User blog:GlitterInformer/Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force SDC: Episode 22 (Sub), 19 (Dub)

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Japanese title: “What is the Most Important Thing?”

English title: “The Ultimate Choice”

The episode starts with the girls hanging about somberly in their hideout in the Mysterious Library/Library of Legends. In the sub, Nao brings up Candy and the Cure Décors and Reika says they got stolen; in the dub, April says Rascal took the Glitter Charms and Chloe says they took Candy, too. We get a brief flashback to Joker/Rascal kidnapping Candy, which is silent in the sub and has dialogue in the dub.

Miyuki/Emily, however, hasn’t lost hope just yet. She remembers that she hung the Star Décor/Charm on the Tanabata bamboo/wish tree last episode, so Joker/Rascal doesn’t have all the Décors/Charms. In the sub, Akane asks why they still have the Star Décor, and Nao starts to figure out what having the Star Décor means; in the dub, Kelsey says she remembers and April congratulates Emily. Miyuki/Emily says there’s still hope left. Dialogue is added where Kelsey says that things are only “semi-hopeless.”

Reika/Chloe then takes Candy’s wish off the Tanabata bamboo/wish tree and reads it. As a reminder, in the sub, Candy wished to always play with the others, while in the dub, she wished they would all be friends forever. In the sub, Nao and Akane say that that was Candy’s wish (Reika didn’t outright state it, unlike Chloe); in the dub, April says Candy’s wish is nice and Kelsey says she wished for pizza. What is it with Glitter Force and pizza?

Miyuki mutters Candy’s name, while Emily mutters, “Forever and ever…” Then, she imagines Candy. Yayoi/Lily tells everyone that there’s more wishes. Yayoi starts speaking after the image of Candy; Lily speaks over it. It turns out Candy wrote a wish for each of the girls. Yayoi says that she made one for each of them; Lily says that all her wishes were about them except one where she wished for cake.

Miyuki tells everyone that this is no time to feel down; Emily says that it’s time to get Candy back. Nao/April asks where Candy is, and Pop says that she’s probably in the Bad End Kingdom/Shadow Realm. In the sub, Akane replies, “So that’s where…” (to be continued by Pop!); in the dub, Kelsey says she was afraid of that and Lily asks if she’s really in the Shadow Realm. Pop says in the sub that the Bad End Kingdom is where Emperor Pierrot will revive, while in the dub, he says that the Shadow Realm is the home of Emperor Nogo.

In the sub, Reika and Yayoi say, “Emperor Pierrot”; in the dub, Chloe says Candy’s name and Lily gets all sad. Dialogue is added where Kelsey asks if Nogo “is still, like, asleep, right?” and Pop says he hopes she’s right. Pop then says that the girls will have to enter M ä rchenland/Jubiland through a storybook in order to get to the Bad End Kingdom/Shadow Realm, to which Akane/Kelsey replies that she’s ready.

Pop jumps into the book, making its pages turn rainbow-colored. In the sub, it’s silent until Pop tells the girls to come along; in the dub, the girls say, “Wow…” at the book changing colors and Pop asks if they’re coming or not. Miyuki tells Candy to wait for them, while Emily says Pop can be sure they’re coming because Candy’s counting on them. The girls jump forward and get sucked into the book, and then the book takes off into the air, forms a pink portal, and flies through it. In the sub, there’s no dialogue as the book takes its leave; in the dub, Pop tells the girls to hang on, the girls make disoriented noises, and Kelsey asks if the book has seatbelts.

We get the opening themes. Then, in the sub, instead of getting a scene before the title card, the title card shows right after the opening theme. The subtitles translate the episode title as, “What is Most Important?” However, “What is the Most Important Thing?” is more accurate, even though it means basically the same thing.

We then cut to the Bad End Kingdom/Shadow Realm, where Candy is tied to a tower and Joker/Rascal flies up to her. Joker asks Candy if she got any powers from M ä rchenland, such as the Miracle Jewel (still plural according to the subtitles), while Rascal says he knows she has the Miracle Jewel. Candy says she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Joker/Rascal asks her twice if she’s sure. In the sub, Candy insists each time she has no idea; in the dub, she says Rascal has bad breath.

