Sailor Moon (DiC) | Episode 12 (9 for the Dub): I Want a Boyfriend, Too! The Luxury Cruise Ship is a Trap Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Jadeite teams up with one of Beryl’s most trusted subordinates, a demon named Thetis, to steal energy from lovers on a lovers’ cruise ship. Rei wins a ticket on the boat and invites Ami to both spite Usagi and to find them both boyfriends. Usagi sneaks her way onto the ship disguised as a photographer to get in on the fun, but when they discover Jadeite’s trap they’ll have to defeat Thetis and save the lovers on the ship.

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Title Change: I Want a Boyfriend – The Luxury Cruise Ship is a Trap is changed to Cruise Blues…I just want to note that there are four episodes in this season that DiC named (Something) Blues….Truly masters of creativity…

The dub puts the footage of Serena attacking over the edited plasma ball thing Beryl has. In the original, it’s just a circle.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The editing’s weird as a result because I guess they had to transition to the original footage due to the glow of the tiara.

In the original, Thetis, the demon of the week, seems to be above Jadeite and working directly under Queen Beryl. In the dub, Jadeite acts like Thetis is a lowly demon who has failed him once before.

The original commercial for the cruise is narrated by a woman instead of a man, and the commercial is much longer than it is in the dub though the same clips remain…

I guess they edited this part out because there’s a big closeup of the cruise’s advertisement that takes up all of the screen and has Japanese on it. Umino explains how nice the cruise ship is and says it would be great to fall in love on the ship as we transition to him imagining himself with Usagi on the boat with her suddenly elbowing him in the fantasy (which was hilarious).

Also, in the dub, Melvin just says he can tell the girls how the ship was made.

Also, they omit that the ship has a capacity of 666…..which is kinda weird. I get that that’s considered an ‘evil’ number but it’s moreso a devil/Satan thing. I don’t think Beryl has anything to do with Satan…..right?

Umino doesn’t mention how he got the tickets whereas Melvin says he got them by entering a computer contest on the internet. A shot of the advertisement is edited out, I guess because there’s Japanese too close up. Umino says he gave the tickets to the lady next door because he didn’t want to do anything delinquent and shows the hours of departure for the cruise being 18:00-22:00 (6:00pm to 10:00pm) They also remove this explanation (they could’ve just said the hours but whatever) and said his parents wouldn’t let him go because he gets sea sick.

They also edit out a shot of Naru and Usagi as Naru says that Umino has a weird sense of ethics.

Umino says there’s a raffle in the shopping district for tickets. Melvin says there’s a raffle at the newsstand downtown.

This shot is edited out.

A shot of the advertisement for the cruise is removed.

Instead, both of these shots are replaced with a view of Tokyo Tower………Yeah, replace a shot of Japan with a Japanese landmark. Makes sense.

In the original, the consolation prize was tissues (I guess to be funny…or a jackass.) In the dub, since they’re blocks of white, they say the consolation prize is soap, which can also be jackassy when you think about it……But why? Why change that? Why? Are tissues bad? Next time you have a runny nose, blow it into SOAP. It’ll be gross, but at least your nose will smell nice.

Rei says they don’t have times for things like the cruise because of their responsibilities as Senshi. In the dub, Raye asks who Serena would bring because she has no boyfriend. Serena says she could bring a friend, and Raye asks if she’s talking about herself because why would she want to be stuck on a cruise with a brat like her? Yeesh. Who spit in her sacred fire?

Isn’t it cheating that Rei uses her priestess powers to win the contest?…..Actually, scratch the question, it flat out is. And you could make the argument that she’s just focusing hard and praying that she wins, but the gold marble comes out GLOWING so yeah, cheater cheater pumpkin eater. What’s funny is the dub actually points this out in a dialogue change.

Originally Usagi said Rei’s a big hypocrite for going through all that to win the cruise when she just said they don’t have time for it. In the dub, Serena says Raye’s a big cheat for using her powers to win and she should’ve been disqualified because of it. To be honest, though, while I agree, even if you called her out on it, who would really disqualify her? We know she really has powers, but you’d sound ridiculous trying to make that claim to others.

“I demand she be disqualified!”

“Why?”

“She used her supernatural priestess powers to will the gold marble from the machine!”

“……”

Usagi keeps harping on the suspicion that Rei has no boyfriend. Rei lies and says she has one or two. In the dub, Serena asks if she’ll take Grandpa, and Raye says she might invite Tuxedo Mask.

Usagi doesn’t call Ami a traitor for going with Rei like Serena does. Ami/Amy doesn’t even know what Rei/Raye’s talking about yet, how can she be a traitor?

Rei says she’s hoping to get Tuxedo mask for a boyfriend as she talks to Ami. In the dub, Raye just says she’s sure there will be lots of fun people there.

……I’m confused. This cruise keeps getting advertised as a great getaway for couples, yet they’re acting like this would be a great place to meet a boyfriend….unless Rei and Usagi have no qualms against dating a committed man, which would be dickish.

I’m surprised they didn’t edit out the close shot of a waiter pouring wine. I can bet many of these people are old enough to drink, but that’s still a scene with alcohol.

I love how Rei actually says that she knew this was a cruise for lovers but she didn’t think they’d be the only ones without dates. Even if there were SOME other people who went alone or with people who aren’t romantically involved with them, what are the odds that they would 1) be their age and 2) be someone they’d want to date?

Going on a lovers cruise on the off chance for some dating action is pretty pathetic when you think about it. I’m not saying going on a cruise by yourself or with friends is pathetic, but going on a cruise specifically meant for lovers to find boy/girlfriends is just weird. There are many better ways of finding a romantic partner.

I don’t even know how they got up the courage to do that. I’d be embarrassed out of my skull and depressed to be on a lovers cruise surrounded by couples by myself desperate for a date. This just seems like a poorly thought out excuse to get the girls on the boat.

You know what could’ve fixed that whole thing? Advertise it as a romantic cruise instead of a cruise for couples. There. You’ll not only get more people interested, you’ll also make more sense in the story.

Luna asks where they are, and Usagi responds that they’re in the engine room. Luna says that’s impossible because engines, especially for ships, are never this quiet. Usagi says the boat might be stopped, but Luna points out that the ship is moving at full speed. Usagi then says they probably have some state of the art engine that is super quiet and to stop worrying. In the dub, it’s just unimportant bickering, but Serena does claim that Luna should pretend to be her super important photography assistant.

What kind of disguise is that anyway? A camerawoman/photographer to get onto a lovers cruise? Wouldn’t a deckhand or waitress be a better disguise?

Luna originally senses a great evil aura while in the box. In the dub, she’s complaining about being in the box.

Jadeite thinks to himself that Usagi seems familiar. In the dub, he wonders why he’s being so nice to her. Well, I’d assume it’s to keep up appearances for your disguise but whatever.

Rei’s original idea was that since, for some reason, it’s inevitable that some of these couples will break up on the ship, they should keep an eye out for recently broken up guys and snatch them up. Ami then thinks she should’ve just stayed at home and studied.

That’s pretty mean and stupid of Rei to say, by the way. Wanting to benefit from someone else’s misfortune and wanting to be a rebound girl is bad enough, but why is it inevitable that one of these couples will break up on the trip?

First of all, it’s just a few hours long. If you’re so close to breakup that you’d break it off in a few hours, why did you even get on a romantic cruise ship for lovers anyway? Second of all, why is it inevitable at all? Is it totally unreasonable to believe that all of these lovers would stay together for a few hours? On a romantic trip?

In the dub, Raye says her great idea is to flirt with some of the male crew members, take pictures with them and show them to Serena to make her feel bad. Amy then says she wishes they’d stop feuding. I have to say, it’s a bit annoying to me as well, and Raye hasn’t even been around that long yet.

Jadeite in disguise tells Usagi that he wishes he could announce where she is to her staff over the intercom but he doesn’t want to ruin the romantic mood of the passengers. In the dub, he says he really has to go back to his captain’s quarters, but he invites her to dinner at the captain’s table.

As Ami and Rei get cornered by Slime Tokens—I mean Thetis’ goons who can regenerate, Ami says that they can’t transform in front of Jadeite and Thetis because then they’ll know who they are (but saying “we can’t transform” out loud is basically proof that you are Sailor Scouts. Just saying.) In the dub, Amy just says they need to stick together.

Thetis in the original says, despite the girls imposing on their lovers cruise, they still got plenty of energy for Queen Beryl, and Jadeite agrees. In the dub, Jadeite asks if there’s a faster way to get rid of the girls. Thetis responds that they can’t do that without using the energy they gathered. Jadeite then says they should wait.

When Usagi shows up and makes her regular speech, she berates Jadeite and Thetis for only stealing the energies of lovers and ignoring the girls without boyfriends while pointing to Rei which makes her pissed off. (Dunno why. Not like Usagi has a boyfriend either. Pot, Kettle.) In the dub, Serena just talks about her same shtick of righting wrongs etc. However, she still points to Raye and Raye still gives her a pissed off look so I dunno what she’s on about.

Originally, Rei says she wants to pay Usagi back for humiliating her while a tiny picture of Chibi Jadeite and Chibi Thetis pop up by Rei’s face. In the dub, Raye just says they need to help Sailor Moon beat Thetis and Jadeite and there’s no real purpose for the little chibi picture.

Jadeite is originally pulled from where he was on board the ship by Queen Beryl since she was getting fed up with him. Jadeite tries to blame the whole thing on Thetis by saying it was her idea, which it was, but she’ll hear nothing of it and goes off to decide his punishment. In the dub, it’s like Jadeite left of his own accord and was reporting in with Beryl. Jadeite blames his failure on the Sailor Scouts, and the rest of the scene plays out the same.

