#episode comparisons

[getyourchangeon]

Episode 032: The Kaiser Versus Camula - The Phantasm Gate Activates!/S1E32: Field of Screams (Part 2)

In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 32. This is a big one for the Marufuji/Truesdale brothers!

Episode Review

The opening in the infirmary starts the same between both versions, with Daitokuji being more cowardly and joining Pharaoh under the bed rather than chasing him there as Banner does. (Banner also gets a cat pun, but Daitokuji ends all his sentences with the Japanese equivalent of "meow" so it's not that different.) Misawa and Asuka discuss the reality of duels of darkness, while Bastion and Alexis instead discuss Camula.

Judai/Jaden and Manjoume/Chazz's banter is about the same between both, with Chazz adding an additional running joke about Jaden losing a fight with a blanket. Bastion is very slightly more forward than Misawa, asserting that he should be next rather than Chazz instead of claiming he'll win no matter his opponent, and Alexis focuses on the Shadow Rider stakes rather than the duels of darkness Asuka talks about.

Then comes the brothers' scene. Shou is concerned for his brother’s safety, while Syrus tries to call him out for striking out on his own. Kaiser doesn't answer verbally, leaving his thoughts ambiguous...

Shou: Big Brother! Um...well, uh... You wouldn't battle people as scary as they are, right, Big Brother? (Kaiser smiles and walks away)

...while the dub fills in the space with a Zane line about doing what needs to be done.

Syrus: Wait up! Hey...Big Bro... Didn't we just decide to work together? Where are you going? What gives? Zane: (Smiling, walking away) If all that matters is protecting those keys and rescuing Crowler, you know where I'm going.

Later on, in Manjoume/Chazz's room Chazz's disdain for Ojama Yellow is more personal than Manjoume's vendetta against low-attack monsters, continuing on a minor difference established previously in his mini-arc. The dub also adds an extra Crowler line emphasizing his vanity when Chazz examines his doll.

The dub adds a Chumley fat joke to the montage of keyholders reacting to Camula's next challenge. Then it makes THREE CONSECUTIVE jokes about Chumley being cowardly and fat and lazy as people enter Camula's castle, where the sub builds tension through silence and BGM save for a few Daitokuji lines.

The sub has a lot of "Camula's opponent should be me" jockeying here similarly to the previous conversation in the dub, while the dub has people demand Crowler's soul back. When Kaiser/Zane accepts Camula's challenge, Shou just says his name in concern (hinting that Kaiser is in the wrong mentality) while Syrus wishes him luck (still concerned).

Once the duel starts, Zane has a quip in place of draw declaration and trash talks a bit while playing Power Bond. This leads into Shou/Syrus noticing something is off, and frankly I’m impressed the dub managed to circle back to using the idea of playing a card vs. using it (the dub version of his storyline):

Shou: My big brother has always tried to win a great duel by respecting his opponent. But my big brother's different today... He's really upset...

Syrus: Wow, that's not like Zane. He usually feels out an opponent before throwing Power Bond. It's almost like he's just using it instead of playing it... I hope he knows what he's doing...

For now they more or less communicate the same idea: Kaiser/Zane is uncharacteristically aggressive, and he's off his game.

When Kaiser/Zane undoes his fusion to evade a bunch of consequences, Judai and Jaden are cheeky in different ways: Judai refers to Shou's brother as his "onii-chan," a more casual version of Shou's actual "onii-san" address to Kaiser. Theoretically the dub could use slang to communicate similar ideas if they wanted to adapt that little quirk (as with "Lex" in the tennis episode), but Jaden instead ribs Syrus about knowing how to play a card. Camula is slightly more flirtatious in the sub, but the message is really communicated either way. Syrus gets an additional line leading into the commercial break.

Once Camula summons Vampire Genesis, the peanut gallery comments on its return in the previous duel from Chronos's defeat in the sub; in the dub, they comment on its ugliness. Camula taunts Kaiser about losing his ace in the sub, and when she attacks he counters saying Cyber End Dragon isn't his only trick. In the dub Camula's taunt is changed to flirting, and Zane's line is changed to  straightforwardly activating his trap. Afterward, Judai praises Kaiser while Jaden references their duel in episode 8.

Camula and Zane have another exchange about her flirtations when he summons Cyber Laser Dragon. Where it’s Judai’s turn to reference episode 8, the dub...slanders Chumley again, because four times wasn’t enough. Shou/Syrus both talk about Kaiser/Zane's perfect win record, but Shou follows up with how proud he is of his brother while Syrus makes an "I got the looks" joke.

When Camula activates Phantasm Gate/Illusion Gate, she comments on Kaiser's hatred outweighing his charm in the sub while in the dub she talks about her bringing out her "ugly side" (to match her unhinged expressions). Interestingly, Camula describes the cost in the sub as "my soul" specifically while the dub goes with needing to sacrifice a soul, leading into her hostage strategy. 

When Camula's clone abducts Shou/Syrus, the dub cuts a shot of her biting into his neck, as well as the shot of the puncture wounds afterward. RIP vampire Syrus (dub) fanfic potential. The dub adds a few lines from Camula taunting Zane leading into her ultimatum, and Zane is more talkative as he considers his options:

Kaiser: However, if I make it past this turn and find my way to victory...the price of that victory will be Shou's soul. 

Zane: Camula will be defeated. We'll be that much closer to keeping the world safe from those Sacred Beasts. And in exchange, we just lose one soul - my brother's. The choice is clear.

The dub cuts some peanut gallery commentary, including an exchange between Judai and Camula:

Judai: That's low, Camula! Why won't you make this a fair fight?! Camula: Oh, no... The mere mention of a fair battle makes me nauseous!

And then comes the key part of the episode, the conversation between the two brothers…and while the differences between sub and dub in this episode have been relatively minor up until now, once again there’s a significant difference between how the conversation goes in both versions. Shou argues that he isn’t worth saving, and Kaiser sacrifices himself to make a point to Shou that he is worth losing for:

Shou: Big Brother...win, Big Brother. You're the proud Kaiser, Big Brother - who I'm proud of and want to be like. So, don't lose this because of me... It's all right. Whatever happens, I won't hold it against you, Big Brother... I mean, it's true, isn't it? I'm the lowest of the low in Osiris Red - I'm such a failure I'd embarrass you if I told anyone that I was your little brother, Big Brother. Even my dueling...in a building, it'd be the parking lot five floors under. In a triangle, it'd be one of the bases. I'm a failure. I can try as hard as I want, but I'm a failure. It has to be wrong for you to lose for someone like me, Big Brother. Right, Big Brother? Kaiser: You've grown to be capable of dueling well - you're nothing like you were in the old days. You should have more confidence.  Shou: Big Brother... Kaiser: Keep working hard, Shou. 

In contrast, the dub has Shou argue that his life isn’t as important as the fate of the world, and this is the only way he can be a hero. Zane sacrifices himself less to make a point and more because he really does love his brother: 

Syrus: Go on, Zane...do it. You have to. My soul is a small price to pay to stop Camula. After all, if she wins this duel, Zane... She'll get your spirit key, and you know what that means. The Shadow Riders...they'll be that much closer to freeing those Sacred Beasts! Besides, Zane... If one of us has to go down, it might as well be me. Sure, I may have gotten the looks. But the truth is, you got just about everything else. The skills, the smarts - everything. Anyway, big bro... It's all right. I mean, at least this way...I'll be remembered for something other than just being your little brother. This way, Zane... I'll be the one who's the hero. The one who saves the day. After all, we both know I would've never been able to do it by dueling. It's just like you said...I never belonged here. Zane: I did say that, Syrus, but since then, you proved me wrong. You do belong here. Syrus: Hmm? Zane: I love you, Syrus. Never forget it. I'll miss you, little bro. Farewell.

The sub uses a unique music box track to emphasize the poignancy of this moment, while the dub forgoes sentimentality and uses lightly ominous background noise which kind of matches the fact that Syrus is discussing the plot stakes for a good chunk of it.

Just in case you didn't get the point, the dub edits in Zane mouthflap shots to have him say he's standing down. Afterward the duel finishes out the same.

Judai rails against the way Camula and the Seven Stars use duels...

Judai: What the hell... What the hell is this?! Dueling's supposed to be fun, isn't it? So, tell me... Why does Shou have to cry over it?! Why'd the Kaiser have to go through all of that? I'll make anyone who duels like this pay... I will beat them--I'll win back all of the souls they took! Damn... Just you wait, Camula... Just you wait, Seven Stars! You're facing me next time!

...while Jaden is instead angry about what they've done to people he cares about.

Jaden: That's it! You hear me?! No more, Camula! I'm through with you messing with my friends! Got that? What you did to Crowler, to Zane?! It stops here, and I'm gonna be the one who stops it! Sure, I may not be up to snuff, but I don't care. I'm taking you on and one way or another, I'm getting our friends' souls back! Camula! Camula, here I come! So get set to get your game on!

Also the dub sneaks in a bit of Crowler slander here, giving his doll a snide "About time" line in contrast to the sub's more hesitant "W-won't you?" 

