Smile Precure/Glitter Force Episode 8: Miyuki and Candy Changed Places?! Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: A pair of magic rings causes Candy and Miyuki to switch bodies! Miyuki is forced to watch Candy try and fail miserably at being her at school, while Candy has to juggle Miyuki’s normal life and her job as a Precure.

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Wait, how was Miyuki able to find two rings that had randomly fallen from the sky, especially when she didn’t even see them?

Both Miyuki and Candy properly point out that the shooting stars were rings immediately after they find them. In the dub, Candy theorizes that they’re magic stars from outer space, which is a weird thing to say because, Candy, ALL stars come from outer space…And Emily has to further prove her point by stating you don’t usually find stars on a sidewalk.

Dammit, they did that thing where they switch the voices along with the bodies. This is present in both versions, but that doesn’t make it any less irksome. You don’t swap vocal chords, guys.

Name Change: The news reporter was originally named Akae Tamao. In the dub, she’s called Christy. The male newscaster didn’t get a name, but in the dub he’s called Lance.

Majorina doesn’t say what was in the brew that she forged the rings in. I wouldn’t have brought it up, but Saban had to include that she dumped jelly doughnuts into the concoction, which was just random and not funny.

The rings were originally called ‘switchrings’ because they…well, switch the wearers around. In the dub, they’re called ‘ringadings,’ which is somehow even goofier and makes less sense. Being fair, though, Akaoni and Wolfrun point out that the name is dumb.

Akaoni just wondered what the rings were in the flashback. In the dub, he thinks they’re food and wants to know how they taste.

We lose a fairly funny moment. After the flashback ends, Majorina declares that it was Akaoni all along, we zoom out to Wolfrun, who agrees, and Akaoni cries “Huh it was me?!” While the dub isn’t terrible, Brooha yells that he has the brains of a twig, Ulric agrees and Brute goes “Oh the shame!”

Majorina runs off yelling that she’ll make them both pay for this later, and Wolfrun states that he didn’t even do anything. In the dub, Brooha yells that if you want something right you have to do it yourself. Ulric then says “Witches, am I right?”

Also, nice royalty-free news bulletin music, Saban.

Title Change: Miyuki and Candy Changed Places?! is changed to Glitter Switcharoo…..Both equally lazy.

There’s no real indication of what the news report was about in the original, just that it was ‘unusual.’ As a kind of funny segue into the title screen, though, Akae introduces the next story, and the title scene triggers. In the dub, Christy says Lance’s report was on garbage, and the next story is about reports of twin shooting stars (There’s really no reason anyone should have been able to see those things falling, even if it was from space, let alone assume they’re shooting stars.)

But then she adds “Everyone loves a good hoax!” Oh gee, thanks for alerting me that this is a hoax before your report even starts so I don’t have to waste more than three milliseconds on caring.

They’re taking this ‘body parts don’t switch with spirits/minds’ thing a bit further by having Candy wiggle her ears as Miyuki as proof that she’s Candy, but Miyuki has no muscles in her ear to move. People can (rarely) wiggle their ears mostly by moving the muscles around the ear. But the ear itself is made of cartilage. There’s no physical way for her to be moving her ears the way Candy as Candy would.

Miyuki has trouble moving her Candy ears in a similar fashion, but learns very quickly….So…I guess that didn’t prove Candy was Miyuki after all because, by that logic, Miyuki’s muscle restrictions would prevent her from moving Candy’s ears like that. Also, even though she has trouble learning how to move her ears like that, she learns extremely quickly and even perfectly reverts the ears back to their original state when she moves the conversation back to the rings.

It’s kind of depressing that it takes them so long to think maybe the rings that magically attached themselves to their fingers MIGHT be the culprits in switching their bodies….

There’s a Cure Decor that makes a pair of rings……..and that’s it. And they vanish after like five seconds.

Yayoi says the rings look like wedding rings. Lily just says they’re the prettiest rings she’s ever seen.

I do have to admit that Candy’s mannerisms and facial expressions through Miyuki are pretty adorable.

Dub!Candy says she has a hairball…..as Emily…..I don’t even want to know what that means when they’re switched, but I also find the fact that at least dub!Candy seemingly licks herself to be equally disturbing.

Candy originally doesn’t know what a test is. Dub!Candy doesn’t know what French is. There’s no indication what the test is on in the original. I have to say, the dub makes a little more sense here. You’re telling me that Candy’s never had a test in Marchenland? Isn’t she fairly-ish important there, even if she’s a kid?

Well, here’s a dumb 4Kids-y change. In the original, the flip transition is vertical but the dub changes it to horizontal. *shrug*

Ya know, Miyuki should have just laid on Candy’s lap and given her what answers she could while peaking at the test. I’m not sure Candy could write the answers, but it’s better than hiding in her bag and hoping Candy doesn’t make a mess of things – which she does.

Hey look, Saban’s channeling 4Kids again! So soon? You spoil me. They blur our the test because there’s a bunch of barely legible (due to the crayon all over the paper) Japanese writing all over it. It’s way too obvious that they did this because the picture Candy drew is now blurred as a result, making it look like she not only drew on it but also dropped it in a puddle or something. You’re professional editors and this is a static image – digitally paint around the drawing, people. Or, hey, maybe erase the entire thing and redraw the poorly drawn crayon drawing on the blank spot? Or say they’re taking a Japanese class instead of French. Literally anything would have been better than what you did.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Another vertical flip transition swapped for a horizontal. *bigger shrug*

They erase Japanese text from the book they’re reading from.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Japanese text is removed from the chalkboard behind them.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Didn’t remove the Japanese on the books when seen from slightly further away. Lazy digital painters, Saban. You shame 4Kids.

The first line was originally “I am a cat.” which Candy messes up by saying she’s not a cat. In the dub, the line is “It was a dark and stormy night.” which Candy messes up by saying it’s a nice sunny day.

The next line is “I still lack a name to call my own.” which Candy messes up by yelling out that she’s Candy. In the dub, the next line is “In the city with no name.” which Candy messes up by yelling that she suggests they name it Candy Town.

In the original, Yayoi says she’s saying ‘kuru’ like ‘cru’ as in ‘excruciating pain’ so the teacher suggests she go to the infirmary. In the dub, Lily just excuses Emily by saying she thinks she’s not feeling well. I like the dub better because it seems silly for the teacher to accept the very long-winded jump of ‘kuru’ to ‘cru’ to ‘excruciating pain’ especially when Candiyuki is being all excitable and happy.

Another vertical to horizontal transition change. I am really struggling to understand this, even slightly.

Oh but when Candy does the exact same thing on the chalkboard they don’t blur it all out despite the Japanese clearly underneath. Saban, please. make. sense.

In the original, Nao says Candiyuki is expressing the answer through the morals found in fairy tales (since she’s claiming she drew a castle in Marchenland) In the dub, Emily was told to draw a map of world geography. April says she’s expressing world geography through various colors and shapes. Chloe then says the sporadic nature of the drawing is also representative of the changeable nature of modern international borders.

Candy doesn’t know what art is originally. In the dub, the reason she gets excited is because she knows what art is and wants to do it. Again, I think the dub is a little more reasonable here because I refuse to believe art doesn’t exist in Marchenland.

The class was originally social studies. In the dub, it’s geography.

Vertical to horizontal again. *sigh*

Vertical to horizontal AGAIN. *deeper sigh*

Vertical to horizontal – ya know what, anytime there’s a vertical flip transition, assume it’s changed to horizontal because Saban doesn’t like to make sense. Kay? Kay.

Candy originally thinks the teacher drew a circle for her on her paper. In the dub, she says she thinks it’s an O for ‘Awesome.’

Originally the ‘prizes’ were remedial lessons. In the dub, they’re extra homework. I guess that’s not too far off the mark, but still. Also, one day goofing off and she’s being told to take remedial lessons?

I feel the need to point out that they really could have just said Miyuki was sick and couldn’t go to school until they figured out how to get the rings off. Maybe talk to Pop or something. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Japanese schools from anime is that you can miss however much school you want even if you’re only slightly ill. And chances are you are ill because, in Japan, people get serious fevers from being in the rain for 11 seconds, being a little stressed out or really just being a female. Thanks, anime!

Oh great, a line-where-there-was-none-originally in the dub actually suggests Candy and Emily stay home tomorrow. “Why did they not do that today?”, is what the million dollar question is. But I know the answer – because then they wouldn’t be able to have nearly as many awkward shenanigans.

The sign above the security station is translated, I think.

A paper behind the security guy is digitally painted to remove Japanese text.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

What is up with that poster to the right? Did Candy draw that?

Papers behind Majorina are painted to remove Japanese text. (And, oh look, they had to redraw some of those flowers on the calendar because of the paint job. What a novel concept….)

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also, that’s an incredibly creepy drawing on that wanted poster.

The security guy says it’s impressive for someone Majorina’s age to invent something. In the dub, he says ringadings is a dumb name. Look, it was understandable for Ulric and Akaoni to call the name dumb because they’re close friends/colleagues, but this guy is just being a jerk.

Majorina yells that she’s not old then explains what the rings do. In the dub, she yells that she understands that they need a better name, and then goes off to explain that she was going to mass produce the rings, kids would beg their parents for them and then there’d be worldwide chaos as a result.

That is a straight-up dumb plan. The rings activate themselves, so the instant they got their hands on these rings they’d be switched and then there’d be mild contained chaos to the handful of children who would actually be amped up about jewelry.

More text gone from the outside of the building.

The security guy keeps yelling ‘Obaa-chan!’ which makes Majorina come back to yell at him for making her sound old. In the dub, he calls her back because he couldn’t remember what the rings were called and wanted to know what she’d change the name to. She gets irritated, returns, reminds him of the name and says she’ll change the name when she feels like it.

Name Change: The little girl is originally named Narumi. In the dub, she’s Jennifer.

The dub actually adds a fairly funny joke. In the middle of Brooha threatening Candiyuki, they add her asking if she can come up there because she’s too beat from climbing on top of that mountain climbing jungle gym thing and doesn’t know what she was thinking climbing up there in the first place.

The little boy says he doesn’t want to play anymore, but the dub changes this to the boy saying he’s suddenly in a pit of despair. I only mention this because it seems really unlikely that a little boy would talk like that, even with the spell.

Rock, Paper, Scissors! I won! Paper covered rock. 🙂

In the original, the potion to get the rings off is called ‘Backtonormal.’ In the dub, it’s called ‘Backwards Motion Potion.’

Both times the name is mocked, but, honestly, the dub’s name isn’t that bad.

April: “No one’s going to buy that.” Who said anything about selling it? And who would buy it anyway unless the rings were mass-produced, which April doesn’t know about and wouldn’t work anyway?

Alright, I’ll relent here, Miyandy transforming into Cure Candy was very funny and adorable. Usually things like that only happen in dreams and thought bubbles so it was cool to see them commit here.

Cure Candy originally says “The light of the future, shining kuru kuru!” but in the dub she says “Magic and innocence, the strength of a wish.”

The only time they dim this transformation is right after she says “The strength of a wish!”

Lily: “Glittertastic!” Lily, please stop.

Earlier, Miyandy was having trouble just moving her Candy ears around, now she’s using them as fists and punching at lightning speed?

They dim the punching match between the Akanbe and Cure Candy.

They dim the closeup of Akanbe chasing Cure Candy.

They even let her do the Happy Shower in that form? Hahaha! That’s pretty cool.

Wait, the reversal potion destroys the rings? Seems like a waste on Majorina’s part.

Brooha: “Ahhhh you brats win again! But I’ll catch you on the flip-flop!”

Kelsey: “Another dumb name.”

What’s a dumb name? She didn’t name anything. She just got the phrase ‘Catch you on the flipside.’ wrong.

Chloe: “This was the most unusual day.”

Kelsey: “Tell me about it. Switching bodies, potions, dumb names.” You’re really ramming the dumb name joke into the ground, dub.

Yayoi was originally suggesting they should have left Miyuki and Candy switched for a while longer, which the other girls shoot down. Lily and the girls just talk about the Buffoon in the dub.

