her the ticket, says it’s good for both her and a friend and that the ticket also allows her to eat at any of the booths. All of this was removed. And because we have an overlaid transition to get us back to where the dub starts, they do some REALLY sloppy editing that makes it seem like the footage got somewhat eaten in a VCR.
Tomoyo originally gets in a good close-up of Sakura because she looked so lovely as she was lost in thought in her flashback. Sakura then nervously laughs with a somewhat cartoony face. In the dub, this is changed to just her freaking Sakura out because she brought the camera in case a Clow card showed up – something she really shouldn’t be surprised at anymore considering that thing is almost always glued to her hand. Also, the editor must just be drunk today because they cut out Sakura’s nervous laugh and cartoony face, but it’s shown for a brief second again making the footage look like it was messed with.
The other student asks Toya if he can mend the shoes, and Toya says he can do it with the other guy’s guts (??) In the dub, the guy asks Tori if he needs the shoes, and Tori says he has his own.
After that, the girls rush over and clamor at Toya for being good at sewing and they say he’d be a good husband. The editor strikes again because they cut out the shot of the girls clamoring for no reason I can fathom, causing a jump in the footage and a whiplashing dialogue shift. The dialogue is changed to them basically mocking him for ‘losing a bet’ and taking an embarrassing role in the play.
Yukito’s stand is specifically a candy shop, not just a generic food store.
The food choices are cold-candy water and ramune soda in the original. They’re lemon soda and desserts in the dub.
Sakura looks at Yukito as he walks away and says softly ‘Yukito-san’. This is removed.
God, the editor is having a rough day. Sakura sees Syaoran, and he stares hard at the three of them. Sakura freaks out slightly, and we cut to Syaoran with intense flames in his eyes. Yukito asks if he’d like another, and Syaoran shyly nods ‘yes.’ Sakura and Tomoyo see a mess of bottles and plates indicating that Syaoran has been there for quite some time. We get more glaring and Syaoran jumps towards the girls dramatically. All of this is edited it out because it’s more poking at Syaoran’s crush on Yukito, but it, like the other scenes, was edited with a second of footage from the clip left behind making it glaringly obvious that something was removed there. In addition, Julian doesn’t ask Lee if he wants another, he just greets him and Syaoran lunges at the girls.
Toya’s friends are baffled by Toya’s work ethic and strength as he doesn’t believe the trunk that they’re lugging around is heavy. They ask if he’s a robot or a gorilla and Toya stops to think. In the dub, they just say they need help moving it.
The girls are watching the guys carrying the trunk and they gush over Toya some more. They talk about how he’s on the soccer team, good at cooking and sewing etc. and they ask Yoko, the red-haired girl from earlier, if she likes Toya too. She asks why they’d ask her such a thing, and they say she’d make a cute match for him seeing as how she’s the head of the drama club and is good at taking care of people. She rolls her eyes and walks off. In the dub, oh wait a sec:
Name Change: Yoko is changed to Vicki.
As I was saying, in the dub, the girls are basically complete bitches. They whine about how the boys better not ask them to help move the trunk and how they better get moving to get to the stage with the trunk on time. They then ask Vicki if she memorized all her lines, and she says she memorized most of them. The girls taunt about how she’ll forget her lines and make a fool out of herself if she doesn’t ensure that she memorizes all of the lines. Vicki then walks off to study her lines some more. What is with older English dubs and making girls snobby divas? 4Kids did the same thing. Also, why are they removing a heterosexual same-age crush from the series too? There are no “content” excuses for that. Do they just want to remove most romance aspects now?
Even more of these hints of a crush are removed because, after Yoko leaves, the girls assert that Yoko probably does like Toya, but they understand why she’s so avoidant of the matter because it’s supposedly one of the ‘seven mysteries’ of their school as to why Toya and Yukito don’t have girlfriends and shoot down every girl who asks them. Gee, two of the hottest guys in school who spend practically all of their time together and seem to show no interest whatsoever in the opposite sex sure is a mystery. I mean, it’s not right to make assumptions but really, come on. I refuse to believe no one at their school ever suggested this possibility. This entire scene is removed. At least they didn’t make the edit sloppy this time, though.
Syaoran responds to Sakura liking the stuffed pink bunny by asking her why she would like such childish things, and she responds that it’s because it’s still cute. In the dub, Lee tells Sakura that she has one just like that at home, and Sakura says she likes it anyway. How exactly does Lee know what stuffed animals Sakura has at home? He’s never been in her room has he?
The fee to do the challenge for the toy is actually 100 yen, roughly a dollar. But since 100 yen is a coin, they change it to a quarter. By the way, really, the challenge for getting one of various SMALL CUTESY STUFFED ANIMALS is to dribble past five players on the school’s basketball team? This is either a booth specifically designed for guys to impress their girlfriends and win them a prize or this is the suckiest booth ever. I’m not saying a girl couldn’t do it or wouldn’t want to, I’m quite certain there are some girls in the school who would, but I doubt the number would be big enough to warrant a booth. I also doubt the number of teenage boys who would do the challenge would want a pink bunny.
In response to Yukito giving Sakura the bunny, Syaoran grumbles a bit. The grumbling’s removed.
I’m actually surprised they left the following scene where it’s shown that Yukito also wins toys for Tomoyo and Syaoran.
Syaoran shyly asks Yukito if he’s also going to be in the play. Yukito says yes and that his role is a can of mackerel. The kids all try to process this weird information, but Yukito just smiles. All of this is removed and the editor mucked up the cut again. Dude, even when I did AMVs in Windows Movie Maker I was still able to do fairly clean cuts almost all the time. You have professional editing equipment, what is happening?
Also, I can understand removing the part where Yukito and Syaoran talk, at least by Nelvana’s stupid standards, but why the rest of it? There’s so much hacked away today that it’s one of those episodes that I really fear will be extended for time with something or other.
Since all of that is removed, the rest of the scene is changed. Sakura originally says that it sounds like a yummy role, and Yukito agrees because canned mackerel is really good. In the dub, Sakura continues on the previous discussion about Tori being in the play and says that whatever role he plays he’s sure to be great at it. Julian responds that he’s sure it’s a performance that they’ll never forget.
Syaoran asks why canned mackerel would be in a play about Cinderella. In the dub, Lee says Tori’s probably going to play one of the rats.
Upon seeing Toya as Cinderella, Sakura falls out her seat and the girls in the audience clamor over Toya. When Sakura pulls herself together, Tomoyo points out that Toya’s really popular. In the dub, all of this up until Sakura pulls herself up in her chair is removed, and since the scene with the girls was removed, Madison says that Julian was right about this being a performance they’ll never forget.
I’m starting to wonder why this entire episode wasn’t axed. I mean, it’s butchered enough as it is, you can tell that just from this comparison, and we’re just barely past the commercial break so there’s probably plenty more to go. Now we have crossdressing. Look at all the stuff that has been cut either for stupid reasons, pointless reasons or no reason at all in this one episode. Now take into consideration that Toya’s crossdressing and it’s left alone. It’s not just him either, the other female roles are being filled by guys from his class too, and the prince is played by a girl because it’s a gender-swapped play. I don’t get their logic at all. I’m glad they’re leaving it, but I don’t get their nonsensical rules.
ALSO, this scene directly contradicts the girls’ words from earlier about feeling bad for Tori because he ‘lost a bet’ and I guess had to take that part because of it. It’s a gender-swapped play, meaning other boys are dressed in feminine clothing too. If anything, Tori had the best part in the play because he gets a love scene with an attractive girl.
They remove a shot of the two boys playing the evil stepsisters getting in each others faces about who’s going to marry the prince.
To add more time, they add in a shot of Sakura making an awkward face from earlier.
The play’s actually been fairly loyal, dialogue wise, but before the stepsisters and stepmother leave, the evil stepmother tells Cinderella to be jealous, and the stepsisters tell Cinderella to make ramen for them before they come home from the ball. No demands for Cinderella to be jealous are made, and the stepsisters tell Cinderella to make them a late night snack for when they come home.
In response to Toya’s less-than-enthusiastic acting about wanting to go to the ball, Syaoran says “I don’t think he wants to go to the ball at all.” In the dub, it’s kept the same, but Lee’s delivery of “I don’t think he wants to go.” is almost as bad as the way Tori’s VA is purposely trying to act right now.
Okay, this is just getting ridiculous now. I’m actually getting a little angry. Yukito comes on stage and, again, all of the girls clamor. Tomoyo points out that Yukito is also very popular. Sakura agrees, claiming it’s because he’s so wonderful. Syaoran nods in agreement then realizes what he did and grumbles. Yukito’s role is….odd…to say the least. You remember how he said he’d be playing a can of mackerel? He wasn’t lying. He is playing some wizard or something that hands Cinderella an invitation to the ball. He has a can of mackerel on his head and states that the can of mackerel is where he gained his powers. Sakura and Syaoran both fall over this time, and Tomoyo states they must’ve used that to raise awareness over wasting things. It’s a weird yet funny scene. All of it is removed. Also, no, it is never once explained what this is actually about, though that’s the joke.