Roll To Be Continued…in the dub at least. For one last bit of trivia, the Camula episodes are titled together as a three-parter in the dub while each episode (and duel) is titled separately in the sub.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Empty!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 2 fat jokes, 3 miscellaneous slander

By far the most interesting thing to talk about this episode is the Marufuji brothers, both individually and together. Much like with Chronos/Crowler’s arcs in the previous episode, it’s important to mind what has and hasn’t been established in each of sub and dub at this point.

On Shou/Syrus: This episode is the first time in the sub that the depth of Shou's self-esteem issues ("I'm such a failure I'd embarrass you if I told anyone that I was your little brother") has been so clear. In the dub they've been hammering that since early on, even rewriting Shou's moments of confidence (both earned and unearned) to be about his poor self-esteem instead, so I’m pretty surprised that the dub changes that speech to focus on the Shadow Rider stakes. 

On Kaiser/Zane: Between the end of Nightshroud two-parter and this episode, Zane feels chattier to me than Kaiser. Kaiser is cool and taciturn to a fault: he tends to leave his intentions and feelings unspoken, which leads to the whole setup in episodes 7-8 where it takes Judai challenging him to communicate his intent to Shou multiple years after their childhood incident. The same is demonstrated multiple times this episode, first with the conversation outside the hospital wing and later with his self-sacrifice as a way to tell Shou “Despite what you think, you are worth losing for.”

Zane spells out a lot of things that Kaiser leaves to implication, including telling Syrus “I love you” in as many words. (Lowkey I think this also misses out on the implication that Kaiser doesn’t care about marring his perfect win record the way Shou does, but I admit that’s a relative subtlety.) And while the Doylist explanation for this is probably the dub trying to say things out loud for easier comprehension I think it’s interesting to consider this as an actual character trait. 

On the brothers’ major scene: The combination of the dub focusing on plot over Syrus’s issues and the changes to Zane’s dialogue at the end feels a bit weird to me. If they’d just done one or the other I’d be fine: it makes sense for Zane to tell Syrus he loves him in response to Syrus talking about how he isn’t worth saving, or for Zane to tell Syrus he should be more confident in himself in response to Syrus saying he isn’t worth dooming the plot. But the order of events as actually happened feels a bit awkward to me.

I think it'd feel more equivalent if Syrus got Zane's key afterward, because then Zane trusting his key to Syrus would be the same kind of rebuttal Kaiser made to Shou. However, that violates the rules for the Seven Stars/Shadow Riders plot as established and gets into fanfic territory so I'm going to leave the thought at that.

Last, the ending reminds us of the point that Judai believes duels should be fun and carefree, whereas Jaden is more focused on plot and ends up seeming a little more responsible for it. It’ll take a while for this difference to be significant, but we’ll get there.

[mc-critical]

MC Episode Comparisons: 63 and 103

The season finales.

So, here we have Magnificent Century's season 2 finale and season 3 finale both written by Yılmaz Şahin.

Episode 63 is mostly about Hürrem's schemes and her becoming the ruler of the harem while episode 103 is death, death and more death and later that even becomes a pattern to be followed by both season 4 and the series finale which had the most significant and inevitable death.

To be honest, out of these two season finales (or actually all the season finales), episode 63 was the only one that actually looked like a season finale- dynamic pacing, all loose ends being tied and a monologue culminating a character arc. Good stuff. Episode 103, while that also looked like a season finale, it was not as much and it wasn't all that apparent- especially after death had been becoming a literal main theme of the show after episode 82. (yes, we had quite a good amount of deaths before but it felt just like a recurring thing, a consequence and a reflection to the period that just helped the stance of the characters and empowered the main theme of characters and relationships while death post-episode 82 literally became a main theme along with the characters or should I say people's actions and their interpersonal relationships) Also let's not mention that cringe scene with SS and the new Hürrem (Vahide)- out of all of Vahide's performances in the show, I think this one was definitely the worst. And comparing this cringe scene with the monologue in episode 63, it just... pales.

As I said, episode 63 has a dynamic pacing, way more dynamic than usual. It all just flows so awesomely and the tension just keeps increasing. Will Hürrem become a ruler of the harem this episode? Will Hatice learn about Ibrahim and Nigar this episode? While episode 103 literally begins with a funeral. Its pacing is way slower in order for us to think and reflect. It just gets more dynamic for the last 30-40 minutes because things have to happen.

And there's also something else... episode 63 has a way better... before-episode planning, if you understand me. Episode 63 literally ties up loose ends that have long been established (even with this Iskender-Celebi twist which was just like the Rose Quartz=Pink Diamond twist from SU but far less built on, far less established and far less rewarding but wait... the PD twist was actually good.) (A side note: I don't think Iskender Celebi's twist was bad- it was just. bland.) unlike in episode 103 where we have Hatice abduct Hürrem because of lazy writing and they totally couldn't have found a better way to replace Meryem with Vahide and they totally couldn't have handled this abduction better if they wanted to keep it. Also we have Mahidevran killing Mehmet which was established just before 2 episodes, Bali Bey being written off just like that and Mihrimah getting Şah Sultan out of the palace just out of nowhere. These aren't necessarily bad things but I felt like they were worth pointing out.

In terms of thematic elements however, episode 103 is doing a way better job in comparison. It shows the main theme of the show about character relationships and the actions and the consequences to them as well as a bit of narrative neutrality with Mahidevran's "victory" of killing Mehmet and the show condemning it while episode 63 literally has the main character get the power on a freaking platter because of scheming. Episode 103 also has lots of detail, symbolism and metaphors and you know that I love it and I'm all about that stuff. Things were presented very subtly, in a way only people actually looking at the depth of things and not only for the speed in which the overarching plot moves forward, could understand.

(Also, let me just say that I really disapprove of Mahidevran's glare after she learns that Mehmet's dead- the way she killed him was disgusting. Thank goodness the show condemned her for it and she actually felt guilt.)

Episode 63 is about the action while episode 103 is about the characters and their actions. But really now, that's every season 1 or 2 (especially) episode compared with a season 3 or 4 episode.

Episode 63 also handles the multiple plot-lines way better than episode 103 could ever dream to. I mean, they were there in episode 103 but instead of structured sceneries and a neat balance, it was just a filthy mess that wasn't tied up together. The transitions from one plot-line to another weren't as flowing as the ones from episode 63 and basically the remaining entirety of the first two seasons. But this could be done on purpose- highlighting the atmospheric and tonal evolution y' know?

The direction in both the episodes is magnificent (except for that cringy last scene in 103). It presents the atmospheric and tonal change of the show as well as usual.

The character portrayal? Well, I think that in Mahidevran's "harem ruling period" from episode 59-this 63, the characters were just being inconsistent and harsh just for the sake of it and having their negative traits being over exaggerated for the sake of the plot but I'm glad to say that in episode 63 it wasn't as apparent and they did really good especially that last scene. I will say that episode 103 did better in terms of character portrayal but that's mostly due to the fact that it utilized the thematic elements of the show more than episode 63.

And there we go.

[regularshowavs]

Rigby’s Graduation Day Special (Season 7) / A Regular Epic Final Battle (Season 8)

[getyourchangeon]

Episode 031: Chronos Versus Camula the Vampire/S1E31: Field of Screams (Part 1)

In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 31. This is Chronos/Crowler’s big episode, so this is going to be quite an interesting one to look at!

Episode Review

The intro with Camula is about the same in both versions, with the dub adding organs to its BGM to drive in her antiquated nature. When Judai/Jaden wakes up, there's a joke about how he's dreaming about girls. The gossip segment around DA also has similar humor in the dub.

The keyholder meeting with the principal goes about the same, as does most of the keyholder prep. Chronos proclaims he doesn't believe in duels of darkness (relevant to a significant moment later this episode, changed in the dub) whereas Crowler disbelieves in vampires specifically. Daitokuji warding off evil spirits is also changed to Banner being prepped for vampires from horror movies.

In the medical wing, Alexis gets a little extra dialogue during a silent pan to Camula's bat spy but nothing groundbreaking. Camula's bath scene is unsurprisingly censored by added soap bubbles, but the only change of note is a slight bit of foreshadowing: when she catches sight of Kaiser/Zane she refers to him as "my doll" in the sub, and a vaguer "my first" in the dub (minus the hint about her opponents' fates).

At night, Manjoume tells the principal the keyholders are prepared while the dub goes for a joke as Chazz claims there are no vampires on campus...leading into, of course, Hayato/Chumley running in to deliver news of the vampire. 

Out on the lake, both versions make jokes about Camula's carpet: the sub suggests a wedding aisle, while the dub talks about a red carpet for VIPs. In a weird bit of censorship Zane calls out the "crimson red" carpet as a threat because we can't say "blood red," except “crimson red” isn’t that threatening so they really should have just gone with another line. Yes, I know we’re the color theory website but come on.

When Chronos/Crowler accidentally steps forward, Chronos accepts the task while Crowler tries to weasel out. This scene, I think, actually really drives at the difference between how Chronos/Crowler is characterized between sub and dub.

