Space-Time Detective Genshi-Kun/Flint the Time Detective Episode 12: What is Ammon? | Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Genshi is set off to find the Space-Time Monster, Ammon, in 15^th century Transylvania where she is currently hanging out with ‘Dracula’ himself – Vlad the Impaler.

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Title Change: What is Ammon? is changed to Bindi.

The first shot of the original is the computer screen showing Ammon. In the dub, they insert two establishing shots of the bureau before showing that screen.

Name plate removed:

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The dub adds wing flapping noises when showing Pterry and Getalong even though they’re just floating there without flapping their wings.

The dub also adds the same shot of them getting on Ridon and heading down to the basement as usual, but they go even further by adding Jillian chastising Professor Goodman for hitting on her before.

Between when Genshi inserts the card and when they depart, the dub adds in the professor telling the kids to wait a second through the computer, but they won’t wait.

The dub inserts another shot (presumably from later) where we see an overhead view of the town and the kids flying over it before we cut to Sora and Genshi talking.

Genshi initially thinks Dracula is a food, which is why he rushes down to see it. In the dub, Flint seems to know what Dracula is, so he, for some reason, rushes down to see him.

Instead of zooming OUT on the castle, the dub zooms IN. *shrug*

Sora starts telling Genshi they should look for Ammon somewhere else. In the dub, Sarah says they’ll be safe as long as Flint is with them.

So, you know how I was confused as to how they’d go about this episode? Because either 1) They’d be meeting the fictional character, Dracula, in history somehow or 2) They’d start palling around with Vlad the Frickin’ Impaler – the real-life mass murderer on whom Dracula was based?

…..It’s 2.

And HOO. BOY. Do we have much to discuss here.

First of all, Vlad over here is depressed because people keep calling him Dracula and are afraid of him. However, Vlad pretty much gave himself that name in real life. He signed his name as Dragulya or Drakulya after his father, Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Dragon) – a name he received after joining the Order of the Dragon, which was a chivalric order in Europe at the time. Draculea or Dracula was Romanian for ‘son of dracul.’ While ‘dracul’ originally meant ‘dragon’ its meaning changed to ‘the devil’ in the more modern vernacular. In turn, the son of the dragon became the son of the devil.

Second of all, Vlad is also specifically calling himself Vlad Tepes here as if it’s his actual name, which it’s not. It’s literally just Vlad III (of Wallachia). He was given the name Vlad Tepes because ‘tepes’ in Romanian translates to ‘impaler.’ This title was bestowed upon him, posthumously, mind you, because the dude loved him some impaling.

Third, in the dub, Vlad is saying Dracula is a family name, which it’s not, technically, (Vlad II’s descendants were all referred to as Draculesti) and means something different now – something warped from what they originally stood for.

Hm….Hmph. The ‘family’ name of Dracul, inherited from Vlad II was only ‘warped’ because of Vlad III’s cruelty and the slightly embellished stories in the newspapers, word of mouth and, of course, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Whether or not Vlad II had a good reputation is up in the air. I feel like it’s a gray area situation.

From all I’ve read, he had his fair share of blood on his hands and made some questionable military decisions, but he seemed to have been a pretty fair and caring ruler overall and was nothing anywhere close to the cruel person Vlad III was. His worst crime is implicated as handing over his sons, Vlad III and Radu, to the Ottoman empire, but he was forced into that arrangement (they were kidnapped and being held hostage to try and keep Vlad II under their thumb) and Vlad II tried to ensure that his sons were kept safe and eventually returned to him. He appeared to have died believing that, somewhere down the line, his sons were murdered by the Ottoman empire.

Fourth, this whole setup is kinda screwed from the getout because Vlad III never owned any property or lived in Transylvania. It’s been recorded that Vlad III might have been born in Transylvania, but, even if he was, he never lived there. Even the place they call ‘Dracula’s castle’ – Bran Castle – is just a spooky castle in Transylvania that Vlad never once visited. His armies once passed through Bran the city when they were murdering Saxons and burning nearby suburbs to the ground in the area, but that’s about it.

It was rumored to be the closest existing castle bearing resemblance to the castle described in Dracula, but it’s really not even that. In the 1970s, the Romanian government just banked on the rumor that it was strongly connected to Dracula, so they drove up tourism by marketing it that way.

Moving on, Putera originally tells Tokio and Sora that Vlad was just a model for Dracula and that such a being is not real. In the dub, Pterry tells Sarah and Tony that, if Tony’s nice enough, Vlad might give him the grand tour of the castle – the one that involves showing him his coffin.

Also, somehow, Ammon can talk, which is very much unlike most other Space-Time Monsters.

Speaking of which, Tokio asks how Ammon can talk, and Ammon doesn’t really have an answer for him. In the dub, since all Time Shifters can talk anyway, this is changed to Tony saying Flint won’t make a very good vampire unless they change his diet. Bindi then says to knock off the vampire talk around Vlad because he doesn’t care for it. While supernatural beings of a vampiric-like nature have existed for over a thousand years, ‘vampires’ shouldn’t be a thing in 15^th century Transylvania since the word ‘vampire’ wouldn’t exist until the early 1700s.

Mite originally asks what powers TP Lady could be referring to. In the dub, he asks if it was worth missing bowling for a Time Shifter with no powers. Also, after TP Lady goes on about how Ammon could have eternal life or beauty, Mite points out that TP Lady always seems to want the Space-Time Monsters with powers that specifically benefit her. In the dub, he asks if the next Time Shifter they’ll go after will have experience in hair dressing.

TP Lady originally jumps out of the ship to tell them that those are the basics in life that she needs. In the dub, she, for some reason, says ‘One more time! One. More. Time!’ before falling.

I am currently watching Vlad the Impaler happily bounce on a bed with a time traveling caveman……Again, I truly, deeply love anime.

However, let me be a downer nerd for a second……a downerd, if you will – mattresses didn’t start having springs until 1865. Unless there’s something else springy in that mattress, there’s no reason they should be bouncing like that, especially so easily. I have no clue why I decided to look that up, but here we are.

They censor the wolf getting hit in the face with Kyoichiro’s cane by cutting to a flash of white when the strike happens.

They do the same thing again when the other two wolves get hit, but it’s so quick and really nothing is shown during the split-second shot.

Ammon: “The count is really a nice person. Everyone just misunderstands him.”

Uh.

……Huh.

Vlad once impaled a donkey because it started braying after Vlad impaled its masters…..Who were monks.

A group of Ottomans once refused to remove their turbans in his presence due to religious reasons, so he ordered their turbans be nailed to their heads in honor of their religious devotion.

There’s a story of him having a woman killed because she made a shirt for her husband that was too short.

Here’s a woodcut depicting him eating his dinner while surrounded by dead/dying people impaled on pikes with one of his men chopping up corpses in front of him as he dines.

I mean, granted, yeah, it’s been suggested that the stories about his cruelty were exaggerated to some extent, but, still, the guy didn’t have some sort of fake image as a monster smeared on him. He earned it. He left tens of thousands of bodies in his wake, usually leaving them alive while impaled on stakes and allowing them to die slowly for days wherever he left them. His most famous instance of cruelty and murder was leaving what was described as a ‘forest’ of impaled people on stakes – over 20,000 Ottoman POWs – as a means of intimidating an Ottoman army into retreating (and it worked.) His estimated final death toll is about 100,000.

He is hailed as a Romanian hero by some as he was an extremely effective military leader who held strong resistance against the Ottoman empire, protected Wallachia and had a very noble sense of law and order. But even people who hail him as a hero recognize that he was a cruel person who did horrific things. They simply justify it on the grounds that his cruelty was ‘necessary’ in such horrible times and his acts lead to some good. I actually found quite a few lengthy comments by people who were vehemently defending Vlad on those grounds. I’m not Romanian nor did I live in the 1400s or know the guy personally, but I just can’t see through that lens. Even if you can excuse or justify the acts themselves, if he actually did them in such a merciless manner and took pleasure in it, he’s simply a horrible person in my eyes.

No matter if you don’t accept the monstrous viewpoint of Vlad or even accept him as a hero, you have to agree that it’s SO weird that this show is choosing to paint him like this. The guy is depicted as such a gentle softspoken man that he’d probably be an understudy for The Count on Sesame Street.

They insert a shot of Sarah talking right before Merlock introduces himself.

Kyoichiro tells Sora that he hasn’t properly introduced himself to her yet. In the dub, he tells Sarah that he’s her servant.

In the original, Dyna and Mite say the missiles might not be flying right because Mite mentioned to the people who repaired their ship that they keep getting defeated so they probably skimped on the work. In the dub, Dino says cuts to the defense budget caused the problem and Mite adds that if they had written to their congressman like he suggested this wouldn’t be happening.

Vlad originally tells the women to take the children and run while the men work to put out the fires. In the dub, he tells everyone to grab a bucket and head to the wells to put out the fire.

Also, yup, now Vlad the Impaler is a village-saving firefighter…..

They recycle a couple of shots from the chase after it restarts before Merlock hits the cliff.

They remove about half of the shots of the saw approaching Kyoichiro and Ammon. He was biding his time until the very last moment so he could get the best shot at defeating the robot and getting away. In the dub, he just suddenly attacks.

*lip smack*….Uhhh……why is the sawblade now flying around back and forth like it’s a boomerang that never falls? TP Lady’s not doing this.

Petra: *nearly got hit by the sawblade* “I hate when this happens!” I, too, hate when sawblades defy the laws of physics and basically become a flying sentient Beyblade from hell for absolutely no discernible reason.