Something had to have been done outside of one funny face shot insertion to make this episode run longer. There is just too much removed. Maybe they jam packed a lot of commercials.
Another shot of a goofy face of Sakura’s is removed.
Sakura and Syaoran both get a goofy face and say this is a weird play. They realize they said the same thing and both grumble. This is removed too.
More of the dance is removed for no reason.
Another mention of the ramen for dinner is omitted.
In addition, since Yukito’s part was completely cut, we get another funny line gone since Toya originally says ‘but the can of mackerel said I had to be home by midnight.’ In the dub, it’s the obvious Fairy Godmother.
Tomoyo only missed the capture, she never intended on recording the play nor did she ever try. The dub claims that she ran out of film before the play started and that’s why she also missed the capture.
When Yukito shows up, Syaoran bows and says he did a great job as the can of mackerel. Yukito thanks him. This is removed, but they couldn’t avoid showing Syaoran’s embarrassed face in the next shot as Sakura asks where Toya is.
Yoko brings Toya up to the roof and confesses her feelings to him. However, he gently declines. She asks if he likes someone else and he nods. She says she figured that was the case and wipes some tears away telling him to not worry about her and apologizes for crying. She then points out that the bonfire dance is starting soon and asks him for a favor – one dance. He agrees.
In the dub, Vicki just says thanks to Tori and says she owes him big time. She says it’s a shame that the play was ruined, he nods in agreement and she says there’s always next year. Then she asks to dance with him. The shot of her wiping away tears is also removed. I have no idea anymore. I guess all love is bad in Nelvana’s eyes. Maybe it was changed because Toya kinda-ish implies that he likes Yukito in the end, but it’s not that much. He just said he likes someone else. It’s only because I know about what happens later on that I know this is a poke at him liking Yukito. Plus, they could’ve left in the stuff about Yoko’s crush without implying that he has a thing for Yukito or even anyone else period. He could have just said he doesn’t feel the same way and let her down gently.
If you were only watching the dub, you’d be totally confused as to what this character’s purpose in the episode was. She didn’t study her lines much then got saved by Toya. The end.
Toya originally says as he walks away, since it was time to change partners, that he never promised anyone else to a dance. Yoko then says he acts a little too cool. In the dub, Tori says he wants to talk to his sister for a bit and Vicki says she’ll wait for him then.
Also, a music note, in the original, the song playing during the bonfire dance…..is “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”…………………………………..Wh….why? I just….why? Why would that song be playing at a high school bonfire dance? Oh yeah, when I want to have a nice dance with someone I like, the first sweet romantic hit I think of is ♪ Do you ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie ’em in a knot? Can you tie ’em in a bow?♪
It’s not even the fact that it’s not a romantic song, because it doesn’t have to be for a bonfire dance. It’s the fact that it’s a children’s song, one most kids don’t dance to, being played on something like an organ grinder. In the dub it’s just generic BG music, which, in this one instance, is actually better.
Yet they leave in the final scene with Yukito and Sakura dancing and even the closeup shot of Syaoran’s emotionally crushed face, but they remove the later scene of him making an equally crushed face in the background as Tomoyo films.
Also, hey Madison, I thought your camera ‘ran out of film.’
Leave it to Kero-Chan!/Kero’s Corner: They actually get everything right, but the reason Tori’s bag has no school emblem is because it’s not given by the school, and they never mention that Julian’s bag is from his grandparents.
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Overall, this episode is okay. The weird play was quite funny, but the Clow card and capture were ultimately boring. The dub was awful, and they made what seems to be way more cuts than usual. The only scene that was mostly left alone was the capture scene.
Next time, Kero and Sakura have a fight and he runs away from home.
Lettuce’s debut! Or should I say De-Mew–Nonono! Must stop! *ahem* Anyhoo, Lettuce is here! How did they cover everyone’s favorite finless porpoise? Let’s check my notes.
– So apparently all legendary creatures are actually Chimera Animas?…..Mmm….Okay.
– Also, the reason they chose endangered species for the Mew Project was because those animals are naturally more motivated for fight for their survival? I guess that’s cool, but doesn’t really make much sense. How do animals know they’re endangered?
– She can change back from her Mew form by just saying “Change back”? I wonder if that will work on her full cat form. Probably not. That is a slightly interesting inclusion, though.
– Wow, Shirogane. It’s rude as hell to call her a bioweapon…
– I like that Mint snickers when Ichigo spills the parfait on one of the bitchy girls. I think I’m liking their dynamic a tiny bit more in this version, even if the differences between versions aren’t that stark. Mint is still a bossy stuck up girl, but she’s a little less abrasive and meshes with Ichigo just a tiny bit better here.
– While it is really cool that Lettuce gets powers over water when she’s really upset, why doesn’t she get all mermaid-y like Ichigo gets cat traits, ears and a tail? It’s weird that once again the series explains that Ichigo has cat traits because of her powers but they never adequately explain why the other girls don’t have traits of their animals. At least, not yet, I guess. Kinda doubt they will go down that route, but I feel I can have some hope.
– OOOOHHHH Mint’s new transformation is awesome! I like how they had the door shift to being on bottom so they could show the birds flying up out of it instead of just out of the door.
Not crazy about her pose, though, because she seems like she’s turned too much. She’s not facing the same direction as the bird, and she’s not facing us. I get that she’s meant to be facing up towards the sky, but I still feel like maybe turning her a little would feel more natural. Maybe that’s just me. I love the added touch of the sunbeams, though.
– Disappointed that we didn’t get to see Lettuce’s true transformation today nor her proper attack animation, but that’s fine. I’m sure we’ll see it in the future…….Does give me bad flashbacks to 4Kids’ basically all but removing her transformation entirely, though.
– As for her new look when transformed, I like it. I particularly like how they styled her hair. Not crazy about the skirt, but that’s about it.
– I like the minor tweaks they did to Lettuce’s breakdown here. It’s not her taking advantage of her powers to lash out. She’s losing control of her powers and basically herself because she’s having a massive breakdown over her internal struggles with making friends. I also like that they included brief glimpses of Lettuce throughout her life showing that, no matter what she did or how much she tried to make friends she’d always end up alone.
I always kinda disliked the original version (whether sub or dub anime version or manga – though the dub was the worst offender) because it’s like they were shaming her for how she was feeling when it was totally validated. Here, Ichigo’s not only making the effort to ensure that Lettuce knows she legitimately wants to be her friend because she’s nice and cares about others, but she’s also saying that learning to love herself is more important than pleasing others, and that friendship is more than just spending time with people.
They actually managed to pull off a very emotional scene here where it always frustrated me in the original versions. It really struck a chord with me, personally. I actually kinda felt like tearing up. I am quite impressed, TMMN.
And they showed her rejecting the bitchy friends! AND doing her best to be more legitimately sociable! AND the customers cheering her on!
This is pretty much everything I ever wanted from Lettuce’s reveal. Bravo!
In the end, this is definitely the best version of Lettuce’s debut, and the episode as a whole was very enjoyable. I like they ended with her not only getting some legitimate friends but also showing that she’s becoming a bit more confident, even if she clearly has more work to do. I hope we see some cool things from Lettuce in the future. She was always one of my favorite characters.
Next episode is Pudding’s debut. Will TMMN continue to impress me? I certainly hope so.
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Oh should I say re-MEW?! Ahahahahahahaha! Ahaha…Hah…..*cough*
Well, the Tokyo Mew Mew reboot came out recently. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t notice because it’s basically been silent on all fronts since it came out. That actually kinda concerned me. I mean, I guess no news is good news…..or good MEWS! Ahahahaha….hah….That 4Kids retrospective kinda broke me. I apologize.
But outside a few mentions here and there, I haven’t heard anyone actually discussing it. It’s like the Shaman King reboot. I barely heard a word about that once it was finally out even though people waited for it forever.
I, personally, was interested in what direction they would go with it. Would they rely more on the anime version, try to be more loyal to the manga or would they just do their own thing? Or even some melding of all three?
Well, after watching the first episode, I can tell you that it definitely seems like it’s trying to be more its own thing than anything while also trying to be more loyal to the manga than the original anime did. If it takes anything from the anime, it’s that it tries a lot harder to give the others girls spotlight, which I am very, very thankful for. So far, they’re actually getting more focus than they even got in the original anime, which is very nice.
I’m not going to be doing another AniManga Clash on this series for the reboot, but I will try to bring up the differences as much as memory allows.
As in the manga, all of the Mews are in the endangered species exhibit on the day that their powers are given to them. Ichigo is there with Aoyama on a date, and Shirogane and Akasaka choose this as their moment to shoot off their……Pbbbt Mew Mew beam or whatever that is. In the hubbub, Ichigo and Aoayama accidentally have their first kiss (which is unlike the original anime where it was changed to Quiche stealing her first kiss). After that, Ichigo wakes up to Aoyama checking up on her when a Chimera Anima attacks. I know I’ve called them Chimera AnimaLs in the past, but that was a habit born from the subs I was reading. I will refer to them as Chimera Animas from now on.