Chronos: Wh-what else would I do, no? A crimson path is a gentleman's path! As a descendant of the proud Medici family, it is, in essence, my path to take, is it not?

In the sub, we get the small lore detail that Chronos is in fact descended from the Medici family as per his name (omitted from the dub, where he’s no longer a Medici). When his options are to step up to the plate or lose face by evading responsibility, he basically invokes noblesse oblige and chooses the former to maintain his dignity.

Crowler has no such dignity, and acts cowardly instead.

Crowler: Hey, I have an idea! Let's draw straws to see who goes! Now, where can we find some straws? Oh, never you mind! I'll find them, just don't follow me.

So while the students are admiring Chronos for stepping forward (if reluctantly, the audience knows), Chazz basically says "sucks for you, you're up" and forces Crowler into it.

When Hayato/Chumley updates the infirmary gang, Asuka is concerned because she considers it reckless to enter into a duel of darkness so soon after Judai was hospitalized for his own. Alexis is concerned because of Crowler's skill: "Crowler may talk a big game, but he plays a terrible one!" Just a little bit of slander on his skill and how he’s characterized between versions…and going back to the previous point, in a way this implies that Chazz is sabotaging the effort to protect the world by throwing a weak duelist to the wolves and letting them have his key. There’s a joke on his episode 47 love duel with Alexis here.

Back at the lake, Chronos plays off his nerves to save face again while Chazz and Crowler bicker about Crowler being in the hotseat. When Camula arrives, she asks to trade Chronos for Kaiser as opponent and he takes that as a dig at his worthiness as an opponent while in the dub she directly tells Crowler he isn't worthy. Crowler gets a PhD joke at his expense.

Once Camula formally introduces herself, the dub cuts a Misawa reaction line and changes Daitokuji/Banner's commentary from musing on the truth of the vampire rumors to talking about his horror movie collection. Chronos asks for the terms of the duel, while Crowler denies the existence of vampires as Halloween tricks. Chronos does the same a few lines later, with Crowler adding extra mockery.

Once the duel begins, minor line changes emphasize Crowler's disbelief in the supernatural. Camula gets an additional quip in the dub about believing in the supernatural when she takes the first turn; Crowler also trashtalks Zombie Werewolf. Some commentary from the peanut gallery explaining Chronos’s card effects get cut.

Rather than praise Chronos for his first attack, Zane makes a quip following up on the werewolf trashtalk. Chronos/Crowler have different focuses for their response, as does Camula:

Chronos: Dueling is beautiful! Battles must be beautiful, mustn't they now? Camula: Then I shall counterattack beautifully, as well...

Crowler: That was fun! I should get out of the classroom more often! Camula: On the contrary, you should study up!

When it turns out Chronos/Crowler didn't know the werewolf's effect, Chazz is more derogatory than Manjoume's shock: "He teaches us?" compared to "Hey wait, you didn't know?" On Camula's next turn Chronos/Crowler both mock Camula and her deck, calling them make-believe in the sub and joking about Halloween in the dub.

When he takes damage, a reaction shot from Kaiser gets cut but the main beat (Chronos/Crowler realizing the duel of darkness/shadow game is real) remains the same. In the hospital wing, Asuka points out that this should drive in the reality of these duels to the adults while Alexis is understandably more concerned about the possibility Crowler loses both his key and his soul. Camula's continued interest in Kaiser leads to an extra quip from the peanut gallery, as well as The Big Character moment. 

Chronos: Do not patronize me! He is one of my precious studenti - you will not lay a finger on him! And I am the Chief General Director of Practical Application at the illustrious Duel Academia! I could never approve of these Duels of Darkness, no? Manjoume: But you're all roughed up! Chronos: There is no need to worry, is there? Dueling is light - I will use my just dueling to bury the darkness, no?

Crowler: As tempting as your offer is, I don't think so! I won't let you lay a finger on my students! Do you understand? I am the leading professor at the most famous duel academy in the world! And if you want to get to my pupils, you're going to have to get through yours truly! Chazz: But you can barely stand, Crowler! Crowler: Don't worry about me. I still have a deck in my hand, and a few tricks up my sleeve!

Much like with Hayato in episode 21, this is notable because the dialogue is so close between the two. Crowler has the second most drastic dialogue changes after Chumley, so this is significant! And it’s an important moment to keep, because it says so much about him. This moment is the first solid sign in either version of the series that underneath all the elitism/beef (depending on version) there is an idealistic teacher somewhere in there, even if it took an apocalypse threat and a vampire to dig it out of him. (You did see early signs in the sub version of episode 26, where Chronos realizes he doesn't agree with Manjoume's brothers; this is changed in the dub.)

That said, the dub did drop Chronos’s comparison of dueling to light against the darkness - something that will come up again later in the sub.

After Chronos's next turn, he denies the duels of darkness again towards the same eventual payoff about the light. In the dub, he instead makes a school joke. Camula also makes a school joke on her following turn, raising the question of why a medieval vampire is familiar with the modern classroom. Maybe that's how she learned modern English? (Camula does make a few quips in the sub, but they’re more constrained to lectures and students rather than classroom format.)

Anyway on her next attack, Chronos and Crowler have different wisdom for their students.

Chronos: (Thinking) How shameful it is to have repeated my mistakes... (Out loud) My students, consider this an example of what not to do - do not ever attempt to replicate it!

Crowler: (Thinking) No, not again! I can't take much more of this. (Out loud) No! Stay back! This is my duel, and my duel alone! You must protect your keys!

When Judai/Jaden arrives to defend his teacher's honor, a shot of Chronos laboring to get up as his students watch is cut and replaced with a commercial transition. And then his next moment is the payoff for all his denial of the supernatural: 

Chronos: Signora Camula... I, Chronos de Medici, will never allow myself to be defeated in a Duel of Darkness, no? That is because, at its core, dueling is something that bestows hope and light unto our youth. It does not bring about fear and darkness, does it?! Judai: You said it, Professor Chronos... Misawa: So, it wasn't that Duels of Darkness don't exist... Kaiser: He was saying that they shouldn't exist?

This is meant to recontextualize Chronos’s continuous denials of the supernatural: it’s not that he doesn’t believe the reality of the duel he’s living right now at this point, it’s that he refuses to believe the dark and scary things are more powerful than dueling as a force for good. This underlines his previous determination to protect his students, and further frames him as a bit of an idealist under all the elitism.

That duels represent hope and light is also an idea that aligns him with Judai, who believes similarly (which will come up in the sub versions of episodes 32-33). There’s a brief moment in a later season that suggests Chronos used to be something like Judai when he was younger ("We humans must live life to the fullest until our very last breath, mustn't we? …Even I was once ablaze with dreams in the past, as well...") so this bit of parallel setup is kind of interesting to me!

But the dub dropped that bit of metaphor throughout the episode, so there is no philosophizing. The dub focuses on Crowler’s relationship with Jaden instead (leaving his denial of the supernatural as typical skepticism):

Crowler: I am not giving up! ...You had better believe it. And here to stay, too, missy! You see, though it makes me slightly ill to admit it, Jaden is absolutely right! I can beat you! I can throw down, and I can get my game on! Blech, I suddenly feel the need to rinse my mouth out. Jaden: Come on, it's not that bad, teach. Bastion: Yes, perhaps. But you know what is? His life points. Zane: It's true. To win, Crowler will need to mount quite a comeback.

After turning the tables on the Heavy Storm play Camula taunts Chronos about her superior planning in the sub while focusing on duel summary in the dub, though Manjoume/Chazz underscore her foresight in both. Camula's reference to her bat spies is a bit subtler in the sub:

Camula (sub): If my red eyes happen to see them, that much is simple...

While in the dub she's much more explicit.

Camula (dub): It's easy when you have a hundred flying bats spying on everyone!

Everyone officially learns this in episode 33 and will react to this news like it's fresh in both versions, so I guess everyone in the dub just forgot for two episodes. Oops?

Camula has an added quip during the combo for her final play, and then Chronos/Crowler have their final speech to the students. Chronos again talks about how light beats the darkness:

Chronos: Gentleman, please watch carefully. And you must promise me this... Even if one is defeated in a Duel of Darkness, the darkness cannot overcome the light. Believe this and never allow your hearts to yield - promise me that you will do so.

While Chronos is less metaphorical about his support:

Crowler: My students, no matter what happens to me, always remember this! It's true, I may have been hard on you at times, but it's simply because I believe in you. Therefore, if I fall here, there's still hope, because I know you all will rise.

When Camula taunts him, Chronos basically goes "come at me" while Crowler has a PhD joke except this time it's cool: "Excuse me, but that's Doctor to you!" Once he loses, they both address Judai/Jaden with Chronos telling him to use the light of his dueling (leading into Shining Flare Wingman in episode 33) and Crowler more simply asks Jaden to avenge him.

Concluding the duel, Camula reminds everyone Chronos/Crowler’s key was at stake and Jaden talks about how it's rightfully hers where Judai acknowledged Chronos was cool in that duel. The sub uses Camula's theme to add punch to the episode's end, while the dub ends on her evil laughter.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Empty!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 0!!! ZERO! Not even a “licious!” The crowd went wild!!! Yeah, Hayato/Chumley doesn’t get a lot of dialogue, but the same is also true for the next episode and 4KIDS will actively add dialogue to slander him so I’ll take it.