Rei and Usagi don’t fight over Tuxedo Mask in the ending fight–….Wow, Tuxedo Mask wasn’t even in this episode. I just now noticed. Hm. Anyway, they originally squabble about how the other can’t get a boyfriend and blah blah.

Here’s something a little surprising. Today’s Sailor Says is about getting out of abusive relationships. Gee, that’s a bit of a jump there. I know Usagi was enamored with disguised Jadeite for a bit there, but wow. Good message, but not something you’d really expect on a Sailor Says PSA.

Next up is apparently our last battle with Jadeite, and he seems to be on the front lines for a change. Will this really be the end of our heroines? 

……Previous Episode

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Sailor Moon (DiC) Episode 11 (8 for the Dub) Usagi vs. Rei, Nightmare in Dreamland | Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Usagi, Rei, Ami and Luna are spending the day at a local amusement park to investigate a string of mysterious disappearances that they believe are linked to Jadeite and Queen Beryl. However, Rei and Usagi’s constant bickering is holding back progress on the mission. When Ami gets trapped in a youma’s spell, Rei and Usagi need to….kinda sorta work together to save her and the other people who have gone missing.

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Title Change: The title of the episode is actually accurately translated, but they omit a part. It’s actually Usagi vs. Rei, Nightmare in Dreamland whereas the dub just has Nightmare in Dreamland.

A short bit of the opening scene where we see the gate to the shrine and see Usagi, Ami and Rei talking with Luna is edited out.

The book that Usagi likes is actually a Sailor V manga. In the dub, she says it’s a book called “Sailor V Goes to Hollywood.”

Ami wasn’t talking to Luna about Usagi and Rei fighting in the original. She was too enthralled in Rei’s encyclopedia.

The girls reacting to Luna’s outburst is edited out.

Originally, Luna tells the girls that they need to focus on finding the princess. Usagi then asks how they’re supposed to find the princess, and someone says something like there must be a big sign on them that labels them as the princess. Luna hesitates, and Rei says, if there’s not a big sign, then it’s impossible to find her…..Right, that makes sense. No one ever found anyone without a giant sign on their bodies labeling themselves as such. In the dub, Raye and Serena keep fighting because the moral of this story has something to do with getting along.

Ami suggests some investigative work to help them along with their Sailor duties and shows them a paper with a story on an amusement park called Dreamland where many people have disappeared. Luna thinks it’s a great idea, and they decide to go. In the dub, Amy suggests that they go to Dreamland as a sort of vacation because they’re going stir crazy with each other. The thing about the disappearances is brought up like an afterthought. Hey, we should go to this great new amusement park that happens to have a bunch of people go missing in it!

The newspaper with the story on the amusement park is removed of most of its Japanese text in lieu of scribbles. (Also, they add a little heart in the lower right for some reason.)

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The security guard, who is obviously Jadeite, doesn’t deny that people have gone missing in the original. He just says that they haven’t gone missing at the park and the disappearances have nothing to do with the park. In the dub, he basically says the missing people in their entirety are rumors set forth by their competition. Yeah, tell that to their families.

Some of these line reads. “I’m gonna REPORT…you.” That didn’t even match the mouth flaps. Nice job, DiC.

Usagi tells Rei that insults are no way to treat her senpai…Usagi’s older than Rei? Or is she talking about the Dream Princess? Anyway, no American equivalent so she just says Raye is wrong.

The castle thing is called the Candy House. In the dub, it’s called the Sweets Dream Factory.

In the original, as Usagi picks up the rabbit and shows Rei, Rei brings up on the fact that Usagi’s name means ‘rabbit’. Since Serena doesn’t mean ‘rabbit’, the dub couldn’t do the same thing, so they just had Raye berate her for not being serious again.

The panda driving the train (It’s an amusement park thing) says he’s getting the stop signal. In the dub, he says he has to stop for two turtles crossing the tracks.

The dub kinda makes Serena look like a hypocrite when she makes fun of Darien for being on the train when she is as well. In the original, she also makes fun of him and even laughs at him for riding the toy train, but it’s for riding it by himself not for doing it at all. I guess riding the toy train with another person who is way too old for that makes it better, Usagi?

Ami thinks that they might find some clues in the Candy House. In the dub, she thinks she can’t believe Serena’s missing out on all the free sweets.

Originally Usagi was crying at the door because she was worried about Ami. In the dub, she whines since the door to the Sweets Factory is locked and she wanted a cookie…..

Because of this line change, Raye tells Serena to think of Amy, to which she replies that Raye’s being mean. She’s being mean for pointing out that you’re being a crybaby over a cookie when your friend could be in danger? Right.

Also, she immediately follows this up by asking Raye if she has any feelings……..What? She’s (in the dub anyway) the one worried about Amy. You’re the one being an inconsiderate ass worried more about your sweet tooth than your friend. In the original, Rei tells Usagi to stop crying over everything, to which Usagi replies by asking if she even cares about Ami and calls her cold-hearted.

What the hell is up with way they make Raye’s English VA say “Mars power!” in this episode? She draws out the word Mars so long like she missed a cue or something. “Maa….aaa…..a……aaaaaa….rrrrSSSSSSSS POWER!”

Rei’s original chanting for her removal sutra is gone again. In fact “Entire series edit” this because I’m pretty sure we’ll never hear it.

Rei also does the same chanting she does when she’s just performing her regular priestess duties. In the dub, Raye says she calls upon the power of Mars and fireballs or something.

I have to say, this is definitely the creepiest monster-of-the-week they’ve had so far. I mean, look at this thing.

And before that, her headless body floated above the ground and spun slowly in mid air. Eheghyghgfhsd.

The shocked stillframe of Rei and Usagi with pure silence is priceless, and I’m so glad they kept that the same way in the dub. It’s like they’re mirroring the audience going ‘What the hell!?’

The demon this week is named Durimu (Dream), but in the dub she introduces herself as “your dream dolly”….which….may or may not be creepier.

Usagi mentions something about maidens as she’s trying to do her motto. Rei stops her to ask what she means by maidens, and Usagi brushes her off. In the dub, Raye asks Serena if she wants her to just blast the demon to which Serena declines.

As Durimu starts another dream, Luna tells Usagi to not fall for her tricks again. Usagi says that she won’t, but Rei says she’s not so sure about that. In the dub, Luna tells Serena that she has to learn to use her tiara faster. Serena says that at least she acted brave and didn’t let Raye take over, but Raye replies that she should’ve.

I love how Rei’s all “Hey, don’t cry because Ami might be in danger or worse, we need to focus on the mission!” but the instant she sees Tuxedo Mask she completely loses focus and gushes over him.

A short scene of Rei and Usagi looking very confused about what just happened is edited out. I don’t know why.

Any reason why Tuxedo Mask’s mouth isn’t moving when he’s talking to Rei/Raye and Usagi/Serena?

Wow, nice pointless panty shot on Rei as she jumps down onto Durimu, original version. The jump is kept in, but they carefully edit out the panty shot. Not getting a screenshot for that one.

This episode brings us a pseudo new attack move made by Sailor Moon and Mars. Sailor Moon uses her Moon Tiara Action while Mars uses her Fire Soul to turn the tiara into a kind of fire/molten tiara. It’s really cool.

Serena: “Moon dusted!” First of all, awful pun. Second of all, that was a joint effort with Mars so that doesn’t entirely work. In the dub, Usagi just says “We did it!”

So no one in the park is going to question why a giant well-known castle in the amusement park suddenly vanished? Okay.

Usagi yells at Rei for supposedly having a bigger ice cream than she has, but Rei argues that Usagi picked out the one that she wanted herself, and it’s ridiculous that she thinks hers is bigger. Usagi then tells Rei to trade, but she refuses and chases her around until she spills her ice cream. In the dub, Serena yells at Raye for slurping her ice cream, Raye says she should talk, calls her a meatball head and Serena chases her until she drops her ice cream.

Next episode, it’s the love boat! And demons and stuff.

…Previous Episode

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Sailor Moon Episode 10 (7 for the Dub) (Dic) Sub/Dub Comparison: The Cursed Bus – Enter Mars, the Guardian of Fire

Plot: Bus loads of people have been disappearing lately, and a local shrine is under suspicion for the mysterious vanishings. A shrine maiden/priestess named Rei is trying desperately to clear the shrine’s name, but when Jadeite shows up to reveal that he’s behind the whole thing, the Sailor Scouts may need the help of a new soldier to help defeat him. Enter Sailor Mars!

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Title Change: The Cursed Bus: Enter Mars, the Guardian of Fire is changed to An Uncharmed Life.

When Usagi meets up with Ami, she asks what she’s doing there. Ami says she’s waiting for the bus to go to cram school. Usagi asks her why she bothers to go to cram school if she needs to take a bus for it, and Ami says that it wouldn’t matter if she needed to take a plane. She needs to study even harder now since she’s a Sailor Scout so that she can help out. Luna praises Ami for her work ethic, then compares her to Usagi, who has none, and Usagi nervously avoids the subject.

In the dub, Serena asks Amy if she’d like to go to the arcade. Amy says she’d like to, but she can’t since she has too much homework. Then Luna says that Serena has a lot of homework too and Serena nervously avoids the conversation. A good chunk of that scene was removed to shorten it for some reason.

So Usagi hears a story about a bus mysteriously disappearing and she says “That sounds like fun!”……Did I miss something or do you find a vehicle and 25-30 passengers spontaneously going missing, maybe dead, sounds like a romp at the arcade to you?

They edit out where Usagi says “That sounds like fun!”….I guess DiC took that scene the same way I did.

Ami repeats what the girls say by saying “A missing 6 o’clock bus…” like she’s wondering what happened. In the dub, she says the shrine is supposed to be really nice.