Putera: “Vlad was attacked by many, but the townspeople loved him. Just as history should be.” This is half-right, to some degree. As I said, some Romanian people hailed him more as a hero, and they still do. If nothing else, he’s viewed as a good military leader who defended Wallachia no matter what.

However, I am totally still calling foul on this narrative like he was given a bad rep unjustifiably. I get that this kids’ show can’t depict or even discuss the horrible acts of Vlad the Impaler, but acting like he was this goshdarn swell guy who had the heart of a lion but everyone unfairly treated like a monster for absolutely no given reason is taking it way too far.

It’s a hop, skip and jump away from telling the tale of a down-on-his-luck artist who had the best of intentions but everyone just started being mean to him for no reason and his legacy was forever marred because of rumors. Genshi and the others really have to help innocent little Adolf.

I joke, but Shin Devilman pretty much did that.

And I definitely won’t agree with the statement “Just as history should be.” It’s not as history should be because you’re omitting, like…..ALL OF THE HISTORY. The dub parrots this last line exactly and it really irks me. At least Saban changes the first line to saying he was part of a noble family that cared for his country instead of making this defenseless victim narrative.

Dub Villager: “We listened to too many bad stories.” Again, what were these stories? Who was telling them? What were they even about?

Tony: “I guess the vampire was just an urban myth of the count’s era.” No. He was a mere part of the basis of the most famous vampire in history, ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’, which wouldn’t be created for another 400 years. Not only was Vlad’s cruelty and impaling shtick inspiration for him, but there was also the popular rumor that Vlad liked to drink the blood of his enemies. It should be noted, however, that the strength of Vlad III’s connection to the fictional Dracula are said to be overstated. Stoker got the name Dracula from him and drew inspiration from the stories of cruelty surrounding him, but the majority of the character was pieced together from years of research on vampire legends as well as essays, books and articles on the subject.

They also found clippings indicating that Stoker was researching Mercy Brown at the time he was writing ‘Dracula’. Mercy Brown was the epicenter of the Mercy Brown Vampire Incident, which was part of a growing ‘vampire panic’ in New England at the time. Many people were dying of tuberculosis during that period, and being the superstitious and largely uneducated bunch people were back then, they started believing those who had died from it were becoming ‘vampires’ since the disease would also spread to their family members and seemingly suck the life force from them while the corpses of some of those who had died were sometimes left without much decomposition and with blood in their vital organs.

One such famous incident of this very occurrence was Mercy Brown, who had died of tuberculosis after her mother, Mary Eliza, and sister, Mary Olive, had died from it. When the three were exhumed for analysis, Mary Eliza and Mary Olive showed a normal rate of decomp, but Mercy didn’t. Mercy was accused of being a ‘vampire’ (though they probably didn’t directly use that term) who was sucking the life from her surviving brother, Edwin, who also had TB. They burned her heart and liver, put the ashes into a ‘tonic’ for Edwin to drink in order to cure him, desecrated Mercy’s body and reburied her, believing they saved poor Edwin….He died two months later.

Also, it was later revealed that Mercy’s body was kept in ‘freezer-like’ conditions in a crypt for the two months following her death, something that was not done with Mary Eliza and Mary Olive, which would explain why they were so decomposed and Mercy was not. This incident was seemingly one of the last of the vampire panic, though it should be noted that Mercy’s case took place in 1892 and the first recorded example of this type of thing happening was in 1793….Yup. Nearly 100 years exactly of people thinking ‘vampires’ were the culprits behind the TB outbreak in 19^th century New England. Gotta be thankful for modern medicine, education and science at times like these. Granted, it’s not like it was a massively popular thing to do – according to New England Today, there were only seven documented cases of this happening – but still.

The Mercy Brown incident was never strongly associated with Stoker’s writings, but it’s very interesting nonetheless.

….Also, supposedly Stoker had a nightmare brought on by eating too much crab meat about a vampire king rising from the grave. Now I can’t stop imagining a crab vampire…..

Vampiric beings in general, as I stated earlier, had been around for much longer than Vlad’s time, and the myth has remained in a multitude of ways to this very day, so boiling it down to just being an urban legend of Vlad’s era and location and that blew up in correlation to the rumors surrounding him is just wrong.

And, really, if you think about the timeline of the show for even a second, you have to wonder….how did the fictional Dracula even become a thing off of Vlad? Was it purely the outlandish seeming rumors surrounding him for whatever reason? Does this mean they changed the timeline and now Dracula doesn’t exist because Vlad’s reputation was saved?

Toki-G brings up how odd it is that Ammon can speak again. Since this isn’t in the dub, Old Timer just talks about Merlock and Bindi traveling together now.

The final scene with Toki-G is basically kept the same, but they add in some recycled footage to extend it.

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……What a weird-ass episode.

Normally, really weird episodes would be welcome because they’re just insane and fun, but this is weird in a confusing and bland way…..What do I even do with this?

It’s an episode acting as if Vlad the Impaler was an innocent nice dude who never did anything wrong and was treated badly just cuz. It’s uncomfortably washing away literally everything even slightly bad that he ever did. I know they did the same thing for Christopher Columbus, but muffled history and years of washed schoolbooks were basically to blame for that depiction. What was behind this? Why even select someone like him to focus on in a kids’ show?

This episode also showcases a Space-Time Monster that never displays her powers, doesn’t transform and never fights. In the dub, she’s even more boring because there’s no mystery about why she can talk since all Time Shifters can talk in the dub. Not to mention the fact that she’s clingy and jealous, which are not personality traits that appeal to me at all. And now she’s going to be Kyoichiro’s companion. I hope she’s over the jealous bit now and will be more likable in the future.

Our big battle of the episode was against TP Lady’s robot cat, which has been defeated numerous times, and, in the end, they just ran away because they were terrified once Genshi was de-fossilized.

We didn’t even get a new good transformation for one of the Space-Time Monsters on the allied side. Eldora was called in but only to act as a means of de-fossilizing Genshi by reflecting the beam back.

We did learn more about Kyoichiro, and he definitely proved to be more than just a goofball puppy-dogging after Sora. He’s a pretty cool guy with some legitimate skills………….Why no one pointed out that he looks like a vampire, much more than Vlad (and basically is one) I’ll never know.

The one actually notable thing about this episode besides the aforementioned Dracula/Caveman bouncing on the bed thing is the weird flying sawblade with a mind of its own. Where did it even go once the tree pinned Kyoichiro? Is it going to slaughter the villagers? Violate land clearing laws? Audition for the new Saw movie?

I didn’t dislike this episode, but I also didn’t like it. Outside of the weird and uncomfortable light they put Vlad in, there’s not much to like or dislike about this episode because there’s simply not much in it. There’s not a real story. I don’t even feel anything for Ammon having to leave Vlad because they never didn’t put any adequate focus on their relationship. From the very start, it was just Ammon getting pissy that Vlad was making friends with Genshi. And unlike most other instances of a Space-Time Monster leaving their friend, Vlad never has one final moment of fondly remembering Ammon or even saying goodbye. He just makes friends with the villagers and gets his mind wiped.

I will admit that I had a lot of fun researching everything in connection to this story. I always enjoy stories of creatures and monsters and how they intertwine with history, and Vlad the Impaler has always been a pretty fascinating person to me, even if he was a mass murderer. However, the more I researched, the more irked I got at the changes they made. Oh yeah, Vlad the Impaler totally rescued a little pink snail creature and let it sleep in his bed….right after he supposedly captured, tortured and mutilated rats and small birds and stuck their bodies on tiny sticks.

Next time, we’re seemingly getting a Christmas special. Cool. Don’t think they’re meeting the real Saint Nicolas, but cool….Wait, does that mean this was meant to be a Halloween episode? Hm.

….Previous Episode

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Space-Time Detective Genshi-Kun/Flint the Time Detective Sub/Dub Comparison Episode 5: Chilly Chilly Mosbee

Plot: Genshi, Tokio and Sora head to Russia during the French invasion. Napoleon teams up with TP Lady to obtain Mosbee, the Space-Time Monster that can control ice.

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Title Change: Chilly Chilly Mosbee is changed to simply Mosbee.

There’s a completely unnecessary shot of the city placed before the actual start of the episode all so we can hear Ms. Grey get orders from her boss to contact Flint and the others.

Again, more unnecessary scene insertion. They insert a shot of Ms. Grey telling the kids that she needs to speak to Dr. Goodman as well as reaction shot from Tony and Sarah. Dr. Goodman is sleeping in the corner, but instantly wakes up when he hears he can speak with Ms. Grey. Finally, there’s a shot of Dr. Goodman saying a line to Ms. Grey before we cut to what was present originally.

In the original, he’s already there and is the one who picks up the call in the first place. Please stop wasting my time, Saban.

They repeat Flint nodding because I dunno.

Mosbee’s name and data plate are missing.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Professor Yamato asks if Mosbee is as cool as Ms. Jinguji and proclaims that he wants to warm her up. In the dub, Dr. Goodman says this reminds him of a nice restaurant calls ‘Meals on Ice’ and invites Ms. Grey to eat dinner there with him. That actually sounds terrible. Either it’s a bunch of frozen meals heated up or they literally serve cooked food on ice.

God, the animation in this episode is terrible. There’s missing frames everywhere, and the models are really off.