There’s two angles to looking at this episode: looking at the differences between how Chronos and Crowler are portrayed in this episode, and looking at each of Chronos and Crowler’s individual arcs as conveyed up to now. I think both are worth considering, since while the difference between Chronos and Crowler isn’t as drastic as Hayato and Chumley…it’s still pretty significant. Chronos and Crowler have the same onscreen actions but largely different motivations.

So what are the differences? Crowler is initially portrayed as more cowardly than Chronos, with more jokes at his expense and less focus on his principles. However, he does step up for the big moment where he passionately defends his students which is really the turning point for his character  Some of his smaller moments (“do not attempt to replicate my mistakes”) are changed, including the entire thread where he believes light and good will triumph over the darkness. The dub instead focuses more on his relationship with Jaden especially. Given that Crowler is motivated by his hatred of Jaden rather than elitist beliefs, that isn’t necessarily bad.

Personally I am disappointed that the philosophizing is gone in the dub, and I think Crowler’s big “I will protect my students” moment is a bit weaker because of it. But I’m of the opinion that peak Yugioh duels involve at least one participant dramatically monologuing about their worldview while playing cards that verge on too on-the-nose. Not everyone will agree with me on that and that’s fine.

More importantly: let’s look at what we’ve seen of Chronos and Crowler since episode 1.

As discussed previously, Chronos's staunch elitism stems from his value of hierarchy as “order” in the school: those at the top are more worthy because they meet certain standards, which he treats as inherent. I argue that this can be tied to his noble ancestry, reflected in his deck’s historical Roman aesthetic, and the decorum expected of such status. His belief in that order is why he drops Manjoume as soon as he fails a couple times and rails against Misawa being a top student in Yellow as well as Judai’s everything, but in this episode we see that Chronos includes himself in that order. In other words: because Chronos values elitism so highly, he must act in a way befitting of the elite. That’s why he goes to face Camula, even if it was initially by accident: to do any less would to demonstrate he is unworthy of his status.

Maybe it’s just because I’m currently watching Spy x Family with my friend, but Chronos reminds me a bit of Henderson in his first episode in that series: he values order and beauty (elegance, you could say) and seeks to maintain the prestige of his school by ruthlessly gatekeeping until a counterexample forces him to re-evaluate his beliefs and focus on being a better teacher for his students. Of course Henderson changes his tune within an episode and Chronos takes over half a season to get to this point, but all the same this episode goes to show that underneath the institutional classism there’s a good teacher who genuinely cares about passing his real love for dueling on to future generations. 

In the dub, Crowler is not a descendant of nobility, nor does he hold himself to the standards that Chronos does. He’s just a bully of a teacher - verging on Saturday morning cartoon villain - who really hates Jaden. No overarching worldview, other than his own ego; as far back as the first episode, he calls his students “talentless monkeys” and the recurring jokes about his PhD and “Doctor” title are meant to highlight how vain and self-important he is about something nobody cares about. He’s a bit more like Mr. Crocker from Fairly Oddparents to me. 

It still works, to have him come to the defense of his students. I think there’s a bigger gap from “the school is full of talentless monkeys” and “I’m going to ask Jaden and Syrus to solve a mystery and then expel them for it” to “if I’ve been hard on you it’s because I believe in you,” but the point of this episode is that when it matters - in the face of an apocalyptic threat and a dangerous enemy - he does care about his students. Even Jaden. Especially Jaden, who he addresses individually just before he goes down. That’s its own kind of character development, even if it's somewhat different from how it goes in the sub. And although I think Crowler is a less nuanced character overall because he's missing both the overarching elitism and the idealistic philosophizing that Chronos got, he’s at least functional in his own way even if he does ask you to suspend your disbelief harder.

[getyourchangeon]

Episode 023: Burnout! The Moke Moke Duel/S1E23: The Little Belowski

In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 23. This episode features my personal favorite one-off duelist in the series, and…well, there’s a lot to say for this one.

Moke Moke!

Episode Review

The sub starts with Shou recapping the school rep qualifier match and providing exposition. The dub cuts this and skips to the actual opening scene with Chronos/Crowler at the chicken coop. Once again the dub is a little more upfront with the episode premise compared to the sub, mentioning "Duel Academy's most dangerous specimen" and Belowski's name where the sub has him allude to what's coming with a Pandora's box reference. Otherwise, aside from a flurry of fowl puns in the dub the scene is about the same.

After that, Judai's feelings as everyone offers Judai their cards are different between versions. In the sub he doesn't care about the school's reputation and just wants to have fun; the interschool match is just the means by which he gets a fun new duel.

Judai: Aww, shut up! Don't butt in! Misawa: We aren't butting in for nothing - your upcoming duel is a battle with the academy's prestige at stake! To that end, we hoped to battle with you-- Asuka: That's right! It is for the academy, after all! Judai: Screw that! Who says I'm dueling for the academy?! This is my duel! I'm just doing it to have fun!

Jaden feels more responsibility in the dub, and stresses over representing the school well:

Jaden: What I need is some time to think! Bastion: There's no need to be rude, Jaden. We're only trying to help. After all, you've been selected as the academy's representative at the school duel. Alexis: This is huge! And if you don't win, it's going to be a huge disappointment. Jaden: Aw, come on! Like there's not enough pressure on me already?! I know the school's counting on me! But all I can duel is my best!

When Judai/Jaden runs off, his friends reiterate the cards they want him to use in the sub. The dub changes it up by adding some "You can't be alone all by yourself!" jokes...

...and a Chumley fat joke, of course.

Judai runs to the roof mentioning that it's his "special spot," whereas Jaden has a quip about his friends. The former is a running gag for this episode among others (we saw this in episode 9, for example). For Motegi/Belowski's intro Motegi is introduced as more meandering whereas Belowski gets to the point and then meanders:

Judai: Wh-why are you in my special spot when no one else knows about it? Motegi: 'Cause the weather's great! Judai: The weather? Motegi: Up here, the sun's nice and warm, the clouds are floating... You don't feel like doing anything...

Jaden: No offense, but I was hoping to find some peace and quiet. What're you doing up here? Belowski: I'm up here to duel you, Jaden! Jaden: Who are you? Belowski: Just a dude with a deck. Call me Belowski. You ever notice how clouds look like duel monsters if you look really close?

Belowski’s name and characterization are a reference to The Big Lebowski, a 1998 cult film that (checks Wikipedia) is rated R, the plot of which is entirely unrelated to this episode beyond the protagonist doing weed (comparing the Moke Moke effect to a drug trip), and as of time of writing is currently ranked #44 on the Wikipedia page "List of films that most frequently use the word fuck." This was not a reference intended for the kids, although the episode stands without understanding that.

Then we get to the major difference in how Motegi/Belowski is introduced. Motegi is here to purposefully pique Judai's interest as a mysterious duelist who sees spirits, the first we’ve seen since Hayato (not that 4KIDS is interesting in acknowledging it for Chumley).

Motegi: I know it's random, but let's duel! Judai: Wh-what's that about? And he just said he didn't want to do anything... Motegi: This is a different story. I mean, you'd want to have a duel against a guy who knew about duel spirits, wouldn't you? Well? Judai: I get it... So this guy's a duelist with some special power too, huh?

While Belowski is more casual about spirits and instead spouts incomprehensible hippie talk.

Belowski: Anyhow, let's duel! Jaden: Again with the dueling. He must think I'm easy pickings 'cause I'm in Red. Belowski: Red, blue, yellow, who cares?! Those are just symbols the man uses to try to propagate social division! See...it's all a conspiracy of the political-industrial complex to permeate the so-called free market. Jaden: Sure! Whatevs! Let's just throw down!

Hang on let’s back up.

Belowski: Red, blue, yellow, who cares?! Those are just symbols the man uses to try to propagate social division! 

…I know the joke is that he’s talking incomprehensible hippie rhetoric but like, the ranked dorm system as part of a larger social inequality at the school is in fact what’s going on in the sub version of GX at least. I’ve been discussing this for over twenty episodes. Belowski reached across the language barrier and spoke truths from another reality.

Then Judai's friends enter, and for the second time the dub rewrites the little detail that Judai's secret spots aren't as secret as he thinks they are:

Shou: Hey! Big Bro, you were up here! Judai: C'mon... How'd you know about this spot? Shou: Well, you're always here when you skip class, Big Bro!

The dub foregoes this and instead has ask Syrus who the new guy is. Chronos follows up on the secret spot talk, noting that he also knows where Judai comes to skip class, and then gloats about Motegi's powers. Crowler instead gloats and then has a joke about his protective suit.

When the duel starts and Motegi/Belowski summons Moke Moke, the peanut gallery comments on how "mellow" he is in the sub and his cuteness in the dub, both leading into the idea of sleepytime. The dub once again removes the mention of Flame Wingman as Judai's favorite monster (RIP).

