User blog:GlitterInformer/Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force SDC: Episode 30 (Sub), 25 (Dub)

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Japanese title: “A Trip Around the World through the Book Door!!”

English title: “Around the World in 80 Books”

Unlike usual, the dub starts the episode off with the opening theme. That’s not the end of it; scenes are moved around quite a bit. Let’s start with where the original Japanese version starts: in the hideout at the Mysterious Library. Akane asks if they went anywhere on summer vacation, but none of them have. Miyuki then realizes that since they’re in the Mysterious Library, they can go anywhere in the world they want.

They then talk about the places they want to go. Miyuki wants to see a castle like in her books, Nao wants to go to the fields of Mongolia and eat food around the world, Akane wants to eat Taiwanese food, Reika wants to see the Great Wall of China, and Yayoi wants to see the Statue of Liberty. None of them want to help out Third World countries, it seems. Oh, well. There may not be many bookcases there, anyway. Back on topic, Candy says they should see all of those places, and the girls are shocked as we cut to the opening theme.

Let’s see what the first scene in the dub is. We start at Emily’s house. The episode title is added over the establishing shot. Emily says they should celebrate (what they’re celebrating, I don’t know), and to do so she’s called the group to a special meeting in the Library of Legends. She and Candy then go through the book portal, with Emily thinking about how much she enjoys going through it. We then see the other four go through their bookcases. Kelsey and Lily wonder why Emily called them, April says, “Let’s go,” and Chloe says she’ll never get used to the portal.

They then come through the portal. Kelsey brags about them sticking the landing, rating it “a 10.” Candy says it’s more of an 11. Lily and April then ask Emily what the problem is. Chloe changes the topic to how she’s still not used to being a superhero, and Emily says she’s amazed that they’ve almost filled the Charm Chest (so that’s why they’re celebrating).

Then, they have a flashback to episode 6, when they first discovered the Library of Legends and Pop. More specifically, they remember the fight with the soda can Buffoon. Oddly, it shows them getting the Elephant Charm after this fight, even though that Glitter Charm, according to the Pretty Cure Wiki, won’t be received until episode 32->27.

Kelsey then remembers a fight with Brute. Emily wants to get past the reminiscing and celebrate, but she lets Kelsey tell her story. The next flashback is to episode 13->12, in which Miyuki/Emily got a bad fortune on her field trip. In the flashback, Brute says, “Buffoon! Come and get ‘em!” when summoning the Buffoon. He has never said this before. The other lines, however, seem to be correct.

After this, the dub catches up to the sub. I don’t know why Saban found it necessary to add that clip show in, and I worry that it’ll lead to some lost original scenes. Anyway, due to what happened before, the dialogue is changed to the girls trying to decide how to celebrate. Kelsey wants new sneakers, Chloe wants French lessons, and April wants a giant pizza. Lily suggests they go on a vacation, and Emily likes her idea. The ensuing dialogue is pretty much the same as the sub, with Emily realizing they can go anywhere with the Library of Legends and the girls talking about where they want to go. There are a couple changes: April doesn’t mention eating around the world, and Kelsey talks about worldwide food instead of Taiwanese food.

After that confusion, both versions cut to the Bad End Kingdom/Shadow Realm. Joker/Rascal, while playing with his deck, remarks that the girls have gotten almost all of the Cure Décors/Glitter Charms and vows to stop them. The main difference is that Joker says it in a low and serious voice, while Rascal says it in his usual high-pitched voice. In the show in general, Joker is different from Rascal in that Joker puts up a goofy and polite façade in front of others and lets it down in private, while Rascal is eternally goofy and rude.

The sub gives us the title card. The subtitles translate this as, Take a Trip around the World with the Door of Books!! While different from my translation, the only error is that “Take a Trip” is not in the title, just “Trip.” The other differences are valid; translation is as much an art as it is a science.

After that, we return to the Mysterious Library/Library of Legends. A shot of the bookcase in the hideout is removed in the dub.



That isn’t the end of this one, though. The dub has a new ending theme: “You Can’t Stop Me”. It’s really quiet at first, so it’s hard to hear. Overall, it’s pretty bland. The setting, however, is interesting. The song takes in the city, with the Glitter Force dancing on a bus. While I think the songs themselves have been decreasing in quality as time goes on, and the uncanny character models haven’t changed, the settings of the videos have gone from minimalistic to sophisticated.

Overall: This was a fun episode, and I sense that it’ll be the calm before the storm. I like how this episode equally showed off all of the team members. One of the things I really like about this season of Pretty Cure is how it balances the characters. Some other seasons are much less even, with one or two characters getting most of the focus.

However, I have to ask what was up with Saban this episode. Why did they feel the need to put in a clip show at the beginning? We all know what happened in episodes 6 and 13->12. Even worse, this clip show was at the expense of a lot of footage. Most of the lost footage was scenes that weren’t all that necessary, but a couple scenes got cut. The one with Yayoi pretending to be a superhero, while out of nowhere, was still cute. But worst of all was the missing tie-in to next episode. I really hope Saban puts it in the next episode. How are they going to explain a mystery device out of nowhere?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Next time: A big showdown! The queen won’t revive, and worst of all, Candy falls into a trap set by Joker/Rascal!