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You can find my full opinions on the episode here.

In regards to the comparison, this episode fares pretty well. They mostly paint text out and change very minor things as well as adding some details that were really unnecessary. However, they made up for a chunk of that by adding some pretty funny dialogue, especially when it came to Brooha, but that bad name joke was really overstaying its welcome, especially considering that part about selling the rings and the removal potion just didn’t work at all if you put an iota of thinking into it.

The one thing that really got to me though was the Candy picture being blurred. It was such a terrible decision to do that. No kid casually watching this is going to pause on that picture and wonder why there’s a bunch of Japanese on it, and even if they did you can easily explain it away. And, again, they could have easily just removed the entire image and redrawn another shoddy crayon drawing. Even the worst artists can pull that off.

But, no, instead they opt to blur the whole thing and make it look like a complete eyesore.

Next episode, Yayoi’s leaving? Nine episodes into the series!? And the teaser confirms it was an April’s Prank?! Wow….thanks, preview….Why should I watch this episode then? Either they’re keeping it a secret the whole episode and the teaser just spoiled it or this will be one of those episodes where the character makes it known to the audience that they’re lying and the entire episode is just an awkwardness fest of trying to keep up the lie until it inevitably gets revealed…..

….Previous Episode

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Smile Precure/Glitter Force Episode 7: Where Could it Be? Our Secret Base Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Unable to talk about Precure stuff in public, the girls use the portals in the Wonder Library to find a secret base all their own.

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Miyuki: “We place the Phone Decor in the Decor Decor…” She just said ‘decor’ three times in one sentence……

Pop originally says he’s happy to see they’ve mastered the Phone Décor. In the dub, he asks if there’s any news to report or anything he can help them with.

Akane said the UFO was a crow, but Kelsey says it was a pigeon.

Title Change: Where Could it Be? Our Secret Base is changed to The Perfect Hideout.

The dub inserts an exterior shot of Emily’s house after we cut from school, probably because that’s where the original’s title screen was.

The first book Miyuki took was Alice in Wonderland. She doesn’t mention the title in the dub.

The second book she takes is Heidi, and the third is Cinderella. For some reason, Netflix removed that shot.

The final book she takes is Anne of Green Gables. The dub, again, omits this.

A closeup shot of Miyuki after the portal opens is removed.

Reika says she hopes she remembered the combination for the portal correctly. In the dub, Kelsey is saying it’s so wild how they can all open portals in their bookshelves.

Yayoi says it’s great no one got lost. In the dub, she says it’s great no one fell down.

Nao says that it’s especially impressive considering they’ve never used portals from their own houses before. In the dub, April says it’s just like soccer – gotta practice.

Okay, how the heck did Miyuki’s hood get caught on a tree branch that high up when she was on the ground?

Candy’s kinda cute when she says “And they all fall down, kuru~~” In the dub, Candy says “No roughhousing in the library!”

Nao says, if they can go anywhere in the world, they might as well go someplace nicer. In the dub, she says they might as well go back behind the air conditioners if they stay there because it’s dirty and there’s no furniture.

For some reason, Miyuki and Yayoi both yell out “Nicer?!” when Nao says that. In the dub, they yell “And it’s dangerous!”

I thought the portals worked by everyone needing to think of the exact location before they enter. Miyuki’s mind wandered in the previous episode, which is how she got lost. However, when Reika says she has an idea for a place and they ask her where, she just says “Why don’t you see for yourself?” and opens a portal. That shouldn’t work…

Reika specifically says they’re on Mt. Fuji. I don’t know why they decided to omit this detail because they have said time and again that the portals can take them anywhere in the world, which means this doesn’t de-Americanize the show, but all Chloe says is it’s a high-altitude weather station.

The Kanji for ‘The road ahead’ is changed to ‘GF’ It’s actually a very good paint edit since it tracks with the flapping so well…..really loses the oomph of Reika’s big road of hardship to something as grand as the Mt. Fuji speech, though.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Chloe writes a poem as a mission statement instead of giving said speech in the dub. It has…basically the same message, but it’s made to be…well…humorously dorky….You can tell because when she’s done…Netflix adds a record scratch when they cut back to the girls….You’re so original and clever, Netflix.

Being fair, the original kinda does the same thing thing by slowly stopping the heroic music, but it’s not as blatant or eye-roll-worthy as the record scratch.

Honestly, Reika’s idea wasn’t so bad. I’m not sure if anyone works in that station on Mt. Fuji, and you never really know when someone might be there, but it’s one of the most remote locations in the world with, what I assume is, a relatively warm and accommodating facility to use. April mentions there’s no furniture there, either, which I get to a degree….There have to be at least a few chairs, but yeah, I get it.

The writing on the box Reika has is removed.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

So I’m guessing all of them will open a portal without telling the others where they’re going. Why even establish that rule about everyone needing to picture the location if you’re not going to follow it?

Yayoi snips at Reika for choosing a stupid location, but then she chooses a MOVIE SET CURRENTLY IN USE for her ‘SECRET BASE’ location?!

Akane admits that she and Nao are two peas in a pod because she likes girly cute stuff too. In the dub, she says she never pegged April for a cutesy girly stuff type, but she can see herself relaxing in that room.

They omit the mention of Akane wanting to eat some okonomiyaki while relaxing in the room.

The sign that says ‘Plush toy section’ is changed to ‘Furries and fuzzies’………..Uhmmmm……so….who wants to be the one to tell Netflix what a furry is?

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also, Nao, you should be intelligent enough to know that a toy store isn’t anywhere near private…..

The sign that says ‘Stuffed Shop’ is changed to ‘Plushie’s Playhouse.’

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Wait, now they’re even ignoring the bookshelf aspect? Because it seems like they went right from running in the street to running into the next base location.

Is Akane a crazy person!? A zoo, especially inside of an exhibit, is a really stupid place to put a secret base. Emphasis on SECRET….and more emphasis on NOT GETTING YOUR BODY RIPPED IN HALF BY A GORILLA!

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Wait, wait, wait….they entered through…a fake bookshelf? Well, how the hell does THAT work?

Yayoi yells at Reika for quietly contemplating their situation. In the dub, Lily yells that this is a terrible place for their secret base.

Akane: “I just thought nobody would disturb us in there, ya know?” In a public gorilla exhibit at a zoo!?

Miyuki brings out the Anne of Green Gables book. In the dub, it’s The Magic Meadow. I’m not sure if Netflix thought there’d be copyright issues or they just BS’d something for no reason.

Additionally, Netflix leaves the girls nameless whereas, in the original story, they’re Anne and Diane.

Lily: “Will we fit? There are four of us.” Will you four preteen girls fit……in a clearing….in the woods………Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Why does the dub even bring up that the spot is by where she used to live and Emily asking if it’s too far?….They’ve just come back from the top of MT. FUJI….Or I guess just a mountain in the dub. Surely that’s not farther than a spot near her old house.

The games the little kids originally come up with are ‘Grown-ups’ and ‘tailor.’ In the dub, it’s ‘tea party’ and ‘store.’ I kinda like the dub’s version better.

A good joke is removed in the dub. Wolfrun originally says he wants to make it clear that he’s not smiling, he’s grinning menacingly. In the dub, he says the little girls should know not the wander around in the woods because a big bad wolf might come out.

Is Wolfrun seriously just randomly targeting some little girls in the forest?……I realize now that that’s the big bad wolf’s forte and feel kinda silly asking that.

Ya know, Pierrot could’ve been revived ages ago if all of the enemies just went out to different locations, sucked up the energy and then left and did it a few more times. The clock doesn’t go back down when the Precures succeed in defeating the Akanbe, and if merely two girls worth of energy is enough to make it go up one, it’d be easy as pie.

They remove them applying their powder right before their pose again.

Rock, Paper, Scissors!: Draw this time. We both chose scissors.

So, yeah, altogether, they now have two and a half minutes worth of recycled footage they can use in each episode with the girls’ transformations.

Miyuki says she won’t let Wolfrun ruin these girls’ special spot in the woods. In the dub, she says that she can’t believe he turned an oak tree into a monster and that it’s terrible for the environment to do so.

Miyuki says she always forgets how high she can jump (Wait, if the other girls can jump just as high, does that mean jumping isn’t really Miyuki’s special ability?) Emily asks if anyone has hedge clippers.

I really like how Wolfrun is drawn/animated in this episode. I dunno why.

Miyuki yells that this spot in the forest is the most special place in the world. In the dub, she calls Ulrich a ‘mangy old flea bag’ and tells him to keep his mitts off of it, which ruins the impact of the scene, if you ask me.

The Akanbe’s attacks don’t have names in the original. In the dub, they’re Buffoon Bulldozer and Buffoon Bash.

This Akanbe was pretty damn boring. All it did was smash stuff with its branches. Also, how completely and insanely random that Wolfrun happened to choose a spot in the woods that just so happened to be the spot Miyuki used to love that they just so happened to be visiting at the same time even though it was at her old town, and that two kids just happened to also not only choose that spot to be their secret spot but also be there when they arrive so Wolfrun can have someone to target for some reason?

Today’s Cure Decor is a ring….Hm.

Candy: “That’s the prettiest bling so far!” Urhghh

I really wish April would shut up about furniture. Just bring some chairs if it’s so important to you.

Whatsadnaskdjhdsfkjhsadfhsadhsadjhgah! The Star Decor is a……house making…furniture making….decor? Alright, I’m just going to stop trying to make sense of the decors.

Nao teases Akane by asking who it was that objected to the Magical Library as their secret base in the first place. In the dub, she teases her by asking if it’s alright that the library doesn’t have gorillas.

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For my opinions on the episode as a whole, check out my episode review here.

As for the comparison, it fared pretty well. There were more paint edits than I was expecting, but it was tame as pudding compared to what I’m used to with other shows. Many of my notes are just about the episode itself. I was a little bummed they chose to edit out the mention of Mt. Fuji for no other reason than Americanization, but what can you do?

I’m more bummed that Netflix seems intent on talking about books as minimally as possible. Miyuki loves books. They’re a big part of the plot, and her desire to go to that spot was built on a book plot, yet they do everything they can to just not talk about books. Did they adopt 4Kids’ disgusting take on ‘Kids don’t read, they just enjoy purty pitchurs’?

Next episode, Candy and Miyuki switch places.

…Previous Episode

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Smile Precure!/Glitter Force Episode 6 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: The five Precure are finally assembled! Candy’s big brother, Pop, arrives to check up on his sister and share the story of Marchenland and the Precures to the girls. While Nogo’s minions are collecting energy to revive their master, the girls need to collect the Cure Decor from the Akanbe to free Marchenland’s queen and save the world.

But first things first – what will their catchphrase be?

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The girls originally say in sequence that they’re all together. In the dub, they count up for five to show that they’re all together, but it kinda falls apart because Candy’s the one who says ‘five’ instead of Miyuki because she prompts the count.

The banner is wiped clean of text.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Yayoi originally asks what the monsters really are. In the dub, Lily repeats April’s question about why they have powers.

Miyuki asks what the monsters are after. Emily tells Candy to tell the others the story she told her.

Akane asks what they’re supposed to do about the monsters. Kelsey asks why Candy won’t tell them.

The music is pretty funny in the original because it gets slower and slower until it stops as Candy gets increasingly nervous about the girls’ questions. In the dub, this effect is lost and we’re just left with typical goofy music.

Candy originally doesn’t know the answers to the girls’ questions at all. In the dub, Candy forgot the story she told Emily. I don’t know why this causes such a freakout because, if Emily knows, surely she can just relay the information.

The book originally calls Miyuki a ‘fair maiden,’ but he doesn’t in the dub.

Like Candy uses the suffix ‘-kuru’ a lot, Pop uses ‘-de gozaru’

For the record, Pop is adorable.

All of the books have the text removed from their spines, as usual.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Title Change: The Team’s Assembled! We Are Smile Precure! is changed to The Library of Legends.

Brooha’s voice when she says “Seriously?” is hilarious (In a good way).

Miyuki doesn’t keep interrupting Pop during the story like Emily does.

Name Change: Royale Queen is changed to Euphoria.