The next few turns don't have any significant changes beyond Belowski's general Belowski-isms up until the Angered Moke Moke/Moke Moke Smackdown play, where Motegi is more soft-spoken leading into his attack and Belowski is more direct (not all that different from Maiden in Love a few episodes ago, actually):

Motegi: Um, do you mind if... I kinda want to have Moke Moke attack Flame Wingman... 

Belowski: Now where was I? Oh, yeah. I was about to have my Mokey Mokey attack your Flame Wingman.

And then Belowski tosses out more "chill" lines both during the attack and during his follow-up plays. When Judai demands to know what Motegi/Belowski did to the others, Motegi doesn't explain while Belowski says he "freed their minds."

The dub cuts a line/shot from Chronos, mostly wordplay in the sub mixing his laugh with the "moke moke" mantra and his speaking quirk (roughly "Mokeke no ke, na no nae!").

Then we get into backstory. Three years ago, Motegi was formerly DA's top student until his dueling style suddenly changed, and his opponents started losing ambition and dropping out. Chronos calls this his "Burnout Dueling." Belowski instead was left at DA as a baby and was raised as a student there. In both, Motegi is said to be a strong duelist.

Interestingly, Crowler almost seems aware of duel spirits in his explanation: "No! I mean how Mokey Mokey comes alive when he duels with him. ...Powers and all! Powers that lull everyone around him into a lazy daze, like your friends! And soon...like you!"

Chronos, by comparison, is aware that Motegi has powers but Motegi is the one to mention his connection to Moke Moke: "I don't get why it happens, but ever since I met my Moke Moke, everyone gets like that when I duel..." As shown below, Chronos isn't aware of the spirit side of things.

The explanation of Motegi/Belowski's containment is mostly the same, but the dub puts more emphasis on how the school is imprisoning him gilded cage style: "Jail's such an ugly word. We prefer mandatory restraint habitat."

And then of course we get into Motegi/Belowski's different motives for starting this duel. Motegi is doing this out of his own beliefs, thinking Judai’s Winged Kuriboh would be happier not having to duel.

Judai: Then, why'd you go and bring him outside? You don't even want to duel, do you? Motegi: Yeah. But once I heard about you from Instructor Chronos, I got some kind of a hunch. I was wondering if you might be able to use duel spirits like I can... Chronos: Spirits? Motegi: See, I want to set your cute spirit free from dueling! Not having a care in the world like this is what makes a spirit happy, y'know. Judai: Sorry, but it doesn't sound like it is. My partner's saying that it's having fun getting to duel here and now!

Belowski is instead…Crowler’s…personal child assassin???

Jaden: Sure it was [a paradise]. And just like an island, he was completely stranded there, huh? Belowski: Nah, man, it's all good! I just chill, and then every time there's a student Dr. C wants me to take care of, I get to come out. You know. Duel, whatever. It's a pretty sweet gig. Crowler: That's right! Belowski: Plus...I get plenty of time to hang with my monster crew and spin our wheels and stuff. And, dude? We have some deep talks, too. We're totally unraveling the universe. You should join us! Jaden: Hmm? No, thanks. We're good here. Dueling is our thing. So how about we get back to it?

This episode is full of severely messed up implications in both versions but, wow. Belowski is a stoned Winter Soldier. All right then.

(courtesy of @eleanorose123)

The rest of the duel goes about the same, including the line where Judai/Jaden says he's too busy having fun to succumb to the Moke Moke effect. The post-duel conversation is a bit different, with the dub adding a new explanation as to why Jaden didn't fall asleep.

Judai: Gotcha! That was a really fun duel! You got pretty heated-up yourself, too! Motegi: It's not as easy as it looks to stay relaxed, y'know. Judai: Tell me about it! It's 'cause dueling's so much fun! Motegi: Yep. I guess it's nice to get wrapped up in a match like you sometimes... But for now, I'm spent from trying too hard... Night...

Jaden: That's game! And what a game! I actually thought you had me a few times! Belowski: Yeah, but I don't get it. Why didn't you trance out? Jaden: Why would I? When I sleep, I dream of dueling! Belowski: Ohhhhh... I think I get it. You love dueling so much, The more Mokey Mokey tried to zonk you out, the more revved up you got! ...Good to know... For next time. But now? I need a nice, long nap. Later!

The episode closes out with a few additional jokes in the dub, calling back to the beginning of the episode.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Read below for more, but the point that Judai focuses on fun and not responsibility is going to be extremely relevant in future seasons, at least the sub version. (I can’t make claims about the dub version until I’ve seen the relevant episodes.) For example - and this is by no means exhaustive - it’s part of the main contrast between him and Edo (Aster) as hero users/lovers; it’s relevant to Judai’s interactions with the Society of Light; Professor Satou (Stein) calls him out it in season 3, leading into responsibility as a theme in the sub version of season 3; and then in season 4 Judai overcorrects and has to relearn how to have fun when he’s been burdened with responsibility. Obviously this was not known to 4KIDS in 2005, but it is still worth mentioning for retrospective.

Also on the point of Judai’s secret spots, people keep seeking him out at said spots as far as season 4 (episode 167) so even if it’s not that important in the long run I’m a little sad that the dub eliminates the joke.

Final Thoughts

This is…an extremely weird episode in terms of dub changes.

First off, as previously mentioned the decision to reference an R-rated movie to make stoner jokes about the duelist of the week in a dub where the alcohol gets censored into hot sauce…sure is a choice. This isn’t the first time adult jokes and references are made in kids’ media and won’t be the last, but I just want to get that out there as a point about the dub’s localization choices because this won’t be the last time for GX either. 

Second, the dub changes Belowski’s backstory (and age) compared to the sub. Motegi is a mysterious student who was normal up until he developed powers and has since been locked up in a blissful haze. Belowski is an Academy-raised assassin who now serves as Crowler’s personal dueling Winter Soldier. Absolutely wild. Motegi is one of my favorite characters in GX on the pure basis that I think his case is super messed-up (DA just casually indefinitely imprisoning a kid for supernatural powers and all) and now the dub’s managed to find a way to make it even more messed up. Amazing. Will this ever be followed up on? Unfortunately not, except on on my conspiracy board. 

Relatedly, Crowler seeming to know something about Belowski and his connection with Moke Moke has slight implications toward public knowledge about duel spirits. We saw a little bit about that previously with the Jinzo episode too, where learning forbidden summoning rituals is apparently part of the curriculum.

Last, there’s a couple of different minor details about Judai that are changed or cut to make Jaden feel like a different character. Judai not caring about the responsibility of representing the school is a major one, because it feeds into his characterization as someone who only cares for fun and not larger consequences. Discussing the relevance in more detail edges into spoilers for future seasons, so check the Spoiler Zone for that. Judai’s secret spots being well-known to his friends (and Chronos) is less important, but I thought it was a cute point of continuity that the dub eliminates.

[getyourchangeon]

Episode 028: Our Extra-Credit Class Is a Duel of Darkness?! (Part 2)/S1E28: Grave Risk (Part 2)

In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 28. This one is honestly pretty straightforward following on the previous episode.

Episode Review

The dub starts the episode by adding taunts from the chief during the establishing shots and field review. Shou and Hayato cheering Judai on becomes Syrus cheering Jaden on while Chumley yells about how he wants out, because the dub likes portraying Chumley as more of a coward. The dub also cuts a moment with Daitokuji thinking about how this test allows him to see Judai's full abilities only to realize he literally can't see anything with the coffin lid blocking his view.

The Chief insults Judai's strategy with Winged Kuriboh in the sub, and Winged Kuriboh itself in the dub. Making fun of the individual monster is also a dub trend, as with previous Winged Kuriboh duels and also Ojama Yellow. The dub jazzes up the duel procedural dialogue as usual. After the failed LV10 play, the Chief's insults about Winged Kuriboh (and Judai/Jaden's retorts) are about calling Kuriboh small/weak in the sub and a rodent “for pounding” in the dub.

I’m not sure Winged Kuriboh is even a mammal, but more importantly does “pounding” count as slang in this context? My (admittedly not that indepth) research has been mixed, and if it counts that’s extra funny because a few turns later the dub changes the chief’s duel trashtalk to commenting on Jaden’s slang again.

After the Chief summons himself Jaden finds out he's participating in a shadow game, which Judai has known this entire time. The dub cuts a couple lines from Judai and the Chief's description of his "heart which does not yield to the powers of darkness," as well as a close-up of Sara/Gravekeeper's Assassin's hesitation. The dub omits a reference to Yugi participating in duels of darkness, and Jaden's dialogue is more pep talk than Judai's determination.

Judai: For my friends' sakes, I can't lose this. I've got a big dream - to be the Duel King! And even the Yugi Mutou - the guy I look up to - won his way out of tons of Duels of Darkness! You think I'll let that take me out?!

Jaden: Come on, Jaden! You've gotta get your game on! You've gotta get it on for your friends! They're all counting on you! And I won't let 'em down! Especially when down means...six feet under in an old sarcophagus! No way, no how - they're coming home!

The Chief calls out Sara's hesitation in attacking, which buys Judai time for his Emergency Provisions play; the dub instead has him trash talk, so it appears Yasmin's approach is just slow motion. The Chief gives an order to Sara in the sub, while he ignores her and addresses Jaden in the dub.

