User blog:GlitterInformer/Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force SDC: Episode 11 (Sub), 10 (Dub)

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Japanese title: Pretty Cure Becomes Small!?

English title: Shrink-a-Rooed!

Well, there’s another slightly stupid dub title. I wonder if it was Brooha’s idea?

We start with Yayoi/Lily sniffing the flowers outside. Yayoi just gasps and giggles, while Lily says, “Wow… look at you!” to whatever it is she’s so focused on. Anyway, Akane/Kelsey and Nao/April pop up behind her and remind her that they’re going home.

It turns out Yayoi/Lily found a cute bug. Yayoi calls it a pillbug, while Lily calls it a roly-poly. They’re the same animal. Nao/April is freaked out, while the others are intrigued. Miyuki/Emily agrees with Yayoi/Lily that the bug is adorable. Emily, however, calls it “adorbs,” which I don’t believe I’ve heard anyone say in real life. Occasionally, Glitter Force seems like it’s written by adults trying too hard to sound like teenagers. However, it’s such a miniscule problem that it doesn’t really matter to me, and it can be chalked up to lip-syncing, anyway.

We get a close-up of the bug, to which dialogue is added in the dub of the girls fawning over the thing. The bug suddenly pops up out of its ball, which freaks Nao/April out so much that she screams, runs backward, and trips over a strange pink thing. Unlike in episode 9, both Nao and April sound equally freaked out, so it’s just as funny in both versions.

When Nao/April sits up, she picks up the thing she tripped over and asks what it is. Both Akane/Kelsey and Candy are confused, but Miyuki/Emily recognizes it from a fairy tale. In the sub, it’s called The Inch-High Samurai. In the dub, it’s called Tiny Tom the Tailor. The former is an actual fairy tale, while the latter is made up. The closest thing I could find was two actual fairy tales: The Brave Little Tailor and Tom Thumb. The former is about a clever tailor who outwits a giant; the latter is about an actual inch-high person named Tom.

The story in both versions is the same, despite the name change: a tiny warrior defeats a giant, evil ogre. A beautiful princess then finds him and uses a magic hammer to make him grow big. Given that an explanation was already in the sub, I see no reason for them to have changed the already-existing tale into a made-up one. They could have explained that it was a Japanese story, like they said the okonomiyaki was “Japanese pizza.” Besides, kids know what a samurai is. It’s sad that Glitter Force, which is all about fairy tales, doesn’t contain any actual fairy tales yet.

Candy gets excited and wants to try using the hammer. Nao/April doesn’t think it’ll work, but she gives her the hammer. Candy swings it and accidentally hits poor Miyuki/Emily in the face. Then, the hammer starts glowing and bathes everyone in a yellow light.

The girls come to their senses. In the sub, Nao says, “So when Candy said, ‘Become big…’” and the entire group shouts, “Candy became huge!” In the dub, April asks, “Is it just me, or did Candy become the size of a house!?” and Emily says it really was a magic hammer.

Yayoi/Lily and Akane/Kelsey are amazed. Then, the latter realizes that they’ve become smaller. When the girls scream in the sub, they’re higher pitched in the sub due to their vocal chords getting smaller. In the dub, they’re normally pitched. Dialogue is then added in the sub where Emily tells everyone not to panic. Then, Nao/April slowly notices the giant bug crawling behind her. Before she completely freaks out, we get our opening theme.

We then cut to the Bad End Kingdom/Shadow Realm, where the dub displays the episode title. Majorina/Brooha is fervently looking for something. Majorina just repeatedly says it’s gone, while Brooha also wonders why the Shadow Realm has to be so dark that she can’t find anything. Then, a fly lands on her nose, and Akaoni/Brute swings his club at her so quickly that the witch barely gets out of his way. So does the fly, who lands on the demon’s nose. He madly swings his club through the air, trying to finish the insect off. Majorina/Brooha asks him if she’s seen her latest invention.

