Episode 006: Winged Kuriboh's Miracle/The Shadow Duelist (Part 2)
In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 6. This episodes concludes our Titan two-parter, and gives us a hint at some future plotlines.
Episode Review
After the recap, Dub Titan talks a lot more when the episode starts - just trash talk, which I'm not interested in transcribing here. Judai talks about how he doesn't have many options at the moment, while Jaden is more hopeful and says he still has a couple tricks. After that the dub cuts out some minor peanut gallery comments from Shou/Syrus and Hayato/Chumley.
Here's a minor trend I alluded to in an example in episode 3: the sub usually has each duelist declare their draw and end of turn. The dub sometimes omits these and adds new lines or adds in extra dialogue to spice it up:
Judai: Next, I set two cards face-down to call it a turn!
Jaden: And I'll throw down a couple of facedowns while I'm at it!
This example is relatively straightforward (both talking about setting backrow), but sometimes the dub will add a quip or some trash talk instead. This is common enough that I don't always mention it, but I realized I should talk about the fact that it happens more explicitly so I'm taking this moment to do so.
When Titan taunts Judai/Jaden, dub Titan additionally makes a threat towards Asuka. Jaden has an additional quip when activating Mirror Force, and when Titan and Judai trash talk the dub leans more towards banter over the word "daring." The dub cuts out more peanut gallery comments after the Emergency Provisions save, and a line from Judai about how tough the duel is.
When Titan "disappears" Judai's arm, Shou and Hayato have an exchange demonstrating that they're perceiving the event differently. Hayato's line and their confused looks are cut, but Shou's line remains with a change to just commenting on the disappearing arm. This will remain a pattern - while the sub calls attention to the peanut gallery's conflicting accounts as a hint to Titan's tricks, the dub rewrites or cuts lines to skip over the mystery entirely. And of course in one of these rewrites, they add in a Chumley fat joke instead.
Dub Titan's dialogue when doing his disappearing limb trick leans more on hypnotic trappings compared to last episode. And in terms of the trick, Hayato and Shou's confusion about which body parts are disappearing seems to suggest the involvement of mirrors and Judai later identifies a device Titan wears as part of the trick - but it's never fully explained, and the dub is even vaguer when they don't cut out the hints entirely.
Funnily enough, right before Winged Kuriboh comes out the dub finally alludes to Titan's illusion in his monologue even while sub Titan goes full in-character: "The shadows are a powerful weapon indeed, even the ones simply in your mind! If only he knew."
When Winged Kuriboh does come out, in the sub he clears up the darkness long enough for Judai to feel able to breathe again while the dub uses him more as a hint:
Judai: What the…it feels easier to breathe now…we're both back to normal.
Jaden: Hey, that you, Winged Kuriboh? What is it, pal? You trying to tell me something? Whoa, stay steady, would you? With that bright light, you're gonna hypnotize me quicker than ya help me--wait! That's it! That's what you're tryin' to tell me! We're not playing in the shadows! He's playing with my mind!
That said, while Judai asks Hayato about what he sees to confirm the trick Jaden just calls the trick out and Chumley/Syrus give generic peanut gallery comments:
Judai: Hayato! His left arm is gone, right? Hayato: No, I think it's the opposite… Shou: Wha? Judai: I see…so, that's it!
Jaden: Well, no more! I got this Shadow Game scam figured out! Chumley: Did he say Shadow Game scam? Syrus: What's he mean? Jaden: I mean, my soul's not on the serving plate anymore!
And as baffled as I am about how the dub approaches the illusion, I think what they did next is pretty funny.
Judai: See, I bet he's a magician or something, and we were all just under his hypnosis! Our bodies weren't vanishing for real, either; that's why we all saw things so differently. I bet he's got some gadget in his coat or that roulette! Titan: What nonsense. I truly do control the Games of--
Jaden: A whole lotta smoke and mirrors to make me think I was losing my soul! This guy's a complete sham! I mean, he's probably just some out-of-work carnie! Titan: I'm not out of work. I could get my job at the fair back any time I want!