They use the eyecatch animation in the original Japanese version to illustrate Mosbee for the dub right after Pterry explains the history of the time period and place they’re currently in. At least they didn’t get rid of it entirely, and it’s not that intrusive being inserted in there.

Even though Sora’s line about there being good food in Russia is basically the same, Sarah specifically proclaims that she heard that Russia has the best ice cream in the world. I’ve never been to Russia, but I’m assuming that’s not true (Not as a sleight to Russia, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never heard a word of their ice cream is all.) I’m assuming she said this because Mosbee uses ice and Russia is cold?

This guy has a habit of speaking in song, but he doesn’t in the dub.

Wow, did they choose one of the most bored-sounding VAs to play Kyoichiro in the dub.

They switch the position of the panning shot of the soldiers drawing their guns from right before the French soldier speaks with Napoleon to right after he speaks, but before Napoleon replies. Ya know, if 4Kids is the king of unnecessary paint edits, Saban is the king of unnecessary scene swaps.

Huh? In the original, Napoleon says that their only option is to accept an honorable defeat. In the dub, he tells them to fight to the very last soldier. I dunno if that can technically mean the same thing, but the original sounds like he’s telling them before they even fight that they’re screwed, and the dub insinuates that they’ll never give up.

I legitimately laughed out loud when TP Lady started calling Napoleon ‘Napo-chan’

It’s not as funny when Petra calls him ‘Nappy.’

Name Change: Mosbee’s bad transformation is called Warubee. In the dub, he’s Mosbee-kon.

The name plate explaining this is painted away.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Warubee’s original attack has no name. In the dub, it’s Petra Freeze.

They insert an external shot of the ice castle after TP Lady laughs after the attack.

The shot of Napoleon getting up and talking is switched to immediately after TP Lady is done talking to after the fantasy. Also, they repeat a shot of TP Lady talking to extend her lines.

TP Lady doesn’t explain her plans straight to Napoleon’s face like an idiot like Petra does. Also, Napoleon doesn’t propose to her in the original.

They remove TP Lady’s mischievous kitty faces.

They remove TP Lady falling backwards onto the bed, making Napoleon blush, because he can see up her skirt. He even points out that he can see her panties, and she slaps him for it. The rest of that takes place off-screen during the pan out, though.

Oddly, though, they keep in the shot of him snuggling up with her lap while’s blushing.

Okay, you can’t convince me that Petra isn’t saying “Married to you? Eff off, Nappy!” I listened to that line several times. I can’t think of any other word she’s saying there.

English VAs, do me a solid and maybe emote when the situation calls for it. Flint just fell like four stories, and the best you can do is ‘Oh no.’

TP Lady says she doesn’t know any Mosbee, only Warubee. In the dub, she doesn’t make the same change with Mosbee-kon.

Although, being fair, he’s not in Warubee form there, so she’s kinda wrong and the dub is kinda right, especially when Petra tells Mosbee to transform into Mosbee-kon. Point for Saban.

For some reason, they replay the shot of Warubee freezing the soldiers, acting as if a new group had come in, only they mirrored the shot so it’d look different. I really don’t get you, Saban.

How are they running so well on the ice?

Napoleon tries to stop the kids from escaping, but Genshi, unable to stop quickly on the ice, slams into his crotch, making him double over in pain. The kids apologize but continue running. Napoleon gets a shot of ice from Warubee, who then kicks him out of the castle and onto the grass outside. All of this is removed, I assume because of the nut shot….

They insert the same shot of TP Lady speaking after the shot of the kids but before she says ‘Dyna! Mite!’

Okay, this is a joke that fails in both versions. In the original, she commands Dyna and Mite individually. Dyna gives her a bundle of dynamite, which makes her laugh a bit because I guess they thought she meant she was asking for dynamite? In the dub, she specifically says ‘Dynamite!’ and then laughs because it was handed to her with the fuse lit, and then asks “Then who throws it?” The setup and delivery just doesn’t work in either versions.

TP scolds them for striking a lady, to which they agree. Petra scolds them for doing the stupidest thing she’s ever seen. They respond “Yeah, ya think?”

They insert the same shot of TP Lady’s ship firing the ice spikes after Warubee attacks Genshi again. I guess because we’d be baffled as to where they were coming from, even though we literally saw them start this same assault mere seconds ago.

Uh, Ototan….You’re a hammer…………..hit the incredibly fragile ice spike and free your son, please. Save his life?…No? Okay.

Tokio tells Sora to run while he distracts Warubee. In the dub, he says they have to free Flint. Lost a nice, albeit small, moment for the two.

Oh NOW Ototan remembers that he’s a hammer. Pft.

They insert a repeat shot of Ototan talking after the split shot of TP Lady and the kids reacting to Genshi picking up Warubee.

For some reason, the original has a train-whistle-like sound play as Warubee lays on the floor. This isn’t present in the dub, and I don’t mind because it doesn’t make any sense.

I feel like this ‘Dyna! Mite!…Oops it’s dynamite!’ gag should’ve been done in the first episode. It just seems weird that they’re only now making a joke out of that name combo.

And, again, the gag doesn’t work in either version. It’s a bit better this time in the dub, admittedly, but the original’s is just as stupid.

TP Lady mutters ‘dynamite’ when they leave, and Mite says ‘Not again!’ In the dub, she says ‘It’s just not fair.’ Mite has no line.

Tokio chastises Warubee for continuing to fight even though TP Lady is gone. Tony basically nags Flint to run away before he even has a chance to get back up.

The dub adds impact stars after the second time Genshi gets hit. Dunno why they’re starting that now.

Genshi originally says “I can’t fight a friend.” In the dub, he says “Ah, I’m hungry again. Time for some more ice cream.” Also, they shift the shot of Tokio changing expressions to after Genshi says this line and they repeat the shot of Warubee walking towards Genshi.

This next change is weird. In the original, Genshi’s tummy rumbles and he sits up wanting shaved ice like before. This makes Mosbee remember the brief good moment the two had together, which I guess is enough to break him out of Petra’s spell but not enough to make him trust Genshi that he wouldn’t betray him earlier?

In the dub, it’s like they’re implying that Flint…telepathically got ice cream after stating he wanted some? His belly still rumbles after he wishes for ice cream, then he thanks Mosbee for it, stating how good it was. I think they were going for the same thing as the dub, bringing up the ice cream from before, but the arrangement of shots really makes it seem like Mosbee somehow fed Flint ice cream without him eating any.

They remove Genshi getting up, supposedly because it’s an underwear shot. I’m not gonna take a screenshot of that, just take my word for it.

The dub adds a wavy effect to the transition before and after the flashback.

They cut out Kyoichiro’s odd reaction to brushing the rose on his face….Like…did he get pricked by a thorn? Did it smell bad? What?

Again with this weird editing. They insert a shot of the group, apparently having noticed the blue guy up in the tree. They ask who he is, but he, in a reversed version of the shot of him we just saw, declines and tells Sarah farewell. I don’t get what they’re doing with insertions like this. I’ve seen dubs cut plenty of stuff out for the sake of meeting American time constraints for airing, but Saban is purposely adding in and repeating a bunch of stuff to make it run longer for absolutely no reason. Can someone please enlighten me?

They mirrored the shot of Putera erasing everyone’s memories….Why?….Please….tell me why.

They remove Napoleon grabbing his crotch. I guess it’s fear that he’ll be hit in the nuts again for some reason?

More scene shifts yay. Instead of cutting to the sepia-toned still shot of the soldiers immediately after we see the kids return home, they shift the shot of the Time Palace place and Toki-G to come before then. Also, they put the sepia-toned shot in a little screen Toki-G is watching and, as the icing on the pointless cake, they zoom IN on the shot when the original zoomed OUT. I still can’t make heads or tails of changes like this.

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Outside of the dub being infuriating with all of the completely unnecessary scene shifts and insertions, this episode is actually really good.

It’s definitely the most tense episode so far. Mosbee’s ability to freeze everything as well as being powerful and imposing as a big mammoth make him a really awesome enemy. The battle scenes against him were exciting. Plus his regular form is adorable. I’d totally buy a Mosbee plushie.

How he’s reverted back to normal is a little cheap, and Napoleon was placed sorta oddly here, but it’s alright.

Next time, we meet Cocolon and….oh great, Christopher Columbus…..

….Previous Episode

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Space-Time Detective Genshi-Kun/Flint the Time Detective Episode 3 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: After learning about the effects of greed for gold by Ms. Aino, the group heads to 16^th century South America to save a Space-Time Monster named Eldora from the clutches of TP Lady, who is using its gold-making powers to manipulate an army captain into terrorizing the local villages for the sake of finding the legendary golden condor.

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Title Change: The City of Shining Gold is changed to Eldora.

They remove most of the shot of Genshi getting stuck in the door because you get a couple, for lack of a better term, upskirt shots. Seems weird that they removed this yet kept his naked ass in that scene where he got a bath in the first episode. Don’t really feel comfortable getting screenshots of this one – just trust me, it’s missing.

They repeat the edited shot before we cut back to the closeup shot of him still stuck. The closeup shot of his underwear is also removed.

So they bring Genshi to school because he’s a kid and needs to go to school, but they don’t bother giving him a haircut or giving him non-caveboy clothes?

These kids are in EIGHTH GRADE? Holy crap! I thought they were like seven. Ten at most.

Genshi originally asks Ms. Aino to teach him about tasty food. In the dub, after Sarah lists off all of the stuff Ms. Iknow teaches them, lists off the same things and then says something I can’t hear at all because sound mixing and editing is sure fun.