Aoyama is knocked unconscious, Shirogane saves Ichigo from the Chimera Anima and tells her about her transformation powers, telling her to transform into Mew Ichigo to defeat the Chimera Anima. She manages to do so and that’s pretty much it.
There are some key differences between the reboot and the manga and original anime, however.
Ichigo seemingly doesn’t know Aoyama at all during the start of this show. Their story is still roughly kept the same, but Ichigo seemingly knew Aoyama for a while and had a crush on him for some time at the start of both the manga and the original anime. They weren’t super close or anything, but she clearly had spoken to him a few times and had a crush on him, and she was confident enough in her standing with him to ask him out right at the start.
I’m not sure how much I care about this change. I think it kinda made their development go by a little too fast in this version. She goes from not knowing who he is to being intense about wanting to get to know him, leading her and her friends to basically covertly gather intel to asking him on a date in only a few minutes. Not saying it’s unrealistic because these are teenagers we’re dealing with, but I preferred the pacing that the original manga and anime went through is all.
However, to kinda balance that out, I did greatly appreciate that Ichigo was honest with Aoyama about the circumstances involving their date. Usually in situations like this, the protagonist would just lie and pretend that they’re interested in the stuff their crush is interested in just because they want to get all up in that goodness, especially when asked about the topic as Aoyama does to Ichigo here. However, Ichigo was actually honest with Aoyama when he asked how long she had been interested in conservation and told him that she just got the tickets to the exhibit and thought it would be interesting to go with him. She even got really into the subject matter when Aoyama started explaining everything to her.
I do think it was kinda silly for a teenage girl to not know what “endangered” means. “Red data animal” I get because that’s not a common phrase, but most people know what “endangered” means.
Anyway, while it was the slightest bit preachy, I did like how much Ichigo got into it. Plus, this series just tends to be a tiny bit preachy by default, so it’s alright.
The second biggest change to the series kinda shocked me. Mint, for some reason and somehow, already has her powers and is teamed up with Shirogane and Akasaka before Ichigo even goes to the endangered animal exhibit. She also goes to her school and helped arrange Ichigo to be at the exhibit supposedly to set up her being imbued with the powers.
This confused me so much, and I still don’t know if I like it. In the manga and the original anime, Ichigo being given powers was like a matter of circumstance. She just happened to be the one who had a good match with an iriomote wild cat out of everyone who was there. She wasn’t a literal chosen one. However, here, it seems very much intentional. Mint even grabbed her and threw her into some other location somehow that didn’t seem like it was in the same area as the exhibit so she could test out her new powers.
On one hand, I kinda like the Mint change….at least I think I like it. I know so little about what’s actually going on there that it’s really hard for me to formulate any actual opinion on it. It does get at least one of the girls a little more invested in the overall story, and Mint got to help in the big battle sequence. Plus it doesn’t seem that Mint is nearly as abrasive as she usually is, so that’s good. I’m just wondering how this change impacts both her and the story as we move forward.
I’m also kinda confused because I sincerely doubt the other Mews got the same test-drive kind of experience, so are they getting kicked to the side again? Like “Oh we had to ensure Ichigo got to activate her powers first, because she’s the leader.” Does this mean they know who the other Mews are right now or was Ichigo the only ‘chosen one’? How did Mint wind up with Shirogane and Akasaka? Why is she with them?
I know all these questions will be answered in the future, but it really threw me for a loop. I’d think if anyone made sense to be in with Shirogane and Akasaka from the start, it’d be Zakuro given the way her character was introduced in the past, but I guess I’ll reserve judgment on how I feel about this until I know a bit more about it.
A slight change that they made was giving Moe and Miwa stuff to do and personalities beyond just being Ichigo’s friends. One of them wants to be a journalist, and the other wants to be a counselor. Very minor, but I take what I can get. I also appreciate that they helped Ichigo learn more about Aoyama so she could have a chance with him. They seem like pretty good friends.
I like the new art and animation. I think everyone’s characters designs are pretty nice. I also like how the Mews have more different hair styles when they’re transformed. Before, they just kinda looked the same barring brighter colors, but now they get slightly different styles as well. I particularly like that Mint’s hair is being kept down in her normal state and only has the buns in her transformed state while also making her hair a little longer and wavier when transformed. I also like Mint’s dress. It finally doesn’t give off “towel” vibes. That little fringe at the bottom does so much. I also like the bows, I think those are cute.
I liked the new transformation for Ichigo. I love that the cat appears behind her when she poses. While I did think it looked really cool, I don’t think it was a good idea to have her body appear with a galaxy/starry sky pattern on her as she transforms because it comes off way too much like Sailor Moon. It also doesn’t make much sense. What do their powers have to do with space? I also liked the new animation for her attack. I thought that was cool.
The little sequence they tagged on at the end with her in the truck was funny. It was also amazing how well they captured Café Mew Mew. It looks dead on to how it is in the manga and original anime, at least on the outside. I was very impressed.
The music is pretty good. I like it. Not sure I’m fully onboard with the ED quite yet, but it’s alright.
The voice acting was also pretty good. We did lose Megumi Ogata as Aoyama, but I think his new VA, Yuuma Uchida, does a pretty good job. Despite not appearing in this episode, I also learned Daisuke Sakaguchi wasn’t back to voice Quiche (and yes, I’m switching to calling them Quiche, Tart and Pie as well) which sucks. He was so much fun in the role, but hopefully his new VA will be good. I think everyone got a voice change, but don’t quote me on that.
Not sure if it will ever see a dub. That’d be surreal, quite frankly. I’d love to see a new English dubbing studio take on TMM, but after going through all of the 4Kids dub, it’d be a very strange experience. Welcome, but strange.
So…yeah…I was pleasantly surprised by this. It’s actually getting my hopes up a bit. It seems like it might be answering quite of a few of the criticisms I had about the original manga and anime. But I am treading lightly. I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I look forward to more, and I hope this is the start of something really great for the franchise. See you in episode two!
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Or should I say, episode MEW?! Ahahahahah!….Hahah…ha…Is there some 4Kids detox I can do?
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Plot: Jadeite teams up with one of Beryl’s most trusted subordinates, a demon named Thetis, to steal energy from lovers on a lovers’ cruise ship. Rei wins a ticket on the boat and invites Ami to both spite Usagi and to find them both boyfriends. Usagi sneaks her way onto the ship disguised as a photographer to get in on the fun, but when they discover Jadeite’s trap they’ll have to defeat Thetis and save the lovers on the ship.
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Title Change: I Want a Boyfriend – The Luxury Cruise Ship is a Trap is changed to Cruise Blues…I just want to note that there are four episodes in this season that DiC named (Something) Blues….Truly masters of creativity…
The dub puts the footage of Serena attacking over the edited plasma ball thing Beryl has. In the original, it’s just a circle.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
The editing’s weird as a result because I guess they had to transition to the original footage due to the glow of the tiara.
In the original, Thetis, the demon of the week, seems to be above Jadeite and working directly under Queen Beryl. In the dub, Jadeite acts like Thetis is a lowly demon who has failed him once before.
The original commercial for the cruise is narrated by a woman instead of a man, and the commercial is much longer than it is in the dub though the same clips remain…
I guess they edited this part out because there’s a big closeup of the cruise’s advertisement that takes up all of the screen and has Japanese on it. Umino explains how nice the cruise ship is and says it would be great to fall in love on the ship as we transition to him imagining himself with Usagi on the boat with her suddenly elbowing him in the fantasy (which was hilarious).
Also, in the dub, Melvin just says he can tell the girls how the ship was made.
Also, they omit that the ship has a capacity of 666…..which is kinda weird. I get that that’s considered an ‘evil’ number but it’s moreso a devil/Satan thing. I don’t think Beryl has anything to do with Satan…..right?
Umino doesn’t mention how he got the tickets whereas Melvin says he got them by entering a computer contest on the internet. A shot of the advertisement is edited out, I guess because there’s Japanese too close up. Umino says he gave the tickets to the lady next door because he didn’t want to do anything delinquent and shows the hours of departure for the cruise being 18:00-22:00 (6:00pm to 10:00pm) They also remove this explanation (they could’ve just said the hours but whatever) and said his parents wouldn’t let him go because he gets sea sick.
They also edit out a shot of Naru and Usagi as Naru says that Umino has a weird sense of ethics.
Umino says there’s a raffle in the shopping district for tickets. Melvin says there’s a raffle at the newsstand downtown.
This shot is edited out.
A shot of the advertisement for the cruise is removed.
Instead, both of these shots are replaced with a view of Tokyo Tower………Yeah, replace a shot of Japan with a Japanese landmark. Makes sense.