Chief (sub): Gravekeeper Assassin, listen to your Chief!

Chief (dub): Curse you! But Assailant's attack still cuts through!

The dub cuts the shot where the Chief backhands Sara, but keeps the part where she withdraws. The Chief doesn't speak here in the sub, but the implication is that she's being punished for disobedience; in the dub, he instead explicitly says he's punishing her for being too slow. In response Judai calls him out for not appreciating his own monsters, while Jaden calls the Chief out for blaming her for his mistakes.

After this the dub cuts some of the sub’s post-eyecatch footage recycling and continues with minor dialogue changes: Judai and the Chief banter about Judai's hopes of winning vs. Jaden having fun, which is kinda interesting because usually the sub focuses more on how much fun Judai has in duels. Some of the Chief’s taunts are slightly changed or cut. When it comes time for his final turn, Judai’s explanation of how that he can still use in-Graveyard effects has a more metaphorical tone in the sub compared to the dub (highlighting the Necrovalley symbolism).

Judai: Ravine of the Resting Royal Family - Necrovalley, sacred ground protected by the Gravekeepers... Here on this sacred ground, any magic aimed at the afterlife loses its effects. Chief: If you are aware of that, cease your struggling! I will at least send you to your rest peacefully. Judai: But that doesn't mean the monsters in the afterlife always want that to happen! Chief: What? Judai: Powers from our sacred ground might not hit the afterlife, but powers from the afterlife will just activate on our sacred ground instead!

The dub by comparison has a much plainer explanation.

Jaden: For sure, Necrovalley field spell card is all I need! Chief: Please! Necrovalley simply negates any effects aimed at monsters in the graveyard. Jaden: Exactly, but not the effects coming out of the graveyard. Chief: What? Jaden: Don't "what" me! You know exactly what I mean! My monsters that are in the graveyard? If they have an effect I can use, I can use 'em!

The rest of the duel finishes the same in both.

After the duel, Judai says the duel was fun because he got to duel against spirits while in the dub Jaden talks about how he'd rather his friends hadn't been in danger. The dub skips over a brief mention that the other person who passed the trial (i.e., Fubuki/Atticus) didn't have the luxury of enjoying the duel like Judai did.

The Chief's directions to return to their world are more flowery and prophetic-sounding in the dub for a joke. The soldiers' attack and Sara/Yasmin's save is the same between both up until she gives her message for Fubuki/Atticus to Judai/Jaden, at which point the dub makes a joke about her already having a boyfriend. The rest of the scene proceeds the same, aside from an added Yasmin line at the end.

As the gang runs towards the gate, Hayato saying he can't keep going on his twisted ankle is changed to another Chumley potshot because we can’t have nice things. And of course they add another joke about running...while he's being carried on Death Koala/Des Koala's back, and therefore not even running.

After waking up from the return to Earth, Judai thinks it was all a dream while Jaden calls it hallucination by way of moldy sandwiches…which is apparently the hot new name for rice balls (see last episode for my thoughts on this), and additionally calls into question why the students brought moldy food for a ten-mile hike.

The episode closes out with Judai confirming the experience was real, while Jaden ends on a more ominous note.

Judai: So, that wasn't a dream! That Duel of Darkness...that world of spirits...they really did happen!

Jaden: Oh well, at least we're back to one sun. But still, something just tells me...the shadows will be back.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Empty!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 1 fat joke, 2 miscellaneous potshots.

There isn't a lot to say here because the primary changes aside from the usual dialogue jazz-ups were cutting the Chief's punishment (not unexpected), the graveyard effect explanation (a bit of a jazz-down, if you would, also not unexpected with 4KIDS avoiding death and related imagery as much as they can in a Gravekeepers/Necrovalley episode) and Chumley slander (so regular I'm keeping a per-episode counter until he leaves). None of that is especially fresh territory to discuss.

If there's anything more to consider, it's the fact that Jaden is a bit slower to catch onto the supernatural stuff he's involved in like with the shadow game this episode. This despite the fact that the dub - again! - suggests that supernatural stuff is part of the curriculum. Then again, you could easily say Jaden probably skipped that class...

Anyway if you think this was a short post: it was. The post for episode 29 will not be short.

[getyourchangeon]

Episode 012: Oxygen + Hydrogen = H2O (Water) Dragon/S1E12: Formula For Success

In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 12. This is our first focus episode for Misawa/Bastion, including his rivalry with Judai/Jaden!

Also I pull out the conspiracy board once again, this time over GX common knowledge about Misawa/Bastion's decks.

Episode Review

 In the beginning of the episode Misawa is late because he "got caught up in deck-building deliberations," while Bastion was "deep into some attack point quantum mechanics." The dub gets a bit silly with it in terms of dueling math, and this will be true for the whole episode. 

Judai is a bit more respectful/anticipatory of Misawa's pitching compared to Jaden:

Judai: You're finally up, Misawa. But I'm knocking your pitch all the way out there!

Jaden: This is no written exam, Bastion. I hope you know what you're doing!

Misawa's responding trash talk in response is less Mathy in the dub, but he does trash talk in either case.  The #1/#2 banter between the two of them in the dub is replaced with "Game on"/"Game over," which I think is pretty equivalent even if I like the #1/#2 running joke from the first few episodes. The dub also changes Judai yelling "I'm a hero!" as he pitches the ball to "Now here's some bite for you!", maybe to lead into the visual of the roaring dragon.

Chronos enters bemoaning his lack of a golden child figurehead for his dorm elitism, while Crowler is still personally beefing with Jaden Yuki. I’ve suggested before that the dub emphasizes personal vendettas for Crowler over the structural elitism that characterizes Chronos (and early Manjoume, and DA as a whole), and that pattern is also evident in this next conversation:

Chronos: My...that Manjoume is just useless, isn't he? Someone must take his place soo–(bonk)

Crowler: The Paradox Brothers couldn't beat Jaden! Chazz couldn't beat Jaden! I need to find someone who can beat–(bonk)

Shou apologizes to Chronos for the incident, while Syrus has a quip about it (kinda bold given the situation, honestly). When Misawa/Bastion comes in and claims fault, Chronos reaches for his elite golden child:

Chronos: Ah, it just hit me that you are the student with the best grades, Signor Misawa. I may be able to use you as Manjoume's replacement. ...This academy of ours happens to be quite sympathetic towards its high-achievers. Instead...

Crowler instead embraces Saturday morning villainy:

Crowler: Here I was, struggling to find a new accomplice and here it smacks me right in the face. Well, the eye, actually, but that's really beside the point. ...I've been meaning to get my contacts refitted for ages, now I have the perfect excuse...and the perfect new protégé.

And then another line demonstrates the difference between their performances/deliveries. This is hard to communicate with text or screencaps, but when Chronos is shooing away the Red students he has a nonsense sort of alliterative line to add humor to the situation (translated as “see some saps, so shoo!”). In the dub, he just gives an aggravated growl. 

Chronos tells Misawa he has a condition for not charging his medical bill, Crowler starts to get into elitism but it still ties back into his card-carrying evil bit: "It's time you started consorting with those more your class, don't you think? It's time you start consorting...with me."

This is an interesting comparison to me because again, they emphasize different things about Chronos/Crowler and the result is a slowly diverging characterization. Chronos is continually concerned with upholding his idea of social order, looking to Misawa as a golden child and prop for his elitism. Crowler is a mustache-twirling villain and looks to Bastion as an accomplice.

The scene with Manjoume's namecard is maybe a bit confusing in the dub compared to the sub, since the dub is more or less faithful about translating lines but edit out Chazz's namecard (noting that it was originally in Japanese; the fansubs go the extra mile to edit in English text):

The meaning still gets across, I just think it's funny that they highlight a blank space identical to any other desk. The dub does also explicitly point out that Chazz is being to moved to sit with the Red/Yellow students, which I like since it highlights just how much the dorm system is being used against him all of a sudden even if the dub doesn't like to actually say it in as many words.

The rest of the scene is about the same in both versions as far as the script goes, though as mentioned in the episode 10-11 reviews previous conversation about Chazz falling out of favor got cut. As a result, Crowler turning on Chazz this episode might feel a bit more abrupt in the dub compared to the sub. Because the dub changed the context of Chronos/Crowler's search for Misawa/Bastion, this scene also has different implications for Manjoume/Chazz's places in the school. Manjoume is being discarded as Chronos's Obelisk exemplar, someone meant to demonstrate the superiority of the elite. Chazz is too being discarded, but he's not Crowler's exemplar. He's just a trashtalking hotshot, and you could even argue that this scene feels like karma for a bad guy rather than the elitist school system punishing a failed golden child who's just realized he's in fact expendable.

"Are you going to make everything about dorm elitism?" readers may ask. The answer is: yes, I will. The goal of this blog is to analyze characterization and plot differences, and thematically dorm classism is key to understanding multiple characters' arcs in the sub version of GX season 1 especially. Even past that, it's still relevant all the way to the end of season 4. So buckle in!