Originally, Usagi suggests that they go to the Hikawa shrine to get special amulets that ward off evil. Naru then says that that’s a great idea and that the daughter of the house supposedly has psychic powers and does really great fortune telling. The other girl also agrees that they should go.

In the dub, Serena actually refuses to go to the shrine initially saying she’d rather go to the arcade instead of some creepy temple. Molly then says that the shrine has really nice good luck charms and stuff, and the other girl says that it might even help them get boyfriends. Because screw mysteriously missing buses, we need BOYFRIENDSOMMGGGGGGGG!!

Ami asks Usagi and the others to get an amulet for her. Usagi asks why Ami isn’t going, and she says that she has to go to cram school to study for a mock test that is coming up, which makes Usagi fall over comically. In the dub, Amy asks them to get her a good luck charm. Serena asks if she has a secret crush, and Amy says no – she needs good luck on getting good grades on her extra credit essays which makes Serena fall over comically.

The sign outside of the shrine is edited out.

They edit out the ringing bells and the random girls praying at the shrine for guys that they like to like them back. They show them from the back, but change the dialogue to acting like they just got good luck charms.

Originally, Rei was quietly chanting at the fire. In the dub, she’s just grunting.

Rei’s grandfather originally called the random girls “pretty cute” and asked them if they wanted to be part-time shrine maidens in a cheeky manner. DiC changed this to asking the girls, without complimenting them, that they probably want the guided tour.

Rei’s grandpa originally wanted to send the girls off with some good wishes on finding their loves. He gives a prayer to the god of flames asking to guide the girls to their loves. In the dub, this is changed to grunting…Nothing but grunting.

I’m starting to wonder if this is getting offensive. I mean, they’re not editing out much of the shrine so far but what’s with changing religious chanting and prayers to grunting? Afterward, in the dub, Grandpa explains that that was his, not kidding here, super whammo blessing (yep, we just petered into offensive) for peace, love and good grades. Since the explanation of the prayer was already given in the original, this isn’t present in the same scene afterward.

In the original, Rei’s grandpa tries to sell the girls some fortune slips and paintings that are said to bring about good grades during entrance exams. This is the scene that was replaced with the explanation of the grunt prayer in the dub.

When Rei’s grandpa sees Usagi and the others, he tries hitting on them too with the same shrine maiden shtick. Rei comes over to scold him about it and says there are weird rumors going around about him. In the dub, Raye’s grandpa believes that Serena and the others are the same random girls from before and tells them that they’re going to miss their bus. Then Raye comes over to scold him about not wearing his glasses.

Name Change: Much in the realm of Ami, Rei’s name was also changed, but just the spelling. In the English dub, her name is spelled as Raye. Fully, Raye Hino as her Japanese counterpart’s is Rei Hino. As Usagi and Ami, her name also has meaning. Rei Hino means ‘beauty of fire.’

More grunting. It’s not really replacing much, but there it is while Rei’s ‘exorcising’ Usagi.

The ‘bandages’ were originally towels and water….which they clearly are. Towels and water are evil sorcery from Japan OOOoooOOOOHHHhhhhHHH!!

The original explanation for Jadeite (they don’t know it’s him of course) working at the shrine is that Rei’s grandpa likes to hit on practically everyone he sees regardless of gender. He showed up at the shrine a few days prior and accepted the offer to work in the shrine.

In the dub, Raye says that her grandpa used to run everything around the shrine but recently he’s gotten too old to do so, so he hired some guy named Jed (♫ Let me tell ya a little story ’bout a man named Jed. Poor evil lackey, barely kept his demons fed. ♫) to work there. Raye says she’d like to be out of school so that she could help out around the shrine more.

Luna thinks to herself after Rei says that she has prophecies and visions that she might be the Moon Princess. In the dub, most of her inner monologue is axed for Serena and the girls clamoring over her powers, then Luna says she has an odd feeling about Raye.

The angry mother who bursts into the room and is being accusatory of Rei’s grandpa says that he usually does a ritual at 5:30, which means he’s possibly forcing girls to be late for their bus and instead go on the 6:00 bus – the one that goes missing. In the dub, the mother bursts in just saying her daughter’s late and the bus she was on went missing, so she came to the shrine to bitch.

The dub’s bus stop was originally just a sign saying “Sendaizaka Ue” (I’m assuming the sign’s subtitle is wrong since Senndizaka Ue doesn’t seem to make sense.) Oddly, they left in the Japanese writing on the other side of the pillar.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Ami asks why all of the girls have love charms since they shouldn’t have time for falling in love when they have to study for entrance exams. Usagi looks disturbed and asks Ami if that means she never falls in love because she does it all the time. Then she daydreams about Tuxedo Mask and Motoki while saxophone music plays.

In the dub, Serena points out that she wants the same charms that they’ve got and Amy asks why since she already seems to be out of it. Serena says that she’s not out of it, she just likes daydreaming and then daydreams about Tuxedo Mask and Andy.

Ami then says that, if she doesn’t know the meaning of true love, then she shouldn’t throw around the word so flippantly. In the dub, Amy says that her daydreaming expression makes her look like some lovesick frog waiting for a big old bug to fly into its mouth…..which makes no sense. Frogs don’t fall in love with bugs, and they actively strike bugs with their tongues to catch them….What was that supposed to mean?

The shots of the bus are mirrored because in Japan they drive on the left side of the road.

Our hero, Usagi clinging to a pole out of fear of getting on a bus when she has super powers and a friend who also has super powers. Girl power!

The two crows that are shown being fed by Rei seem to be like her pets. They’re named Phobos and Deimos. They also have meaning behind their names. Phobos and Deimos are the two moons of Mars. Their names mean fear (Phobos) and terror (Deimos). They were named after the horses that pulled the chariot for the Greek god Ares, the god of war, which also happens to be the role of the Roman god, Mars, for whom the planet was named after. However, they’re not named or ever really given attention in the dub.

I don’t like particularly screeching harpy characters, especially in English dubs, but Raye always sounds too soft and calm when she’s getting mad and defensive in the dub.

The original doesn’t tell us that the amulets were Jadeite’s idea. Rei just asks Usagi to leave. Also, the amulets weren’t Jadeite’s idea, he just put a spell on the ones that they were already selling.

Raye: “What a strange and beautiful stick.” A stick? That’s really the best you could come up with, eh, DiC? If anything, it looks like a fancy pen, especially due to the clip. Originally, Rei just wonders if Usagi dropped it.

Usagi asks Luna why she left that pen with Rei, and she says she just wants to see something. This is left out of the dub for the same conversation that follows.

Usagi is upset because Ami’s late getting on the bus with her. Serena’s upset just because she doesn’t want to go.

Okay can someone please tell me what the hell is the point of this edit? Usagi is too scared to get on the bus, but decides that she can gather the courage if she has a disguise. When she gets this idea, a cartoon star pops near her face. In the dub, this exact idea occurs to her, but the cartoon star is now a bright, glowing and moving CGI star…….that’s…all sorts of pointless. A moment of silence for the amount of starving people that the money spent for that effect could’ve fed.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

In the original, Usagi commands to be turned into a bus attendant. In the dub, she says “a flight attendant or something.” This is made even worse because dub!Luna actually says “that would be better if we were on a plane”….Yeah….it would. I don’t have much experience with buses, but some do have attendants in America, right? Either way, I think they’re just grasping at straws to use Usagi’s disguise power.

Usagi says that it’s her duty as a bus attendant to ensure that the passengers are safe that that she won’t condone hijacking. In the dub, Serena says she’s putting the driver under arrest for making ‘totally bogus runs’ ….also, she tells the driver to pull over and yells STOP….despite the fact that the bus hasn’t started moving yet.

They edit out Rei’s chant and more of her hand signs.

Dub!Luna: “That’s your own special power stick” Okay, stop calling it a stick. That sounds too dumb. Honestly. Wand, pen, anything is better than stick.

The dub adds this spiral fire explosion animation behind Rei when she poses. What, was her transformation not epic enough or did you just want to….BURN more money. Ahahahahahahaahhahahahahahahaha! I’m so funny.

Attack Name Change: Fire Soul is changed to Mars Fire Ignite.

Also, haha, Rei gets a much better attack than either Usagi or Ami.

Okay, time out, this ending is ridiculous. So Ami prays on her wand for her friends’ safety and that somehow makes a beam of blue light guide Usagi and Rei back through the portal? Also, WHAT THE HELL WAS TUXEDO MASK DOING IN THE BUS?! HOW’D HE GET THERE TO BEGIN WITH?! WHY WAS HE JUST CHILLIN’ IN THE BUS WHEN THEY WERE FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES?! Just “Hey, I’m driving the bus, making a cameo!”

They edit out a small cartoon of Rei sticking her tongue out at Usagi in the corner as she cries.

Next episode, more disappearances, this time at a theme park!

…..Previous Episode

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Sailor Moon Episode 9 (DiC) Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Jadeite has a new and dumb plan to get energy – sell clocks and make people obsessed about being punctual.….Yeah. While Sailor Moon falls under his spell, Sailor Mercury and Luna have to pull her together to save everyone.

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Title Change: Usagi’s Disaster: Beware of the Clock Confusion is changed to Time Bomb.

Despite perfectly translating the first scene, which shocked me, they edit out the scene that follows where Usagi and Ami arrive in the city for a day out. Ami says she’s never been there before because she’s always reading. Usagi tells her that she needs to get out more. Ami apologizes, and Usagi says there’s no need to apologize before deciding to go do some window shopping.

In the original, Usagi tells Ami that there’s a sale at a local watch store with deals of 50% – 70% off. Ami says that she doesn’t need a watch since she likes the one that her mother gave her. Usagi tells her that there’s no harm in looking and grabs her to go look.