The music cue in the original after Ms. Aino/TP Lady recognizes Genshi is hilarious. It’s like a cartoony bugle riff. In the dub it’s just comedic music.

The kanji on the sign, which I believe roughly translates to ‘School Principal’s Office’ (I can’t figure out the last kanji.) is changed to ‘Miss Iknow’, which makes no sense because 1) Teachers don’t get their own offices outside of their classrooms and 2) It’s obvious the office is the principal’s, not hers.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Okay, I might MIGHT be able to buy that Sarah and Tony are in the eighth grade. Genshi!? He’s second grade age, tops.

They add in a wipe transition after Petra’s meeting with her lackeys.

They remove Ms. Aino smacking her hand against a picture of an idol for some reason.

One of the students says that Ms. Aino really has an excitable personality, and another says that’s one of the reasons why they like her. In the dub, the student asks why Iknow always teaches them about rich civilizations, and the other says it doesn’t matter since they don’t have homework.

I’m kinda surprised they didn’t digitally paint the coin since it clearly says 100. Though, I suppose they could just say it’s actually a silver dollar.

Surprisingly, the time shifter for this episode, Eldora, does not get a name change.

TP Lady apparently has her own vocal theme song that plays as she travels to 16^th century South America. In the dub, it’s just regular music, and Petra is having internal monologue through the whole scene basically just explaining what she’s doing.

Name Change: Rei Jinguuji is changed to Jillian Grey.

The computer screen has a plate with text on it when Eldora pops up. This is entirely removed in the dub.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The professor yells to Sora and Tokio that they were not told to go with Genshi. In the dub, he tells them to bring him back a T-shirt.

They left the Japanese text on the Ridon’s readout alone? Not complaining, but why?

Genshi says that the jungles of gold is what it really means to have a lot of money. Flint says the golden jungle looks yummy.

Genshi states that he’s having trouble seeing because of everything being gold and all of the sunlight reflecting off of it. As Sora is also affected, she says that the golden jungle is more gaudy than it is beautiful. As Genshi rubs his eyes to get a better view, a golden soldier pokes him with a spear.

In the dub, Flint says he feels funny. Sarah says, as she’s obviously also being bothered, it’s all the time travel they’ve been doing; it’s made him hungry. Why the hell could you not just say that being in a golden jungle in the bright sunlight would be disorienting and blinding?

One of the soldiers scoffs at Genshi’s statement of being a Time Detective, making him fall over comically. In the dub, the soldier accuses Flint and the others of wanting all of the gold. He says ‘No, thank you’, the soldier scoffs and for some reason Flint falls over comically.

Why did those trees break like trees? I thought thought everything was turned into gold.

They repeat the shot of Genshi cutting down the trees after the soldiers run from falling trees, but they also flip the angle to make it look like a different shot. Because reasons.

The acting of that Captain guy in the dub is appalling.

The Captain guy asks about a treasure, and Genshi says he’s never eaten anything like that. He then clarifies that he’s looking for a legendary treasure that is supposedly in the area. In the dub, he asks them where the golden condor is. They refuse to tell him. Not like they know anyway.

Genshi freaks out purely because they’re taking his dad. In the dub, he freaks out because they’re going to feed him bread and water. Asking for his dad back is a complete afterthought. The dialogue literally goes like this. “BREAD AND WATER?! I can’t live off of that!…..And gimme back my dad!”

Name Change: Rene is changed to Lucas.

I don’t know for certain, but I’m almost positive Lucas is voiced by older TK’s (Digimon A02) VA, Doug Erholtz.

Mite: “He always wanted to be a goldfish!” Reach for the stars, there, Dyna.

Also, originally, he just points out that Eldora turns everything to gold. Noooooo kiddinnnnggg.

They remove a shot of TP Lady talking. Maybe because of the pose she’s in.

Eyecatch:

They add in a flipped shot of Genshi struggling with the bars and repeat the shot of the kids cheering I guess just so they could use another cheer they thought up. To be honest, though, the second cheer is stupid and doesn’t even rhyme. Plus the sound mixing makes it difficult to understand anyway, so this whole thing is pointless.

They remove Ototan scolding Genshi for being weak just because he’s hungry when fighting spirit is all he needs. Instead, they just have Flint basically parrot all of it since he knows what his dad will lecture him about anyway.

Because of this change, they greatly extend Genshi’s original talking shot.

The village chief says he’s never heard of a Time Detective before, making everyone fall down comically, even though, why would he know of such a thing? He then accuses them of being with the Captain and his men who stole his village away, and Tokio says they just escaped from them. However, the chief doesn’t believe him.

In the dub, the chief doesn’t believe that they’re Time Detectives or from the future (and seriously guys maybe you should stop introducing yourselves as such. No one recognizes their authority, and it just makes an even worse ripple in the space-time continuum) He says it’s bologna, and Tony says it’s not bologna or any other lunch meat. The chief then says that it’s beans then. The chief really shouldn’t know what bologna is…..

I find it funny that so many of these shows cut out prayer and religion and mentions of it, yet here we have a robot pterodactyl pretending to be an ancient deity, identifying himself as such and the villagers bowing to him and nothing is changed between versions.

So now Putera, the little pterodactyl robot, can turn gold out of nowhere?

It’s irritating that the dub seems to make light of the fact that these villagers have been forced to live in a cave. “Where’d you get this high-rent cave?” “It’s nice. I like the lighting.” “Thanks, I made the torches myself. I love interior decorating.” 😐

The original Chief doesn’t mention anything about praising Putera’s name in ‘paperback and on video’ because, while it’s for joke’s sake, there’s no way a 16^th century man knows about paperback books and video….

Sora tells Putera that it will be okay to keep up the charade because they will help them. In the dub, Sarah mocks Pterry’s predicament. Yeah, you’re the one who told him to trick these people into thinking he was the golden condor, and now he feels bad because they’re putting so much faith in his lie. What a dumbass.

The Chief tells the women and children to hide back in the cave before telling his troops to prepare. In the dub, he tells his men that, since the battle will be rough and some people won’t make it back, everyone else will be eating their desserts.

Name Change? The unnamed Chief in the original is called Chief Dinka Dinka in the dub. I am almost certain that’s racist somehow.

Again, they mirror a shot and repeat it for no reason, this time with the Captain’s archers.

During this next fight scene, there are some recycled shots. We get a repeat a shot of Ototan growing bigger, the little siren on his head and Genshi preparing for the attack. They flip and repeat the footage of Genshi hitting back the arrows.

Well here’s another stupid edit if I ever saw one. They edit the shot of Rene’s face getting more determined to make the eyebrow movements repeat in a goofy manner. They also add that if his pleas to stop the fighting aren’t enough he’ll do the funny eyebrow thing. Wow.

Genshi points out that TP lady was behind everything all along and she yells at him to not tell her something like that like she’s stupid. In the dub, Flint says she has a big mouth and Petra says she doesn’t.

Name Change: Eldora’s bad transformation is called Warudora. In the dub, it’s Eldoracon.

Also, I’m very surprised that they left in TP Lady whipping Eldora. They always edited that out of Digimon.

Eldora doesn’t talk in the original. In the dub, it says ‘Petrifying Blast’

They repeat and flip the shot of the soldiers attacking.

Oh my God, three times in one episode?! Again they repeat the footage of Ototan growing before Genshi hits the side of the cave.

Okay, this time I can’t fault the dub for replaying the Ototan growth shot because it’s also in the original……..but that just means that this is the FOURTH DAMN TIME that we have to see that shot in the dub. Holy friggin’ recycled footage.

Genshi was yelling out to protect Eldora. In the dub, he’s yelling out to stop Petra from getting the idol, which doesn’t make sense because he doesn’t do anything like that, he saves Eldora from a falling rock….

What the hell?….I don’t eve…*sigh* In the original, Genshi saves Eldora from a falling rock. In the dub, Flint, no matter what the shot of Genshi saving Eldora says, actually SMACKED ELDORA IN THE HEAD WITH HIS HAMMER. Eldora wasn’t even about to do anything. He just smacked it for no reason. Enjoy your brain damage, Eldora.

Oh so NOW they remember that they brought a Space-Time Monster with them that has the ability to make people get along. That would’ve been useful…..from pretty much the instant they traveled back in time. They could’ve used it on the soldiers, on the Captain, on the Chief, on Eldora, on TP Lady….the damn thing’s pretty much a Deus Ex Care Bear.

Why even bother with the memory erase beam if you’re just going to yell your farewells to them after they’re hit by it while riding your flying dinosaur time machine?

Toki-G praises the group for retrieving another Space-Time monster. In the dub, he praises Flint’s skill with a hammer and says he’ll do great in shop class.

Japanese Text is removed from the board.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

In the original, Genshi, in a daze from waking up, bites Ms. Aino on the ass, and that’s the end of the episode. In the dub, they obviously wouldn’t go for that, so they cut away after Ms. Iknow yells at Flint and we cut back to Old Timer who laughs at Petra for being cranky after she gets defeated. They then add in Jillian talking with Uncle Bernie about her visiting to see what’s up with Eldora. He keeps trying to prod her for a date, but she just keeps brushing him off before ending the call. He swoons over their chemistry for a while before suddenly becoming sullen for some reason. The end. No idea where this conversation comes from, but I assume it’s heavily edited to fit this dialogue and is lifted from a separate episode probably in the future.