In the original, the consolation prize was tissues (I guess to be funny…or a jackass.) In the dub, since they’re blocks of white, they say the consolation prize is soap, which can also be jackassy when you think about it……But why? Why change that? Why? Are tissues bad? Next time you have a runny nose, blow it into SOAP. It’ll be gross, but at least your nose will smell nice.
Rei says they don’t have times for things like the cruise because of their responsibilities as Senshi. In the dub, Raye asks who Serena would bring because she has no boyfriend. Serena says she could bring a friend, and Raye asks if she’s talking about herself because why would she want to be stuck on a cruise with a brat like her? Yeesh. Who spit in her sacred fire?
Isn’t it cheating that Rei uses her priestess powers to win the contest?…..Actually, scratch the question, it flat out is. And you could make the argument that she’s just focusing hard and praying that she wins, but the gold marble comes out GLOWING so yeah, cheater cheater pumpkin eater. What’s funny is the dub actually points this out in a dialogue change.
Originally Usagi said Rei’s a big hypocrite for going through all that to win the cruise when she just said they don’t have time for it. In the dub, Serena says Raye’s a big cheat for using her powers to win and she should’ve been disqualified because of it. To be honest, though, while I agree, even if you called her out on it, who would really disqualify her? We know she really has powers, but you’d sound ridiculous trying to make that claim to others.
“I demand she be disqualified!”
“Why?”
“She used her supernatural priestess powers to will the gold marble from the machine!”
“……”
Usagi keeps harping on the suspicion that Rei has no boyfriend. Rei lies and says she has one or two. In the dub, Serena asks if she’ll take Grandpa, and Raye says she might invite Tuxedo Mask.
Usagi doesn’t call Ami a traitor for going with Rei like Serena does. Ami/Amy doesn’t even know what Rei/Raye’s talking about yet, how can she be a traitor?
Rei says she’s hoping to get Tuxedo mask for a boyfriend as she talks to Ami. In the dub, Raye just says she’s sure there will be lots of fun people there.
……I’m confused. This cruise keeps getting advertised as a great getaway for couples, yet they’re acting like this would be a great place to meet a boyfriend….unless Rei and Usagi have no qualms against dating a committed man, which would be dickish.
I’m surprised they didn’t edit out the close shot of a waiter pouring wine. I can bet many of these people are old enough to drink, but that’s still a scene with alcohol.
I love how Rei actually says that she knew this was a cruise for lovers but she didn’t think they’d be the only ones without dates. Even if there were SOME other people who went alone or with people who aren’t romantically involved with them, what are the odds that they would 1) be their age and 2) be someone they’d want to date?
Going on a lovers cruise on the off chance for some dating action is pretty pathetic when you think about it. I’m not saying going on a cruise by yourself or with friends is pathetic, but going on a cruise specifically meant for lovers to find boy/girlfriends is just weird. There are many better ways of finding a romantic partner.
I don’t even know how they got up the courage to do that. I’d be embarrassed out of my skull and depressed to be on a lovers cruise surrounded by couples by myself desperate for a date. This just seems like a poorly thought out excuse to get the girls on the boat.
You know what could’ve fixed that whole thing? Advertise it as a romantic cruise instead of a cruise for couples. There. You’ll not only get more people interested, you’ll also make more sense in the story.
Luna asks where they are, and Usagi responds that they’re in the engine room. Luna says that’s impossible because engines, especially for ships, are never this quiet. Usagi says the boat might be stopped, but Luna points out that the ship is moving at full speed. Usagi then says they probably have some state of the art engine that is super quiet and to stop worrying. In the dub, it’s just unimportant bickering, but Serena does claim that Luna should pretend to be her super important photography assistant.
What kind of disguise is that anyway? A camerawoman/photographer to get onto a lovers cruise? Wouldn’t a deckhand or waitress be a better disguise?
Luna originally senses a great evil aura while in the box. In the dub, she’s complaining about being in the box.
Jadeite thinks to himself that Usagi seems familiar. In the dub, he wonders why he’s being so nice to her. Well, I’d assume it’s to keep up appearances for your disguise but whatever.
Rei’s original idea was that since, for some reason, it’s inevitable that some of these couples will break up on the ship, they should keep an eye out for recently broken up guys and snatch them up. Ami then thinks she should’ve just stayed at home and studied.
That’s pretty mean and stupid of Rei to say, by the way. Wanting to benefit from someone else’s misfortune and wanting to be a rebound girl is bad enough, but why is it inevitable that one of these couples will break up on the trip?
First of all, it’s just a few hours long. If you’re so close to breakup that you’d break it off in a few hours, why did you even get on a romantic cruise ship for lovers anyway? Second of all, why is it inevitable at all? Is it totally unreasonable to believe that all of these lovers would stay together for a few hours? On a romantic trip?
In the dub, Raye says her great idea is to flirt with some of the male crew members, take pictures with them and show them to Serena to make her feel bad. Amy then says she wishes they’d stop feuding. I have to say, it’s a bit annoying to me as well, and Raye hasn’t even been around that long yet.
Jadeite in disguise tells Usagi that he wishes he could announce where she is to her staff over the intercom but he doesn’t want to ruin the romantic mood of the passengers. In the dub, he says he really has to go back to his captain’s quarters, but he invites her to dinner at the captain’s table.
As Ami and Rei get cornered by Slime Tokens—I mean Thetis’ goons who can regenerate, Ami says that they can’t transform in front of Jadeite and Thetis because then they’ll know who they are (but saying “we can’t transform” out loud is basically proof that you are Sailor Scouts. Just saying.) In the dub, Amy just says they need to stick together.
Thetis in the original says, despite the girls imposing on their lovers cruise, they still got plenty of energy for Queen Beryl, and Jadeite agrees. In the dub, Jadeite asks if there’s a faster way to get rid of the girls. Thetis responds that they can’t do that without using the energy they gathered. Jadeite then says they should wait.
When Usagi shows up and makes her regular speech, she berates Jadeite and Thetis for only stealing the energies of lovers and ignoring the girls without boyfriends while pointing to Rei which makes her pissed off. (Dunno why. Not like Usagi has a boyfriend either. Pot, Kettle.) In the dub, Serena just talks about her same shtick of righting wrongs etc. However, she still points to Raye and Raye still gives her a pissed off look so I dunno what she’s on about.
Originally, Rei says she wants to pay Usagi back for humiliating her while a tiny picture of Chibi Jadeite and Chibi Thetis pop up by Rei’s face. In the dub, Raye just says they need to help Sailor Moon beat Thetis and Jadeite and there’s no real purpose for the little chibi picture.
Jadeite is originally pulled from where he was on board the ship by Queen Beryl since she was getting fed up with him. Jadeite tries to blame the whole thing on Thetis by saying it was her idea, which it was, but she’ll hear nothing of it and goes off to decide his punishment. In the dub, it’s like Jadeite left of his own accord and was reporting in with Beryl. Jadeite blames his failure on the Sailor Scouts, and the rest of the scene plays out the same.
Rei and Usagi don’t fight over Tuxedo Mask in the ending fight–….Wow, Tuxedo Mask wasn’t even in this episode. I just now noticed. Hm. Anyway, they originally squabble about how the other can’t get a boyfriend and blah blah.
Here’s something a little surprising. Today’s Sailor Says is about getting out of abusive relationships. Gee, that’s a bit of a jump there. I know Usagi was enamored with disguised Jadeite for a bit there, but wow. Good message, but not something you’d really expect on a Sailor Says PSA.
Next up is apparently our last battle with Jadeite, and he seems to be on the front lines for a change. Will this really be the end of our heroines?
Plot: The level 9 witch exam is almost here, and while Aiko and Hazuki are sure to pass with their extensive training, Doremi’s lack of practice is putting Majorika on edge. She has one more day of practice, but her mother sends her out to watch Pop as she tries to make a trip to grandma’s by herself. Doremi stealthily tries to help her by using magic, but she needs to ensure she saves at least one magic sphere for the exam. Will Doremi be able to pass and get her fairy, or will her lack of practice come back to haunt her?
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As normal, the opening little scene is completely removed. It’s just Doremi upset over how she won’t be an ojamajo anymore.
Aiko just says the typical magic words in the first main shot and finishes by calling for tailless taiyaki. In the dub, I honestly tried to hear what she was saying but I couldn’t make out half of it. I think she said “Don’t care if it’s snapper, don’t care if it’s trout, this cake without a tail come on out!” Kinda surprised 4Kids didn’t change that more considering, if I was a kid, I’d have no idea what the hell that was meant to be.
The title on the book is changed to “Magic” and the label is flipped upside down and shifted downwards because books are read from right to left in Japan and they wanted to make it seem like an English book.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Hazuki says her magic words followed up with “A shortcake without the strawberry, appear!” In the dub, she says “Pretty soon I’ll have a fairy, for now I’d like a cake no cherry! Appear!” The dub sounds awkward. “I’d like a cake no cherry”? I get what she’s saying but it just sounds awkward. Why even change this? Strawberry shortcake is something we definitely have in America. As opposed to, oh I don’t know, a fish-shaped cake….