In the dub, Serena says that she needs a new alarm clock since hers is broken, making her late for school a lot. Amy says that she knows because the first thing that she was told when she transferred was that Serena’s always late……Really? That’s the first thing you were told when you transferred? How’d that go? “Serena Tsukino’s always late. Welcome to Crossroads Junior High!” Serena tells her that that’s why they should go check out the sale. Amy says she’s too tired and that she’s not a veteran mall hopper like Serena, but Serena drags her off anyway.

Two zeroes are edited off of Usagi’s cash in her wallet because people would probably wonder why Serena can’t afford a clock when she has $1000 in her wallet (Well, kids would think that it’s dollars. It’s actually 1000 yen, but to be fair, 1000 yen IS roughly ten US dollars…)

Subbed:

Dubbed:

No mention of Usagi’s mom going shopping with Umino’s and Naru’s moms in the dub. Also, Usagi mentions in the original that “God didn’t abandon (her) after all.” when her mom gives her the clock that she wanted……You waste all of your money while shopping (or at the arcade in the dub), don’t have enough left to buy a clock and that’s God abandoning you? Wow.

In the original, Naru, Usagi and Umino all volunteer to go after the students who are late in order to start class. In the dub, Molly complains that if class doesn’t start soon that she’ll miss dance class, Serena will run out of snacks and Melvin will be late for his snail watching class….Snail….watching….class? Okie dokie.

Today’s plot is the definition of flimsy. I know they were having a sale, but it looks like everyone in the city bought a clock/watch except Ami. That’s just absurd. In the first episode they were practically giving away expensive gems and only garnered a slight mob of women, but give the clock shop a decent sale and everyone’s going insane.

…And how did Luna tie that clock to herself?

I love how it sounds like Luna is letting Ami use a device that was meant for Serena when the damn thing is covered in the symbol for Mercury.

The shot of Usagi in the bus had to be mirrored so kids wouldn’t think that they were driving on the wrong side of the street.

A scene where a woman attacks the bus driver because he’s driving past her stop is edited out.

I’m a firm believer that Usagi’s transformation sequence would’ve been hilarious if they sped it up because she was so obsessed with being late.

Hmmm, there’s an animation error when Usagi kicks in the first door. After Usagi speaks, Ami’s mouth repeatedly moves like she was supposed to be talking there, but there’s no dialogue. DiC actually fixes this by making her talk in that scene. Good for you, DiC.

The original says that there’s a 76% chance that Ramua (Monster of the week or MoW) is in a certain direction. The dub omits this and just says she is in that direction.

They delete a shot of Usagi’s cheek cut and bleeding slightly.

In the original, Ramua says that, since Mercury’s paralyzed too, she can watch Sailor Moon suffer and starts trying to stab her with her spear. Usagi tries to dodge the stabs. In the dub, she basically says that she can attack both of them now, the shots of Usagi dodging are gone, and the dialogue makes it sound like Ramua’s trying to hit Mercury.

In the original, Naru tells Usagi and Ami that the cake store’s holding a speed eating contest, and Usagi and Naru run off to join. In the dub, Molly tells Serena and Amy that there’s a big shoe sale. Because teenage girls and shoes amirite? Next she’ll want a matching hat.

Next up, Sailor Mars debuts! Yay!

…..Previous Episode

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Sailor Moon Episode 8 (5 For the Dub) (DiC) Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: A girl named Ami is blowing everyone away with her fantastic grades and tests scores. As Usagi tries to create a friendship with her to get help with her exams, Luna believes that she might be an enemy with an evil plot. When it’s revealed that the cram school that she is attending is just a front for evil purposes, it seems like Ami is the culprit, but is that truly what she is, or is she on the side of good?

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Title Change: The Girl Genius is a Monster – The Brainwashing Cram School of Horror is changed to Computer School Blues.

A front shot of the house is edited in for the dub to ensure that we knew that they cut to Serena’s house. Also, they cut out a close up shot of the magazine/manga that she’s reading.

They edit out a shot where Usagi’s face goes blank and is covered by a gigantic anime sweatdrop.

In the original, Usagi’s mom asks her how she did on her mock exam. Usagi says not to worry because the results won’t even be back until tomorrow. Then her mom basically says that she doesn’t ask for miracles in terms of her grades, she just asks her to please not fail. Then Usagi starts bawling and says that if someone’s getting the top grades someone must inevitably be at the bottom and that it’s not fair to yell at her just because she gets bad grades. Her mom then tells her that she may not study but she always has time to come up with excuses and that she’s the one who should be crying.

In the dub, Serena’s mom asks her why she’s not studying because she has a test tomorrow. Then Serena says not to worry because it’s tomorrow afternoon. Then her mom stops her and tells her that she and Serena’s father are worried that she might flunk out of school and asks her where they went wrong with her. Serena then starts bawling and says that things are different from when she was a kid and school is a lot harder and there’s more pressure so she desperately needs a break. Then her mom says that that excuse won’t work because she used to use the exact same excuse on her parents.

In the original, Luna walks by and praises Usagi for finally studying. Then Usagi says that’s easy for her to say and that she wishes that she were a cat because they don’t have to do anything. Luna rebuts by saying that she’s doing everything that she can to find the Moon Princess and fight evil.

She jumps on the desk and discovers that Usagi is reading manga. She scolds Usagi and tells her that finding the princess and fighting evil is her responsibility too. Usagi asks who the evil force is, and Luna replies that even she doesn’t really know.

In the dub we get a long lecture about doing homework from Luna. Serena asks why she even needs to do homework if she’s destined to be a Sailor Scout (Because that comes with a dental plan, right?) and Luna tells her that even Sailor Scouts need to study to learn about the world and yada lecture yada. No mention of the Moon Princess or anything. Also, during this scene in the original, Luna blows out one of those cartoonish puffs of air. In the dub, this is edited out.

At the end of the scene, Usagi makes a displeased face, but this is removed from the dub by repeating and reversing a previous shot of her looking at Luna.

They edit out the title screen of the Sailor V video game when Luna turns it on.

In the original, Luna’s password is “The rabbit on the moon makes rice cakes,” to which the person on the other line responds “The moon rice cakes are sticky.” Luna replies “When I grilled them they puffed up.” In the dub, Luna’s password is one phrase, and it’s something like “I like tuna fish and field mice pudding.” …..Uh….who the hell is making Luna field mice pudding? Ughghghg.

Luna is the one that provides the mystery person on the computer the information about sensing weird energy and showing a picture of Ami. In the dub, the mystery person gives Luna this information.

In the original, there’s a shot of the giant board that has everyone’s mock exam scores on it, and everyone’s clamoring over Ami Mizuno getting the best grades. Out in the hallway, Usagi and her friends talk about Ami and state that she’s not only the smartest person in school but in the entire country as well. Umino then pops up and says that she’s incredibly smart and her IQ is over 300.

In the dub, the shot of the grade board is edited out partially because they removed the mention of the mock exam and partly because Japanese. In the hall, they claim that Amy goes to someplace called Brighton Academy which is apparently a place for huge brainiacs. When Melvin pops up he basically shows interest in doing a study on her.

In the original, immediately after that scene, Umino says that she goes to a place called Crystal Cram School. We learn that Ami’s mother is a doctor, they’re likely rich and that she got into Crystal Cram School on a full scholarship. Then the girls speculate that she’s actually a snob who thinks that she’s better than everyone else because of her intelligence.

In the dub, Melvin says that he’d like to meet her (Well, she’s right down the hall….) And Serena says that he’d blow out his brain cells just by talking to her. We don’t get the same rich/mother doctor/scholarship explanations as the original. Instead, we get early speculations that she’s a snob and then we get speculations that she’s actually stupid and got kicked out of Brighton Academy. Wow, between this and the “Where did we go wrong with you?” comment from before, it sounds like DiC felt like being a jerk to everyone during production.

Name change-ish?: Ami (Ah-mee) Mizuno is changed to Amy (Ey-mee) Mizuno. This is slightly disappointing because Ami’s name has meaning. Her name literally translates to “Friend of Water” Amy apparently means “Much loved.”

After they discover that Ami was listening to them, Usagi laughs nervously and everyone else follows suit and then we get sweatdrops on everyone’s heads. In the dub, the sweatdrops are edited out.

In the original, Usagi wonders how nice it would be to be so smart like Ami. Then she dreads her mother yelling at her about her grades. We see a stillframe daydream where her mother is dragging her off to cram school on a leash. In the dub, Serena’s excited to get home for a snack, but then dreads her mother asking how she did on the test. The daydream is edited out, as is another puff of air, and she then says that she should slow down to avoid going home and facing her.

The scene where Luna jumps on Ami is greatly sped up in the dub. It’s almost comical. I dunno if they did this to save time or to make it seem less….’scary’ I dunno.

Okay, what is up with Amy’s dub voice? I conceded to the fact that sometimes dubbers make people who are very polite in the original version English/British because screw Americans sounding polite and intelligent (*belch*) but geez, she sounds almost like a parody. I really don’t remember her sounding so ridiculous. Maybe she gets better over time.

In the original, Ami says that since Luna jumped down from the sky that she thought that she was an angel. Usagi then thinks to herself that Ami’s a lot sweeter than she thought and then smiles at her. In the dub, Amy says that she heard Melvin say that she thought she was a snob and a brainiac school reject. Serena then says that it was a joke and smiles.

In the original, Usagi introduces herself and Luna. Ami asks if Luna means ‘Moon’, and Usagi gushes and says that she’s correct. She says that, of course, the genius would be able to catch something like that right away, making Ami blush. In the dub, Serena explains all the sights around town like the arcade and the candy stores, and Amy asks where the library is. Serena asks why she would want to know that, and Amy responds that she spends her weekends there (I should stop here and say that Ami isn’t a transfer student in the original. She’s just in a different class.) Then Serena basically asks if she’s from outer space because only nerds like Melvin go to the library for fun…..