Heading into the Yellow dorm, Misawa talks about how all his pitches are based on calculation while Bastion talks about connecting math and science to real life (including dueling). I think the dub's version of the line leads into the idea of connecting math to dueling a bit better, though it ultimately comes out to the same thing.

Bastion introducing his room is a bit spruced up compared to the sub: "my lab, my workshop, my dorm room." In the sub Misawa's formulas are random scientific concepts (one of which seems to be mostly concept-accurate, referencing Avogadro’s hypothesis in relation to gas law formulas - thanks to @ryuuseini for the research!), while in the dub they're related to dueling.

The dub changes the bit where Misawa calls repainting his room a "Big Bang," which is the dub's loss because that was super cute. The nature of the boys' silliness changes slightly during said repainting: the sub has them joke about wiping everything out (i.e., a Big Bang), while the dub has Jaden talk about painting. In the cafeteria scene, the dub has a dig at Crowler ("speaking of bottom-dwellers") in the cafeteria scene but the scene is otherwise about the same between both versions.

During Manjoume's conversation with his brothers, the sub has a few details that the dub doesn't (the brothers' names, and less importantly their current activities within their respective spheres). The brothers more explicitly expect Jun to be the top of his class in the sub, while Chazz's brothers just tell him to "be the best."

Manjoume more openly acknowledges the direness of his situation - he isn't top of class like his brothers expect, and he's staring down a possible demotion if he loses tomorrow. He's accordingly desperate to make sure his brothers don't find out his current position: "I can't tell them. Not my brothers..." Chazz, meanwhile, talks about "lucky punks" preventing him from being the best. He's resentful, but not afraid. His sabotage of Misawa/Bastion is therefore given slightly different context: in both cases he's trying to preserve his position, but Manjoume is doing it out of desperation whereas Chazz is doing it more to lash out. You're not really rooting for him in either case, but Manjoume comes off as just a smidge more sympathetic in the sub.

The Shou/Hayato conversation in the dorms is somewhat different between versions, Hayato speaking to dorm elitism and Chumley talking about bullying…and of course, another fat joke. Because what else is the dub going to do when Chumley is in a scene?

Hayato: Sure, but...coming to spend the night at a lower-ranked dorm? Guess Ra Yellow has some weird guys around, too... Shou: Maybe that's it, though. Misawa and Big Bro do seem to get along really well...

Chumley: What if he wakes up and wants to duel one of us, or make fun of one of us? How do you know we can trust him? Syrus: Relax, Chumley, he's cool. I mean, he let us eat at the Ra meal hall. Chumley: Oh. He can have my bed if he wants.

When Manjoume sneaks into the Ra dorm, the dub replaces the "MISAWA" nameplate on Misawa's door with a room number (468A, for The Lore). Which is kind of weird, given that Misawa is already Bastion's last name and is referenced earlier in the namecard scene, but okay I guess?

The next morning, Jaden points out the card-tossing culprit must not have wanted Bastion to advance (focusing on the culprit) while Judai just says it came right before Misawa's chance at promotion (focusing on Misawa) - very slightly different meanings that ultimately both lead into the fact that Manjoume did it. 

In the arena Crowler and Chazz trash talk the Red students where they only address Misawa in the sub. The dub cuts a couple shots/lines where - semi-importantly - Manjoume suggests that the loser of the duel is expelled and Judai protests to lead into the "six decks" reveal.

Misawa: I'm sorry for worrying you, Judai. The deck he threw out was a deck I threw together for fine-tuning! I have my true deck right here! Behold! These six decks are packed with my blood and soul! Wind, as swift as gale! Water, as peaceful as rain! Fire, as aggressive as a blaze! Earth, as unmovable as land! Dark, thinning its evil to light the way! Manjoume: W-wait, six decks?! I'll take your bluffs and burn them to a crisp with my flames of spite! Misawa: Hmph...that settles it. The deck to defeat you is this one!

The dub cuts down on Bastion's lines so it no longer mentions his attribute decks, which is wild to me - as far as I know this is one of the most famous things about Misawa/Bastion in either version.

Manjoume's line hinting at his fire theme is also changed, as is changing Misawa's choice of deck specifically in response to those hints. The dub dialogue works okay, but I think it somewhat weakens the "analyze, calculate, prepare" theme Misawa has got going on:

Bastion: A good duelist always has a spare deck. Or a few of them. After all, you saw all of my different formulas. Well, they were for all of my different dueling decks! And each one of them is as powerful as the next! Chazz: Yeah, well, you can go ahead and have your six stinking decks! 'Cause all I need is this one! Now let's start this! Bastion: I thought that you would never ask, Chazz. Duel Disk on!

Bastion does get at the analytical vibe with his trash talk ("You're just a problem to be solved, Chazz. A theorem to be cracked. You're finished!") but I think it feels different from the direct strategizing in the sub. Chazz also trash talks in place of draw declaration.

Come Misawa/Bastion’s turn Judai and Asuka wonder in the peanut gallery about what attribute Misawa will use, while Jaden and Alexis have more generic lines - kind of by necessity, since they cut the attribute talk to begin with.

And then Hydrogeddon further muddles the attribute thing, and it’s all kind of funny to me because looking at the elements…hydrogen is a gas at room temperature, but Hydrogeddon seems to be liquid. So when the dub calls its attack Hydro Gust instead of the original Hydro Breath, is that more faithful to the nature of a hydrogen monster or something that further obscures the nature of the attribute decks? Or both?

After that, more minor line changes. The dub cuts a shot/line of Manjoume addressing Kaiser after a peanut gallery comment and declaring he would take Kaiser's place as top student. Chazz has a bit of "math nerd" and "whiz kid" trash talk. One of Bastion's lines in place of draw declaration is basically a couple of vaguely British phrases because we can’t forget that bit of his character: "Bravo! Good show!" Manjoume taunting over his monster's high level is replaced with more quips about Bastion's smarts.

On his final turn, Manjoume circles back to his fire-themed dialogue - "Let my flames of spite blast you out of this academy, Misawa!" - while Chazz has a plainer declaration of attack. After the duel, the dub (naturally by consequence) cuts the talk of Manjoume's fire hints to talk about Bastion being generally prepared.

Manjoume: Shut it! You got lucky choosing a water-attribute deck, so I-- Misawa: Not quite. It was no coincidence - you told me before our duel began. Manjoume (flashback): I'll burn you to a crisp with my flames of spite! Misawa: In other words, our match was set before we even started to duel!

Chazz: Pure luck! You drew a lucky card and stumbled into the win. That's all! Bastion: Perhaps. But luck favors the prepared. And I was prepared to beat you with a half dozen other cards, as well. Sorry. You would have lost the duel one way or another.

When pulling the "scribbled equations card" reveal, Misawa says his card is unique as a result and insults Manjoume as a duelist, while Bastion has a dig at Chazz's math skills and says he deserves to be demoted.

The episode closes on Misawa calling his current six decks prototypes to be refined into a final seventh deck to combat Judai's E-hero deck, and Judai gets fired up about it. Meanwhile Bastion throws around math words with a vaguer end goal than a new deck: "Many formulas to write, theorems to solve, equations to balance." Instead he Jaden talk about the baseball game at the start of the episode, and Jaden similarly accepts the challenge: "Baseball's a pastime, but dueling's my life!"

Spoiler Zone

Empty! I considered talking more about how dorm elitism is relevant throughout the series but frankly that's a big endeavor. If you are interested in hearing more, feel free to drop me an ask. So big, in fact, I made an entire essay out of it.

Final Thoughts

Another mostly straightforward episode. The most significant changes in the dub were Crowler’s characterization as a card-carrying villain and the detail with which Bastion's analytical nature was conveyed.

For Crowler...I've talked before about the issue of elitism vs. personal beef, and how the dub characterizes Crowler as pettier and more openly villainous than Chronos who is petty, but also represents a lot of the school's structural classism just as Hayato represents how that structure fails students who don't fit its specific model of success. (And it's interesting that these two characters seem to have the most drastic characterization changes in the dub, even if I don't necessarily think it was intentional.) Because Crowler is more of a cackling villain rather than a staunch elitist with a petty streak, he's extremely hateable - but you hate him because he's mean to the protagonist and unashamedly "evil," not because he represents a harmful system that discards students (Manjoume/Chazz) as soon as they're no longer deemed successful.

For Bastion, there's a slighter difference in the changes to how he's presented in this episode. Misawa observes and strategizes more than Bastion, who seems to be more about general preparation - but that change is a lot more minor than what we see with Crowler above, or the weird bullying the dub put Bastion through during the tag duel episodes.

That said, this episode made me wonder: do dub watchers know about Bastion's attribute decks, and/or how do they know if so? My impression from osmosis is that it's one of the most famous facts about him among both sub/dub watchers (alongside "where's Fire Dragon?") but the dub doesn't seem to mention it until a single line about his earth deck in his duel against Tania, which is Bastion's third duel and over 20 episodes after this first one. I double checked with a dub-first friend and he confirmed he was aware of Bastion's attribute decks...but how? It's certainly something you can guess between the opening theme showing a potential Fire Dragon and the number of decks, but it's hardly stated fact.