Joker/Rascal flies away, telling himself (out loud for the viewers’ convenience) that Candy seems like she’s telling the truth. Joker suspects that Candy may have nothing to do with the Miracle Jewel, while Rascal says that pixies aren’t smart enough to lie that well. Candy yells at Joker/Rascal that Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force will defeat him. Joker/Rascal is confident that they won’t, given that he has all the Cure Décors/Glitter Charms, until he realizes that one of them is missing, at which he gets a bit angry. Joker says that it’s okay because he’ll still be able to revive Pierrot, while Rascal says that he’ll trick them just as they tricked him.

We cut to M ärchenland/Jubliand, where the flying book goes through the portal and dumps everyone on the ground. Everyone except for Miyuki/Emily sticks the landing. In the sub, Miyuki says, “Ow…”, then regains her bearings and realizes that they’re in Märchenland; in the dub, Lily says it’s like a fairytale and Emily says that Lily’s right. Märchenland/Jubiland is kind of like a fairytale, actually – it’s a big, floating island with colorful buildings on it, and the sky is filled with balloons.

Miyuki says that M ärchenland is pretty, while Emily says that Jubiland is even better than a fairytale because it’s real. Nao/April asks why everything is so quiet. Reika asks if anyone else is there, while Chloe says she was also wondering why things were so quiet. Pop says that after the Queen fell asleep at the end of the fight with Pierrot/Nogo, the rest of Märchenland/Jubiland became demoralized and started staying at home (this is stated outright in the sub; in the dub, Pop merely implies it, saying it’s like everyone else fell asleep, too). Miyuki says she understands, while Emily says that’s sad. Pop says that they have to hurry and revive the queen.

However, Joker/Rascal interrupts, teleporting in using a magical deck of cards. In the sub, Akane shouts, “You!” and Joker introduces himself and says it’s nice to meet them; in the dub, Kelsey says, “It’s that joker again!” and Rascal says that his name is Rascal, not Joker. Why don’t you watch the sub, Rascal?

Anyway, Pop yells at Joker/Rascal to give Candy back, but Joker/Rascal instead asks the group to give him the last Décor/Charm. In the sub, Nao asks what happens if they refuse and Joker yells at them to give the Star Décor to him; in the dub, April mocks Rascal for asking them to give him the Charm and Rascal says they don’t want to get him angry. Miyuki/Emily prompts the girls to transform, and they do so. Both versions use the same short cut of the transformations, with the exception of Cure Peace choosing paper and Glitter Peace making the scissors gesture as usual.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The team then gets into a full-on fight with Joker/Rascal, who beats up all of them with his fists, feet, and magical cards. Dialogue is added in the dub where the girls get mad at Rascal and Rascal taunts the girls as he wipes the floor with them. Joker asks if that’s all they’ve got, while Rascal says they aren’t good at “playing cards”.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Cure Happy says, “If that’s the case…” while Glitter Lucky says, “We’re just warming up!” She then uses Happy Shower/Sparkle Storm, but Joker/Rascal absorbs the attack with a card, flips the card around, and shoots a dark beam at them. Rascal gets some added dialogue: he says, “I’ll trump that!” when he absorbs the beam and, “Joker’s wild!” when he shoots his own).

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Before the girls get hit with the beam, Pop transforms into a shield (telling them to watch out in the dub) and takes the hit, which causes him to transform back to normal and fall to the ground. As Happy/Lucky panics and checks on Pop, Sunny and March/Spring decide to attack Joker/Rascal all together. Each of the girls uses their own attacks. I thought it was established in the first five episodes that each girl could only use her personal attack once, so what’s up with Happy/Lucky? You know what, never mind; we can chalk it up to the team growing stronger over time. Anyway, the beams combining together are darkened in the dub.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Overall: Because of the creeped-out expressions the girls made in the Japanese version’s preview of this episode, I thought that Joker/Rascal was going to do something really dark, like send the girls into a hellscape or break their minds. Turns out he did the latter. What really got dark here was not Joker/Rascal’s actions, but how demoralized the girls and Pop became because of it. Of course, this isn’t as dark as, say, the ending of HeartCatch Pretty Cure, but it’s the middle of the season. The stakes are going to go up. And they sure as heck did. I wonder how Pierrot/Nogo will look, and what he’ll do…?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Next episode: It’s the final showdown… at least for this half of the show! Plus, the girls get a new Princess Form!