Two things; One – In the original, Ami is constantly being suspected as a youma/demon on the side of the enemy. Though they don’t call her a demon in the dub and choose to instead say that she’s probably simply working for the Negaverse, they seem to be making something out of her being an alien. They call her an alien at the beginning preview and now this outer space thing. Two – STOP TREATING AMY LIKE CRAP.

In the original, Usagi has a little thought bubble by her head of her as a little demon as she thinks that she can befriend Ami to help her study and get better grades. (IE mooch off of her work). In the dub, instead of painting over that bubble, that cut right before the bubble appears and repeat the ½ second footage of her walking over and over to fill that scene up. It’s horribly edited. You can see the repeat footage so clearly that Hanna-Barbera would be laughing at DiC right now.

In the original, Usagi offers to show Ami how to play a game at the arcade believing that she can ask for help on the exam in exchange. In the dub, Amy just reacts to Serena saying that sometimes Luna likes to believe she can talk by nibbling on her ear. Amy says she wishes animals could really talk.

The ending animation and Game Over screen are edited in the dub, but I see no reason why.

I was going to say maybe the gun was the problem, but they keep it in….Poorly edited, I might add.

The video game screen is consistently edited for this entire scene by having a red filter on different CGI footage and I have no clue why.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also, I’m pretty sure that they cut out a lot of shots of her score going up.

They edit in the same shot of the Game Over screen, this time with a score overlay for Ami’s Game Over. I bring this up because someone in the crowd says that she has over 100,000 points, but the screen says she had 6850 points. However, in the further shots, you can clearly see that her score is indeed over 100,000. This is because the further shots are unaltered. This is pointless because the original had no cutaway to the Game Over screen. It’s a given that walking away from the game means that you’re dead. Pointless editing leads to pointless continuity flub. Wahmp wahmp wahhhhh.

Before:

After:

In the original, Ami says that she has cram school every day. Usagi asks why, and she says that studying is her only talent. In the dub, Amy says that she takes a special computer course twice a week for three hours each.

An outside shot of the cram school is cut out because it has a big sign that says Crystal Seminar.

In order to avoid showing a closeup of a sign that’s covered in Japanese (Dun dun dunnnnn) we see a repeat of a closeup shot of Amy’s floppy disk. I don’t get it. Japanese is okay as long as we’re not seeing it too closely?

Because the reaction shot to hearing Mamoru is in the room contained the closeup of the sign, DiC uses a reaction shot that’s supposed to happen later in the scene. The scene containing Mamoru is also shortened due to this.

In the original, Mamoru asks if Usagi’s finally going to do some studying since she’s at the cram school. He then asks if Luna was talking. That’s what causes Usagi and Luna to get really awkward and suddenly run away.

In the dub, Darien asks if she’s talking to herself again, which causes Serena to get really awkward, not really give a response and then run away. This scene is made incredibly awkward, again, due to edits.

In the original, Usagi suddenly turns around after running away a little to see if Mamoru’s still there. A giant thought bubble with a sweatdrop appears and they run away again. In the dub, as Serena’s running away (with her back turned to Darien, mind you) dialogue is inserted where she says “WHY ARE YOU STARING AT ME!?” and the sweatdrop thought bubble is edited away. Almost like someone with Serena’s voice was behind her talking to Darien, she heard it, stopped and then turned around. Why would she know that he was staring otherwise?

Later they remove another thought bubble sweatdrop after she realizes that she ran away before returning Amy’s disk.

Well, here’s a surprise. The disk shows a blue screen covered in Japanese text that we actually get a pretty good closeup of. However, DiC doesn’t edit over this at all. I won’t give them full credit, though, because Serena asks “What’s all that stuff?” Congrats, Japan! Your beautiful language has been reduced to ‘stuff’.

In the original, Usagi transforms into a university school nurse as a disguise. In the dub, Serena turns into a school superintendent. She doesn’t change outfits for this or anything, it’s just a dialogue change for no reason. I’m pretty sure it’s easier to pretend to be a school nurse than it is to pretend to be in a position such as school superintendent.

Also, Usagi picks a school nurse presumably so that she can have an excuse for suddenly barging into a class, claiming that she got a call about a sick child. In the dub, she barges into the class yelling “Who’s running this bogus class?!”

First of all, saying ‘bogus’ is an instant red flag that you are not an adult, period, let alone a superintendent.

Second of all, who does that? Why even bother disguising yourself if you were just gonna barge in and act stupid?

In the original, the real enemy reveals itself to be the youma of knowledge and wisdom, Garoben, which proves that Ami wasn’t the youma in question like Luna thought. In the dub, the demon doesn’t reveal her name or title. It’s just assumed that Amy didn’t have a role in the plan since she’s being held hostage.

Before the Sailor Moon speech, Usagi says that geniuses are vital to the world because they help make it peaceful. In the dub, Serena delivers jilted dialogue about “Knowing….what you’re up to!” Seriously, guys, if there’s no mouths flaps to match, there’s no excuse for dialogue like that.

Garoben’s quiz question was based on Newton’s law. Why did the apple fall from the tree? Usagi refuses to guess until Garoben’s attack and then guessed that it was a typhoon. Luna calls her an idiot and says it’s because of gravity. Usagi gives the answer, and the attack ends because she got it right. In the dub, the monster asks her what 355×268 or something is and no one answers. The reason behind the attack suddenly halting is never given.

The follow-up question is, “What is gravity? Explain in less than 50 words.” Usagi claims it’s impossible. In the dub, the monster tells her that she has two choices, surrender now or surrender later. She says she’ll never surrender.

In the original, one of the reasons that the Crystal disk isn’t taking Ami’s brain energy (Yeah, that sounds stupid now that I’ve written it down) is because she didn’t use the disk often due to the fact that she believes in traditional studying over computer work. In the dub, this entire scene is quiet and the only explanation we can surmise for why her energy isn’t being taken is because she’s really Sailor Mercury.

I’m just now realizing how drastically short the Sailor Scouts’ transformation sequences are compared to Sailor Moon’s. Hers is like 20 seconds long. Mercury’s lasts for like 4 seconds.

Attack Name Change: Bubble Spray is changed to Mercury Bubbles Blast!

In the original, Usagi thinks to herself yet again with a big smirk on her face that Ami will help her with her exams now. But Ami just says that she’s glad to be by her side in the fight against evil. The big smirk and that initial thought are edited out. Serena does, however, ask Amy if she’ll help her do her homework. So that’s something.

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All I can say is thank God Ami’s finally in the picture. Ami makes this series far more pleasant to watch. I can’t really enjoy it much with just Usagi. I dunno when we’ll meet the others, but yay Ami!

Next up, clocks….

…Previous Episode

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Sailor Moon Episode 7 (4 For the Dub) (DiC) Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: The town has been taken over by star fever. Usagi and her friends all want to be stars just like their idol, Mikan. However, Jadeite sees this as his perfect opportunity to use these star-struck people for their energy. He concocts a plan to turn everyone into the stars they’ve always dreamed about while stealing their energy. Can Sailor Moon dash everyone’s hopes and dreams to save the day?

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Title Change: Usagi Learns Her Lesson: Becoming a Star is Hard Work is changed to So You Want to be a Superstar.

The Japanese text on the pink sidebar on the poster in the beginning is removed (Even though the Japanese text next to it isn’t….weird.) This is made even weirder since the text magically reappears as Naru/Molly runs by. After Molly runs by, the text turns to English words that I can’t make out. Confusing? Yeah.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also, despite occurring in the same scene, they have one of the dub’s transitions after Molly hits Serena only to show Molly running off after the transition.

The text is again removed when Umino is showing off the same poster. In fact, they zoom in on the shot (it was further away so it showed both the poster and Umino in the original) so that they can reuse the edited shot from before.

The story about Umino’s poster is somewhat changed in the dub. In the original, he states he just ordered a bunch of the same poster from the Internet. In the dub, he says he won only one copy through a contest in the Saffron fanclub that he joined.

Name Change: Mikan is changed to Saffron.

In the original, Umino states that she’s been in eight commercials and is only 17. He also states that her annual income is two million yen. In the dub, the other information isn’t given and we’re told she actually makes five million US dollars a year. Seeing as how two mil yen is roughly 19-20k US dollars, I’d say DiC rounded up and up and up and up and up….Unless those figures were drastically different in the 90’s which is completely possible, but my way’s funnier.

A shot of Umino’s screen is removed.

Usagi says she wonders how many shortcakes she could buy with that money. Serena wonders if Saffron needs an assistant.

The girls then discuss that Mikan was discovered by a talent scout as she simply walked down the street one day. Then they badmouth the scouts for not seeing and discovering them for all of their talent. In the dub, they just talk about what they’d do if they had all that money.

After, Umino states that the scouts are doing their jobs because Mikan was found and they weren’t, so the girls get mad at him. In the dub, he just says “In my opinion, one of you has the potential to be a real star,” so the girls get mad at him and ask him to spit it out.

They cut out a shot of a big banner on the TV station where Mikan’s signing autographs supposedly because the entire banner’s in Japanese, but the sign on the front of the building is in big ol’ Japanese characters so sense made=zero.

They edit out a shot of Jadeite putting his hands in his pockets and walking away from the autograph signing. They also edit in a scene of Queen Beryl just doing the typical villain shtick (Use the energy to take over the world Muahahaha) after that.

