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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SSBS – Smile! Precure Episode 8: Miyuki and Candy Changed Places?!

Plot: A pair of magic rings created by Majorina is accidentally dropped to earth. As (bad) luck would have it, Candy and Miyuki find the rings. The rings magically attach themselves to Candy and Miyuki, which causes them to switch bodies! Candy is forced to try to pretend to be Miyuki all day at school while they try to figure out a way to get back to their original forms.

Breakdown: I don’t much care for body switching episodes. Even if it does make for some funny moments, it’s mostly just awkward and follows the same path over and over.

Oh no, they switched bodies. Oh haha, they’re awkward because they switched bodies. Oooohhh they fight because they’re both crap at being the other. Yay they learn to triumph in the other’s body. Aww they learned something from the experience and gained more mutual respect. Whoo they switch back at the end.

This episode is ultimately more of the same. They even do the voice switch and, somehow, certain bodily functions shifting yet not really? It’s pretty confusing.

I will say that I loved how they changed both Miyuki and Candy’s designs a little to reflect the change. When Candy took over Miyuki, her lips curved, her eyes got rounder and wider and her pigtails got curlier and floppier. When Miyuki took over Candy, her eye design changed quite a bit.

I also adore that they had Miyuki transform, battle and use Happy Shower while in Candy’s body instead of just having Candy do it in her body. It was really cute and funny.

Majorina also had many really funny moments, especially with Wolfrun and Akaoni. She’s easily becoming my favorite character.

However, this episode didn’t really need to happen – and I don’t mean that in a filler way. They never explain why Candiyuki had to go to school when they could have just excused her and kept her home, with the other girls trying to figure out a way to switch them back while at school – maybe contacting Pop or something – but then we wouldn’t have a plot and crazy Candiyuki shenanigans.

I was also a little disappointed that we never really get Miyuki’s view on this whole situation. She’s been turned into a little rabbit fairy thing but she never really says anything about it besides doing that thing with her ears. The final battle as Miyandy makes up for that quite a bit, but still.

All in all it’s a VERY tired cliché plot, but it’s done fairly well in this circumstance. It didn’t bring anything new to the table, but it put a fun spin on it that I enjoyed.

Next episode, Yayoi’s playing a not-funny April Fool’s Day prank involving her moving away. I assume awkwardness and displeasure abound.

….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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SSBS – Smile Precure! Episode 7: Where Could it Be? Our Secret Base!

Plot: The girls are in desperate need of privacy in order to talk about Precure things. They each use the portals in the Magical Library to find a suitable spot.

Breakdown: This episode was a lot of fun, even if some of the spot choices were just really….stupid. I get that, for the sake of comedy, they have to choose some spots that are really dumb, but seriously Yayoi? An active movie set? Yeah, that’s nice and private. Though, admittedly, it’s better than the gorilla pen Akane chose. (That they somehow accessed through a fake bookshelf?)

I also like they didn’t end up at the secret spot at Miyuki’s old town. I really thought they were going there, but she’s right. It’s the little girls’ spot now, and it’d be wrong to impede on that.

It was a nice little twist that the library brought them back to the library when they all thought of the perfect secret spot. The Magical Library is a great spot for them, and the clubhouse that was deus ex machina’d for them from the Star Charm is really nice.

If I had any major issue with this episode, it’s that the villain plan this time around was so weak. Miyuki and the others go to some random spot in the woods that she loved as a kid, one that was in the forest near her old house, and Wolfrun, without knowing they’re coming, also arrives at this spot to…..suck up the happiness of two little girls who have taken over the spot in the meantime.

That’s so convoluted, I can feel my brain trying to escape my skull.

And the Akanbe didn’t make up for the lame villain plot, either. It was just a tree….that smashed things.

I feel like this is one episode where a villain plot was unnecessary. The plot about the secret base selection was enough to carry the episode. Maybe have that battle time taken up with the Precures talking to the little girls and then leaving to go find another spot when they realize how much it means to them.

Other than that, though, a very fun episode, and I look forward to them utilizing their secret base in the future.

Next episode, Miyuki and Candy Freaky Friday themselves.

…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.

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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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SSBS – Smile Precure! Episode 6: The Team’s Assembled! We Are Smile Precure!

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?

Breakdown: This episode was moreso recapping what we already knew what with the backstory of Marchenland and the goals of both sides. We learn a little bit more of the story, get introduced to some new characters – Pop and Joker – we solidify the girls as a team and give them a catchphrase.

I did enjoy several aspects of it. First of all, I like how some parts seem to harmlessly poke fun at magical girl tropes. As a fan of magical girl shows, I always like a little ribbing at those cliches.

Secondly, I LOVE Pop. He’s so cute yet cool and brave. His relationship with Candy is also very nicely constructed. He realizes Candy’s a bit sensitive, scatter-brained and frightened, but also respects that she works hard, is brave when the situation calls for it and is willing to do everything she can for their cause. Pop worries about her, but he’s isn’t overbearing about it.

Joker’s also pretty entertaining and I look forward to what he’ll bring to the table in the future.

Finally, the ending was so well-directed and sad that, even though it was just temporarily saying goodbye to a character who debuted in this very episode, I was still getting a bit misty-eyed.