Name Change: Majorina’s invention is called the “chiisaku-na~ru,” which the sub translates as Turn-Me-Small. Given that the Japanese phrase literally means “become small,” one could translate this in many ways. Glitter Force translates this as the much tackier Shrink-a-Roo, which is not only in Brooha’s character but also excuses the ridiculous English title.

The Japanese title, by the way, also references Majorina’s invention. The title in Japanese is “Purikyua ga chiisaku na~ru?”

Majorina/Brooha shows Akaoni/Brute a picture of the invention. The latter then remembers it and has a flashback. Akaoni/Brute tried to use it as a flyswatter, but it didn’t work, so he threw it away. At the beginning of this flashback, dialogue is added when Brute says, “I gotcha! … I don’t gotcha.”

After the flashback, Akaoni says that the flyswatter flew away somewhere, while Brute outright admits that he threw it away. Majorina/Brooha says that it isn’t a flyswatter, it’s a tool they can use to defeat the Pretty Cure/Glitter Force. While Majorina orders Akaoni to search for it, Brooha says that she has to find it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We get our title card in the Japanese version. The subbers translate it as, “The Precure Became Small!?” However, the verb for “become small,” “chiisaku naru,” is in the present tense. Plus, there’s the usual Pretty Cure/Precure discrepancy. That’s why I prefer, “Pretty Cure Becomes Small!?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Anyway, we cut back to our heroic team of six. Candy wonders where everyone went (in the dub, she says she’s not carrying their stuff for them). Yayoi/Lily marvels that it’s just like the fairytale (but Lily adds that Tiny Tom became bigger while they became smaller). In the sub, Akane asks why this happened, and Nao says it’s because of the hammer. In the dub, Kelsey says she’d go with bigger if she had to choose, and April wonders who would leave that hammer lying around.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">When Candy calls out to the other five, they try to call back that they’re right there. However, Candy almost steps on them. When the giant Candy runs past, she’s low-pitched and slower in the sub, but not the dub. The dub, however, makes Candy louder when she’s heard from the point of view of the shrunken girls. I wonder why? And like before, from Candy’s point of view, the girls are higher pitched in the sub than the dub. Also, while in the sub, Candy repeatedly asks where everyone is, in the dub, she says that if it’s a trick, it isn’t funny, and calls out all their names. As she runs around, she further scatters the girls.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Nao/April is knocked to the ground, where a leaf lands on her. She then sees a giant grasshopper and screams (unfortunately, April’s scream sounds forced), then runs to Miyuki/Emily and shakes her, telling her what she saw. By the time the others look, though, the grasshopper is gone. Yayoi/Lily then notices that Candy is leaving. Reika/Chloe suggests they run after her. She has the hammer, and they may need it to turn back.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">As Candy jumps over a puddle, she asks where Miyuki is in the sub and says they may have gone back to school in the dub. Unfortunately for the other five, the puddle is an insurmountable lake. When they first come across it, it’s silent in the sub, but in the dub, Emily and Kelsey wonder how they’re going to get across. When Miyuki shouts that it’s a lake and Akane says it’s a puddle, Emily realizes it’s actually a puddle and Kelsey says it might as well be a lake.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Then, Yayoi/Lily steps into the water, but she has trouble getting her foot through it. In the sub, Yayoi says the water is bouncy and Reika says that’s due to surface tension; in the dub, Lily says that the water is weird due to surface tension and Chloe is happy that she was paying attention in earth science. Then, Miyuki/Emily comes up with the idea to use a leaf as a boat. As they float by, Yayoi/Lily notices a bug (Yayoi calls it a water strider, while Lily just says it’s a water bug) and Nao/April freaks out.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We then cut to Candy, who’s climbing up the stairs of the school. In the sub, she calls out to Akane; in the dub, she speculates that they may have left something in the classroom. Unfortunately for the girls, the stairs are way too tall. Where Yayoi originally cries out, Lily asks how they’ll get up the stairs. In the sub, Miyuki exclaims that there’s a high mountain and Nao says they’re just stairs. In the dub, Emily tells Lily that they’ll have to get up one step at a time and April asks if anyone brought a latter.