The box for the Cure Decor is originally called the Decor Decor. In the dub, it’s called the Charm Chest. I actually like the dub’s name a lot better because 1) it’s not ultra repetitive and 2) They refrained from using the word ‘glitter’ in it, so I have to give them points for that.

Name Change: Joker is changed to Rascal. I was going to question why, seeing as how he came out of a Joker card, but I can imagine they didn’t want DC to sue them up the ass.

Akane just says “That’s me!” when her picture shows up. Kelsey adds “I rock!”

Joker….jokingly points out that there are only five Precure. Rascal asks how they can beat five Glitter Force Warriors when they couldn’t even take down two.

Akaoni repeats with a scoff that there are only five. Brute says he could take on fifty of them.

Majorina says she could take down 100 Precures. Brooha claims she can defeat 500.

Wolfrun says he doesn’t care if there are 1000 of them. Ulric, oddly, claims he could beat 555 of them.

I’m really surprised they left in Joker licking his lips like that.

Anyone else get confused when characters in magical girl anime seem to know and acknowledge magical girl tropes? Like, are magical girl shows a thing in these universes or are they pounding down the fourth wall?

The eyecatches are starting to repeat themselves now. If they change, I’ll post them.

I did not just hear Emily say ‘Awesomesauce.’ Nope. It didn’t happen. I refuse to acknowledge that. No.

The original first catchphrase was ‘The five of us are….Goprecure!’ In the dub, it’s “It’s us, of course! The Glitter Force!” They nix that one.

Akane shoots that one down because they’re not Goprecure. In the dub, she says it’s not exactly brilliant.

Pop originally says he doesn’t understand what they’re doing. In the dub, he says that’s the tenth catchphrase they’ve come up with and they’re not getting any better.

I see you sign!

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The book-gates are changed to just magical portals. Both names are really lazy if you ask me.

I would ask why Miyuki/Emily thinks a penguin is talking to her, but considering all of the other oddities in her life at the moment, I’d say that’d be relatively normal.

The Akanbe this week is an empty soda can? That’s the best thing you can find in a park?

Please don’t tell me they were seriously waiting all that time to transform just because Emily wasn’t there and they didn’t have a catchphrase…..Lives are hanging in the balance, guys.

Not sure why Kelsey randomly yelled out “Watch out, world!” when she transformed.

Wait, so in addition to their post-transformation sayings, they’re also going to have a group catchphrase? That’ll eat up a lot of time.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: I won this episode! I chose rock, it was scissors. 🙂

The original group catchphrase is “Our five lights will blaze a path to the future. Shining bright, Smile Precure!” In the dub it’s “Time to blaze a way to a happy ending! (Emily: “Ready girls?”) Shining Bright! Here comes the Glitter Force!” It actually didn’t change as much as I feared. Surprised.

I love that they got shot immediately after all that, though. It’s like another potshot to magical girl tropes.

Emily: “Sneak attack. No fair…” Sneak attack? They were right in front of you the whole time, and you just spent nearly two whole minutes doing your shtick.

Pop’s voice deepens when he transforms in the original. It doesn’t do so in the dub.

Candy says Pop can transform. In the dub, she says he transformed into a trash compactor because he’s really into recycling.

Now Emily’s back to the cheerleading chant. Yay.

Sooooooooooooooooooooo…..in the episode that celebrated the Precures all being together for the first time…….they needed Pop to defeat the Akanbe and everything else relied on Miyuki? (They didn’t transform until she got there, they all fell together from one attack by the Akanbe and only Miyuki was called on to give the final blow. They all slammed press!Pop together, but was that even necessary?) Bit underwhelming.

Oh so the cell phone Cure Decor is a real phone that can communicate through dimensions. That’s actually really cool…..still think it’s a bit odd to have it look like a modern cell phone, but at least it has a real purpose.

The promise of always saying goodbye with a smile is basically kept, but the dub adds in the silly adage of ‘turn that frown upside down.’

Aw, the picture in the book of Pop saying goodbye actually plucked my heartstrings a little. That was so bittersweet and cute.

The really sad music in the original isn’t helping. Someone please do something silly because I’m starting to get misty.

Oh no worries, I’m instantly cleared up by the dub not understanding ambiance at all with their goofy soundtrack and stupid joke by Kelsey. Thanks.

——————————–

You can find my opinions on the episode as a whole here.

As for the dub, it fares very well. There are only a few line changes here and there and only a few minor paint edits. The ending was bungled, but, being completely fair, the mood does change to goofy near the very end either way, it’s just that the dub ruined it earlier with their goofy song and joke.

I’m shocked the catchphrase really wasn’t changed much, and even though I can imagine having all of the individual girls’ phrases and the group phrase together will be more repetitive and time-consuming than normal magical girl shows as episodes go on, I’m not too concerned.

Next episode, the girls try to select a spot for their secret base!

……Previous Episode

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Smile Precure!/Glitter Force Episode 5 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: The Precures have one more member to recruit, and Miyuki believes their classmate and Student Body Vice President, Reika, is the one to fill the role. However, she’s too busy with Student Council to take them up on their offer – especially now considering that they’re supposed to put on an annual storytelling show for the kids at the local elementary school, but their Student Council President is too sick to take care of things. When a new enemy, a witch named Majorina, attacks the Precures, will Reika take her place as Cure Beauty and save the day?

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Title Change: A Beautiful Heart: Cure Beauty!! is changed to Glitter Breeze vs. The Witch….Guys….please…creativity is all I ask for. You couldn’t even write her name, you just wrote ‘the witch.’

They change Miyuki gawking before Aoki notices her to Emily greeting her, Chloe ignoring her and the close up shot of her gawking to her going ‘Helllooooooooooo!!’

Miyuki praises Reika for being so pretty and compares her to a water sprite. In the dub, Emily praises her on her concentration and even says “Just what we need on the Glitter Force.’ Subtlety like a brick to the teeth.

Miyuki says that Reika waters the flowers to make everyone ultra happy. After Chloe says she waters the flowers on her own and even comes to school early to do it, Emily says “You are SO in Glitter Force!”

Emily…..

Shut…..

Up.

Reika says “The early bird catches the worm.” Chloe says she has no idea what Emily’s talking about in regards to the Glitter Force.

The original text is some sort of fantasy story. In the dub, she’s reciting stuff about photosynthesis.

Also, books, which means goodbye text! And hello blurred gibberish!

Subbed:

Dubbed:

They didn’t even curve the text so it looks like it belongs in that book. It’s clearly just stamped on there.

By the by, Chloe is merely reading out of the textbook yet Emily calls her super smart because of it.

So….the butterfly thing Cure Decor Nao got….gives Candy….hair loop….things…with butterflies on them…..*cough* Do these ‘powers’ have a point or is this about merchandise or something? Because I don’t get it.

Emily: “Okay, big news – Chloe’s ready to become the final member of the Glitter Force!” Miyuki just says she may have found the fifth Precure. Likewise, the girls respond asking if Emily asked her about it and become disappointed when it becomes clear that she hasn’t. In the original, they’re confused because Miyuki says the new member should be like a water sprite.

Glitter Force has a lot of ‘Dialogue where the originally was none’ moments I tend to let slide, but I thought I’d mention that I thought it was funny that Emily is watching Chloe so intently when she’s shooting her bow and arrow and goes “Is she gonna let it go?….*shot* OOP! She let it go!” She’s practically fangirling, and it’s both funny and cute.

Reika thinks Candy is a robotic doll. Chloe thinks Candy’s a puppet.

Ya know, if you guys really want to instantly convince her of the Precure/Glitter Force thing, just transform in front of her. It’s not that hard.

Emily: “You’ll help us give the world a happy ending?”

They edit out Reika bowing in apology, which is strange because they left in the other girls doing it a minute ago. I guess they thought it was okay because they passed that off as begging when they really can’t do that with Chloe.

They insert an external shot of the school before the shot of the poster.

Oh and they edit out the posters. Boooo!

The sign for the Student Council Room is painted.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Nice font choice, by the way. Not often you see a Student Council office in prison.

Name Change: Terada is changed to Teresa, and Kurata is changed to Kevin.

They edited out them bowing in greeting.

They completely edit out the text ‘Snow White’ on the book, because, again, the irony of editing out text on a book where there are lines praising, of all things, READING, goes right over their heads.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Reika says they’ll be taking turns reading Snow White, which gets Miyuki excited because she loves fairy tales. In the dub, Chloe says they’re doing a puppet show, and Emily says kids go crazy for puppet shows….do they? They seem to enjoy them, but ‘go crazy’? Really?

Miyuki decides to help out and asks the other girls if they want to help too. They agree, and Nao is the one who comes up with the puppet show idea. In the dub, the reason Emily wants to help is because, supposedly, the already-planned puppet show can’t go on without Jared, the president.

I’d like to know what’s happening in this shot.

Is Akane worried Miyuki will ruin the cutout or worried she’ll slice her fingers off?

Miyuki and the others are helping out of the goodness of their hearts. In the dub, Emily states during the montage that they’re helping so they can make a believer out of Chloe, get her to join them and bring happiness to the world. Uh, she didn’t not believe you nor did she refuse because she didn’t understand what good she’d be doing. She didn’t accept the offer because she was busy with other responsibilities.

They edit out more bowing.

Almost certain they also repeat the part with her speaking beforehand so they can keep the shot’s length.

Eyecatches – Candy’s is a repeat, so just noting Beauty here.

Wow, the animation in the very background as they set up the show is distractedly bad. It is literally just two keyframes played over and over so it looks like they’re flashing the puppets back and forth.

And yet they don’t edit out Chloe bowing when she tells the audience to enjoy the show. I guess people do that in America too, but come on.

“Her hair as black as coal” she says as Miyuki waves around a puppet that clearly has light brown hair.

It’s not as obvious, but the puppet’s skin color also isn’t very pale. Also, the backdrop sucks because you can see the tops of Miyuki and Yayoi’s heads and see their whole arms—Yes I AM criticizing a middle school student-led puppet show for elementary school students. I obviously have problems.

Name Change: Majorina is changed to Brooha.

Yayoi starts to suspect that Majorina is an enemy. In the dub, Brooha starts explaining that all the good things that happen in the end of Snow White don’t happen in her version, and Lily complains that she’s giving the ending away.

Nao: “So Precure wasn’t just a dream….” Uh…Nao, sweetie….why are you still with these girls and trying to convince Reika to be a Precure if you thought the Precures were a dream? Also, you know Candy can talk and is a pixie. Also, also, you just magically conjured up hair loops with a compact earlier. This line just seems out of place because none of the other girls have moments like this after they’ve had their first transformation episodes.

Interesting that the dub doesn’t include this line. It’s just an intimidation line.

Majorina says she hails from the Land of Bad Ends. Having only heard of this now, Akane repeats her statement. In the dub, Brooha says she’s the meanest of the trio, and Kelsey says that’s nothing to brag about.

I really don’t understand the logic with the darkening in the dub. It flashes off and on with the transformation scenes, but it shows up in spots where you think it wouldn’t. Like there will be a flash of light so large and bright that the entire screen is filled, then the brightness will go down for the next shot of just some light and the skirt appearing. I’m no doctor, but I’d say flip-flopping between bright and super dark is even worse for epileptics than just showing the original bright to less-bright scenes.

They edited the shots of them applying the blush again for some reason.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: I lost this week. I had scissors, she had rock. 😦

I know I sometimes complain about transformations being cut down, but damn the unedited transformation sequence in this episode clocks in at a minute and thirty seconds. That may not sound like much, but it is. And that’s just with four of them. It’ll probably peak at two minutes, if not more, with Cure Beauty.

Nao: “I really transformed again!” I’m still confused why this surprises you. For the record, in the dub, she just continues to be surprised that her hair is so big when she transforms.

Since Lily doesn’t play Rock, Paper, Scissors with the audience, she tries out some intimidation tactics by claiming she’ll pound the enemy with the power of love. Dammit, I already used up my immature snickering gif allowance for the day.