In the shot where Reanne makes the cake appear, the label on the book is back in its original spot….
Oh my god. They accidentally left the shot too wide, so we can see Doremi doesn’t have a bottom half when she’s animated backing up.
Oddly, the dubbed version doesn’t have this error. I don’t know if it’s because they fixed it on the copy 4Kids obtained or if they zoomed in slightly to cover it up.
The dub omits that their level 9 exam is on Sunday, followed by exams 8 and 7. In the dub, she just says the official fairy test is tomorrow.
Doremi points out that ghosts don’t have exams and questions why witches have them. Then her friends sigh in exasperation. In the dub, she just says she hates tests, and Patina tells her, as long as she practices, she’ll be fine, which makes her friends sigh.
Witch World is changed to the Lunaverse.
Majorika laments that she doesn’t much care how Aiko and Hazuki do on the exam, but she doesn’t have a choice in helping Doremi because she’s the one she needs to get her back to normal. In the dub, she mumbles that she could have been queen of the Lunaverse by now, but she has to cater to these three instead.
Doremi kinda mocks Majorika here by saying “That’s right! If your student fails, it will be really embarrassing for you, Majorika!” In the dub, Dorie tells her not to worry because she’ll be fine, considering Patina said the test was easy.
Majorika says failing the level 9 exam is very rare, so Doremi asks if it’s fine if she doesn’t practice then. Majorika then blows up at her because, again, she’s the only one she’s concerned about not doing well. In the dub, Patina says that just because the test is easy doesn’t mean she can risk screwing up. Dorie then asks if she can blow off practice for the day and practice tomorrow since it’s Saturday and she has nothing else to do, which I guess means the date of the test was changed from Sunday to Saturday for some reason. Patina then yells that she can’t practice tomorrow because the test is tomorrow.
The original doesn’t mention anything about the fairies they receive being either level one or a reflection of their inner selves like the dub does.
Aiko wonders what kind of fairy she’ll get. Mirabelle says her fairy will probably be able to kick some butt. Lala says she’s excited to see the new fairies too while Lorelai says Mirabelle’s probably right in her assumption. Doremi says she hopes to teach her fairy how to make magic goods. Dorie says the fairies can help out around the shop.
Majorika says all Doremi thinks about is doing things the easy way. Patina tells them to focus on passing the test before planning anything with their fairies.
A scene is cut of Majorika passing in front of the girls and muttering to herself wondering how the girls can pass like this. Doremi jumps up and says it will be a piece of cake before a test with a grade of 30 pops into frame, shattering her excitement.
Also, the bottom halves of the girls are again cut off as Majorika passes them.
Doremi got a 30 on her math test while Dorie got a D-. Typically, a 30 is most certainly an F. Also, Dorie adds “Well, at least it’s not a D.” which is obviously meant to show how stupid she is.
Doremi says that at least there’s no math on the witch exam, so it should still be easy. Pop interrupts, seeing her grade, and asks “A 30? What’s so easy about that?” In the dub, Dorie is still talking about the grade, and Caitlyn interrupts her to mock her on how she got a D- minus in subtraction and brags that it’s so easy even she can do it.
Pop says she has to remember to not become a bad student like Doremi is. In the dub, Caitlyn demonstrates her math skills by saying “This family minus Dorie equals a cleaner house.”
Doremi thinks about how terrible it is that her own sister has to be so cruel. Then she says her catchphrase of being the unluckiest pretty girl in the world. In the dub, Caitlyn points out Dorie’s mistake from before in claiming a D- is better than a D, then Dorie thinks that she needs to come up with a comeback.
Doremi mutters her magic words in her sleep and says she’s not a poor witch like adult Pop called her in her fantasy. In the dub, Dorie is silent until she flails and wakes up, saying she’s too excited about getting her fairy to sleep.
Pop just kinda randomly wants to go to her grandma’s alone. In the dub, her mother was going to take her and also get a cupcake along the way, but she insisted on going herself.
Pop says Doremi will only get in her way. Doremi responds with “Well, excuse me.” In the dub, Caitlyn says they’ll get lost if Dorie leads the way, and Dorie agrees.
They remove the next part where their mom agrees to let Pop go off alone. A chibi animation appears as their mom tells Pop to get a box of ten daifuku for her grandma (costing 1000 yen), get on the train and get off at the third station and then walk straight to grandma’s house.
The money was originally for the manju (daifuku is a type of manju) and the tickets. In the dub, it’s for the cupcakes.
In the original, their mom asks if Pop wants the “I’m Lost” sign. In the dub, she asks Caitlyn if she wants her to write down grandma’s address to ensure she’ll remember. Kinda prefer the dub…..Is the “I’m Lost” sign a thing? Either in Japan or in general? I’ve never heard that before.
Pop rejects the sign because it’s uncool. Caitlyn rejects the address card because she’s sure she’ll remember.
Doremi comes up with the idea of following Pop on her broom my herself. In the dub, her mom says she wishes she could be a little bird and fly over her shoulder to watch Caitlyn, which gives Dorie the idea.
Pop wonders if she heard Doremi’s voice. Caitlyn asks “What was that annoying sound I just heard?”
Doremi asks when she’ll be able to fly properly. Dorie says “Stupid broom, never flies right!”
Doremi’s magic words for becoming Aiko are changed in the dub to “When I wave my wand and cast a spell, turn me into Mirabelle!”
Pop thanks Airemi for putting up with her incompetent sister. In the dub, she says she wasn’t aware Dorie had real friends, then she asks Dorabelle how much she pays her.
Pop says she doesn’t have time to chat and apologizes for her rudeness before heading off. In the dub, she tells Dorabelle that she’s a very good person for putting up with Dorie since she knows how annoying she can be. Then she excuses herself and leaves.
Dorabelle is angry that she wasted a magic sphere on Pop. Airemi is upset she has to waste her whole day following Caitlyn.
Dorie says Caitlyn’s running errands, but that’s not what she’s doing. She’s going to visit her grandma. Just because she has to pick up some sweets on the way there doesn’t mean she’s running errands.
Doremi says that her transformation into Aiko was so impressive that the exam will be easy for her. Aiko then slyly asks for her to lay off transforming into her, which….maybe this is just my garbage memory, but when did Doremi ever transform into Aiko? I know she’s transformed into Hazuki, but I don’t recall her doing it with Aiko.
Dorie says that transforming into Mirabelle backfired on her. Mirabelle then says Dorie probably thought she’d be able to pass the fairy exam if she transformed into Mirabelle.
Doremi apologizes for turning into Aiko. Aiko then criticizes her kansai dialect. Dorie says she wasn’t transforming into Mirabelle to pass the fairy exam, and Mirabelle says that’s good because there’s only room for one (Mirabelle).
When Aiko reminds her to practice, Doremi thinks “Just like a Naniwa girl’s personality. She always remembers.” Whatever the heck she means by that. In the dub, Mirabelle basically says the same thing but Dorie thinks, “Oh man! When am I gonna find time for that?!”
Some text on posts and graffiti on the walls is removed.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Text on the poster on the pole is removed.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Pop says that there’s no manju shop around where she is before running off. Caitlyn says she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and she’ll retrace her steps.
They remove a shot of Pop with a big question mark over her head. I don’t know why. They’ve been keeping nearly all of these kinds of cartoonish expression marks before now.
Gonna give my typical “If you see a sign, it’s been digitally painted to be blank” notification here. They’re the in the city now. Signs are everywhere.
Doremi’s spell for the sign is changed to “I don’t want my sister to be lost all day, make a sign and show her the way!”
Since this is a special sign, I’ll note it. The giant sign Doremi conjures says “This way. Manju shop” In the dub, it’s painted over to say “This way. Bakery.” Honestly floored that they didn’t change the picture of the manju to cupcakes.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Pop originally calls the guy she asks for directions a “pretty boy.” In the dub, she just calls him “sir.”
Okay, it’s nice that this guy is giving her directions, but it’s kinda creepy for him to let her ride on his neck like that…..
The next bit of Doremi’s inner monologue was almost kept the same. Doremi thinks following Pop would be much easier if she were a cat or a dog, but after seeing Pop get excited about the manju she decides that doesn’t want to waste anymore magic spheres on her. In the dub, Dorie thinks the same thing about the cat and dog, but she adds that she could also turn into a bug and land on her arm. But then she rejects that idea since Caitlyn would probably freak out and squish her. When Caitlyn says she’s going to buy the chocolate cupcakes like grandma likes, Dorie thinks to herself that grandma likes the coconut ones, not chocolate.
I guess these don’t count as signs. The little price markers are changed to USD.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Interesting how the digital paint goes outside of the frame. Also, the prices are off. The original price of the manju was 1200 yen, which, at least by today’s conversion rates, is around $8.50. In the dub, it’s $3.50. Gotta say, $3.50 for a box of ten “cupcakes” is actually really good, especially fresh from a bakery.