In the next handful of lines Judai quizzes Titan on the number of Millennium Items in the sub. Titan gets it right before outing himself by claiming there are seven Puzzles. In the dub, Judai instead calls Titan a phony before Titan threatens Alexis and calls his Item the Millennium Pendant. When Titan tries to skedaddle the dub also sneaks in the fact that Titan had nothing to do with the abandoned dorm kids after all, which I honestly like.
Judai: You just dug your grave! You proved that you're a cheating dirtbag! Titan: With my device now ineffective, continuing to duel you would prove to be pointless!
Jaden: You don't have Alexis's soul! You never did! So hand her over and hand over all the other kids you snatched! Titan: Other kids? I don't know what you're talking about. And because of your earlier carnie comment, you can find your friend by yourself!
When the weird pillars activate, the dub adds a couple lines to hammer in that It's Real This Time:
Jaden: How'd you do this trick? Titan: I didn't!
And then once they reach the world of shadow...I don't usually cover visual edits, but this attempt to censor the shadows (right) burrowing into Titan's mouth doesn't look any better than the original (left) and I just wanted to boggle at this for a moment.
When Titan gets fully overwhelmed, Judai asks if he's okay while Jaden makes a quip about how he doesn't have a friend like Winged Kuriboh. Damn, Jaden.
Once the duel resumes Jaden makes another quip where Judai simply ends his turn. When Titan gets hit with an LP penalty for Pandemonium's effect he just attacks without preamble in the sub, whereas in the dub he has a line about "Life points is nothing compared to a soul!" Judai notices he's acting strangely, whereas Jaden just says he's going all-out.
On his next turn Winged Kuriboh tells Judai to make sure he wins in the sub, and is more concerned in the dub. Judai notes he's in a tough situation as he draws, while Jaden makes a quip about the card he drew.
When Winged Kuriboh scares off some shadows on Titan's next turn Jaden references Sparkman where Judai doesn't, and it makes the dub dialogue flow slightly smoother where in the sub Titan's dialogue wasn't really related to Judai's lines.
Jaden: It's all good! We still got Sparkman. Titan: Wrong! Skull Archfiend, destroy that peon!
Sub Titan's roulette in response to Bubble Shuffle is successful on 1, 3, and 5. Dub Titan's roulette is successful on 1, 3, and 6. This doesn't matter (it lands on 2) but much like the difference in exam times in episode 4 I do wonder why the numbers are different here. Maybe 4KIDS script writers need to go back to school themselves to learn how to count to 6.
See? I can make school jokes too!
When Judai summons Edgeman he has a straightforward line but Jaden has "Now let's give a big Shadow Realm welcome to Elemental Hero Bladedge!" which honestly kills me for some reason. The fact that Jaden doesn't even believe in the Shadow Realm might make this even funnier.
Sub Titan is swallowed up yelling incredulously about how games of darkness really exist, while dub Titan asks to tell his kids he loves them. I can't believe 4KIDS made Titan a loving carnie father just so kids can laugh at him when he's eaten alive by the darkness???
Once Judai/Jaden and Winged Kuriboh make it out of the shadow world, Hayato hears Winged Kuriboh's voice but Chumley doesn't; he just asks what happened. And then the dub skips over Hayato's line about how he heard a Duel Monster's voice, meaning that the entire introduction of our second cast member able to hear spirits...is just written out entirely. Which strips Chumley of another thing Hayato has going for him! We'll get there eventually in the dub because that plot point can't be avoided forever, but that marks yet another episode of doing Hayato/Chumley dirty.
After the duel Chronos finds Titan's receipt and goes "Huh? Well, I guess I'll take this." Crowler finds Titan's Pandemonium card instead and deduces he lost, leaving in a grumble.
When Asuka/Alexis wakes up at the end of the episode, Jaden is more focused on being the hero compared to Judai, which is kind of consistent with the Tome truck bit.