Akane asks if she’s going to play that game every time, and Yayoi says, if you beat her, you’ll have good luck all day. Candy, again, claims she’s playing, but this time she says she lost because she ‘chose’ scissors. Akane points out, again, that Candy isn’t making any signs with her hand because she has no fingers.

In the dub, Kelsey yells out that her intimidation tactics are weak. Lily asks if ‘the fingers of peace’ are a better declaration. Candy wishes she could make a peace sign or a fist, but she can’t because she doesn’t have fingers. Kelsey says they have bigger things to worry about.

In the original, Majorina says things are going to be different now. Miyuki wonders if she’s tougher than the others. In the dub, Brooha makes a comment about their ‘fabulous hair’ and Emily says ‘*Gasp* You think our hair is fabulous?!’

They really don’t see the clear risk in attacking each of these Akanbe one by one when only one of them is the real one, there are three of them, about eight Akanbe and they each get only one shot each? Not sure if I’d be as bothered by this if Candy didn’t command them to do it.

So now Emily’s chant has changed to ‘Sparkle sparkle sparkle sparkle’ How does that give you spirit?

I do like how Majorina/Brooha just looks at them confused as they try to gather spirit energy, though. It’s kinda funny, like it’s poking fun at magical girl tropes.

I feel like I’m just twiddling my thumbs throughout the rest of this scene because I know it results in all of the girls each trying to hit the real Akanbe, but they all fail so it’ll be up to Reika to transform and save the day. Also, before we even get to Yayoi, I’m just begging them to stop and actually try to formulate a plan instead of shooting blindly and hoping for the best. World’s best superheroes, everyone.

You’d think at least Nao would have the sense to stop and think. Miyuki would head out first because she’s just doesn’t tend to think things through, Akane would go next because she’s headstrong and hotheaded, and Yayoi might just try to follow what the others are doing. Nao LITERALLY goes ‘I can’t tell which one’s the real one…and it’s a one-in-five shot….better blindly attack one like the others, wasting our final attack and damning us all to a bad end.’

You know what’s even sillier? For all they know, this Akanbe has the ability to switch which one is the real one in mid-attack.

It’s like the writers went ‘Well, we have four Precure now. How do we get them in such deep shit that they need Reika to transform?’

‘Have them waste their attacks for no reason like idiots and put themselves in undue peril?’

‘Brilliant!’

April: “Wow….epic fail.” ……Did you really just say ‘epic fail’? They don’t use a lot of slang in this show, but when they do…..urgh.

Brooha: “What a Glitter Farce!” Why are you getting all the good cheesy lines? Not complaining. I love you so far.

Like before, Miyuki can’t tell Reika who she is, but in the dub, since she already knows due to them telling her about the Glitter Force, Chloe gets their name wrong and calls them a club. Emily denies this and corrects her.

We hear an audio flashback to Miyuki telling Reika that they’ll make everyone happy at the storytime puppet show. This isn’t present in the dub.

Believe it or not, they actually kept the school’s name (basically) intact. Their school is called Nanairogaoka Junior High. In the dub, it’s Rainbow Hills Middle School. Indeed, Nanairo means ‘rainbow’ and gaoka can translate to ‘hill.’ Go Figure. Only slight difference is Junior High to Middle School, but I feel like I’ll give that a pass because different countries have different school systems.

Wow…Beauty’s transformation sequence is….forgive me – Beautiful. It feels like it’s more intricately animated than the other girls’ transformations.

Beauty’s post-transformation speech is “A gentle heart as pure as the driven snow…Cure Beauty!” In the dub, it’s “Cool and swift as the winter winds…I’m Glitter Breeze!”

Name Change: Cure Beauty is changed to Glitter Breeze. I’m not sure how I feel about this because 1) Breeze doesn’t have anything to do with beauty (You can’t even see a breeze…) and 2) Breeze is more March’s thing, isn’t it? I know she’s spring themed, but wind is still her forte right? Beauty’s is ice and snow. I don’t get the logic with changing it at all, but changing to Breeze just seems strange.

Beauty’s hair makes me think of an octopus…..

Breeze: “Mirror monsters?”…..Yes….You saw them for several minutes before you transformed…..Being fair, Beauty says something equally strange.

Beauty: “I see, when I transform, I get superhuman powers.”

Sunny: “She’s quick on the uptake!” She doesn’t say this with sarcasm, which scares me.

Okay, this just begs the question, if the Akanbe mirrors can be taken out with physical attacks, why didn’t the other girls try that before using their special abilities?

I know the answer: ‘Because then Cure Beauty wouldn’t be needed and her debut episode wouldn’t…debut her.’

Attack Name Change: Pretty Cure Beauty Blizzard is changed to Sparkle Blizzard.

Wouldn’t a mirror monster be more interesting if the monster reflected attacks back at them?

Are you kidding me?…….Her Cure Decor….is a CELL PHONE?! Aren’t these powers supposed to come from a fantasy realm? What the hell is a cell phone doing in the works? Wow….

They sped up Reika smiling as she turned around. Why? I don’t know.

Even though they didn’t do the same scene where the new recruit asks Miyuki to call them by their first name, Miyuki still decides to noticeably correct herself from saying ‘Aoki-san’ to ‘Reika-san’ Obviously, this, again, isn’t present in the dub.

—————————–

You can find my thoughts on the episode as a whole here.

As for the SDC, this episode didn’t fare that badly. In fact, most of my notes are more on a review level. Most of what was changed is stuff that has been changed in the past, and the few newer things aren’t that terrible. The only thing that kinda irked me was the insinuation that they were only helping Chloe for the sake of getting her to join the Glitter Force. I know that’s not true, but Emily really made it sound that way.

At least the whole ‘psychic Emily’ thing is probably over now. That was getting irritating.

I still don’t get Beauty’s name change, but it’s not life-altering.

Next episode, now that the Precures are all together, they start creating a strategy for stopping Pierrot and his minions.

…Previous Episode

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Smile Precure!/Glitter Force Episode 4 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: The girls find Nao to be a super cool and talented girl, so they decide to see if she’ll be the fourth Precure. In an attempt to get to know her, Miyuki spends some time with Nao’s little brothers and sisters. When her family’s put in danger as Akaoni strikes again, will Nao join the Precure family to save them?

————————–

Emily: “The evil fairy tale villains of the Shadow Realm.” They said it again. I’m never not going to be shocked by this. Shadow Realm. Shadow….realm…..

Emily sounds really cocky when she says “It wasn’t easy convincing Kelsey, but I finally did.”

Title Change: Straight Ball Showdown! Cure March of the Wind is changed to Here Comes Glitter Spring…..These dub titles are really lazy.

The Bunny Cure Decor summons a hair brush….that….sparkles when it brushes hair……Does not compute. Does not compute. Error.

I didn’t need to see Brute putting on his freshly washed undies, thank you, Smile Precure.

Akaoni’s excited over his freshly washed underwear. Brute is excited to be fighting in too-tight shorts he purposely washed in stinky swamp water.

Miyuki thinks that Nao is brave and cool. In the dub –

Emily: “Just like I saw her in my dream!” Yes. Emily. We. Get. It.

Name Change: Irie is changed to Jared.

Irie says he’s not eating lunch today because he’s on patrol for school grounds clean week (We’re still in the same week as last episode then I guess.) In the dub, Jared says he never eats lunch because he’s so busy.

Miyuki says “That’s it!” Emily says “Glittertastic!”

Like always, there’s the change from speculating that someone would be a good Precure to pointing out that they know she’s a Glitter Force warrior and stating she’ll have trouble believing them.

Minor note, but we seriously have to tone down the brightness in the dub when Emily’s simply running?

Ooh a bulk name change.

Name Changes, in order: Keita is changed to Calvin, Haru to Harriet, Hina to Hannah, Yuuta to Hugo and Kouta to Cody.

Nao’s parents are out at a neighborhood association meeting. April’s are at a vague ‘convention.’ Not really sure if this qualifies as a change, but I’ll note it anyway.

This is odd. In the original, in a game of Tag, all of the kids claim they’re ‘it’ which prompts them to chase Miyuki. In the dub, they all say ‘not it’ which makes Emily ‘it’ but the person who’s ‘it’ is the one who does the chasing, so why do they start chasing Emily?

The kids think Candy is a tanuki/raccoon dog. In the dub they, mostly understandably, change this to simply a puppy.

Even though it’s very much a bad thing to do for the kids to play catch with a ‘puppy’ IE, using the puppy as a ball, and they should be told not to do that, knowing it’s Candy and seeing Miyuki play along is pretty funny.

In the original, the kids are pretending Miyuki’s a monster and they attack her with toys. In the dub, they’re playing keepaway, which just makes it confusing because no one’s catching the toys on the other side and the kids cheer when one of them hits her in the face with a pillow.

Akaoni believes someone’s calling for him since the kids are yelling ‘Monster’ in the dub, he says he hates the sound of laughing children.

Eyecatches:

Miyuki lists off Nao’s positive points again before trying to ask her to be a Precure. In the dub, she says the Glitter Force is just like a family.

I…guess this is an untranslatable…joke? In the original, Akaoni says “Any good kids ‘round here?!” to which Akane responds “Shouldn’t that be ‘Any crybabies ‘round here?’?” In the dub, Brute says “Game over!” and Kelsey responds ‘Oh well, we didn’t have anyone to play goalie anyway.’ I kinda prefer the dub line because it makes more sense to me.

Oh thank god. I’m getting to that point where my soul just goes numb when I hear the ‘poof poof’s and ‘glittertastic’ in Lucky’s transformation.

Wait, what the hell? They left the brightness up in Peace’s transformation only today? Why?! Her color is frickin’ yellow! It’s hard to get brighter than that! Didn’t I just ding you earlier for lowering the brightness on a regular running scene? Now we get Glitter Mustard shoving bright yellow light into our faces? Please start making sense, Netflix.

Strangely, they edit out the shots of them putting the powder on their faces.

I love how Akaoni lost this week’s Rock, Paper, Scissors game. That was pretty funny.

Since the game isn’t kept in the dub, they change this to Brute being angry at the overly saccharine speeches the girls make when they transform, calling out Peace specifically for her ‘puppies and kittens’ spiel.

Likewise, when Peace explains that she’s properly playing Rock, Paper, Scissors whenever she transforms, the dub just has her confused because everyone should love puppies and kittens.

Likewise, likewise, Candy ‘won’ the RPS game by saying she threw scissors this time, even though her ‘hands’ don’t allow her to make such a gesture. Sunny points this out.

In the dub, Candy says she loves puppies and kittens and tells them to not care what Brute says. Kelsey points out that Brute is starting to make a new offensive.

Oh good, Lucky’s shortened it to just ‘We’ve got spirit!’ Making progress.

I kinda find it funny that they recant on the whole family theme this week with Akane going “The bonds between us!…..aren’t really all that strong yet…but they will be!” Come on, you guys have been together for all of a couple episodes/days. Have you not yelled out ‘BFFs!’ in unison yet?

However, the dub puts it back by having Kelsey say that he may be bigger and stronger than they are, but they have each other. They’re the Glitter Force family.

In the original, Miyuki (transformed) says she’s not sure if she’s supposed to tell Nao if she’s Miyuki or not. Akane then says that her statement just let the cat out of the bag. In the dub, she tells April straight out that they’re Glitter Force warriors, and Kelsey says they have an opening just for her. Really getting sick of this because, like I mentioned before, it seems like they’re just pushing the girls towards the Glitter Force door. ‘Come on, we know you’re a warrior. Transform and let’s go home.’

Akaoni’s next lines are basically the same, but the dub adds in a bit about him not speaking to his family, except his uncle who owes him money.

Again, they dim the regular running shot.

Name Change: Cure March is changed to Glitter Spring.

Side note, but I really like March’s boots.

March doesn’t say anything when her bow appears. Spring says ‘Spring has sprung!’

Wow, I actually think her hair might be bigger than Happy’s. I am baffled how such a thing is physically possible.

March’s speech is “Laying down the gauntlet with courage blazing….Cure March!” in the dub, she says ‘A force as strong as life itself….I’m Glitter Spring!’ I actually like the dub’s version a lot better, especially considering the mention of ‘blazing’ is something you wouldn’t expect to be a part of the wind-themed Precure.