Pop says the manju are supposed to be 1000 yen. In the dub, she says they’re supposed to be $3.00. The cashier only says that the prices went up this month. In the dub, she adds that the price was increased due to a strike at the chocolate factory.
Pop thinks to herself that, if she gets the manju, she won’t have enough money left for the train. In the dub, Dorie’s got inner monologue running over this shot, chastising her for buying the wrong cupcakes and pointing out that she won’t have enough money. Her mom in both versions is kinda irresponsible for not giving her more than enough money for her trip. I know she’s a little kid who might be tempted to spend all the money, but it’s better to at least give her a few bucks more to ensure she’ll definitely have enough for everything. Funnily enough, Doremi/Dorie mirrors my thoughts on this as she internally chides her mother for not giving her more than enough money.
Doremi’s spell to give part of her allowance to Pop is changed to “As if this day couldn’t get any worse, I never thought I’d say these words, but put my money in Caitlyn’s purse!”
The money in Pop’s purse is changed to American currency.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Pop tells the cashier that her skin is white as the daifuku and her cheeks look like sakuramochi (which are pink). In the dub, Caitlyn asks the cashier what the secret is to her beautiful skin tone because it’s as smooth as silk, and her hair glimmerings like dew on a fine summer’s morning.
Oh….so it’s just one cupcake for $3.50……In that case, what rip off. Also, now that I think of it, they didn’t paint the daifuku into cupcakes either. How strange.
Doremi questions why Pop’s haggling. In the dub, she questions why Caitlyn didn’t look in the purse. She did, though. If you count once and know you don’t have enough money, why would you bother looking again? You didn’t give her a reason to re-check.
Hazuki’s spell to make the square/cube hamburger is changed to “I just made a cookie shaped like a pear, now let’s see a hamburger shaped like a square!”
Aiko’s spell to summon a crescent rice omelet is changed to “At this rate, I’ll never mess up! Let’s have an omelet with some ketchup!”
The montage of following Pop is accompanied by rather dull jazzy oboe (?) music as Doremi narrates a bit about how much it sucks to follow her. In the dub, we get a poppy vocal song called “Now That I Can Fly” which I think was prompted purely because we see Dorie flying on her broom a bit better in one of the shots. I believe this song is kinda foreshadowing the very obvious future reveal that Dorie has actually been practicing her magic this entire time without realizing.
I know I said I wouldn’t note signs anymore, but the sign for the train station is hilarious. It’s painted to just say “TRAIN” in the biggest font they could manage.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Doremi blames Pop’s need to use the restroom on the ice cream she ate….which….why? She clearly has to pee……does eating an ice cream cone make you want to pee? I guess I never thought of it like that. It is a food, but it’s also just frozen liquid, basically. I’ve never eaten a lot of ice cream and had a deep urge to pee. Is this a thing? In the dub, she doesn’t mention this.
It’s kinda weird how 4Kids has been wary of even acknowledging the existence of bathrooms or needing to go pee several times in other shows, but they’re cool with showing Pop peeing her pants. I mean, you don’t see anything, but it’s very obviously implied.
How is Doremi down to her last magic sphere? She had a full wand of them earlier and has only done three spells so far. In the dub, Dorie even points this out by saying she’s used six spell drops already.
Speaking of which, they were given a small sack of magic spheres. I sincerely doubt it was just seven or so each.
Okay, okay, okay. What Doremi/Dorie’s doing is very nice, I’m not discounting how nice it is….but I really feel I have to point how insanely weird it is to have a scene where Doremi creates a “Wash your panties for free” machine out in the middle of the public park. And it’s just a giant washing machine, too. So Pop/Caitlyn had to remove her underwear OUTSIDE and stand waiting outside without underwear for several moments.
What’s even more shocking is the fact that 4Kids KEPT THIS IN. They even fully translated the sign!
By the way, are panties and pee and stuff okay to discuss as long as it’s in reference to a little kid? Because that’s kinda weird.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Granted, they did remove the shot of the underwear being thrown into the machine, because I just guess that part’s just too raunchy (You don’t see Pop taking them off) but everything else is kept.
You’re really not helping, song lyrics subtitles…..
There’s even a part where they dry the panties by holding up up high above the machine and blow fans on them. Because, yes, let’s put those toddler’s panties right up on display for everyone.
There’s a vocal song played over this that isn’t included in the dub.
When Pop runs off after getting her clean underwear, Doremi says behind her back “Good luck, Pop!” In the dub, Caitlyn says to herself “Now no one will ever know!” and Dorie says behind her back, “Well, almost nobody.” Also, yes, it’s definitely a secret what with your panties being flown in the middle of a park like a flag.
Also, will that underwear washing station go away after a while or does Doremi have to make it go away? Her transformation wore off after a few minutes, but does the same apply to objects being created/summoned? Because that would be really, really, really weird if it stayed there.
They remove Doremi shifting from being happy at her mom’s acknowledgment of a job well done to her being internally devastated about the exam.
Majorika is just mad Doremi didn’t keep a magic sphere. In the dub, Patina adds “So you weren’t even practicing!?” Uh, yes, she was. She used all the spell drops, which means she was inadvertently practicing…
4Kids brings the subtraction thing back by having Dorie say “I know how to subtract.” when asked if she’s sure she has no more spell drops left. So you’re saying you don’t possess the ability to just feel in the bag if there was any left?
Doremi says she’s the luckiest pretty girl. In the dub, she says if she had known she had another spell drop, she likely would have wasted it….You would? But you thought your last one was your last one, and you mulled over using it for Caitlyn because you knew it would cost you the exam.
Doremi says the exam will be a piece of cake now that she has a magic spheres. Dorie says she knew being bad at subtraction would come in handy one day.
The dub adds Dorie saying the door to the Lunaverse is actually the door to the patio.
Aiko says the test area looks like a booth. In the dub, she says it looks like a hot dog stand.
Name Change: The examiners names are Mota and Motamota, the latter of which being named since Motamota means “slow” or “inefficient.” In the dub, they’re Drona and Rona,
Despite the name change and the lack of any sort of alteration to make Motamota’s name mean anything similar in English (Drona probably comes closest as it sounds like “droning” like “droning on.” but not Rona), Aiko’s next line is mostly kept intact. She says “She’s definitely slow.” while Mirabelle says “So, we’ve got slow and slower here.” Being honest, I was kinda shocked they not only kept this line, but made it worse. Drona has only said “Hello’”so far, so it seems weird to call her “slow,” but, overall, it’ quite offensive to say such a thing in the first place. I know it was probably deemed less offensive in 2005, but still.
Mota says they should get started. Motamota says she’s so excited. In the dub, Drona sounds like she says “Let the tasting begin.” which I think is meant to be “testing” but considering the test in question, I could be wrong. Rona’s line in kept.
Doremi complains about the lack of tension since the examiners are so blasé about it. In the dub, Dorie says she hopes there aren’t many rules.
Believe it not, there originally wasn’t any text on the examiners’ book, so 4Kids actually isn’t responsible for the cover being blank. Go figure.
Aiko’s test was originally to make cubical takoyaki. In the dub, it’s to make square hot crab cakes.
These are crab cakes?
Aiko’s spell is changed to “I’m gonna show that I got what it takes! Make a plate of square shaped crab cakes!”
Hazuki’s test was to make a three layered pudding. In the dub, it’s to make a triple chocolate cream souffle.
Hazuki’s spell is changed to “I hope I pass this test today, with a triple chocolate French souffle!”
Doremi’s test is to make milk, anmitsu and coffee. Anmitsu is a dessert dish made of cubes of jelly. In the dub, her test is to make hot milk, jelly and taffy.
It does seem pretty unfair to give Aiko and Hazuki relatively normal foods and then throw some weird shit at Doremi/Dorie.
Doremi’s spell is changed to “I’m going to be a witchling forever! Make a hot milk taffy plate, whatever!” Yeah, those are the words of a true girl who is taking this test seriously….”Whatever.”
The reason Doremi’s spell failed and made a steak was because, instead of indicating exactly what she wanted before saying ‘Appear!’ like she normally does, she muttered “The most delicious food…” a few times before doing her spell and just saying “Appear!” which made a steak appear since that’s her favorite food. In the dub, she did indicate partially what she wanted, but it made a steak because she performed the spell while hungry.
Believe it or not, the fairies, Mimi and Rere, are entirely retained, from their names to the fact that they repeat their names over and over like Pokemon.
Doremi sulks in both jealousy because Hazuki and Aiko passed and got fairies and in sadness because she didn’t pass. The camera then pans up to show the moon as the episode ends.
In the dub, she mutters that she wonders if she can have the steak she made….because…I guess she doesn’t give a crap that she failed? Also, instead of panning up to the moon, they circle transition in on Dorie’s face.