Judai: Sorry you went through a rough spot there. But don't worry, Asuka - the guy who attacked you's long gone. Asuka: Huh? Then, did you all…
Jaden: Hold on. What kind of a "thank you" is that? We're here because we had to find the bad guy, win the duel, and rescue the damsel in distress! Alexis: Yeah, that strange man snatched me!
Jaden really called Alexis a damsel in distress to her face. He continues to make a few more references to how Alexis needs saving, and honestly I don't know whether this is leaning on female stereotypes or on Jaden's role as a hero bailing his friends out of situations (and Asuka/Alexis suffers from GX's lack of female characters in general). Because honestly, Jaden's line here could easily be applied to characters like Syrus too:
Judai: Sorry, but we couldn't find any other clues back there. After hearing about your brother, I just figured I'd try to help you out a bit… Asuka: Then, that's why you went in there on--
Jaden: That's right, I brought it to let you know that we wanna help you find him! After all, we can't have you getting locked up In any more tombs searching for him all by yourself! Alexis: You really were worried about me, weren't you?
As the episode ends Asuka just fondly calls Judai a busybody, while Alexis says he saved her and mentions she might be able to save her brother.
And that's game! Gotcha!
Spoiler Zone
The Spoiler Zone is empty this time.
The Character Assassination of Chumley Huffington
I can't believe I've had to say this in four out of five episodes since his debut, but Hayato/Chumley is done some serious disservice here and it all sums up towards ignoring nearly every aspect of his character and replacing them with shallow jokes.
Things we know about Hayato as of this episode:
Pessimistic about his prospects
Anxious because he believes he has no future
Does poorly in school because it measures success by a metric he doesn't value
Likes dueling but is unsure of his goals and stagnating as a result
The first character we meet who hears spirits like our dear protagonist (seventeen episodes before Motegi/Belowski shows up and eighteen episodes before Manjoume/Chazz develops spirit sense)
Things we know about Chumley as of this episode:
Pessimistic about his prospects
Wets the bed, probably
Doesn't shower
Obsessed with food, especially grilled cheese (get it, because he's fat???)
Says "licious" a lot (get it, because he's fat???)
Does poorly in school because he'd rather sabotage his friends than put in effort (the method of which naturally involves food because - get it? He's fat!!!)
Hayato/Chumley is a small part of any given episode aside from his two focus episodes, but I'd call four out of five episodes a pattern being established. And yeah, in the end his main function is as peanut gallery and not a main character. But Hayato at least feels like a friend worth having school adventures with, and you can see where the direction of his (limited but present) character arc is supposed to go. Chumley is less of a character and more of a punchline.
Whether or not this is an intentional decision or just lazy fallback on stereotypes, I don't know. Regardless the end result is that we're six episodes in and Hayato and Chumley come off as different characters before we even hit his first focus episode.
Final Thoughts
This episode is...weird. The easiest thing to say is that I think while obviously the dub adds the backstory that Titan is an ex-carnie...I think it really works for the changes to his dialogue. I said dub Titan should work at a haunted house multiple times, and apparently maybe he did! I genuinely like that. It's very consistent with how embellished dub Titan's lines are at times, in contrast to the sub's spook-for-hire.
And then there are changes that make the episode less consistent, like cutting all the hints about Titan's tricks. Getting rid of Titan's for-hire-pay-me bit also makes these episodes less consistent in a way: the dub managed to avoid the entire subplot about Titan wanting to get paid in these two episodes, but when he returns in episode 41 they give up and pretend they mentioned it anyway. This also applies for mentioning Titan's name. That's not a joke:
Crowler, episode 41: [Titan]'s the name the shadow duelist wanted me to make the check out to when I hired him to scare off Jaden! And I never paid him…
Honestly, I suspect that whoever worked on this script either didn't fully understand what was going on with Titan's illusions, or thought the audience wouldn't understand. Which is honestly fair, because as far as I can guess the explanation involves an understanding of mirrors to rival that of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I also suspect they didn't look at episode 6 when they were writing the script for episode 5, which I think is also evident in episodes 7-8.
Relatedly! Next week is our introduction to the Marufuji/Truesdale drama and there's gonna be some interesting stuff to dig into there.