March says she’s going to keep her family together. In the dub, Spring says “Let’s see what this outfit can do!”

So, Happy is able to jump super high, Sunny seemingly has enhanced strength over the others, Peace has the ability to electrocute her opponents when she cries, and March has super speed. Sweet. I wish more magical girl shows gave each girl a special ability outside of a unique attack.

Ya know, given the distant shot of where everyone was standing, March didn’t need to run at all. Then again, her crashing into the pylon was hilarious.

Attack Name Change: March Shoot is changed to Sparkle Shot. Really gotta reach a bit deeper inside your creativity reserves, both sets of writers. Honestly, if there’s one area in which I’d welcome massive overhauls its in these bland attack names.

I like that they incorporated Nao’s love of soccer into her attack, much in the same vein as Akane and her volleyball-inspired attack. Don’t know where that leaves Peace and Happy, though. Is it just inconsistent?

Akaoni complains that falling on his butt got his undies dirty….which….how…is he able to…see….? In the dub, he still complains that he fell on his butt, but that’s all he complains about, which makes it seem even weirder, somehow, because why the gigantic delay in complaining about falling on his butt? That happened a couple minutes ago.

Does every episode need to end with ‘Call me by my first name since we’re friends’?

This line is, again, omitted, and replaced with her saying she knows they’re wondering if she’ll join their team.

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You can find my opinions on this episode as a whole here.

As for the dub, they did a really good job this time around. Only minor things got changed here and there, and some of the changes they did I find preferable over the original, particularly the speech and the change from March to Spring.

I’m still irritated by the fact that the dub has the girls knowing who the other Glitter Force warriors are and the air of ‘let’s just tell them and move on’ that I keep getting from the debut episodes, but it’s not a huge deal. Plus, it’s going to end after next episode, I assume…I hope we won’t get a recurring psychic!Emily.

Next episode, the debut of Cure Beauty!

…Previous Episode

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Smile Precure!/Glitter Force Episode 3 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Yayoi is a great artist with terrible self-confidence. Akane and Miyuki enter her in their school’s Clean Up Week poster contest to boost her self-esteem and get her to see how great her art is. She eventually agrees and makes a great poster with a superhero character called Cleanpeace Man. However, she only gets an honorable mention in the contest results.

Yayoi is heartbroken, but she soon feels even worse when a new enemy, Akaoni, comes to make a Bad End for everyone.

Happy and Sunny can’t defeat Akaoni’s Akanbe on their own. Can Yayoi believe in herself again and bring peace to this conflict?

——————-

Entire Show Edit: Probably safe to assume the recaps are always a little different in terms of clips and dialogue.

There are tons of practical purposes for a magical item spawning roses out of thin air. And by ‘lots of practical uses’ I mean saving 30 bucks on Valentine’s day.

In the original, Akane compliments Miyuki’s mother’s omelets, and Miyuki says she’ll pass along the kind words. In the dub, Kelsey asks how they’re going to convince the other warriors that they’re part of the Glitter Force.

Akane and Miyuki just kinda randomly use Akane’s rose décor. In the dub, they say they might convince them by using the Glitter Pact in front of them and decide to demonstrate by using it. Point to the dub.

Okay, so the strawberry décor summons a massive strawberry, but the rose décor summons an unreasonably small bouquet of roses. Ain’t no one’s wife gonna accept an apology with that tiny thing.

Akane says that becoming a Precure one day has gone to Miyuki’s head. In the dub, Kelsey sarcastically says that Emily’s speech about collecting the charms and saving Jubiland doesn’t sound crazy at all.

Candy: “Glittertastic!” Shut up, Candy.

Yayoi calls her drawings childish, and Miyuki argues that they’re not childish. She then states that she likes picture books, which are similar. Akane suggests that she show everyone in class her drawings because they’re so good.

In the dub, Lily says her drawings are of her as a superhero and says it’s dumb to imagine that. Emily then says it’s not dumb because most people have imagined themselves as superheroes. Kelsey says it’d be funny if she found out she really were a superhero. They probably changed this just to shoehorn in foreshadowing of something we already know is going to happen….

Title Change: Rock, Paper, Scissors: Cure Peace! is changed to We Want Peace! Glitter Peace!

Oh…they left the Japanese writing on the wall in the room with Akaoni/Brute….Huh….That’s strange.

Hang on, let me get distracted by the fact that they named a henchmen ‘Brute.’ Between this and Buffoon, the creativity juices must’ve been exploding in the brainstorming session for these names.

Ah, there we go, erasing that Japanese like you’re not supposed to.

I’m pretty sure, if the bits and pieces I can see and what Reika said is correct, that says ‘Class Competition: Clean School Grounds Week Poster”

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The writing on the chalkboard behind them is also gone, even though most of it is just a big box and there’s tiny illegible writing at the top and side.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Hehe, they leave in the box behind Yayoi when she’s being nominated purely because her head’s blocking the Japanese part.

Side-note: I really love Yayoi’s eyes. They’re a very pretty copper/golden color.

Name Change: Soga is changed to Cornelius.

Soga originally won the previous poster competition. In the dub, Lily says he’s had his art put in galleries.

Name Change: Mikawa is changed to Naomi.

Name Change: Narushima is changed to Byron.

Narushima is noted as making great and beautiful portraits of girls. In the dub, Byron is just popular and has great hair….

Also, Lily makes a bit of a rough comment. When she says he has great hair, she says it’s better than hers and Emily and Kelsey’s. Not only is this rude, but I don’t think Yayoi would make such a comment.

Is it me or does Emily sound condescending when she’s talking to Lily sometimes?

Oh wow, Saban, did you seriously add in a record scratch when Lily said her heart is telling her she should quit?

Wow.

Miyuki tells Yayoi that pictures are the mirrors of the heart. On the outside, she might be a crybaby, but on the inside, she’s kind and considerate, something that her drawings reflect with her superheroes. In the dub, Emily says to not think of this like a contest, but just another picture. That way she can draw whatever she wants without concern.

Candy tells Miyuki to go look for the third Precure. Since they already know who the Glitter Force members are, Candy tells her to tell Lily that she’s one of them in the dub.

Yayoi originally believes Candy’s a piglet. In the dub, she believes she’s a talking stuffed bear.

Hmm, I’ll give them points for this. The food in the original is okonomiyaki, which is a savory pancake served with a massive variety of toppings and batters. In the dub, they just call it a Japanese pizza, which is, technically, what it is, and even the Wiki entry for it says it’s sometimes called Japanese Pizza.

Also, damn, I really want to try that. It looks so delicious.

Only part that confuses me is, why does Kelsey follow this up by saying “Chow down, chicas!”? Kinda weird to present your friends with a Japanese dish and then say a Spanish word is all.

Surprising absolutely no one, the poster is altered. It originally said ‘Clean School Grounds Hero: CleanPeace Man!’ In the dub, this is changed to ‘Keep it Clean with Captain Peace!’

Subbed: 

Dubbed:

Captain Peace’s name is a little odd, given the context. I get that it’s connecting to Lily’s Glitter Force form, but shouldn’t he be named something related to cleaning?

Eyecatches:

Oh my god, that girl is way too close to justify not drawing in her face. DEMON! DEMON!

Obviously, all of the posters have been changed, and oddly all of the original names have been changed.

The first poster, the third place winner, was made by Narushima and it said ‘Clean air!’ In the dub, the phrase has been changed to ‘Pick It Up, People!’ and the name on the plate is ‘Jonathan.’ They completely removed the grade numbers.

The second place winner had the phrase ‘Think Clean and Be Clean!’ and it was made by someone named Yamamoto Junichiro. In the dub, it says ‘Love Your World, Keep It Clean!’ and was made by Naomi. So they shafted Byron and gave second place to Naomi when she didn’t earn it. Lol.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also, the dub phrases are slightly better, in my opinion.

Strangely, they got Soga’s name right. Originally, it said ‘Littering is Not Allowed!’ and in the dub it says ‘No Dirt on My Watch!’

Subbed: 

Dubbed:

The name plate for Yayoi’s is just altered to reflect her English name.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

While it’s mostly cropped out of the shot, they gave Byron whatever the ‘Inspiration’ thing is off to the right of Lily’s poster.

Can I be completely honest about these posters? Soga’s deserved to win, Narushima’s was just bad, Yamamoto’s was lazy, and if I had control of the rankings, it’d be:

1 – Soga

2 – Whoever’s off to the right of Yayoi.

3 – Yayoi

Inspiration Thinger – Yamamoto

Honorable Mention – Narushima

Akane and Miyuki were originally telling off Soga and his goons. In the dub, they’re telling Lily to ignore them.

Wait, is the only reason they got Soga’s name right on the poster because they show him bragging about winning? If that’s true, they knowingly got the other two names wrong for no reason.

Yayoi says she knows she’s no good, but she still likes drawing pictures. In the dub, she tries to convince herself that there’s not a scary troll talking to her.

Akane yells that the poster was the fruit of Yayoi’s hard labor. In the dub, she calls out Brute for littering when it’s School Clean Up Week. Because why care about your friend’s hard work and art when you can care about a piece of paper on the ground?

Originally, the girls talk about how they won’t stand for Brute destroying Yayoi’s picture. In the dub, it’s just them talking about them taking down Brute.

Kelsey even throws in a line about Brute being a litterbug. Again, why care about your friend’s feelings when you can care about a single piece of litter?…Also, damn, he’s stealing the happiness from everyone within a 100 yard radius, including Lily. That’s also a lot worse than littering. Get your shit together, Kelsey.

Giving equal time to the girls as they transform side by side….*sniff* I’m so happy right now.

Akaoni: “You girls are Precure, huh?”

……So….you go off insulting Wolfrun about not being able to defeat the Precures, claim you’ll do it…and you don’t even know who the Precures are or what they look like? Good job.

Also, it kinda doesn’t make sense that the Akanbe keeps the A’s on its costume if its dub name is Buffoon. Too hard to paint over?

Ladies and gentlemen, the award for ‘hardest attack name to take seriously’ goes to…

*drum roll*

Buffoon Broom!

Still keeping the ‘We got spirit…’ cheer….

See, it’s times like these where the name Lucky seems like a silly change. Because it sure was unlucky that her attack sputtered out before it even hit.

The problem for both of them is that they’re not putting enough power into their attacks? That’s a far cry of realism from Happy just not aiming properly.

Candy: “You didn’t put enough Glitter Spirit into it!” Stop saying that!

Miyuki says that she still won’t forgive Akaoni for making fun of Yayoi’s drawing when she put so much effort into it. In the dub it’s more ‘never give up’ spiel without mentioning the drawing.

Yes, Kelsey, yell out ‘Oh just tell her that she’s one of the Glitter Force!’ so it really seems like we’re just trying to plow through Peace’s introduction.

They added the dialogue to the flashbacks again. They got all of them right, but the one on the roof is changed. Originally, Emily said “Don’t thank us. This is something you did all on your own.” In the dub, she yells “You did it, Lily!” Honestly, I think this was necessary because the clip itself seems cut down from the original shot, but it also wasn’t because it was unnecessary to add the dialogue at all.

Lily: “Stop, you big buffoon!” Get it? Because he’s literally a big Buffoon?

Obligatory ‘Oh god, please be another transformation free of ‘poof poof’s’ prayer before I watch the transformation.

Yayoi doesn’t say anything mid-transformation in the original. In the dub, she says ‘Glitter Bands, Glitter Boots! The Power of Peace!’ Yay lack of poofs at least!

Truth be told, though, her transformation is straight-up boring. Besides tambourine-ing her makeup puff thing, it’s just her clothes appearing.

Her speech kinda makes up for it, because an all-yellow character saying ‘pika-pika’ (Sparkling) is gold. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Pokemon, though, I dunno.

Yayoi’s speech is “Rock, Paper, Scissors! Sparkling bright….Cure Peace!” Lily’s is “Puppies and Kittens! The Power of Love! I’m Glitter Peace!” As much as the ‘puppies and kittens’ part makes my teeth gnash, I will admit that her speech makes more sense than the original. Am I missing something about the ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’?