In the original, Naru says that they’ll sing to storm the entertainment industry. Usagi believes this to be storming them like attacking, so she gets a tennis racket. In the dub, they change this to Serena suggesting that they be tennis stars instead of singers. I don’t get why this was changed. It’s an easily translatable joke……though it is a stupid joke.

Right before Naru and Usagi sing, Luna thinks to herself that Usagi knows that they don’t have time for this. In the dub, Luna thinks to herself “Don’t tell me she’s going to sing.”

This next one’s gonna hurt. As Molly turns on the radio in the dub, it’s painfully obvious that they added in awful music notes animated onto the foreground. I guess this was to ensure the audience that indeed music was playing. Saved by the Bell had better graphics….

There’s also a crescent moon symbol in with the music notes…

It should also be noted, oddly, that the song being played on the original is the Sailor Moon theme song instrumental. The dub is some awful remix of the Sailor Moon theme song done with a xylophone and the beat track from an old keyboard I think.

In the original, the girls make up the lyrics. In the dub we have a weird meta moment as they sing the actual Sailor Moon theme song……So what is this? I’m assuming Sailor Moon is somewhat known in Japan by this point, but she’s got a theme song already?

Sailor Venus doesn’t even have her own theme song, and she’s been known way longer in Japan – to the point where she has her own video game.

I give Luna a pass for changing her inner monologue, because Serena singing? No, thank you.

As Naru and Usagi are fighting, Luna just stares. In the dub, Luna thinks “And they say catfights are bad!”

They replace a shot of Usagi’s bunny door sign that says “Don’t come in” with another shot of the boombox. Also, there are no cheaply made music notes coming from the speakers, so I am currently trying to figure out if there is indeed music being played. I’m running various tests right now and should have results by 2023.

In the original, Naru coaxes Umino into crossdressing to pair with her as a singing duo (Because guys can’t sing with girls I guess) by saying that Usagi would like him if he got real world experience or some weird explanation like that. In the dub, she coaxes him into it by saying he’ll be world famous. Also, instead of gushing about Usagi, he gushes about being famous and even starts reciting a speech he made to accept an award.

They edit out the shot of Mikan’s flowers presumably because there’s Japanese writing on the wrapping.

They make the scene where the monster changes into Mikan/Saffron even more sinister by adding MORE SHADOWS AROUND HER FACE! AHHHH!! God, DiC, put a warning on your show before you make edits like that. Children watch this show for God’s sake.

There’s this big-ass giant banner behind Monster-Mikan as she makes her speech. DiC, surprisingly left it alone. I guess because they couldn’t viably edit around it and painting over the text would cost too much money.

I should mention at this point that Cinderella is a common theme in this episode. Everyone wants to be the next Cinderella, same with Naru and Usagi. In fact, this contest or whatever that Monster-Mikan’s holding is called the Cinderella Caravan. In the dub, there’s no mention of this. Just fame and being like Saffron. I dunno why. Cinderella’s a common story in America too.

Now there’s an untranslatable pun in the scene with the talent show. The comedy duo at the beginning make a joke about asking for two loaves of bread at the bakery, but they gave her strawberry patterned panties instead that she holds up. In Japan, the word for bread is ‘pan’ and panties are ‘pantsu.’ When she asked for two loaves of bread (pan) they gave her pantsu because two pan. Yeah, it’s awful even in Japanese, but the dub is even worse.

In the dub, the joke is “Why do elephants wear green sneakers?…..So that they can sneak around in the grass.” Not only does that make no sense, it’s not funny in the least. Though, I guess that is the point; that a bunch of untalented people keep winning the contest. Also, they edit out where one of the girls holds up said panties. They just repeat the panty-less footage to make her talk longer. However, since she moves her eyebrows when she does this, it makes the footage jump several times.

PANTIES:

Oddly enough, they don’t edit out the Japanese on the hand stamp. The symbol means “pass” in Japanese. Though maybe they thought no one would realize it’s Japanese.

Another untranslatable pun in the classroom. One of the girls asks, “What do you get if you take away a vultures (Hagetaka) feathers (ge)? You get Hadaka, which means ‘naked.’ In the dub, the girls just say they’ll do knock-knock jokes now, but don’t actually say one.

They edit out the shots of Naru’s autographs because Japanese.

In the original, Usagi, shockingly enough, says that they have to start class soon, but the other kids say that they don’t have time for class since the entertainment industry requires so much work….Well, if that’s the case, why did they even show up at school at all? In the dub, she just asks Naru if she won the contest, and the other girls just said they basically all did and that fame’s gone to Molly’s head.

After the other kids threw the streamers, one hits Umino in the face and Umino tells the other kids that it would be bad if a star’s face got damaged, and then Usagi thinks to herself that something is wrong. The dub cuts out to transition right before, and I mean milliseconds before, the impact of the streamer. The footage just stops and we get the transition. It’s so awkward.

They also cut out a shot of Umino and Naru singing. Also, Umino’s no longer dressed in drag so I guess he can dress normally now that the contest is over? What was the point in all that?

They also cut out the singing in the background entirely, but they keep in the shot of the end of the show….what the hell were they watching in the dub? Just Molly and Melvin standing on stage doing nothing?

They edit out where even more people appear on stage with Naru and Umino. I dunno.

Front of the Shan Shan Plaza is covered in Japanese text so they edit out the shot of it.

When we see shots of Umino, Naru and those two terrible joke girls as well as the cop, we’re supposed to see that the stamps they got on their hands are glowing I guess to show that their energy is ripe for the taking. Edited out in the dub….they kept the stamps but got rid of the glowing…..I do not understand….Oh and Umino’s crossdressing again….I really don’t get it. There are plenty of guys there. Why did he need to crossdress?

A front shot of Jadeite receiving the energy that has been shown tons of times and is recycled footage was edited out of the dub for some reason.

I guess at this point I should also mention that the original version has now started singing the actual Sailor Moon theme song too so I’m doubly confused.

Get a load of those bathroom signs….High heels for the ladies and a top hat for the men. How sexist. Now I can’t wear a top hat!? My Thursdays are completely ruined now!

Couple questions about the ending….A discoball shatters above your head and that didn’t at least give you several cuts? So, Mikan was just laying in a tub, naked, for the past few days?

Also, in the original, as everyone’s snapping out of it, one of the joke girls asks the other when did they start speaking in a kansai dialect. (I don’t know much about dialects in Japan to be honest, but I’m guessing this accent was put on to sound more like a comedian or entertainer or something?) In the dub they just say that they never want to hear another knock-knock joke again even though they never said one to begin with, at least that we heard, so the joke is lost.

Well, what the hell happened here? In the Sailor Says segment they leave in the shot of Umino getting hit by the streamer…. There is no such thing as consistency.

Next episode, Ami’s debut!

…Previous Episode

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Sailor Moon Episode 6 Sub/Dub Comparison Placeholder (Undubbed)

Plot: The theme this week is music, and Jadeite is planning to suck the energy out of the people of the world with a special noise through the use of a popular pianist’s music. However, when Jadeite’s minion needs a special tape that the pianist has made for his one true love in order to achieve this, Usagi must retrieve the tape and beat the demon to ensure that love is protected.

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Another episode dashed by DiC to get to the other Sailor Scouts faster. Unlike the previous episode, I can honestly find no other reason for cutting this one. Don’t worry, though, we won’t have any more cut episodes until episode 40 I think.

Not like it matters much anyway because god it was boring. The characters of the week, if you can call them that, were boring. Jadeite didn’t show up to fight Sailor Moon. Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru didn’t show up at all, and the plotline was cliché and boring. At least I’ll have something to do next episode.

Next episode, Usagi’s town has star fever, and Jadeite’s pulling the strings to suck up the energy of those who want their five minutes of fame.

…Previous Episode

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Why I ‘Quit’ Watching Sailor Moon Crystal

Yesterday, I basically dropped watching Sailor Moon Crystal. I just completed watching episode five and realized that I simply wasn’t enjoying it. Now, I really enjoy the Sailor Moon manga and the 90s anime. Sailor Moon was one of the first anime I truly got into as an anime (I didn’t really process that Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon were anime at the time. When my friend, who was a big anime fan, introduced me to Sailor Moon, she explained anime to me.) and Sailor Moon was the first manga I ever read and owned. By all means, considering that Crystal is meant to be a closer adaptation to the manga, I should enjoy Crystal just fine. However, as I watched, I quickly noticed that I just wasn’t getting into it at any point.

Before I continue, I don’t think it necessary to bring up the ridiculous art and animation troubles that this series has. While it is incredibly distracting and pause-the-video laughable at several points, that….is only partially connected to my main issues behind the show. If you’d like to laugh for a while, however, check out the screen caps and gifsets here http://crystalquality.tumblr.com/

No, the real reason I dropped Crystal was because I felt there was no point in continuing. They’re right, Crystal does follow the manga more closely than the 90s anime ever did, at least in regards to the scenes and structure set in the manga. For instance, each episode of Crystal covers one chapter of the manga. They even have the exact same titles. However, the 90s series still did something way better than Crystal –  it kept the soul of the series.

Something jarringly odd about Crystal is in its lack of emotion. Usagi, once a very comedic slapstick character, has all but lost her goofy facial expressions and cartoony moments. The slapstick and jokes do remain, but they’re done in such a manner that it’s just not funny. In some of the scenes where Usagi’s being punished for being an airhead or a glutton, you actually feel bad for her instead of laugh because her goofy reactions are almost entirely erased and instead is replaced by only slightly over-the-top crying.