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And that’s episode seven. Yup, she just fails her exam. I was actually surprised that she flunked because I thought the lesson would be that she was practicing all day without realizing it, she was using her magic for good reason, she was even getting better at flying, and then she’d be able to implement her practice in her test and get a new appreciation for actually studying….but nope. I also thought maybe they’d let her squeak by because she seemingly sacrificed her one chance at taking the exam to help Pop, but, again…nope.
I guess the lesson is that you may be able to improve skills in your everyday life, but if you don’t take your studies seriously and actually make an effort at practicing or studying then you won’t get very far. That’s actually an extremely good lesson. Doremi shouldn’t be punished for choosing to take care of her sister instead of going to practice, but the fact of the matter is if she had been practicing the entire time, like Hazuki and Aiko, she’d be fine. Instead she blew off practice, thought the exam would be incredibly easy and got cocky about her chances.
In Dorie’s case, she was even worse. First of all, claiming it was more beneficial to be bad at subtraction? Not a good message, Dorie. Second, what was that pathetic spell? It would be one thing if she just messed up because she had the wrong thing in mind, like Doremi, but “Hot milk taffy plate whatever”? She was even setting up the “Whatever” on purpose because she started with “Forever.” I’ll make up a spell for you. “Hopefully this dish will fill your belly! Make me hot milk, taffy and some jelly!”
I also don’t approve of the very ending in the dub where she’s wondering if she should ask for the steak. It really makes it seem like her attempted sacrifice for Caitlyn earlier wasn’t much of a sacrifice if she fails the test and is just like “Eh, I’m hungry….”
Mimi and Rere are pretty cute fairies, and I guess the dub wasn’t wrong in their assessment that their fairies would be reflections of themselves. Rere even has big glasses. That begs the question, is Lala meant to be a reflection of Majorika too? What does that imply? Also, do fairies grow up and eventually become like Lala in that they can speak fluently and become more human-like?
Overall, even though Pop/Caitlyn is really annoying sometimes, I did actually like this episode quite a bit. Even if she was forced to do it, Doremi/Dorie took pretty good care of her sister and even seemingly sacrificed her chance at becoming a witch and getting a fairy all to ensure her sister was okay. That was pretty sweet.
I also liked that Doremi failed the exam. I wouldn’t have objected very much to her passing, but her attitude and behavior before indicated that she didn’t really deserve to pass. If anything, passing her would reinforce her belief that this stuff is easy and she doesn’t need to study to succeed with it. As the next episode preview shows, she will have another chance at taking the test, but she’ll need to actively put in the effort this time.
…..Of course, there’s no tension now because the next episode preview entirely spoiled that she would pass the exam. They didn’t say it, but they showed Doremi’s fairy full out, and she’d only get a fairy if she passed….Why do next episode previews insist on spoiling everything?
Next episode, WILL DOREMI PASS HER MAKEUP EXAM?! I DON’T KNOW! IT’S A BIG MYSTERY! D:
Plot: Lily’s mother is preparing for a big fashion show to display all of her amazing wedding dresses. Pluie senses the presence of a Saint Something Four within Lily’s mother’s collection of dresses and destroys them all to find it, to no avail. Lily is blamed for the destruction, devastating her, and causing a rift between her and her mother. The threat of Pluie and Jama-P still hangs in the background. Wedding Peach will need a new ally to take them out this time.
Breakdown: By far, the best episode yet.
Very, very minor irritation on the side of the girls bickering, good story, emotional connections made and I think Yuri will turn out to be my favorite character of the bunch.
Granted, I don’t much care for her wedding dress. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t give off much of a real wedding dress vibe. That’s pretty much made up for with her really cool transformation sequence, though.
Also, I totally get that there’s a suspension of disbelief aspect to these shows in regards to the characters getting their powers. In practically any magical girl show, the girls will get their powers, learn their attacks and accept their roles fairly quickly because they have to for the sake of getting the plot going.
….That being said, Yuri accepted her role WAY too easily. Even though characters do accept these things quickly, hardly ever do you see characters accepting that they’re magical girls with superpowers who are now destined to save the world without a single question or hesitation. The only instances I can think of where that happens is when you have the super bubbly girls who think all of that is the coolest thing ever. Yuri is not one of those girls.
The goddess of love appears in her glowing hands telling her all of this, leading her to transform with lipstick into a warrior wearing a wedding dress and later a warrior wearing a battle skirt who can make a rainbow ribbon/whip, and she doesn’t seem surprised in the slightest. She doesn’t even ask why or how Momoko is Wedding Peach – in a world where I don’t think Wedding Peach has been publicly discussed yet, either. It’s just ‘I’m a newbie at this, so please excuse me.’ Bear in mind, this isn’t an actual complaint about the episode. I just found this aspect to be really funny.
Story-wise, it was simple but very realistic and impacting. Yuri getting blamed for the dresses being destroyed and the shock and hurt on her face after her (possessed, but still) mother slapped her across the face – I felt that. The fact that her (possessed) mother is the enemy they have to defeat in the end is heartbreaking. Not only would that raise some latent fear from when her mother attacked her earlier, but she has to deal with fighting her own mother. Plus, her mother’s attacking her with a giant pair of scissors! Yikes.
I really loved how supportive Momoko and Hinagiku were after Yuri revealed what happened to them. Yuri just wants to leave it be and brushes off her mother’s slap by saying she was just tired and stressed, but Hinagiku and Momoko won’t take that sitting down. I finally felt like these three were actually close friends for a change.
They’re still bickering (especially Hinagiku….) and poking at each other over Yanagiba, but when the chips are down they’re really there for each other. You really need to establish a good friendship and group dynamic in order for teams to work. They can have their problems, of course, but I need to believe they’re actually friends who can set aside their differences when it counts at the very least, and they did that here. Kudos.
All in all, a really enjoyable episode and a great introduction to Angel Lily. I look forward to seeing her work with Momoko in future episodes.
With Angel Lily now in the ring, it only makes sense that Hinagiku gets her transformation episode next. From what I saw of the preview, this should be a fairly emotional episode, too, so hopefully we’ll keep this quality train going.
Plot: A new girl arrives at Luchia and Hanon’s school named Rina Toin. She immediately strikes everyone as a cool person, and Luchia and Hanon try to befriend her, but Hanon is too put off by her rude and cold attitude to continue pursuing her friendship. Luchia, however, is more accommodating and makes a trio of friendship rings for her, Hanon and Rina. When she’s about to give the ring to Rina, she spots what looks like Rina and Kaito kissing on the roof. Luchia is devastated, but not everything is as it seems.
Breakdown: In this episode, we’re introduced to Rina, who is the third mermaid in the magical girl trio, but we’re supposed to not know that, I guess, despite the fact that she’s in the opening theme song as a mermaid. Rina is very rude and cold, and she extremely suspicious of Kaito, believing him to be the evil Gaito. Well, she never directly says “Gaito” but we can assume considering the insanely similar names (to the point where the fansubber even mistakenly wrote “Kaito” in Gaito’s scene today)
Hanon also moves in with Luchia in this episode in order to help keep her mermaid secret from Kaito. She’s also getting closer to Taro Mitsuki, who is the music teacher, because she has a crush on him, and from what I’ve read on the Fandom page, this may have been kinda mutual so, ick.
Luchia believes she sees Kaito and Rina on the roof kissing, and she’s super bummed about it, but we see that she was just getting super close to his face because she believes he’s Gaito in disguise just pretending to be an average student.
While Luchia deals with that, she meets Jennifer Houston, a famous singer, who is in a similar predicament. She is in love with a man named Richard, who looks like a porn director from the 80s. However, she saw him out and about in town with some girl who looks a lot like Jennifer, so she believed they were dating. Luchia asserts that she must find out the truth because she only saw them from a distance (like she only saw Rina and Kaito from a distance) She could be mistaken, and she’ll never know for sure unless she asks him directly, which is what Hanon told Luchia several hours ago, but she couldn’t ask Kaito.
Just as Luchia manages to convince Jennifer to approach Richard, she and Richard are attacked by Gaito’s two goons, Eriru and Izuru, because Jennifer has a green pearl necklace that they believe is proof that she’s one of the mermaid princesses, but it turns out to be fake. They get knocked unconscious, and Luchia and Hanon transform, sing and take out Eriru and Izuru.
When they awake, Richard tries to explain himself to Jennifer, claiming the girl she saw him with was a fan of hers and “as (Jennifer’s) producer, she was enthusiastic….” and then Jennifer stopped him talking so she could confess, but, uh, Jennifer, that sounds really suspicious. This girl is a fan of yours, so your producer just, what, took her out on the town? And she was really enthusiastic? About what? This doesn’t sound like a legit explanation, but whatever. They confess their feelings, kiss, and that’s it.
Surprisingly, they’re actually continuing the story about Luchia being jealous about Kaito and Rina into the next episode, so we don’t get any resolution to that here, but that’s perfectly fine. I mean, we know this wasn’t what Luchia thought it was, so there’s not much in regards in regards to a cliffhanger, but sorting it all out and hopefully getting Kaito and Luchia closer is something to look forward to anyway.