Help me out, Wiki!

“In her introductory speech, Cure Peace says “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” This may be referencing her Cure name, as the hand sign for the scissors in the game is also the hand signal for peace.”…..That…is so….dumb….

At first, I thought they were referencing art with paper and scissors (Maybe rock for sculptures) but, seriously? It’s because the sign for scissors looks like a peace sign? For the love of god. Japan has another meaning to the peace sign hand symbol – V for victory. That would be much more fitting. Have her say ‘V for victory, and with victory comes…Cure Peace!’ or something.

Come on, guys. Make some effort.

Miyuki gushes over how cute Cure Peace is. Emily gushes over how ‘The power of love’ is so cool.

Akane asks what the ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ thing was about. Since that’s not in the original, Kelsey asks what the ‘puppies and kittens’ thing is about. Nice to know we’re self-aware of the weirdness of this writing.

Akaoni expresses surprise that there’s a third Precure. Brute says that kittens give him the sneezies.

Candy: “Now channel all of your Glitter Spirit…” I swear my blood pressure goes up every time you say that.

Attack Name Change: Peace Thunder is changed to (Glitter Force) Sparkle Lightning.

Oh my god, Yayoi’s Cure Decor is adorable.

Like in Akane’s episode, Yayoi asks if she can call Miyuki by her first name instead of calling her ‘Hoshizora.’ In the dub, since that’s not an American thing and they don’t have last names, she asks if they’re friends. Kinda weird how, in both versions, she doesn’t ask Akane the same question.

—————————-

You can find my opinions on the episode as a whole here.

As a dub, this episode fared alright. Lots of paint edits, but nothing that bad and only a couple I would deem ‘unnecessary’. I also feel like we removed some lines that would’ve given this episode a bit more of a unique message to it, like the line about still liking drawing even if she feels she’s no good at it.

It’s even more generic ‘never give up’ and ‘friendship is everything’ than the original episode was. Not by much, but still.

Also, I keep feeling like Emily knowing who all of the Glitter Force warriors are is giving the show an excuse to make you feel like ‘Oh for god’s sake, just tell her and get it over with’ instead of giving the transformations their proper hoorah. It’s much more apparent with Peace than it was with Sunny, but still. We already know who the girls are given the opening and ending themes, but the dub seems impatient with their debuts sometimes.

I will give the dub credit for making more sense than the original with the ‘puppies and kittens’ thing over the ‘rock, paper, scissors’ mantra (Hey, when people think of peaceful things, I bet a lot of them think of puppies and kittens). That was a change I can get behind because, unless someone tells me otherwise, that explanation of the original is bull.

Also, the changes with the Cure Decor at the beginning and the phrases on the posters were a slight improvement on the original.

Next episode, we’re introduced to Cure March!

…Previous Episode

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Smile Precure!/Glitter Force Episode 2 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Akane is an ace in volleyball, but when Miyuki sees her during a league match, she does much poorly than she did earlier in a match with her classmates.

Later, Miyuki finds her practicing very hard under a bridge. She stops for a minute, and Miyuki sees drops fall from her face. Believing her to be sad from doing poorly in the match, Miyuki rushes down to cheer her up only to find that what she believed to be tears of sadness were really beads of sweat from working so hard. Miyuki offers to help Akane practice, and she agrees.

The next day, Akane has another volleyball match, and it’s going a lot better. However, Wolfrun’s not one to let a good day end well. He starts another Bad End and summons a volleyball-themed Akanbe. Miyuki transforms to take him on, but she wastes her attack and cannot gather the energy for another.

Akane starts to snap out of her Bad End daze when she realizes Miyuki’s in danger. Wanting to protect her friend, she takes on the Akanbe by herself. Her intense determination prompts her Smile Pact to appears – She is actually Cure Sunny!

Akane transforms into the fiery warrior and takes down the Akanbe. Having saved the day, Akane accepts her role as a Precure to save the world with her friend, Miyuki.

——————-

Title Change: Burn! It’s the Hot-Blooded Cure Sunny is changed to Kelsey….*sigh*…..Kelsey gets a Makeover…..

While I’m glad they left in the bowing scene, I feel like what they did to it makes it lose points. In order to keep the bowing in there without daring to say this is a Japanese custom, they say that it’s a traditional Jubiland greeting. This is kinda clever, but it also makes it seem….I don’t want to say offensive, but it’s edging that way. They’d rather say this is some goofy fantasy greeting than just admit that this takes place in Japan.

They remove the ‘sound lines’ over Candy when her stomach growls.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Dub!Candy: “My tummy does that when I get hungry.”….Did…you need to explain why your stomach was growling? Is that a traditional Jubiland tummy rumble?

Why is Miyuki/Emily acting like she’s never heard of there being other Precure/warriors besides her? Last episode, Candy said it like three times in the dub and at least once in the original. Plus, the opening scene to this episode has her reminding us and her of that fact.

But, of course, Emily the psychic remembers. While Miyuki is just psyched to hear there are other Precures, Emily suddenly remembers that the other warriors are the girls from her class that she saw in her dream.

The two beings behind Wolfrun are silent in the original. In the dub, they say ‘The Big Bad Wolf is huffing and puffing again’ Get it? They also make little comments throughout the short scene with Ulric.

Hino Special Attack is changed to Sledgehammer Slammer. It’s only a volleyball move, though.

Nitpicky, but Nao says Akane’s the ace attacker in the volleyball club. In the dub, she says Kelsey’s the best attacker in the league.

Kelsey: “I always knew she was a brainiac.”

Lily: “I don’t get it.”

I don’t get it, either, Lily. For context purposes, Emily hit the ball with her face. That’s still part of her head, but the ‘brainiac’ thing just doesn’t work.

Also, in the original, Akane ‘praised’ Kise’s ‘whimpering receive’ and Kise insists she wasn’t crying.

Miyuki…just kinda selects Akane and Kise to be Precure because Akane’s sporty and Kise’s…gentle. I don’t know why Kise’s criteria is working for her here, but okay. In the dub, she decides now’s the perfect time to tell Kelsey and Lily that they’re Glitter Force Warriors.

Ya know, Candy, if you wanted Precure to be a secret maybe tell Miyuki that before sending her off on a mission to find the other Precure….

Candy tells Miyuki that Precure is a secret and not just anyone can become one. She asks how she can find the real Precure, and Candy says she doesn’t know. Miyuki says that it can’t be too hard to be one if a klutzy airhead like her is one, and Candy agrees, making Miyuki mad. She yanks on Candy’s cheeks and tells her she’s not supposed to agree with that.

In the dub, Candy says she can’t just blurt out the Glitter Force thing to them because they’d never believe her. Emily asks how she should tell them, and Candy says she doesn’t know. Emily becomes frustrated because there isn’t much of a Glitter Force with just her and Candy agrees. Emily starts yanking on her cheeks for not being supportive.

Name Change: Yuka is changed to Jasmine….Must resist urge to reference Aladdin…Stop, Twix….You won’t even make sense with it….Just stop.

Miyuki says that your happiness disappears when you cry, so Akane should smile. Emily tells her that, as you long as you keep trying, you’ll always get a happy ending.

Eyecatches:

I’m going to say this right now – if the ‘poof poof glitter’ stuff is in every one of the other girls transformation sequences, I…am going to die while doing this comparison. My internal organs all deteriorated to the flimsiness of tissue paper going through the Mew Mew power in my face for 26 episodes. I will not survive this.

So, please….Saban…have mercy on me. I beg you.

So all of Wolfrun’s monsters are named Akanbe and, likewise, all of Ulric’s monsters are called Buffoon…..Really wish they had chosen something different because it’s impossible to take that name even a little seriously. You might as well name them ‘Disposable idiot pawn.’

Oh goodie, they’re keeping in the ‘We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you!?’ thing….Do they not hear how goofy some of this stuff sounds?

It’s not often you see magical girl shows include such realistic newbie things like missing an attack or running out of energy early on because they’re inexperienced. They usually just have trouble remembering to do this or that. Good job, Smile Precure.

Miyuki says she’s not crying because, if she was, her happiness would go away, so she has to smile. Akane then repeats what she said about smiling. In the dub, Emily says she’s not crying, it’s just sweat, like the misunderstanding with Akane earlier. She’s not going to quit before the happy ending. Wolfrun pulls back in surprise while Ulric goes ‘yeech’ I assume because she said she was sweating.

Miyuki catches herself and says she wasn’t supposed to admit she was Miyuki because she’s supposed to keep her identity a secret. In the dub, she says she’s technically Glitter Lucky now.

They kinda dumb down Miyuki’s speech, which is a little amazing since it’s already incredibly simple. She says friends are always there for you, in the good times and bad. No matter the situation, friendship makes everything better. When she yells out she says that friendship really matters.

In the dub, Emily recaps that Kelsey was the first friend she made in school, and that when she was nervous on her first day, Kelsey made her feel better. When she yells out she says ‘Friendship is the most awesomest thing ever!’

Uh oh, Saban also adopted 4Kids’ fear of scenes with mouth flaps being silent. During the flashback mashup, it’s silent barring the music. In the dub, they add in the voices.

And, like 4Kids, they get the lines wrong in the flashback. Because, goddammit, it is so hard to go back and see what was said. Actually, they made more work for themselves by having them re-do the lines for the flashback when they could’ve copy/pasted the takes from the flashback.

Akane hears Wolfrun calling Miyuki a weakling and becomes upset that he has the audacity to make fun of her friend. The dub is basically the same, but she also says she thinks the reason Ulric puts down friendship so much is because he doesn’t have any friends.

The dub kinda makes no sense. In the original, Candy says that they’ve found the second Precure. In the dub, she says Kelsey has accepted her destiny as part of the Glitter Force. Uh, no she didn’t. All she did was try to save her friend. She agreed to nothing.

Wow. Akane’s transformation kicks ass. We went from using a glittery makeup poof to put on clothes to friggin’ fire bursting onto her body to make her outfit.

The differences for the transformations are nearly the same barring…yes, oh god, yes, they got rid of the ‘poof poof’! All she says is ‘Glitter bands – Glitter boots’ Thank god. And instead of saying ‘I’m glittertastic’ she says ‘This girl’s on fire!’ Bless you, Kelsey.

Akane’s post-transformation speech is ‘Dazzling sun! Hot-blooded power! Cure Sunny!’ Kelsey’s is ‘When you mess with me, you’re playing with fire! I’m Glitter Sunny!’

Emily: “Just like in my dream, it’s amazing!” Yes, Emily, we get it. You’re psychic in the dub for no discernible reason.

Akane is a little embarrassed by saying ‘Dazzling sun! Cure Sunny!’ but Miyuki says it’s great because a ‘dazzling sun’ fits her passionate personality wonderfully. In the dub, Kelsey’s kinda embarrassed at calling herself Glitter Sunny. Emily runs over and says she looks great. Kelsey asks if it’s too much, and Emily says it’s not and that her clothes match her hair. Then she proceeds to tell her about all the cool accessories and powers she’ll get now. Because why compliment her on her personality when you can say she looks pretty and that she’ll get cool accessories and stuff now?

At Miyuki’s compliments, Akane says that the sun does indeed fit a superhero such as herself. Kelsey gets excited at Emily’s mentions of powers and says she always thought she’d make a great superhero.

Attack Name Change: Sunny Fire is changed to Sparkle Fire.

Candy: “Channel your glitter spirit into your glitter pact!” Stop. Adding. Glitter. To. Every. Thing. Also, what’s the difference between glitter spirit and regular spirit?

Ya know, as cool as the attack is….I can’t not call BS on her Precure attack just so coincidentally being a volleyball move.

Attack Name Change: Sunny Fire is changed to…wait, what the hell? I already did this. Why did Candy say one attack name but the actual attack is something entirely different? Oh whatever. In the dub, it’s (Glitter Force) Fire Spike, which is better.