For an example, in the first episode, there’s a scene where Usagi gets booted to the hallway. In the manga, there is no dream sequence about the moon princess to remember and fantasize about, and Usagi is much more comedic and animated about everything. She’s more expressive and pouty about being sent to the hall, she chuckles as she’s about to eat her lunch, and she has a much more expressive look of dread when she’s caught. In Crystal, every reaction barring being caught is completely deadpan. Despite the lines being basically the same, she says them with the same flat expression and no change of tone in her voice. When she’s caught, instead of the comedic look of dread complete with facial shadow and sweatdrop, she starts tearing up. And not in an overly dramatic bawling way that Usagi tends to do. She’s starting to cry like she’s being bullied.

Rei seems to be another example of this. In the chapters covered in the episodes I watched, Rei shows herself to be quite abrasive and strict, but this seems toned down entirely in Crystal. The instant I noticed something was off was in chapter four and episode four. Rei, in Crystal, is acting quite timid and bashful in the first scene in the arcade. It’s really off when Luna shares the information that Usagi is late since she got detention for falling asleep in class and Rei’s reaction is to sigh, smile and say that that is so like Usagi….

Now compare that to Rei’s reaction in the manga. Rei clearly says, with an angry expression, that Usagi is late. They changed ‘You’re late. >:|’ to ‘Oh that is SO like Usagi. Lol *eye roll*’

But if that’s not enough, in that same scene in Crystal, Rei says she’s already tired of fighting evil, and that’s that. In the manga, she scoffs and says in a seemingly snotty tone that she doesn’t understand why she has to be a Sailor Scout, and, not only that, but if Luna doesn’t tell them all where she came from and what she truly is that she’s going to leave.

One more subtle yet significant change comes at the end of the scene where Usagi gushes over wanting to go to the big fancy Princess D party. Rei responds calmly that it might not be a good idea since she has a bad feeling about it. In the manga, she basically says the same thing but it’s clear that she’s saying it with an attitude, especially when she prefaces her dialogue with ‘pfft, you better give up on that now.’

Please keep in mind that I’m not making these comparisons to the manga for purist purposes – I’m doing it because Crystal is specifically designed to be a better adaptation of the manga, and because I’m trying to convey why the show doesn’t have the same heart that the manga and 90s anime have.

I’m also not saying that changing characters’ personalities in adaptations is entirely a bad thing either. But the problem here is that the new personalities just seem drab to me. Usagi seems to have lost a good deal of what made her endearing and funny, and Rei, no pun intended, seems to have lost her fire.

Ami is kept pretty loyal, for the most part, but it’s a bit difficult to really alter her character too bad without just completely overhauling it. Worst I’ve heard in regards to changes for her is that she becomes kinda useless as time goes on, which is a damn shame if that’s true because Ami’s the most useful, to be honest.

When we get to Makoto, she’s also seemingly altered. She’s, for lack of a better term, weaker than her manga counterpart. In the manga, as she’s being held captive by Nephrite and his bride mannequin, she quickly picks herself up by the bootstraps and takes them on, even without transforming, once she realizes that she was tricked and manipulated. She instantly throws the mannequin and transforms in her desire to prove to them the powers of an innocent girl. She takes on Nephrite, entirely on her own, and manages to kill him.

In Crystal, she is devastated by hearing Nephrite talk about how people only care about looks and how humans are easily manipulated through them. She explains that Motoki looked a lot like her old crush who gently let her down after revealing he had a girlfriend (in the manga, we don’t get the story, we just get told that someone she was in love with broke her heart). So, since he manipulated her, she should give up on love and everything else and falls to the floor in a heap. Usagi then gives her a speech about not giving up on love and how there’s definitely someone out there for Makoto and her. Yeah, we went from ‘girl power’ to ‘Don’t give up on life because of a guy! You’ll get a guy someday!’ Also, sweetie, Motoki was clearly controlled by an evil force. He didn’t mean to manipulate you.

So, hearing Usagi’s speech, she only then decides to get up and fight. To be fair, though, she does get the rest of the fight to herself. ….But Nephrite survives. I’ll leave the connotations of that alone since it’s the start of a pretty iffy plot thread. You can find a more thorough analysis on that in the Tumblr link.

You’d think that, given the seemingly more serious tone of this anime that they’d at least have a more powerful romance….Well, it’s really hard to get into the sparking romance between Usagi and Mamoru when most of their scenes are just blank stares. Not to mention that in the only two face-to-face interactions that they’ve had as Usagi and Mamoru, without transformations or disguises, they took away a good chunk of the arguing and over the top anger and replaced it with, you guessed it, blank stares. In a nutshell, they made it boring to me.

That really is the bigger problem I have with the art. Sure, there are just terrible art and animation problems, but those could be forgivable if the art they were going for had any real emotion behind it. They’re not even trying to make these characters come to life in any way, and it’s still coming out looking like a fourth grader animated it half the time. I know they fixed a lot of this for the BluRay, or at least attempted, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was released this way to begin with and is still as such on sites such as Hulu.

Even the fights, while having some kickass moments, such as Rei’s attack in episode five, lose a lot of their oomph because the art of the facial expressions just don’t convey any real emotions. The voice acting, Japanese, is alright, but it’s also not as good as it really should be in the emoting department.

In essence, the reasons why I ‘quit’ watching Sailor Moon Crystal was because I feel like it’s not really giving me any reason to watch it. If I want a story more loyal to the manga, I’ll read the manga. The changes that are present in Crystal just aren’t appealing to me at all. There aren’t any real drastic story changes so far, and what scene changes there are seem to be changed for the worse. I’m definitely not against anime or any adaptations changing things from the source material as long as what they put in its place is just as good, better or builds upon something interesting. Crystal just isn’t doing that. They’re taking stuff away and not adding to it.

If I want to watch an animated version of the manga, then the 90s series works just fine for me. No, it doesn’t follow the manga to a tee, but, again, it doesn’t have to as long as what its adding or building upon seems to be either as good or for the better. Not saying the 90s series is perfect, oh god no, but it does manage to keep the heart and soul of the manga much better than Crystal does.

And, to be honest, an adaptation doesn’t even really have to do that. You can build an entirely new soul of a piece of source material and make it into something entirely different and that can still be okay. As long as it’s entertaining and truly feels like something that is trying to connect with you in some way, then you don’t have to even try to emulate the heart or soul of the source material.

The problem is that that’s not what Crystal is trying to do. Their main hook was being a more loyal adaptation to the manga, not trying for a new vision of it. Because of this, their aim really was, more or less, to bring the heart behind the manga to an anime, and they just really failed in nearly all levels to me.

Now, the reason ‘quit’ is written like that is because, despite the fact that I’ve dropped it, I’m not against watching another episode or two in the future if I’m in the mood. I’m just not going to actively continue watching it on a semi-regular basis. I’ve heard the second and third seasons are better in regards to art and animation quality and kinda better story-wise, but apparently it’s just mediocre at best, and I still doubt I’ll ever bother going that far.

Also, as a note, to anyone with similar opinions to mine, don’t be put off by hard core fans who may judge you for disliking Crystal. Just like no one should judge anyone else for liking it. Everyone’s free to like or dislike anything, even in a big powerful franchise, especially if you’ve given it a fair shot. Remember, if liking everything in a franchise was required to be a real fan of it, I’d have to like The Last Airbender. And that’s just cruel.

Okay, I can’t resist posting a couple.

There is an alarming amount of ones containing Sailor Mars.

Just, why Toei?

Last one, honest. It’s a video, so I can’t upload it here, but enjoy anyway.

http://crystalquality.tumblr.com/post/98685920019/crisontumblr-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who

Images courtesy of Crystal Quality and Sailor Moon Crystal Failures.

http://sailormooncrystalfailures.tumblr.com/

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Sailor Moon Episode 5 Sub/Dub Comparison Placeholder (Undubbed)

Best anime screencap ever.

Plot: Usagi’s little brother, Shingo, has discovered Luna sleeping in his room. Shingo hates cats, so their parents leave it up to them to figure out if or how Luna can stay with them.

Meanwhile, Shingo’s friend introduces him to a new breed of pet called a Chanela (named after Chanel perfume?) a small bunny-like creature that has become insanely popular around town. Shingo becomes entranced by the pet as Jadeite is secretly using the animals to suck out the life force of their owners. Can Sailor Moon save her brother?

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This is a missing episode in Sailor Moon’s episode list. DiC decided not to dub it for some reason. While watching this, I can assume that it might be because Shingo kicks Luna across the room at one point, and Usagi slaps her brother, but I’ll probably just say it’s because DiC wanted to get to the introductions of the other Sailor Scouts sooner. Since this episode was pretty much filler as it was focused mostly on Shingo, DiC probably thought it okay to remove it.

I don’t really have much to say about this episode really, except for a few things.

Those Chanela don’t eat, and the parents don’t ask why? All living creatures need to eat something, why is no one questioning this?

This is actually one of those rare times that Tuxedo Mask doesn’t appear to save Sailor Moon in the nick of time.

How did Shingo know that Sailor Moon was ‘cute’ unless he saw her face?

I kinda wish Shingo had adopted that stray puppy that he ignored. There was no real reason for putting that scene in there besides making you feel bad for the puppy….

Hey, you know how in some video games the weak spot on a boss will be horrendously apparent? In this episode, the enemy’s weak spot was the base of its tail….and it was flashing white….A big ol’ beacon saying ‘hit me!’

Next up is yet another removed episode where Jadeite uses the power of music to steal energy.

…Previous Episode

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Sailor Moon Episode 4 (3 for the Dub) (DiC) Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Usagi has gained some weight and becomes obsessed with dieting in order to get thinner. Meanwhile, Jadeite is using a gym to collect the energies of women (only women apparently) who are vain and obsessed with weight loss.

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Title Change: Learn How to be Skinny From Usagi is changed to Slim City.