———————————

This episode was okay. I like the message of the episode, and Eldora is a pretty unique monster. Dub-wise…..it’s not that good. The repeated footage was irritating, and the fact that they edited some footage for sake of a stupid joke was lame to say the very least. Plus, I didn’t much care for the fact that they kept making light of the situation that the villagers were in. This was supposed to highlight how greed can cause suffering, yet the dub makes it out like the Chief’s a goofball and the villagers are living in a nice place.

Next episode, the group heads back to the Heian period of Japan to find Talun, a time monster who can enter storybooks.

….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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One Piece (4Kids) Episode 3 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Zoro’s still in danger of getting executed, but Luffy’s not giving up yet. He’s retrieved Zoro’s swords, and now it’s time to take down Helmeppo and Morgan!

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In the original, the title screen was held on Luffy’s face after the end of the recap where he says that he’ll be King of the Pirates. In the dub, the title screen is after Zolo reacts to this and Luffy answers him. We also have to include a closeup of Luffy’s face that came from I don’t know where to give the title screen more standing.

Title Screens:

They edit out Coby explaining to Zoro that Luffy’s serious about being King of the Pirates and that he believes that he can find One Piece.

With all of the editing out of anything Japanese, I’m surprised that they actually left in the name of Zoro’s three sword style – Santoryu.

In the original, the fruit that gives special powers is commonly called the devil fruit. In the dub, it’s almost always called the forbidden fruit or the cursed fruit.

One of Morgan’s sailors asks if Morgan means Adam and Eve when he mentions the cursed fruit.

4Kids took the scene of Coby talking that I mentioned was removed before to give Coby a throwaway line after Morgan’s explanation of the cursed fruit. In the original, we cut straight to the scene that follows, which is Luffy trying desperately to untie Zoro.

In the original there’s a shot of Coby cringing in fright at the impending attack. The shot then turns into a negative and we get some silence before cutting to Zoro’s scene of him rescuing them all. In the dub, the cringing, negative shot and the silence is all gone. They cut so quickly that it’s jarring.

In the original, Zoro says that if Luffy ever gets in the way of his goal of being the world’s greatest swordsman that he’ll have him commit seppuku as a punishment. In the dub, he just says it will be the end of his days. To be fair, kids likely wouldn’t know what seppuku is, and explaining it might even make the matter worse if we’re aiming this show towards kids (even though it’s not meant to be.) Seppuku is a form of suicide that was used by samurai where the swordsman takes his blade and disembowels himself with it. 4Kids kept in the implication of death as punishment, so I’ll give them a pass for a change.

Originally, Morgan told his men to take their guns and shoot themselves in the head if they don’t have the guts to fight for him. In the dub, Morgan says that anyone who doesn’t have the guts to go out and fight will have to deal with him and his axe hand.

Zolo: “Your axe doesn’t scare me, but your face does.” Wow. A ‘your face’ zinger. Watch out guys, we might start getting ‘yo mama’ jokes next. By the way, in the original, Zoro just mentions that the sailors are in disarray due to being treated badly by Morgan, so he sees it as an opening.

When Luffy is spinning in the air from Morgan’s second attack, he says “you wish!” In the dub, he’s not only quiet during this shot but it actually looks like they sped up the footage of him spinning, which makes it seems nauseating.

Ah, hey, here’s one of the moments that everyone’s been waiting for! The hammer gun! In the original, Helmeppo pops back up again and puts a gun to Coby’s head to make Luffy stop beating up his father. In the dub…..they change it to a hammer gun.

It’s not even really a ‘hammer gun’ per se, it’s more of a hammer on a spring with a separate handle. I don’t really understand how that would even work on a point of physics. The spring is loaded straight down. If the trigger merely releases the spring then all that the hammer would do is jolt upwards, leaving Coby unharmed. Yes, it’s as ridiculous as you think, and this isn’t even the stupidest weapon that they edit in.

Also in the original, Helmeppo says that he’ll blow Coby’s head off. In the dub, he says he’ll smash his head flat.

It’s HAMMER TIME!:

They don’t bother editing the gun correctly in the further shot even though it’d be easy as hell. They do something….I can’t even tell what they did. It looks like they added a bow saw to the end of the gun. Or like some vice thing that would crush Coby’s head? It’s certainly no hammer. I think that might be what they changed it to before they settled on a hammer gun, but I can’t tell what it actually is.

It’s NOT hammer time!:

Serious, what the hell is that?

In the original, the note that Buggy leaves behind in place of the map says “I’ve flashily taken the map! Buggy” In the dub, they actually translate it by putting “I took the chart. Sorry.” They omit the ‘flashily’ part and the, what I assume is sarcastic, apology.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The tone in the original scene after Nami finds the note is drastically changed. In the original, she sounds very frightened by Buggy and the scene is accompanied by creepy organ music. In the dub, she sounds more like an annoyed teenager than frightened. “Oh, it’s Captain Buggy. They call him the Pirate Clown.” I’m surprised she didn’t say “ugh” and roll her eyes in that scene.

Since this is the first that we hear of Buggy, it’s supposed to make him seem frightening and be similar to an impending doom like Morgan. Here, he’s treated like a big joke. In fact, given later episodes, it really seems like the dub doesn’t want you to take Buggy seriously.

Also, the original has Nami state that Buggy’s called The Untouchable, not The Pirate Clown. That’s a big scary nickname. Don’t get in my way or I’ll make you a balloon animal and squirt seltzer in your face!

They edit out a shot of Nami looking out the window with her reflection staring back at us before the commercial.

Eyecatch:

A further shot of the town is cut out before we see Zoro done with his meal.

A shot of the girl asking Coby about the Grand Line and Coby looking down before we cut to the shot of the map is edited out.

The map is changed in the dub. The dubbed version has more color to it, and the arrow that says “Red line” is painted away.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

In the original, Coby spends much more time on the floor contemplating what Luffy did for him. We keep cutting back and forth between Luffy walking away and Coby on the floor as he thinks about him needing Luffy’s help to the very end and feels like he’s worthless. In the dub, he spends only about 1/10 of that time on the floor and the constant cutbacks to Luffy are cut out.

In the original, the punishment for saluting Luffy’s ship was loss of rations for three days. In the dub it’s one week…..♪ It’s been…ONE WEEK since you ate rations. Turned your head to the side and said “I’m hungry.” ♪

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This episode was pretty good. It was a solid conclusion to this arc, and we finally got the almighty Zoro. I’m fine with Coby leaving the group as he wouldn’t have had anything to contribute to the crew at this point, and his dream lies with the Marines. He does come back much later in the series, so that’s awesome. Dub-wise, the hammergun eclipses all. I don’t know how people only following the dub didn’t also laugh at that.

Next episode, Luffy’s backstory! How did Luffy get his trademark straw hat and why is he so determined to be King of the Pirates?

…Previous Episode

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emily…..

Shut…..

Up.

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

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

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

Subbed:

Dubbed:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh and they edit out the posters. Boooo!

The sign for the Student Council Room is painted.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

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

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

They edited out them bowing in greeting.

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

Subbed:

Dubbed:

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

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

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

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

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

They edit out more bowing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Name Change: Majorina is changed to Brooha.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Brilliant!’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————————–

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

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

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

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

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

…Previous Episode

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

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

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

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

——————-

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

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

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

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

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

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

Candy: “Glittertastic!” Shut up, Candy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subbed:

Dubbed:

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

Subbed:

Dubbed:

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

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

Name Change: Soga is changed to Cornelius.

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

Name Change: Mikawa is changed to Naomi.

Name Change: Narushima is changed to Byron.

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

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

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

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

Wow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subbed: 

Dubbed:

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

Eyecatches:

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

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

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

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

Subbed:

Dubbed:

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

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

Subbed: 

Dubbed:

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

Subbed:

Dubbed:

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

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

1 – Soga

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

3 – Yayoi

Inspiration Thinger – Yamamoto

Honorable Mention – Narushima

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Akaoni: “You girls are Precure, huh?”

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

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

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

*drum roll*

Buffoon Broom!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Help me out, Wiki!

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

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

Come on, guys. Make some effort.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————————-

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

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

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

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

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

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

Next episode, we’re introduced to Cure March!

…Previous Episode

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One Piece (4Kids) Episode 2 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Luffy and Coby are on their way to see the deadly pirate hunter, Zoro, so that Luffy can recruit him for his crew and bring Coby to the Marines’ base at the same time. However, Zoro is currently being held prisoner by Captain Morgan and is set for death. Can Luffy and Coby save Zoro before it’s too late?

—————————————

Pretty minor, but 4Kids cuts out a quick shot of a silhouette falling down after Zoro slashes as Coby’s making his explanation before the title card.

Title Change: *pokes above screencap* *pokes below screencap*

Since the Marines are changed to the Navy in the dub, the big sign on the side of the Marine base that says ‘Marine’ is changed to ‘Navy.’

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The same Marines logo on the gate is changed to Navy. For the sake of simplicity, just assume that any and all instances of visible and audible mentions of the Marines are changed to the Navy.

After Luffy climbs on the wall to see Zoro, he spots him and then jumps off of the wall to a different spot to get a better look. Then we see a closeup of Zoro. 4Kids edited this out and jumped straight from him climbing on the wall to begin with to Coby joining him. I guess….jumping off walls is bad?

Here’s something interesting, yet expected. Zoro was originally tied to a cross. Not a religious cross, mind you, just two poles connected together. In the dub, the top is hacked off so it loses its cross shape.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

4Kids adds a closeup shot of Zoro’s upper body when Coby says he recognizes his black bandana. Because we just wouldn’t have known what they were talking about by seeing it from slightly further away.