Akane asks what the Cure Decor is. Candy explains. Akane says she still doesn’t really get it, but she’ll give it a try. In the dub, Kelsey says she won a prize, Candy explains that it’s a Glitter Charm and that they need to collect them to save her world. Kelsey teasingly asks how many of them there are and hopes there’s a lot. I don’t like this change. It makes it sound odd. Does Kelsey want the road to Candy’s world’s salvation to be long and arduous? Does she want more people in her world to be put at risk?

They omit Akane requesting that Miyuki call her ‘Akane’ instead of ‘Hino’ since they’re friends. This wouldn’t work in the dub because, in addition to people not commonly calling each other by their last names in west….the dub girls…don’t have last names. Good job, Saban.

Instead of doing this, Kelsey says they’re more than teammates, they’re friends.

Candy originally wonders if kids who truly care about their friends are the ones who become Precure. In the dub, Candy says that, in spite of the powers and magical accessories, friendship might be the most powerful thing of all. I kinda prefer the dub line, even though it is insanely cheesy.

Again, they include the creditless end credit sequence in the dub. I honestly don’t get it. This whole sequence is pointless to watch time and again unless the credits roll over it.

——————————

You can find my opinions on the episode as a whole here.

Dub-wise, this episode did fare a lot better than the first one. In fact, a decent chunk of my notes were about the way they wrote certain lines that diminish their impact or meaning, though they retain the message. It’s still important to note these things, in my opinion, but it could’ve been a whole lot worse.

The most I’m disappointed with is the omission of the connection between her fiery passion and determination and her role as Glitter Sunny. We got to focus on Emily and, kinda, why she’s called Glitter Lucky, even if Happy makes much more sense, but they pretty much lose the personality connection in the dub. It focused more on friendship than determination or passion.

Next episode, Cure Peace’s debut!

…Previous Episode

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Smile Precure!/Glitter Force Episode 1 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Miyuki loves picture books because they all have happy endings. She hopes to apply the lessons she’s learned from picture books to her own life to find happiness in every day. One day, she sees a picture book fall from the sky along with a cute little fairy named Candy. She explains that she’s from Marchenland, but has no time to talk. As Miyuki tries to process what just happened, Candy disappears.

Miyuki tries to adjust to her life in a new school when a wolf monster named Wolfrun tries to bring despair to the world so he can revive his fallen emperor, Pierrot. Candy is trying to assemble the Precures to stop him and save her world.

Miyuki falls into a weird library after messing with a glowing book in the school’s library and is shown a portal to Candy’s location where she is fleeing from Wolfrun. Miyuki escapes the library and races to protect Candy. She’s no match for Wolfrun, but she won’t give up. She won’t allow Wolfrun to bring a bad end to everyone when she can achieve a happy ending with enough effort.

Her bravery and hope triggers a Smile Pact to appear before her, and she’s prompted by Candy to use it to become Cure Happy. She does so, and, after some trial and error, manages to take down Wolfrun’s house monster, Akanbe, and send him packing. Miyuki is now tasked with assembling the other Precures to retrieve the lost Cure Decors and save both of their worlds from destruction.

—————————

Oh dear, I accidentally made a Shoujo Step-by-Step entry for Smile Precure when the suggestion was a Sub/Dub Comparison. But, eh, this is much too recent. It’s probably not that bad. I’ll just give the first episode a looksie and make a few footnotes about it in the SSBS review.

*One bad decision later*

Arhrhrhghghgggggggggggggggghghghghgh!……..geh……Saban….Why? Netflix…WHY? I thought we put dubs like these long behind us. This was released in 2015….On NETFL—WHY?!

Okay, okay…let’s calm down….and go through the episode….somewhat ironically, step-by-step.

Series Title Change: As you can probably already tell, the show’s title was changed from Smile Precure! to Glitter Force. I don’t really mind it being changed because Smile Precure just doesn’t seem like it would mesh with western audiences….but…Glitter Force? I was almost dying of girly overload before I even pressed ‘play.’

The original episode doesn’t start with the theme song. It starts with a vague unrelated and oddly quiet scene of the Precures posing, entering the picture book, the picture book flying away and then a bunch of balloons flying overhead. The theme doesn’t start until Miyuki has met Candy and runs to school.

The dub’s opener is much shorter, but does contain clips from the actual opener. The songs are also entirely changed. The original’s is pretty okay. I don’t really love it, but I don’t dislike it. The dub’s is catchy, but the lyrics are almost entirely just ‘Glitter Force’ over and over with some generic lyrics thrown in.

Title Change: In the original, the episode is titled A Star is Born! All Smiles: Cure Happy. In the dub, it’s An Exciting Beginning. Did the intern stay after hours an extra five minutes to come up with that one?

Also, the original has title cards, while the dub….puts their title on screen…..transitioned with sparkles and a glittery sound effect.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

I have my worries that this show will be Mew Mew Power levels of irritating to compare because we’re already starting off with another scene change – and the scene we’re starting from in the dub isn’t even from this episode.

I refuse to let you force me into doing as much work as I did with MMP, Glitter Force, so until we get to that scene in the original, I’m not going to compare this scene – I’ll just analyze it.

Name Change: Miyuki Hoshizora is changed to Emily. Like in many English magical girl anime, this name change ruins the meaning behind it. Miyuki can literally be translated to ‘happiness’ while Hoshizora can be translated into ‘starry sky,’ alluding to her light-based powers. According to her Wikia page, her name literally translates to, altogether, ‘The starry sky of happiness’

Emily, on the other hand, only means ‘rival’ ‘laborious’ and ‘eager.’ I don’t know much about the series so far, but I’d say the only one that suits her is ‘eager.’

Emily is shown sleeping in her bed, wishing she’d have a familiar dream of her and the other Precure – I can assume they’re not called Precures here then, right? We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. She dreams of her and the other girls transforming – thanks for spoiling the other girls transformation sequences a bit, by the way.

The Smile Pact is changed to a Glitter Pact.

In order to activate the Smile Pact, the Precures say ‘Precure Smile Charge!’ In the dub, it’s ‘Glitter Force Makeover!’

The Smile Pact originally just says ‘Ready’ when activated. The Glitter Pact says ‘Activate Glitter Pact.’

After Miyuki says her line, the Smile Pact says ‘Go go go! Let’s go happy!’ In the dub, Emily says ‘Magic Glitter Puff! Here we go!’

Blah blah blah, they’re all transforming.

“It’s like a fairy tale with girl power and makeup!” My….soul…is…rotting.

Miyuki’s magical girl motto is “The light of the future, shining bright! Cure Happy!”

Emily’s motto is “A fabulous shimmer, a glow in your heart! I’m Glitter Lucky!”

I’m…a little annoyed by this name change. Isn’t Miyuki called ‘Cure Happy’ because she wishes to find happiness in every day and believes in everyone finding happiness in their lives? Isn’t her name also meant to point at the Bad Ending vs. Happy Ending theme we’ll have going here soon?

Her view is that people can change their happiness for the better if they try hard enough. You can’t change your luck no matter how much you try. What was wrong with calling her Happy? You can change the ‘cure’ part, whatever, but why change Happy?

Wow, guys, for real? You not only spoil the other girls transformations…but also their second forms? For absolutely no reason?! Come on. Why even let me watch the rest of the series? Just tell me how it ends so I can go on with my life.

Now we’re actually at the scene that episode one starts with. Emily blames her lateness on the unnecessary dream she had. Miyuki is just late for no reason.

Miyuki doesn’t mention that the butterfly she sees is good luck, but I’m assuming we have to jam mentions of luck in here somewhere.

Also, hi Laura Bailey! Thanks for being here so this dub can be tolerable.

Like a lot of magical girl anime sidekicks, Candy has a speech quirk – she tends to say ‘Kuru’ a lot. Also, yes, Candy is frickin’ adorable. In the dub, Candy does not have any speech quirk.

Miyuki asks if Candy is a cat, dog or raccoon-dog/tanuki. Emily asks if she’s someone’s toy, if she’s expensive and where she can buy one. I’ll answer that – No, she’s not a toy, but there is a toy version of her, and yes, she’s expensive. There’s one on Amazon for 85 bucks. Have fun.

Is it a change if Candy originally introduces herself as a fairy and in the dub she calls herself a pixie?….Fairly Odd Parents says I should. I will.

Candy is originally from Marchenland. In the dub, it’s Jubiland.

Marchenland is the land of picture books. Jubiland is the kingdom of happy endings….Hey, I know a place in the seedier part of town that also calls itself ‘the kingdom of happy endings’! *wink wink wink*

Also, hi Debi Derryberry! What a completely random place to see you. For those unfamiliar, she voices Zatch from Zatch Bell as well as Jimmy Neutron.

Miyuki asks Candy if she’ll be her friend. Emily asks if she’s the kind of pixie that grants wishes.

At this point, I think it’s safe to assume all of the BGM is replaced. It’s not bad, and I’ll be sure to note if it’s particularly inappropriate for a scene.

They edit out Miyuki freaking out internally for a while.

Oh my god, even the digital paint is back in full force. In the original, Miyuki’s name is written on the board behind her. In the dub, it’s painted away.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Name Change: Akane Hino is changed to Kelsey. Like with Miyuki, her name also has meaning. In addition maybe being a sendup to Rei Hino of Sailor Moon, the Hino part translates to ‘of the sun’ or ‘sun’ and ‘field’ and Akane is meant to be ‘madder red’ or ‘sunset,’ altogether meaning ‘madder red sun field’ or ‘madder red sun field sunset.’ Grammatically, that doesn’t make much sense to me, but I lifted that from the Wikia, so take that as you will.

Kelsey means ‘brave’ or ‘ships victory.’ I’ll accept that as being fitting, but there’s lost symbolism.

Akane originally tells Miyuki to introduce herself. Kelsey asks if Emily’s playing charades since she’s great at them.

Originally, Miyuki is stuttering through her introduction. In the dub, she suddenly blurts out part of the pledge of allegiance. I don’t think I’ve seen many dub jokes that would literally only be understood in America, but Saban did it. Good job.

Okay…so the dub….makes off like Emily’s psychic? Because they make a point to show her as Glitter Sunny after Kelsey shows her face to her when this shot isn’t present in the dub because, at this point, Miyuki has no idea about Precures nor who the other Precures are. Then she thinks to herself ‘She’s from my dream!’

Name Change: Cure Sunny is changed to Glitter Sunny.

Akane says Miyuki’s a bit of an airhead but focuses deeply. Kelsey says Emily’s not very good at public speaking.

Akane says Miyuki likely has a little brother named Mitaro Hoshizora, which literally translates to ‘Let’s look at the stars!’ because he really loves stars. Kelsey says Emily’s a transfer student, she thinks it’s nice to meet them and she waves her hands a lot. I guess that last part is a joke to anime and cartoons sometimes overdoing the nervous hand waving thing with shy characters.

Might I just say that Akane comes off as much more jovial and playful than Kelsey? She just seems like she’s making fun of Emily while Akane seems like she’s trying to break the ice for Miyuki.

Also, hi Colleen O’Shaugnessey! You’re kinda following me this week, aren’t you?

When Nao/April has her line, we’re again interrupted by a shot to Emily and the flash to April’s transformed state, Glitter Spring.

Name Change: Nao Midorikawa is changed to April. In addition to this maybe being a sendup to Lettuce of Tokyo Mew Mew (??) Midorikawa literally translates to ‘green river’ while Nao means ‘straight’ So, basically, a straight green river.

April is, surprisingly, very fitting. In the original, her Cure form is Cure March, alluding to spring and wind, so April is a nice name here.

Name Change: Cure March is changed to Glitter Spring.

Reika says introductions are something you should do for yourself. Chloe says it’s alright for Emily to be nervous because everyone’s nervous on their first day.

Like with Kelsey and April, Chloe’s appearance is also followed by a shot to Emily and a flashback to Chloe’s transformed state, Glitter Breeze.

Name Change: Reika Aoki is changed to Chloe. Aoki can be translated to ‘blue wood’ or ‘blue tree’ while Reika is meant to be translated here as ‘beautiful’ or ‘elegant.’ Altogether, it’s meant to say ‘beautiful blue tree’ or ‘beautiful blue wood’ but I prefer the former.