I don’t much mind the recapping as we could benefit from sitting down and fully talking about everything that’s lead to this point, so that’s not a negative to me.

However, I didn’t much appreciate that so much time was dedicated to finding a catchphrase. I thought it was a cute joke that they were even bringing up needing a catchphrase, another nudge to magical girl tropes, but then I realized how serious they were about it and I just kinda wanted them to move on.

I also thought this week’s Akanbe was embarrassingly lame. He was a beefed up soda can who shot soda cans….that’s it. Majorina won a game of cards against the other villains to face the Precures again and she uses her opportunity on this recycling PSA.

What’s even more embarrassing is that the girls actually nearly lose to this thing. In another bit of a magical girl trope joke moment, the girls are instantly shot when they complete their long transformations, personal phrases and group catchphrase. I thought they’d more or less brush it off and kick ass together as a team, showing off how awesome they are now that they’re finally together….but no.

The shot downs all of them, they nearly get stomped on and Pop has to turn into a giant can press, subdue the Akanbe and wait for the girls to, forgive me for saying this, sit on his face in order to crush the Akanbe.

Pop’s ability to transform is cool, but him jumping in to save the day really took all of the wind out of my sails. Like yay, Smile Precur–*BLAM* “Ugh, we can’t do anything now.” Oh…I mean…yay Pop!

Not to mention that, while it’s more subtle than a lot of shows, they’re starting to show their leader favoritism here. They wait until Miyuki arrives on the scene to transform…for no reason. I might understand if they transformed and fought but prolonged the fight because they wanted their first full team fight to be together, but they didn’t even transform until Miyuki arrived. Then Candy told Miyuki to give the final blow attack when the other girls were available.

I can’t imagine they’ll get to Tokyo Mew Mew levels of favoritism here, but it was giving me that vibe and I hate that vibe.

All in all, while this wasn’t the most fantastic episode ever, expected of a more or less recap, and it was certainly disappointing for a full team debut, I did enjoy this episode. My enjoyment was mostly because of Pop (Someone find me a Pop plushie. I will love you forever), but outside of the battle, it was a solid episode.

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.

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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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SSBS – Smile Precure! Episode 5: A Beautiful Heart – Cure Beauty!

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?

Breakdown: This episode was kinda dull.

There were some aspects I really liked. For instance, Majorina is my favorite of the three villains so far. She has a lot of great dialogue and personality. I also like Reika quite a bit, even if she is a bit too perfect for my tastes, as of now anyway. The animation and colors in Beauty’s transformation and attack are simply gorgeous to the point where I almost feel she was a meant to be the leader.

However, the main story with Reika is just dull as dishwater. She’s going to read to kids, the girls help her turn it into a puppet show…..There’s no conflict. Whether or not the girls helped is irrelevant. Reika and the other two Student Council members could’ve handled a book reading by themselves. The girls made the show better, but there was no conflict resolved as a result of their being there.

I can’t get the thought out of my head that they just wanted to get Reika’s debut episode out of the way to round off the Precures so they just threw a plot together. Maybe they could’ve made the argument that she was very overworked so the other girls decided to help her out and take some stress off her shoulders by helping her. Even then, it’s kinda moot because now she has an entirely new task eating up her time and energy by being a Precure.

The plot with the Akanbe is particularly lazy because they’re clearly making the other Precures act irrationally for the sake of leaving Reika as their only option to step up and help. They go up against six mirror versions of the Akanbe and have to find the right one, so they all decide to just guess at which one is real by using up their one-shot attacks one by one.

What’s even stupider is that, later, we find out that the Akanbe can be physically attacked just as easily without wasting the special attack, so they wasted their attacks for nothing. And how did none of them have the forethought to think ‘Hm, maybe literally the only Akanbe that looks different is the one we should attack’?

I definitely didn’t dislike this episode, but it’s certainly not a particularly interesting or well-written story, and it’s fairly dull for most of the run time. Majorina and Beauty’s aesthetics (puns?) make up for a bit of it, but it just didn’t do it for me.

SDC Episode 5

Next episode, with all the girls now together, they have a meeting to establish their game plan for stopping Pierrot and saving the world from a bad end.

…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?

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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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SSBS – Smile Precure! Episode 4: Straight Ball Showdown – Cure March of the Wind

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?

Breakdown: I really enjoyed this episode. Nao is a fantastic character. I always have a soft spot for the mature, responsible big-sister types in the group. And I’m eternally thankful that her brothers and sisters are both believable and likable. That is so hard to find in shows with these character backgrounds.

Her transformation and attack are both kinda cool, but I’m still thinking they’re just falling asleep at the wheel when it comes to making cool attacks/transformations/attack names. That’s half the fun of magical girl shows, guys. Come on.

March’s super speed and seeming super kicks are awesome, though.

I also like how, even though it’s not a huge differentiation, we switched from the fully friendship theme to a family-oriented one, and that the reason Nao transformed was for the sake of her brothers and sisters, not the Precures.

There were many small moments I really enjoyed, especially when they talked about Peace’s Rock, Paper, Scissors game.

I honestly don’t have any real complaints about this episode. It was a lot of fun all the way through.

Next episode, we round off the Precures with Cure Beauty!

…….Previous Episode

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If you enjoy my work and would like to help support my blog, please consider donating at my Ko-Fi page. Thank you! ♥