In the original, there’s this kickass guitar lick when Zoro finally speaks. Sounds a little like the commercial break sound bite from Trigun. This is missing from the dub.

In the original, the little girl brings Zoro some onigiri (riceballs) that she made for him. In the dub, this is changed to cookies both dialogue-wise and visually. The digital paint here, like many of their non-text paint edits, is awful. The cookies jump when they’re first uncovered, and they obviously don’t belong in this scene. It’s not nearly as bad as that Pokemon episode where the sub sandwich bounced down the hill, but still.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

In the original, the problem with the onigiri was that the little girl used sugar instead of salt when making them. In the dub, no explanation as to why the cookies tasted bad, if they truly did, is given. He asks her if she put rotten fish heads in the cookies, and she says she added some sugar and trails off. This could’ve actually worked by simply reversing the original dialogue. Say she put a lot of salt in the cookies instead of sugar. Problem solved.

Also, 4Kids got pretty lazy. They simply colored the mushed up riceball into a brown color instead of putting in some broken cookie pieces. Makes the cookies look like they were made of mush.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Helmeppo (Captain Morgan’s Son) (Dub): “(At the mushy brown mess) There! Now it looks like it tastes!” 4Kids….did….you just make a poop joke?….Seriously?…..Go to the corner. Now.

They edit out a shot of the proclamation that anyone who helps Zoro will be executed because I guess they were too lazy to erase all of the (EVIL) Japanese text and leave a blank page like they I know they would because they make no sense. Also, in the dub, they just say that it’s a criminal offense to help Zolo.

Dub Mari—Navy….Sailor dude: (As he’s about to throw the girl over the fence) “I’m real sorry about this. Cover your head with your arms.” Right, that’ll save her neck from getting broken as she’s flung over 30 feet through the air.

The first conversation between Luffy and Zoro is relatively kept the same, but they omit Luffy saying that he’s not sure Zoro is strong because he’d have escaped in less than three days. They also omit Zoro saying that he’s staying there to basically prove to them that he can survive.

4KIDS IS MAGIC! They changed the smushed pile of slop into a cookie again. Amazing!…..Really, was it easier to draw the cookie and animate it than just color the damn slop like you did before?

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Slight nitpick, but Zolo sounds….like a psychopath….in this episode anyway. In the original, Zoro seems intimidating and imposing, in a sane way. In the dub, he’s all “IMMA EAT IT! WANNA KNOW WHY!? CUZ IMMA SURVIVOR!! OMNOMNOMNOM!!”

They edit out a shot of Zoro punching Helmeppo.

In the original, Zoro’s sword is a lot closer to Helmeppo’s face than it is in the dub. I guess they sprinkled some digital paint on it to make it….less threatening? …..What? How is that less threatening? Oh forget it…

Subbed:

Dubbed:

They cleaned up his face, too. How nice.

The last part of the flashback is sped up or something. In the original, his decision to go to prison in place of the little girl and her mother is much slower than it is in the dub. In the dub, Helmetto (he hasn’t been named in the dub yet for some reason) basically says “I won’t make them go to prison if you go there for a month!” and Zolo’s all “Onemonth?Pieceofcake! *drops sword*” What is wrong with him?

In the original, Helmeppo asks for alcohol. In the dub, this is changed dialogue-wise and visually to juice…because villains are bad-ass muthas who drink JUICE! FULL OF VITAMIN A FOR AWESOME, B FOR BITCHIN’ AND C FOR CUT THE CRAP AND BRING ME MORE JUICE!

That edited juice looks almost radioactive it’s so bright. The glass is also changed slightly to be wider….

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The impact shot of Luffy punching Helmeppo is edited….I can’t make heads or tails of it. You have a look.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Hmm….I guess this is ‘important’. A little while ago, the Marines logo on the back of the sailors’ shirts was simply erased instead of changed to Navy like it has been. However, now it’s actually changed instead.

In the original, Captain Morgan is always smoking a cigar. Das a no-no. Edited out.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

I should also mention that in frontal shots in the dub he looks like he’s always got his mouth open slightly because that’s where the cigar is supposed to be. Makes him look like he has lockjaw…

As Zoro has a flashback, 4Kids edits out a scanning shot of Zoro’s childhood friend and the flower petals flowing past her.

They edit out a shot of Luffy’s shadow before Zoro notices him.

They edit out a shot of Helmeppo yelling that he’ll tell Luffy what he wants to know as long as he stops dragging him on the floor. Even dragging a guy on the floor is too violent to show.…

The guns in this shot, even though it’s a little hard to tell, are edited into what look like maroon super soakers. What’s odd is that they still say “Stop or we’ll shoot ya!” 1) Shooting’s a no-no 4Kids. Couldn’t have changed that to “hurt ya!”? 2) Shoot him with what? Water? Cranberry juice? A gentle red wine? Oh wait, alcohol’s no good. Guess it’s juice.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

They edit out the zoom in on Zoro’s swords…However, they don’t edit out the “My Room” text on the flower wreath on Helmeppo’s door.

I really don’t get this. They can say ‘execute’ ‘shoot you’ and ‘firing squad’ but they can’t just show the damn guns?

In the original, Morgan accuses Zoro of siding with the pirates and starting a revolution. Zoro denies this and says he works alone, but Morgan is a coward who always hides behind his sailors.

In the dub, Morgan says that they’ve always fought on the same side to rid the world of pirate scum and thus he’ll grant Zolo one wish. Zolo says he’s never fought on his side, but if he gets one wish, he wishes that he’d use that oversized ass on the end of his arm to—what?…..He said ass. I heard it…..Axe? I guess that makes more sense, but I know I heard ‘ass’….oh whatever. Oversized axe to cut off that giant barnacle growing out of his neck. (His head. Haha.)

I’m still not getting it. We can hear gunshots, see the bullets, see the firing, see the smoke coming from the barrels, see Luffy getting hit by bullets, but NO THEY’RE NOT GUNS! HONEST!

——————————————–

This episode was pretty damn good. It was an awesome intro to Zoro, and Helmeppo and Captain Morgan are way better enemies than Alvida. Dub-wise, it’s a bit laughable given the changes, but I guess it could be a lot worse…..yeah, it can definitely be worse, right, episode three?

Next episode, it’s a race to stop Zoro from getting executed. Can Luffy get his swords back and get to Zoro in time?

…Previous Episode

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Ojamajo Doremi Episode 2 Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Hazuki is depressed with her life and wishes to be Doremi. She doesn’t mind the idea of being Hazuki since she’s rich, so Doremi uses magic to change them into each other to live the other’s life. However, is the grass really greener on the other side?

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The episode starts off with Hazuki leaving for the day and wondering to herself what would happen if she ran away before the theme song starts. After the theme song ends, we get Doremi giving a short recap as to who she is and why she has powers, the regular magic girl show shtick. Both of these scenes are removed.

Pop tells Doremi that the bath is ready for her whereas Caitlyn asks if Dorie’s having conversations with herself again.

The witch exams are just called ninth through first exams. In the dub, the first exam is called the Fairy Exam whereas, originally, it’s the ninth. Technically this is still descriptive of the exam since it’s an exam that, if passed, allows Doremi to get her own fairy like Majorika has in Lala.

Doremi originally accidentally tells Hazuki that she’s a witch for a second, and imagines herself as a frog alongside Majorika. Hazuki asks what she means by that, she freaks out and says she has a witch’s way of thinking. In the dub, the daydream and the freaking out are removed, and it’s changed to Dorie telling Reanne that she forgot to do her homework. I have no clue why this was cut.

Doremi’s actually more rude than Dorie is in the next part. It’s clear that Hazuki is upset and depressed about her life right now. When she’s trying to explain it, Doremi says, literally, that it doesn’t matter and that she’s the world’s unhappiest pretty girl, but if she were Hazuki she’d be lucky and happy.

In the dub, Reanne says she might have a point that her life seems good, but sometimes she wishes she were someone else. Dorie then goes off saying she’d want to be like that shampoo commercial where she smells the shampoo and then rides off into the rainforest on a unicorn….That actually sounds like an awesome commercial.

Text is replaced again to make the books say…oddly enough ‘Reading.’…”Kids, these are your reading books.” “…..As opposed to non-reading books?” “DO YOU WANT DETENTION!?”

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Name Change: Yuki-Sensei is changed to Ms. Shannon

Originally, Doremi apologizes for what she said earlier, and Hazuki says she wishes Doremi hadn’t found out about her problems that way and also apologizes. In the dub, Dorie tells Reanne that her friendship is important to her and that she wants her to know that she can always tell her anything. Reanne says that no one’s never said such a nice thing to her before and says Dorie’s a great friend.

I thank God above that 4Kids only dubbed two magical girl anime in their existence because between Mew Mew Power in my face and Faladeiladongding now I am a witchling, I’m already resisting the urge to be go on a rampage.

The spell to turn Reanne into Dorie is “This will make a real great story, turn Reanne into Dorie.” The original’s has yet to change.

Hazuki is happy she’s finally Doremi whereas Reanne is happy she’s ‘someone else’, which is a lot sadder when you think about it. Being envious of someone and despising your life so much that you’d just wish to be anyone else are two very different things.

Aw, 4Kids, you were doing so well. There’s a sign on the trash bins that says ‘Trash’ in Japanese. Instead of changing it like they’ve been doing, they painted away not only the word but also all of the little designs on the sign and the bins. They replace them with typical recycling symbols.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The spell for changing Dorie into Reanne is “Now for part two of this plan, turn Dorie into Reanne!” Still the same in the original.