Overall, this was a pretty okay episode. If these episodes have any message, not jumping to conclusions, especially when what you’re witnessing is far away, is a fairly good one. You may be afraid of what you think you’re seemingly witnessing, but you’ll needlessly stress yourself out or depress yourself if you don’t make the effort to directly find out for yourself. I think that’s a good message to give to kids, especially when they’re pre-teen and will start to be concerned about gossip and whatnot soon.
Card(s) of the Day: Power: Power is a card that makes the user more, well, powerful. Usually in terms of physical strength. Kero stated that Windy might be the counter to it, but that might just be from what she has.
Plot: Sakura’s class is going to the zoo, but a strange seemingly invisible Clow card is causing havoc all over the place. It’s the Power card, and Sakura must challenge its pride in order to capture it. Can she overpower Power?
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Title Change:Sakura and the Elephant’s Test of Strength is changed to Power’s Ploy.
In the original, Toya mocks Sakura a tad by saying since she got up on her own for a change that it will probably rain today, but Sakura argues by saying the weather person claimed it’d be sunny. In the dub, he says he heard Sakura’s going to the zoo today and mocks her by asking if they’re going to put her in a cage. Sakura responds by saying his brain’s turned to mush.
Sakura’s dad doesn’t say what’s in the lunch box, he just says it’s full of her favorites. In the dub he says it’s a meatloaf sandwich with chocolate chip cookies.
Sakura explains that she’s going to meet her class and then they’re going to take the bus to the zoo. Toya says to be careful if she goes to the park, then he points to the TV to show that the giant penguin slide at the park was completely flipped upside down. In the dub, Toya mocks her some more by asking if she’s planning to be a weightlifter with the lunch she has. Sakura mock laughs before Tori suggests she might be the King Kong of Penguin Park. He then points to the TV.
Yukito shows up as Sakura’s rollerblading. She asks why he’s not with her brother, and he responds that he has to go in early to do chores at school. Sakura, lucky that her brother’s not there to mess with her age-gap-ish game, gets goo-goo eyes and celebrates internally. Yukito asks what’s wrong, and Sakura shakes off her embarrassment. All of this, barring Yukito showing up, is removed. We cut straight from him meeting with Sakura to the shot of the park that comes after.
The reporter, who is oddly still talking about this on live TV even when it’s just a penguin slide, is just talking about how weird it is that this happened in the original. In the dub, it’s almost the same, but she makes this statement; “Some suspect the radical group the ‘Pals of Penguins’ organization is behind this…” Pbbbttt…Nelvana, stop being silly.
They edit out a short scene of a conversation of Yukito and Sakura as they’re going to school. I guess this is to make the Yukito time even shorter. Also, Sakura blushes once while talking with him even though he’s just inquiring about her backpack.
Because that conversation was edited out, the final line that they actually kept the visuals for is changed. Yukito mentions that her dad’s a great cook since she mentioned the lunch he made for her, and she agrees. In the dub, he tells her to have fun on her field trip and ‘beware the penguin tippers.’
More Yukito cuts: Like he’s done several other times, Yukito throws a small candy to Sakura before he leaves. Sakura gets all gushy again and goes on about how great her day has been and is going to be. She spins around in front of the school when she hears a noise. She tries to listen for it again, but shrugs it off before we cut to the zoo. All of this is removed.
I try not to nitpick TOO much with the dialogue because I’d be here all day, but when the teacher is explaining to the groups about their report, he says their reports are due on Monday and they have to meet back at that same location at two o’clock, which is why the teacher holds up two fingers. In the dub, he makes no mention of the deadline, and when he raises two fingers he says the report is about two things, teamwork and observation. Also, the original mentions nothing of the penguin incident.
They edit out Sakura slightly freaking out in fear when one of her friends mentions that whatever flipped over king penguin was a ghost.
Tomoyo says the ghost is so strong it must be the ghost of a sumo wrestler. Madison says she’d probably win a Pulitzer if she took a picture of the ghost.
Minor nitpick – the classes are assigned specific animals for their report, they don’t get to choose like in the dub.
Bunch of shots removed – shots of the boys looking at the sloths, one of the boys talking about them, Syaoran inquiring more about them, a shot of their backpacks, the boys picking up their notebooks, the boys taking notes, and Syaoran snapping one pic are all removed.
The parts of the scene that they do keep are changed. Syaoran’s amazed by the sloth whereas Lee’s bored/frustrated by it. Zachary also talks about how intelligent it is when originally he was talking about how fast it can run.
Another short scene is cut of the other boys talking about how Yamazaki always lies and it’s nice to see someone gullible enough to believe his lies.
Originally the girls were talking about the neat tricks that elephants can be taught to do. In the dub, they’re talking about how much an elephant can pick up and discussing how they should observe the elephant’s natural strengths in their unnatural environment. While I don’t like changes, at least this one is educational. Plus, it leads me to believe someone at Nelvana is a big elephant fan.
Well, here’s something new. Syaoran’s on the eyecatch this episode.
Sakura’s friend asks if she finished her report. She says she has a little more to do, and her friend wishes her good luck before watching the elephants some more. In the dub, Sakura’s friend asks if it’s lunchtime yet. Sakura says yes, and her friend says she and the other girl will meet them later before she returns to watching the elephants.
Sakura doesn’t bring up the suspected Clow card in the original. She just keeps going on about how she’s surprised that Kero’s there.
Rika follows her teacher and gives him a bento box that she made for him. He accepts it, thanks her and she smiles. All of this was removed.
Another scene removed. Syaoran takes a picture of the sloth and they mark down that it moved, but the other boys are complaining that they’ve been watching it for an hour and they’ve only seen it move three times. Despite this, Syaoran’s still excited as ever. I really like Syaoran when he’s happy and excited about learning. Even if he does get deceived by Yamazaki, he’s a lot more likable this way. They only keep the very end of the scene when Syaoran tries to take another shot.
Syaoran, Sakura and Kero all sense the Clow card in the original, but in the dub Syaoran seems to be the only one who senses something while both Sakura and, surprisingly, Kero don’t sense anything. Kero asks why he thinks this huge booming noise is a Clow card.
Kero says it’s one thing if the penguins escape, but quite another if the larger animals get out. In the dub, he says penguins don’t just escape on their own and that the only logical conclusion is a Clow card. Right, no animals ever got loose at a zoo without a Clow card breaking them out.
Kero says Sakura has to tell Power exactly what the test of strength shall be. The dub just has him tell her to run. Surprisingly, though, they leave in her funny faces during this entire scene, but it was likely unavoidable.
A shot of Sakura from the back with a sweat drop is removed.
Also, Power is indeed really adorable.
Not as cute as Rain, but still.
In the original, it’s a bit unclear as to why Syaoran decided to help Sakura secretly instead of trying to capture Power on his own after she lost. In the dub, Lee says there’s no chance she’ll win at the tug of war and decides to basically cheat for her just to get the card caught….even though she technically was cheating anyway with the elephant helping her.
Also, why the hell is Power hers anyway? Syaoran’s technically the one who stopped Power with Time. If he hadn’t interfered, it’s fairly likely she would’ve lost. Under the rules of the cards, Power should be Syaoran’s, right?
They keep bringing up that Sakura’s magic has gotten more powerful, but there’s nothing in this episode that really indicates that, in the dub anyway. She’s actually getting slightly better at sensing cards in the original, but this was removed in the dub.
Also, Syaoran originally wonders if the sloth has decided to do anything before running off. In the dub, he says Sakura’s going to need to get a lot more powerful if she’s going to be a Cardcaptor.
Sakura asks Kero what Power’s effect is on her when she uses it. Kero says that it makes you more powerful, of course, and Sakura derp-faces. Surprisingly they left the derp-face in but Sakura says they have unfinished business and Kero responds by saying they do – lunch.
I have no clue why, but they remove the shot of Sakura standing in front of the now right-side up king penguin slide.
They also shorten the scene with Yukito a bit here and there. Not really that noticeable.
A shot of Sakura getting nervous that Yukito will find out about her powers is removed.
Leave it to Kero-Chan!/Kero’s Corner: The dub’s logo ends up staying over Kero’s face as he appears on screen during Kero’s Corner for a couple of seconds, just like last episode….
While both segments are showing off Sakura’s uniform, the dub fails to mention that the reason they’re showcasing this uniform when they’ve already done a segment on it is that this is the summer version. The colors are inverted, black on white instead of white on black, and the school insignia is on the back instead of the arm.
Next time, Mist’s debut! Sakura is invited to Yukito’s school fair. Will there be age-inappropriate romance or heartache?
Kisshu’s attack was pretty pathetic. He comes out of nowhere and attacked with a bunch of Chimera Crows. It was just a bunch of more-or-less regular crows that were controlled. They weren’t particularly monstrous.
The Anime Madhouse 