I dunno. This drives me more than a little crazy. Dub watchers reading this post, share your wisdom with me. What did you know about Bastion?

[getyourchangeon]

Episode 027: Our Extra-Credit Class Is a Duel of Darkness?! (Part 1)/S1E27: Grave Risk (Part 1)

In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 27. In the words of the Digimon dub: boys and girls, boys and girls, let’s go to the Gravekeeper world…

In the episode opening, the dub adds an extra toilet humor joke about Syrus's food adventures while he’s searching for the bathroom half-asleep. Kagemaru's and Daitokuji's conversation is a bit exaggerated on both ends (Kagemaru is more forceful, Banner praises Jaden more highly) and explicitly namedrops Jaden where the sub was ominously vague, but the meaning is ultimately the same. The dub cuts a close-up of Pharaoh towards the end, so honestly just pack it up because the sub version of this episode is clearly mandatory.

The next day, Banner's alchemy lecture is vaguer (mixing unknown compounds without mentioning the goal of making gold) and he also connects it to Duel Monsters fusion in the dub. When Judai wakes up Shou comments on his nap, while Syrus comments on the lecture. Banner's description of his field trip is exaggerated to sound more tedious and boring.

Daitokuji: I've planned a picnic for this Sunday to visit the island's dormant ruins [meow]! I'd like anyone interested to participate [meow].

Banner: We're taking a 10-mile hike! All the way to the excavated ruins, where we'll be taking geologic core samples!

Cut to the morning of, and Syrus mentions that Banner threatened everyone with detention to get them to come where Shou just mentions he forced them without specifying. Chumley complains about beauty sleep (friends polled said this wasn’t a fat joke, but I still don’t love it) while Hayato talks about how the ruins are usually off-limits due to their proximity to the active volcano.

Judai asks Asuka her reasons for coming, Jaden jokes about not sleeping. Both Asuka/Alexis mention potential connections to duels of darkness/shadow games, but Alexis treats the connection as more of a sure bet.

When Shou/Syrus brings up what he heard the other night, Syrus frames it more personally as targeted at Jaden - which makes sense, because Banner mentioned Jaden by name during that call while Daitokuji merely implied it. In both cases Judai/Jaden waves it off.

The hiking montages is silent in the sub, while (DING goes the fat joke counter) the dub adds a stream of Chumley whining. When they arrive, the joke between Judai/Jaden and Asuka/Alexis about how the ruins look ruined is the same between versions.

Daitokuji describes the ruins as a duel site as well as a grave; Banner instead unleashes what's clearly meant to be historical/architectural jargon, which was really interesting to note after looking at how the dub similarly handles a certain character from a later season.

Daitokuji: Further in, we'll find the more-amazing ruins said to be of the ancient duel arenas and the ruins of the graves [meow]! Shou: I wonder how the Professor's so energetic...

Banner: It's beautiful! You can still make out the faded remains of the oculus! Ooh! And the fastigium! No doubt inspired by Amenemhet of Saqqarah! Syrus: He sure seems excited to see some rocks.

The dub takes another potshot at Chumley because of course it does, then continues the Banner jargon joke as they set up for lunch. Famously Daitokuji's special bento from Tome-san becomes pizza, and the students' riceballs become "whatever it is I'm holding?!"

And. Okay. Look. I think this is funny and so do a lot of other people, but let’s break this moment down here. Why is this funny? Because the “whatever it is” Judai/Jaden is holding is in fact rice balls, which 4KIDS is famous for renaming as jelly donuts - or pastries, in the case of a previous GX episode - as a form of cultural censorship. We can't talk about these weird foreign foods, they’re not American enough. They'll confuse the poor American kids who have never heard of rice or balls. 

Bringing attention to the mystery food that is clearly neither donut nor pastry highlights the absurdity of that censorship…but by refusing to call it what it is, even something as understandable as “rice balls,” it’s still upholding that same censorship. I’ll leave the rest of this discussion for the end of the review but TL;DR interpreting this as poking fun at 4KIDS' own cultural censorship and as continued perpetuation of said censorship can both be true.

The lunch comedy is about the same leading into Pharaoh activating the buried relic. The dub adds a joke during the three-suns transition, and a second as everyone runs for cover. They also add an explanation that Jaden runs off to lead the storm away, which is kind of wild but the sub doesn't offer a better stated reason.

Jaden catches on instantly that he isn't in Kansas anymore (in exactly those words), whereas Judai needs a moment. He still thinks it's a dream though, leading into the "Winged Kuriboh pinch me--OW" bit

Once Sara/Yasmin enters the scene, the dub adds some minor jokes at the expensive of making Jaden a bit slower to catch onto the situation despite his early start. Yasmin skips the detail about the intruders being treated as graverobbers, instead focusing on trespassing - not unlike episode 3, where trespassing is used in place of voyeurism. The dub adds more dialogue during the establishing shots of the three suns and pillar formation.

While hiding out, Judai worries about his friends while Jaden wonders if Yasmin was lying to him until Daitokuji (sub)/Alexis (dub) screams for help. The dub adds more jokes to Judai getting surrounded.

The gravekeeper chief is the first to broach the topic of other worlds, while Jaden tosses it in as a joke about returning to their dimension. The dub again writes out graverobbing in favor of trespassing, and omits the allusion to someone who succeeded the trial before Judai (i.e., Fubuki/Atticus). They also censor the chief's threat about taking his liver and turning him into a mummy, and in the dub he simply threatens to bury Jaden alive. They also add a bit more banter between Jaden and the chief in place of Judai’s dialogue about borrowing Hayato’s duel disk.

As the duel starts, a small moment illustrating the formality difference between Judai and the Chief is exaggerated into a joke while skipping over another Fubuki/Atticus allusion.

Judai: Duel! Chief: May the ceremony begin. The first move is mine. I draw my card. Judai: Dude...this is totally just normal Duel Monsters... Chief: Did I not mention that there have been people who have wandered into this world before?

Jaden: All right! Get your game on! Chief: Get my game on? What do you speak of? Jaden: Sheesh. It's a figure of speech! Y'know, like slang? Chief: It's like slang?! How dare you speak to me with the rotten tongue of a filthy serpent!

The dub version of the duel contains some mechanical errors (calling a flip summon a normal summon), and some usual dialogue changes. Chumley gets slandered twice more. Taunts in place of duel procedure. Banner throws in a joke referencing the lunch comedy.

When Judai summons Flame Wingman he frames it very slightly differently, a comeback from the risk of his last turn (sub) or the product of Bubbleman's draw advantage (dub). In the peanut gallery, Asuka talks about how Judai has the advantage while Alexis talks about how he has no margin for error in this duel with their lives at stake, and part of her speaking time is given to Jaden and the chief rehashing stakes.

Necrovalley's explanation is cut slightly down to make room for trash talk. After the peanut gallery reacts, the dub cuts some duel summary and trash talk, skipping ahead to remind us of the stakes again before the episode ends. Roll To Be Continued.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Empty!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 1 fat joke, 4 miscellaneous potshots.

My first impression from an initial watch was that this was a relatively straightforward episode, aside from the usual Chumley slander. But upon writing it up I came to realize that censorship is a bit of a theme this episode. It happens three times in the dub version of this episode: first with the rice balls at lunch, second with graverobbing changed to trespassing, and third with the chief’s threats of disembowelment.

I’m not really going to argue that last one because it was probably a required change for American TV standards (which has its own implications, but not the part I'm most interested in discussing here). I’m not sure the same was true for the graverobbing, and honestly I think it’s of minor note that they rewrote both voyeurism (from episode 3) and graverobbing into trespassing in terms of what’s considered acceptable crimes for kids' television.

But the real moment of note to me is the rice balls, and the highlighting of their censorship by sidestepping the need to give them a name with “whatever it is I’m holding?!” To me, it’s not that different from if 4KIDS decided to keep kanji onscreen but called them “moon runes” (which was a real joke of the era). This thing is weird and unknowable, rather than something that would have been regular life for people of certain cultures.

4KIDS was very much an American corporation. The 2000 US Census reported 1.15 million people self-identifying at least partial Japanese ancestry in America - yes, I checked - and 11.9 million Asian Americans, including me at age [REDACTED]. I brought rice balls - or something like them - to lunch as a kid, and I did have conversations with people about what it was. If you told me my delicious lunch was a donut I’d have thought you were stupid; if I told you the name and you told other kids it was a donut, I’d have been insulted.

American culture in 2026 is (somewhat) more accepting of foreign foods and names today than it was in the 2000s and today they’d probably just call it a rice ball, but a lot of these foods have been around for much longer than they were culturally popular and so have the people making and eating them. Trying to throw a blanket over that fact is…exactly what people did at the time. My goal in writing this section is neither to hold this censorship up as evil nor to excuse it, but to show how changes like these are driven by contemporary culture and beliefs as much as a priority on humor…and both, admittedly, don’t always hold up in the year 2026. This is why I still joke (not joke) that I could probably write an entire thesis on the GX dub if I had the time and money, if anyone feels like funding me an extra Master’s degree.