Chloe means ‘green herb’ or ‘fresh blooming’ which makes zero sense given her power and seems like a rough draft name for April.

Name Change: Cure Beauty is changed to Glitter Breeze.

Might I say that this name change also makes no sense? Nao/April’s power is wind….Why would Chloe, whose power is ice, be named Glitter Breeze instead of April? Why not Glitter Snow or Glitter Ice or something?

Did they just have too many ideas for names for Nao and not enough for Reika that they just gave her hand-me-down names?

Akane says Nao’s kinda like a gangster. Nao yells out “Gangster?!” in response while Miyuki also says “Gangster?” In the dub, Kelsey says April’s tougher than most of the boys at their school. She says she’s not that tough, and Emily says ‘nice to meet you.’

Akane says all the guys think Reika’s a real hottie. Reika then says “Hottie?” In the dub, Kelsey says “She’s so perfect, it’s almost scary.” Chloe then says “I’m not perfect.”

They omit Akane stating she moved from Osaka….which might mean….Oh god. They might be pretending this series takes place….In America!

Yayoi tries to speak in Akane’s defense to Miyuki stating that she was just trying to loosen her up by messing around. In the dub, Lily sounds…a little like an idiot. She says she liked Emily’s introduction and especially liked the part where she said her name was Emily (That’s really the only thing she said) because she had a hamster named Emily.

Name Change: Yayoi Kise is changed to Lily. Kise means ‘Yellow river rapids.’ while Yayoi translates to ‘March’ and I think lines keep getting crossed on both ends or else people just have a lot of ideas for names for Nao and keep chucking them to others.

Lily’s name, while being another spring themed name, means ‘pure’ ‘innocent’ or ‘cute’, which I, oddly, find more appropriate than Yayoi.

Name Change: Cure Peace is changed to Glitter Peace.

Fun fact! Supposedly, in the ‘Smile Warrior’ dub, she’s called Warrior Peace….if there were ever a more contradictory name.

Again, her appearance is followed by a shot of Emily followed by her transformed state in a flashback, this time a longer shot of Emily stating that she’s also from her dream, so maybe it wasn’t a dream.

Just to reiterate that this whole introduction scene is a lot of exposition, like I mentioned in the SSBS entry for this episode, Kelsey literally says ‘Last but not least’ when she reaches Lily, because that rounds out all of the girls and no one else in the class matters.

Oddly, despite the change from happiness to luck, Miyuki’s actual introduction about loving happy endings in pictures books and wanting to find happiness in her own life is left entirely alone.

Akane asks what happiness means to her. Kelsey asks if she means like when the cafeteria serves fries instead of creamed spinach and peas.

Akake says she’s not sure she understands what she means, but she kinda does. Kelsey says she thinks Emily’s talking about sun stroke. Haha, get it? Because she’s Glitter Sunny? Hahahaha. Ha.

Teacher: “Well, aren’t you lucky?” Hahah, get it? Because Emily’s Glitter Lucky? Hahaha. Ha.

For the sake of time, thanks to that dream sequence insert I surmise, they completely remove Miyuki seeing Candy out the window, freaking out because of it, getting chastised for yelling in class, sitting back down and pouting.

Miyuki says she doesn’t want to keep Akane from her club activities. Emily says she wants to go to the library to check out a book on dreams.

Miyuki goes to search for Candy while Emily goes immediately to the library.

Because Miyuki’s searching for Candy and not the library, she first finds the music room, then the science lab then finally the library. Even if she wasn’t looking for Candy, it’s realistic for a transfer student to have difficulty finding a specific location within the school.

Miyuki says an empty library is kind of mysterious. Emily says that, with so many books, there has to be something on dreams.

Aw, they got rid of this joke. And more digital paint emerges. In the original, the glowing book is titled ‘Mysterious Doorway’ which I thought was pretty funny. In the dub, this is changed to ‘The Library of Legends.’ Also, they painted away the Japanese text on the book spines around it. Because it’s so terrible to have text in this library—oh God, 4Kids flashbacks! You had no problem showing Japanese text in shows like Digimon – why care now, Saban?

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Minor, but the light makes sounds like a lock when the books are shifted, which makes sense because it’s literally a lock. In the dub, it makes weird laser noises.

Miyuki says that the books are glowing. Emily says ‘Emily, you’re not in Kansas anymore!’ That movie reference was necessary. Also, that’s something better to say after you’ve been transported somewhere else.

They, again, remove a scene with Candy. She’s running around yelling for the Precures when she catches her first glimpse of Wolfrun.

No more eyecatches! I don’t really see the need to get rid of eyecatches all the time. Just shift them around if the timing of the commercials is off.

Eyecatches:

Emily: “Magical books! In glittery pixie dust!” Please shut up.

After Miyuki replaces Candy’s book on the shelf, it glows and falls back out, revealing a portal to Candy’s location. In the dub, they use this opportunity to give us the full backstory on the Glitter Force as told by the magical book.

I wanted to stop before I even watched the scene because I’m trying to review the original series, but the dub keeps spoiling everything.

Well, like last time, let’s just analyze the scene. The book introduces herself as the Queen of Jubiland, It was a bright and joyful world yadda yadda, it was attacked one day by an evil emperor, blah blah blah.

“Until it was attacked by the evil emperor Nogo, ruler of the Shadow Realm.”

….E…excuse me….what?

“Nogo, ruler of the Shadow Realm.”

I’m…I’m sorry, one more time.

“Ruler of the Shadow Realm.”

Yeah….that’s what I thought you said….

I don’t know how to respond to this….The goddamn Shadow Realm….They HAD to know….It’s practically a meme! You can’t tell me they didn’t know! Hundreds of people working on this shit and no one stops to say ‘Hm, Shadow Realm. Where have I heard that before?’

The only way I’ll forgive this is if Nogo turns out to be Marik or Yami Bakura or something and the Glitter Force has to fight him with Millennium Items.

I was only kidding about the 4Kids stuff, but wow. Just wow. This threw me for a massive loop. If they start calling riceballs donuts, I’m out of here.

Name Change: Pierrot is changed to Nogo. I actually don’t mind this because I can’t separate that name from Studio Pierrot.

The Queen says that she is using all of her power to keep the evil at bay while Candy goes off to find the five legendary warriors to combine and make the Glitter Force, but they must retrieve the five Glitter Charms from the enemy in order to achieve their full power.

Cure Decor are changed to Glitter Charms.

Wow, spoiling their second transformed states AGAIN. You’re just being an ass now, Saban.

We don’t originally learn that Miyuki’s one of the Precures until she’s trying to defend Candy much later. In the dub, the Queen just blurts it out. She says that she has to find and assemble the other warriors to restore a happy ending to their world and hers.

Queen: “You, Emily, are our only hope!” Only you can use your main character default-leader-ness to save us!

They shifted the previous lost scene of Candy running into Wolfrun to immediately after the Queen stops talking. They still keep the book falling to the floor as cut and don’t show Miyuki peeking through the books.

Her finding out that she’s a legendary warrior so soon kinda damages the story. Miyuki tries her best to save Candy, knowing she’s just a regular girl and has little to no chance. This shows incredible bravery and firm resolve. In the dub, she knows she’s a legendary warrior before she even realizes Candy’s in trouble (She even says stuff like ‘She’s looking for me!’ when Candy is shown looking for the legendary warriors and says ‘I can’t believe I’m a superhero!’ when she continues searching for her), so she feels more compelled to find her and save her as a legendary warrior.

Signs are painted!

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Bookshop signs!

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Miyuki just says ‘Candy’ over and over while Emily says ‘I can’t believe I’m a superhero!’

More signs are painted as she chases Candy.

Name Change: Wolfrun’s changed to Ulrich.

Another sign’s painted away…Can I default to my ‘If you see a sign, it’s most likely painted’ mode? Because this is getting tiresome already. I’ll take notes for important signs.

I’m not sure the clock thing has a name in the original, but I sincerely doubt it’s the ‘Wheel of Doom.’

Candy doesn’t call Wolfrun a ‘Flea bag’ like the dub does.

Ulrich: “What a load of hooey!” Gotta love when bad guys say stuff like ‘hooey’

In the original, Miyuki just says if someone’s going to pick on someone as small as Candy, she’ll do everything she can to protect her no matter who it is. In the dub, she says she’s read enough fairy tales to know you never trust a wolf.

Candy responds to Miyuki bringing up the stuff about gaining happiness as long as you try hard enough, which leaves Candy surprised and calms her down. In the dub, Emily asks Candy what happened to all the stuff she was talking about with the happy endings and never giving up. Candy responds with “Well….”

In the original, Miyuki yells out “That’s what happiness is to me!” right as Wolfrun makes his attack. In the dub, she yells “Now it’s going to be happy ending!” I find this change funny, because I can’t stop imagining how this would go if his attack landed. “Now it’s going to be a happy ending!” *STAB*

Candy: “You’re Glitter Lucky!” How do you know which warrior she is? Also, let her friggin’ transform before you keep saying stuff like that! Does this show hate surprises?!

Candy: “Now use your Glitter Puff to put on shades of power!” RRRRRGHHHHHHHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!

Emily: “Poof poof, Glitter bands!” Oh God….

“Poof poof, Glitter boots!” Please…..no….….

“Heheh, poof poof poof! I’m glittertastic!”

I am struggling to figure out what is worse. This or ‘Mew Mew Style, Mew Mew Grace, Mew Mew Power in your face!’ I am leaning heavily towards Glitter Force….

By the by, she doesn’t say anything when putting on her outfit in the original….

Side-Note: Dear god, those pigtails. How is her neck not broken?

The monster’s name is originally Akanbe. In the dub, I can’t understand what Ulrich’s saying. Let’s jump into the credits to see if it’s listed. Ladeeda….Ch….wha? The group who sings the Glitter Force theme song is called ‘Blush’? Seriously, show, tone down the girliness. It’s getting ridiculous.

….They don’t list the voice actors in the English credits? The hell? They list them in the credits for the other language adaptations….Only the Spanish credits list this guy, so I guess he’s Bufon?

Miyuki just yells ‘I’m scared!’ In the dub, she says it’s like a terrifying circus bouncy house.

Attack Name Change: Happy Shower is changed to Sparkle Storm. I don’t much care for the former, but damn, Sparkle Storm.

Dub, you don’t have to add the word ‘glitter’ to everything magical. Please stop.

Miyuki just keeps repeating ‘Spirit!’ Emily makes a literal cheer. ‘We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you?!’ No…No I don’t.

Miyuki yells out ‘I was so scared!’ Emily yells out ‘I hope I don’t have to do that everyday!’

Okay, here’s something that’s weird. The ending credits, in the original, run over a CGI music video of the girls all dancing to the music. In the dub, they keep in a good chunk of the animation and include their own music with it….but….they don’t have the credits running over it. They come after this segment and just play an ‘ending theme-ized’ version of the opening theme over a still image of the girls.

Uhm….what is the point of keeping this if you won’t use it for the credits? It just makes it seem like you jammed in half a music video for absolutely no reason.

Being fair, the song they made here is actually pretty good. Poppy and a little generic, but I like the melody.

The original song is alright and kinda catchy, but a little annoying.

They remove the next episode previews.

———————–

My views on the episode itself can be found here.

As for the comparison, this dub is brutally mangled. Being fair, the show, on its own, seems like a fine show. None of the characters seem bad, nor do they have annoying voice actors like 4Kids would opt to do (though, oddly, Laura Bailey was somehow starting to get on my nerves after a while…) but as an adaptation, this fails on so many levels.

They scene swap and insert for no reason, they spoil things in the plot for no reason, they’ve adopted 4Kids’ ‘erase all text’ policy, though they do keep the English words for the most part, they’re obviously pretending this show takes place in America, they change most of the names for no reason, they add a bunch of cringey dialogue and they change things that actually make some aspects of the show make no sense. Not to mention, it is insane how much even one episode of this is making me hate the word ‘glitter.’ I want to take a glitter hammer and throw it through my glitter computer with all my glitter strength.

Next episode, we meet Cure Sunny/Glitter Sunny!

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