So today’s episode surrounds Usagi’s weight loss regimen because she’s gotten fa-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!…Ahem, sorry. She’s put on some wei—AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!….Oooohh…..Okay…Okay, I’m sorry. I just find it so hilarious that we’re supposed to buy that Usagi of all people is seen as “chubby.” Or even anything above average weight at most.

She’s like the anime equivalent to Barbie. In fact, her character is infuriating because she eats tons of junk, gets like no exercise, is lazy beyond reason and she still has a body like that. Just like Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew and Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi. It’s ridiculous. It’s not even like they’re trying to address eating disorders or bad body image – her family also agrees that she could stand to lose a few pounds.

In the original, Usagi’s parents and brother actually call her “Chubby,” but ask what the big deal is as it’s alright to be slightly chubby. Then they all point out why she might’ve gained weight (She constantly eats, she gets no exercise, she’s lazy etc.) then she cries because they all pointed that out. I can’t say I blame her. If I freaked out over a few pounds, I wouldn’t want my family making fun of me for it either.

In the dub, they basically enforce that she’s not overweight and that she’s completely overreacting. The weight will come off on her way to school…..Wait, her weight will come off on her way to school? How much does she plan to lose? 1/100th of a pound?

After we see Luna’s drawing of a fat Usagi, there’s a short shot of the house outside as Usagi yells at Luna. In the dub, they edit this shot and the yelling out.

DiC edits in a scene where Beryl has a short meeting with Jadeite before the start of the scene at school. And ya know, I really love when the dub gets preachy. No lie. It’s just gold. Jadeite’s dialogue is so lame in this scene. “They’re so preoccupied with their foolish notions of dieting and fitness.” Yeah, those things do have a purpose beyond vanity, guys. Like, I dunno, staying healthy? Also, they edit out a small scene where Usagi drools over Naru’s lunch and then Umino teases her by offering her his mostly finished lunch.

The flower emblem on the front of the school is changed to “Crossroads Junior High”

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Because the message of this episode seems slightly changed for the dub, the dialogue is mostly changed throughout the scenes. In the scene with Serena speaking with her friends at school, they’re talking about dieting. This much is kept in the dub, but some key things are changed.

First of all, what’s with that awful voice the ‘chubby’ girl in the group has? The dub is trying to a push a “you’re beautiful no matter what size you are” message, yet they give her that horrible man-ish voice? She sounds completely normal in the original.

Second, in the original, the ‘chubby’ girl is actually dieting, but she says she’s having a hard time. Then the looks her friends give her are almost insulting as they say “We know.”

Third, the girl who talks about love making you lose weight doesn’t have a boyfriend in the original. They ask her if she’s ever been in love, she says no and they answer “We know,” and that’s why she suddenly changes her tone. Then the ‘chubby’ girl consoles her and says that we can’t help the way we were born. The other girl lashes out saying that she’s the last person she’d want to hear that from and they act like they’re going to fight.

In the dub, the girl who says those things about love says she has a boyfriend named Michael and the girls call him “Motormouth Michael” which is why she freaks out. Then the ‘chubby’ girl explains that it’s because he IS a motormouth and they act like they’re going to get into a fight over that.

In the original, after Naru starts making accusations toward Umino, he starts acting nervously and tries to make excuses as Naru becomes more suspicious. Then he runs away. In the dub, he instantly runs away after Molly gets suspicious.

An outer shot of the gym is removed.

One of the reasons the girls are so entranced by the entrance is because the woman on the screen is an actress they like. In the dub….Serena just yells with enthusiasm “AEROBICS!” 8D….It’s pretty weird.

When Jadeite tells Molly to get back to work on the bike, he actually tells her to keep working in order to be beautiful. She then agrees and keeps chanting as she’s on the bike “Be beautiful, be beautiful.” The dub looks slightly awkward because Molly blushes when he orders her to get back to work. Why would she do that? Also, she’s silent beyond panting after that in the dub, which makes it look weird with the lip flaps, but DiC sucks at that anyway.

The sign for the bath area is edited out.

Usagi’s breast lines are painted over with water in the dub.

Here are your visuals PERVS!

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Forgive the blurriness for the dub screencap, it’s hard to get it clear when it’s moving.

Hm, I honestly don’t know why this next scene was changed. In the original, those pods are actually supposed to induce some BS called “Shape rays,” which allows you to lose weight insanely quickly. He tells the girls that ‘the chubby one’ could lose 10 Kg in a few minutes with the ray and that the thinner girls could lose 3 Kg. Another thing that was edited out of the dub was the mention that Haruna Sensei lost quite a bit of weight in only two days, and they believe that this is how she did it. In the dub, he says they’re in a spa and that the pods are “relaxation pods.”

The scene after this is the scene they edited in before the scene at school, so it’s condensed to just Beryl watching them from her crystal ball and laughing.

Huh…Why did Haruna Sensei look so healthy and energetic at school, but Naru and the others look like they spent half a week starving in the desert after one trip to that gym?

So we come to our very first change of Japanese food. Well, people eat dumplings in America too, so I dunno. Anyway, Usagi sees a little boy run by with a dumpling and she drools over it basically asking for it.

In the dub, Serena calls the dumpling a donut. (4Kids!!!……Oh sorry….reflex) Interestingly, she also says “You’re not going to eat all those donuts are ya?” DiC, it’s very obvious that’s not a donut. It’s also obvious that that poor kid is only holding one. I’m actually kinda surprised they left this scene in at all. DiC makes just about as many pointless cuts as 4Kids, and this scene really makes Serena look friggin’ creepy.

In the original, she dreams that Motoki is telling her that he’ll help her with his power of love. In the dub, he just tells her not eating isn’t healthy and to have a “big steak with French fries and a chocolate malt.” DiC what exactly was the message here? Yes, not eating is bad, but eating crap is also bad.

The dialogue after the dream is also drastically changed. In the original, Motoki asks Usagi what she meant by not having eaten since yesterday. Then he asks if her mother wouldn’t let her eat because of bad grades or something. She gets slightly offended then says she decided to go on a diet. Motoki then laughs at her for it and Usagi starts crying.

Motoki apologizes and says that she doesn’t need to go on a diet because she’s fine the way she is. If anything, she needs to gain weight. He then adds that he likes chubby girls over super thin girls, and Usagi gets excited because this basically gives her leeway in her diet and she goes to get a dumpling.

In the dub, Andrew says her fainting solidified his wanting to be a doctor. Then Serena’s slightly offended face doesn’t really match as she says “Oh really, you want to be a doctor? You don’t like working at the arcade anymore?” He then laughs because he wouldn’t want to work there forever. Then Serena cries because she’s afraid he might leave town to be a doctor.

He quells her fears by saying he needs to finish school and gain tuition before he quits his job at the arcade. Then he brings up the dieting stuff. However, even this isn’t without change. He basically asks if she’s dieting and tells her she’s fine the way she is. Then he says he’ll take her out for a big lunch and she cheers because of that.

The very ending to this scene is slightly changed. In the original, Motoki gets a sweat drop above his head because he doesn’t know why she’s cheering him admitting that he likes chubby girls, then we change to the scene where she’s eating a dumpling. In the dub, there’s no sweat drop and we get this weird makeshift laughing animation thrown in by DiC when he really didn’t need to be laughing there.

In the original, as Usagi’s talking to Luna, Luna tells her that maybe she misinterpreted what Motoki said. He likes chubby girls not fat ones, and eating all those dumplings isn’t the way to be at a healthy weight. Then Luna instantly switches gears and says that’s not important right now. She starts explaining that Haruna-sensei has gotten terribly thin and that Gym Shapely might be the culprit, but Usagi won’t listen and runs off to diet. In the dub, Luna mentions nothing about Andrew liking chubby girls and preaches more about dieting correctly before finally switching to negaverse talk.

In the dub, for some reason, Serena knows about the relaxation room despite never going down there or being introduced to it.

In the original, because Usagi’s obsessed with weight loss, Luna coaxes her into fighting by saying she’ll lose weight if she fights, so she does it. In the dub, Luna coaxes her into fighting to save Miss Haruna.

During the fight scene that follows, Usagi is talking during her moves. She’s basically parroting the motto the actress said when they first entered the gym. One sweat loses 1 Kg, two sweats lose 5 Kg, three sweats lose 10 Kg. She goes through each step as she attacks each of the three men. Since this wasn’t included in the dub, she doesn’t say a word in this scene, which is fine if you ask me.

In the original, Beryl is impressed that Jadeite managed to collect so much energy and praises him on at least a half-successful mission.

In the dub, Beryl berates Jadeite for failing in his mission halfway and says she’s disappointed in him. Not only is there no purpose in changing this, but it also makes his smiling at the end seem stupid. Why is he smiling if he’s being scolded and says that Sailor Moon is making him mad?

The message of the episode is fairly lost in the original due the ending, which is also changed. In the original, Usagi tells her mother that Haruna-sensei is okay and that she took a week off from school to recover. Usagi’s younger brother then tells their mother to not try any crazy diets like Haruna. Their mother says she wouldn’t and Usagi should be wary of that too. Then we hear Usagi bawling because she gained more weight due to her brother rigging the scale. Shouldn’t the moral of this episode be to not be obsessed with weight loss but it’s a good idea to eat healthy and exercise in moderation?

In the dub, Serena doesn’t mention her teacher. Her mother just tells her to get out of the tub because her brother needs to use the bathroom. Then her brother tells their mother that he’s not really waiting to use the tub, he’s playing a prank. Then Serena bawls because the scale says she weighs 300 pounds. The dub sorta loses the moral as does the original, but they always add the ‘real’ moral to the end of the story in ‘Sailor Says.’ Hey, it actually came in handy for a change!

Next up is another episode that DiC skipped that centers around Usagi’s brother, Shingo, and Jadeite using a pet shop to collect energy.

…Previous Episode

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