The dub doesn’t include the parts about saying that witches really exist and also adds that Dorie jokes with Reanne about calling her sister ‘bratface’. In addition, while they keep in the part about asking how to address their parents, Dorie doesn’t ask Reanne for the same information whereas Doremi does.

Again, they change her being excited about being Doremi into her being excited to be quite literally anyone but herself.

The eyecatches are removed.

Pop isn’t singing a girly pop (hehe) song when Hazuki comes in like Caitlyn is. Also, Pop kindly greets Hazuki (Doremi) while Caitlyn says snootily “What are YOU staring at?”

There’s no way to keep this in here besides being uncharacteristically loyal to the source material, but Hazuki keeps calling Pop, Pop-chan, which she seems to despise. It causes her to continuously freak out, and she refers to her prior conversation with the actual Doremi by saying “If you don’t want one of my boyfriends, that’s fine. But don’t refer to me by that suffix!”

In the dub, she’s freaking out about how nice Reanne is being to her. She then says the complete opposite of the last line by saying this means Dorie actually wants one of her boyfriends now, but it will cost her.

They edit out a shot of Hazuki freaking out when Pop says she’s acting weird.

Also, they cut the next shot of Pop down to just show her with big round eyes.

Doremi’s mom is nicer and just asks Pop what she wants whereas Dorie’s mom yells that she’s busy.

In the original, Doremi’s mom asks for the sauce. The dub asks for the flour. She then asks to check the bathroom whereas the dub asks for vacuuming. Asking if the gate is locked is changed to answering the phone, and Doremi’s mom is consistently nicer than Dorie’s seemingly attitude-ish one.

Doremi clamors over calling Hazuki’s mom ‘mama’ whereas Dorie’s clamoring over saying ‘ma’am’ because god knows she never could’ve said that when she was Dorie.

The one thing I always find weird about these ‘switching bodies’ episodes of anything is when the characters change clothes or are the other person for extended periods of time. Technically, in this case, the girls are just magically transformed to look exactly like each other, but it’s still an exact replica of Doremi’s and Hazuki’s bodies. You’d have to change clothes, take showers, do….other things, in someone else’s body. That’s just creepy.

In the original, Hazuki’s mom only says they’re having dinner at a hotel. In the dub, there’s no mention of a hotel, they just call the place The Winchesters. That can only mean one thing. They’re having dinner with Sam and Dean.

Hazuki’s mom asks if she’d like Italian or French for dinner. Reanne’s mom asks if she’d like pasta or salad.

Hazuki’s mom replies to Doremi’s request of steak by mentioning that she had it yesterday. Doremi responds by saying that today’s another day and that’s just what she wants.

In the dub, they keep the mention of steak but they change her mom’s line to saying Reanne’s a vegetarian. Dorie responds by saying she’s not one anymore and she needs protein.

Hazuki’s mom responds by saying she can have whatever she wants, and Doremi thanks her. Reanne’s mom asks her about her argument about soy protein, and Dorie just says to forget about it.

Hazuki’s mom goes off to make the reservations. In the dub, she goes off to pick more dresses.

Hazuki’s teacher doesn’t tell her what song to play, and Doremi asks when she gets steak. Hazuki’s mom laughs at the fact that she thought she’d get dinner right then. In the dub, Reanne’s teacher tells her to play Paco Bell. Dorie asks what Paco Bell is. Reanne’s mom says she’s been practicing it all week and to kindly play it for them.

Doremi’s dad shows Hazuki a catalog about lures when Doremi’s mom bursts in to tell them to stop what they’re doing and come eat dinner. Doremi’s dad yells about how he’s a serious fly fisher, and Doremi’s mom strikes back by saying it’s awful because she’s the one who has to gut and clean them. This eventually leads to a comedic, note COMEDIC, physical fight. Exactly like the ones you’d see in Western cartoons with the doofy sound effects and cloud of smoke.

In the dub, Dorie’s mom tells him to stop talking to Reanne about that stuff, and Dorie’s dad interrupts her by saying he’s a very serious fly fishing writer. Dorie’ mom strikes back by saying he’s barely sold anything, and the entire scene with the extended comedic fight and the arguing is removed as we cut straight to Hazuki’s reaction shot, which is also edited to be rid of the dust clouds.

I get it, ya know, domestic violence and whatnot, but come on, they couldn’t have made it anymore comically unserious if they put a giant banner on screen that said ‘THIS IS A JOKE! ONLY A COMPLETE BRAINDEAD IDIOT WOULD THINK DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS OKAY!”

Hazuki wonders how they can be so civil and friendly to one another at dinner after having such a bad fight. Due to the previous completely unneeded line change, this is changed to Reanne not being able to eat the steak dinner since she’s a vegetarian. I’m really just hoping sometime in the future Hazuki will eat meat and 4Kids will either completely miss it or edit it out.

This line is changed, but what they did do was funny. Doremi’s mom says she knew Doremi was acting weird so she bought the steak to help cheer her up. In the dub, this line is omitted and instead we get this.

Mom: “She doesn’t have a fever.”

Dad: “Did you check her tongue?”

Mom: “For WHAT?!”

Dad: “I dunno! Spots?!”

I nearly spit out my drink this was so funny. Kudos, 4Kids. Also, you can tell Dan Green has a lot of fun as the dad. The parents have a good back and forth in both versions. Usually anyway.

Hazuki says her parents will be really worried about her whereabouts if they find Doremi in her bed instead of her. In the dub, Reanne says, if they find Dorie there, they’ll be confused and send her to the hospital.

Hazuki talks about how bad she feels for deceiving Doremi’s parents and how she made them worry about her since she wasn’t acting like Doremi. In the dub, Reanne talks about how much she missed her family while she was with Dorie’s family.

The next scene is the same only the dub adds in the mention of her not eating it because she’s a vegetarian. It’s really important that we drill this into your head for no reason.

They cut the final scene out, which is Doremi learning that the steak that was kept from dinner last night was eaten sometime, somehow between Hazuki going to bed and Doremi returning late at night. Her family rejoices in her being back to normal, but Doremi laments at her bad luck.

Next episode we’re introduced to Aiko who seems to be the last girl in their magical girl group who will get powers – at least during this series.

…Previous Episode

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Pokemon Extravaganza: Movie 04 (Sub) Celebi: A Timeless Encounter Review

Plot: Yukinari/Sam is a young boy who was whisked through time by a Celebi 40 years ago after the Legendary Pokemon barely escaped from a Pokemon hunter. He meets Satoshi/Ash and the others after his trip ends and wishes to help the Celebi who sent him through time since he fears he could be injured. After healing his wounds, a new threat shows up by the name of Lord Vicious the Mask/The Iron-Masked Marauder who wishes to capture Celebi, make him evil and use his powers to take over the world!

Breakdown: I actually don’t have much to say on the poster this time. Celebi looks decent, everyone’s placement is spot-on for a change. Except Pikachu – he seems way too big, especially when Satoshi and Yukinari are so damn small. And holy crap, she’s a pointless character to begin with but they made Miku/Diane so small I completely overlooked that she was there on the first few viewings. Why even include her if she’s going to take up a penny’s worth of space?

Like usual, I will be breaking up the movie into chunks instead of giving another play by play to save space. I decided on fifteen minute chunks for this one since I’ll have to be addressing some removed scenes.

15 Minute Mark

I find it odd that the Pokemon of the forest never helped Celebi when it was being pursued by the Pokemon hunter. Later, they all gather to bring Celebi back to the lake to heal itself and then later to capture Vicious/IMM (Yes, IMM’s Japanese name is Vicious. Much better name and possible Cowboy Bebop reference….yet 4Kids gives us the Iron-Masked Marauder…..*sigh*), but they all run away from the Pokemon hunter instead of trying to help….

The old woman is named Towa. She keeps her name between the two versions, but I cannot confirm that because most sources discussing the English version just call her ‘the old woman’ and 4Kids never puts the roles of the voice actors next to their names in the credits.

Just to crack this out before we even see him, Deckhand is named Mr. White. What a weird name. Even weirder considering that he’s pretty young and most characters that young aren’t usually called ‘Mr.’ in the series. I have no clue if this is his dub name, but we’ll have to assume he was just never given one and that the dub adopted the Japanese one as an excuse.

I have to wonder, how did Vicious know that Celebi would be stopping in this time? Or did he not know and just got insanely lucky? Celebi could’ve gone literally anywhen in time, past or future, and leaves no indication as to what era it’s heading to.

The Japanese title screen is so much better than the dub’s. And 4Kids was doing so well in that department in the past few movies.

In the opposite extreme in terms of names, Dundee apparently gets no original version name.

Wow, how many times can they remake the same ‘Mezase Pokemon Master’ theme song in the original? This version is actually pretty cool, but when do they change it?

Here we are at the scene that was replaced before.

We cut to the kids talking to Okido Hakase/Professor Oak on the video phone. He holds up a drawing from a book portraying Suicune and asks them if that was the Pokemon they saw. Satoshi confirms, and Okido says it could’ve have been a Suicune. He’s not smiling as he was in the original, he’s not adamant about it being Suicune and Kenji/Tracey is in this shot smiling in the background as Okido’s on the phone.

They ask what a Suicune is, but Okido doesn’t know much about it besides the fact that it’s a Legendary Pokemon. Several people from the background are removed (and the angle is changed a bit), Mr. White is behind them as they’re on the phone as well in the original but is not there in the dub.

We keep it relatively the same for a bit, explaining Suicune’s powers and how he’s called the North Wind (I find it weird that a Water Pokemon’s the North Wind….shouldn’t that be a Flying type?) As he’s exaggerating some stuff about Suicune to seem cooler with Kenji looking embarrassed in the background, Betbeton/Muk hugs Okido. Because of this, Okido is the one who bids them goodbye and Kenji bids farewell as well.

If anything, seeing the scene that was cut makes me even madder at 4Kids’ decision…Why? Because it was basically the exact same friggin’ scene as the dub version, in terms of visuals anyway. They changed Okido to be smiling during this scene, got rid of Kenji for whatever reason, painted away the other people in town and Mr. White from the scene, and put in another picture of Suicune from the book, I guess to illustrate what he meant by water purifying powers.

Ultimately, what was changed was the dialogue, which was ‘Oh yeah, that’s Suicune. He’s totally real! I saw him once! And you were there and you were there and you were there….because spoiler alert, I am Sam.’ (Funny thing – Sam’s Wiki page makes no mention at all of him being Professor Oak. I honestly hope they didn’t miss that fact while watching the dub because I only have so much faith in humanity left.)

So, in essence, 4Kids honestly didn’t need to drop a damn dime on this scene….They didn’t need to do anything to begin with, but now they really didn’t need to.

Be creative with the clips you have and make dialogue changes. You practically changed the entire script of Movie 01 and yet you didn’t pay the original animators a dime to make special scenes for that! Doesn’t your toilet clog a lot with how much money you flush?

If you really needed that smile, why not Mew Mew Power his ass and flip his frown upside down? It’d still be insanely dumb, but it would save a ton of money and manpower.

Half Hour Mark

So I’m guessing that it’s a thing in the original that Misty introduces herself as a ‘beauty’ or something like that. Every time Misty introduces herself in the dub she always says either she wants to be the best Water Pokemon Trainer or that she loves Water Pokemon etc.

I find it dumb that the only Pokemon we see Satoshi use in this movie are Bayleaf/Bayleef (Another instance of the English name just being the Japanese name misspelled.) and Pikachu….Considering this is the first Pokemon movie to have a legit human Pokemon Trainer villain, it’s pretty disappointing.

45 Minute Mark

Oh so Takeshi is just as obvious about the lake thing as Brock was….Okay. Sorry, 4Kids. Really, why would you dip him in the lake in the first place if you didn’t think the water would heal him?

Satoshi doesn’t explain what a Pokedex (Poke Guide/Zukan) is, nor do they start talking about how much Satoshi knows about the future. His tactless comment about being ‘sure glad (he’s) not stuck in it like (Yukinari) is’ is also not present.

Satoshi does say that the sketchbook is like a self-illustrated Poke Zukan, but he doesn’t take the time out to explain what it is. In addition, the conversation afterward is Satoshi asking Yukinari if he’s aspiring to be a Pokemon Trainer. Yukinari says he hasn’t decided and was actually traveling to help him decide when, and then he trails off.

There’s a short period of silence before Satoshi finishes Yukinari’s sentence and says ‘….you woke up in the future…’ Which is far less severe of a line than basically telling him ‘sucks to be you!’ Also, I’m nearly certain that the extra line about the Pokedex in the dub was to further poke at Professor Oak.

Ash’s goofy pun with the ‘Butterfree-Hope you’ll be free’ line is not present. Satoshi just says he knows he’ll get back to his own time.

It always feels weird to me watching the original version of a 4Kids production knowing they left the original score in. I can’t really explain why, but after making so many SDCs and getting used to constant noise and poppy bullcrap, it’s just odd. I know they still inserted their own theme song and end credits song, but still.

This movie broke the tradition of Satoshi tackling and/or punching something incredibly powerful that would obviously kick his ass or hurt him. Closest he gets is climbing the giant robot spider to wrestle the Dark Ball from Vicious. Darn, I really wanted to make that a tradition. Oh well, I can only hope it’s in Movie 05.

Sure is necessary to make all that wheat CGI. Seriously, you’d think they just discovered CGI when they made this movie. Use it sparingly, it has a better impact that way. Either that or make the whole movie CGI.

Hour Mark

ONIX used GENTLE NUDGE WITH NOSE it’s SUPER EFFECTIVE and BADASS

I do appreciate that neither Celebi nor Suicune speak in this movie. I’ve never had much of a qualm against any of the Legendaries speaking, except slightly with Lugia, but it’s a welcome change.

I still don’t understand how or why Celebi gets dark lightning powers when it’s evil….

Oh come on, not even the original gives an explanation as to why Celebi’s dying?

End

Hm, I wonder. Is this the first time we’ve ever seen a dead Pokemon on the show? I mean….it’s very unclear in both versions whether Celebi’s dead or just near death.

That reminds me, Kasumi didn’t cry a drop in the first movie when she thought Satoshi was dead, but she sees Celebi dead/dying and out come the waterworks.

Now Takeshi’s crying too. A boy you’ve been friends with for over a year dying and you barely react. A Pokemon you’ve barely known for a day dying and everyone evolves into a sprinkler.

Since 4Kids kept the soundtrack that means….more lalalalaalaaaaaaaalalala.

We get a scene that was cut in the dub to put the second call with Oak in there. Yukinari wakes up in front of the shrine back in his time, Towa finds him and asks if he’s alright and he just says he had a wonderful dream.

I don’t get why this was removed. In comparison to the scene that was inserted, this is incredibly short to justify cutting it unless they had a serious time limit for some reason and they couldn’t manage it with their super shiny new scenes.

The ending theme is very gentle and nice to listen to – A drastic contrast to the dub’s, and much more fitting. A movie mostly about friendship and the forest and whatnot, so have a big party song at the end with a bunch of record scratches. Makes sense. It’s even weirder considering that the last three movies, which were far more action-y and fast paced, had mostly gentle and slow songs at the end of those in the dub.

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So, you see, there’s a tiny problem in this little project of mine. Sometimes, when I rewatch the movie in the subbed version….my opinion lowers on the overall movie.

By all intents and purposes, and I honestly hate saying this, barring the inserted scenes and scene removals, 4Kids did a damn near perfect job on this movie….Perfect by 4Kids standards anyway.

They kept the original score (though put in their own OP and ED and the ED does get teethscrapingly grating…) and most of the script barring some minor stuff was kept exactly the same. Like I said, the only thing 4Kids did in terms of changes was get off to their own bank accounts and beat kids in the head with something they honestly didn’t even need to know….plus added in a Team Rocket scene which could’ve been cut to keep the scene with Yukinari—The point is, it’s still basically the same movie.

The problem is that, when I rewatch the movie and there’s not that many changes….I start noticing bigger flaws in the movie, or the flaws I barely took note of before gain more weight.

The Yukinari/Satoshi friendship is still very nice. The villain is still an actual villain, but he’s still generic. There’s no real reason given as to why he’s pursuing Celebi nor how he knew Celebi would be in this time period. While I do give props for showing death, of a Pokemon no less (because according to our crying index, Pokemon are more important than people.) there’s no real reason given as to why it’s dying.

The main problems I have are with the plot outside of the time travel. That really is the better plot in the movie. It’s rarer to see someone time travel to your own time and have to deal with that. It’s more common for the main characters to time travel themselves. There’s quite a bit that they could’ve done with that, but it’s sidetracked by the stuff with Celebi.

Did you get that? I just said that the side plot was better than the main plot and that the main plot gets in the way of the side plot. If that’s not a huge problem, I don’t know what is.

The stuff with Celebi isn’t that bad, but it’s ultimately the reason why I believe I found this movie so forgettable. I did say it’s because it wasn’t as epic of a movie as the others, but this is the part of the movie that is supposed to be epic so there ya go.

I actually remembered the parts with Sam just fine, it was the plot with Celebi that fled my mind. It was predictable and made incredibly silly by the ugly CGI monster and spiky wheatball of doom. And there’s the fact that the solution was literally the power of friendship.

Though neither version was really preachy about it, the whole thing about the forest being destroyed did stink of an environmentalist message, especially as Celebi’s dying. (Note: I’m not complaining about environmentalism. I just don’t like heavy-handed messages about those types of topics because it tends to get cheesy or ham-fisted) I already talked about how the forest really was the only thing in immediate danger and that was only because Vicious wanted to show off.

It is sometimes welcome to take a break from the world being in immediate danger, but you can still have an epic feeling without resorting to ‘Aren’t humans awful? Destroying the planet like this? Go green!’ The plot was so flimsy they had the villain do that lame reprise when they come out of nowhere to grab the powerful item/creature again and try to merely run away, which is even more predictable because do you really think any movie would end with the villain getting away that stupidly?

In addition, it felt like this movie should’ve been Yukinari’s but Satoshi kept taking the reigns. I know it is his series, but you can’t tell me Satoshi was really the forefront of Movie 03 or 01, so it can be done.

While I will scold 4Kids three ways from Sunday for those dumb scenes until the end of time, I can’t say they badly tarnished my experience. It just irritated me because it was incredibly pointless and a waste of so many people’s time and money. That was a roller coaster of an opinion ride that I haven’t felt in a while. It’s still an enjoyable movie, but there are very significant problems.

But the burning question still remains…..Who did Yukinari grow up to be?!

Recommended Audience: Still talking about death 50+!

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