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Then, Akane/Kelsey comes up with an idea: a human tower! The girls struggle to support the tower’s weight, though. Dialogue is added in the dub where April asks Kelsey why she gets to be on top. Kelsey then says it’s because it was her idea, where in the original, Akane says, “Here I go!” Unfortunately, the tower is too unstable. In the dub, Kelsey tells everyone to hold it steady, but to no avail. The tower falls over, and somehow, nobody is injured. In the dub, somebody (I don’t know who) sarcastically says, “Good idea!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Just after the group falls to the ground, a team of runners goes right past them, miraculously not squishing them. In the sub, they say, “Hey-ho!” over and over; in the dub; they say, “One-two!” over and over. Once again, the Japanese team is lower-pitched, while the English team is normal-pitched but louder. The girls understandably freak out.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We then cut to Candy hopping around in an empty classroom, looking for the girls. Sub Candy asks where Yayoi is, while dub Candy asks where everyone is. Also, I’m sensing a pattern in the dub. After Candy asked where Miyuki was, Miyuki came up with the leaf-boat idea. After Candy asked where Akane was, Akane came up with the human tower idea. What madcap scheme will Yayoi/Lily cook up this time?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The girls have somehow gotten into the classroom, likely either by clinging to the runners’ feet or by going up the hill next to the stairs. It’s never shown how, so I suppose that’s a mystery historians will puzzle about until the end of time! Yayoi/Lily is amazed at how different the classroom looks from their tiny point of view. Akane/Kelsey then jumps on a bag hanging off a desk and climbs up, and the others follow. In the sub, they all speak at once, so the subbers didn’t translate what they were saying; in the dub, Kelsey asks whose desk they’re getting to the top of.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">They finally get to the top. In the sub, Yayoi exclaims at how big the top of the desk is and says it’s like a playground, then Reika notices Candy. In the dub, Lily is amazed by how tidy the desk is and says that it must be Chloe’s, then April says she wishes they had a soccer ball and Emily notices Candy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">In the sub, Candy asks where Nao is (no madcap scheme for Yayoi/Lily, then <span style="font-family:"Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-char-type:symbol-ext;mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji"">☹ ); in the dub, she says they must not be here. The girls then run across the desk, shouting Candy’s name at the top of their lungs. One thing I finally noticed: where the sub has the girls high-pitched, the dub has them quiet, and where the sub has others low-pitched, the dub has them loud.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Unfortunately, the girls are stopped by the deadly gorge that is the gap between desks. Reika/Chloe freaks out just as they stop. In the sub, Akane and Nao make scared noises and Reika says it’s quite high; in the dub, Emily says that was close and then calls out to hear her voice echo, after which Chloe says it’s a long way down. Akane and Nao then say they’re scared of heights, while Kelsey says it’s like the Grand Canyon and April wonders what to do now.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Yayoi then comes up with a madcap scheme! Better late than never! She has the girls create a bridge between the desks using a ruler. In the sub, Miyuki exclaims that they’re so high, Yayoi says it’s cool, and Akane shouts that she can see through her legs. In the dub, Emily congratulates Lily, Nao asks why it had to be clear plastic, and Kelsey tells April to not look down.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The girls are in pain, but somehow uninjured. I wonder if smaller creatures don’t get hurt as easily? Whatever the contrived reason, the trouble isn’t over yet. A grasshopper has appeared! In the sub, Miyuki just points it out; in the dub, Kelsey says it’s April’s “grasshopper friend.” Nao/April then freaks out, but every time she runs away, she runs into more giant bugs and worms. April’s screaming is much weaker than Nao’s. Come on! When it comes to comedy, you have to go all out!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Miyuki wonders what’s wrong with Nao. I don’t know, maybe she’s scared of bugs?? Look around you! Emily asking if April’s okay makes more sense. Then, Nao/April sees a ladybug and cowers behind Reika/Chloe. In the sub, Miyuki asks, “Nao?”; in the dub, Kelsey asks what’s wrong with ladybugs. It’s weird in the dub because it’s obvious in the footage that Miyuki/Emily is speaking, not Akane/Kelsey, so the dialogue doesn’t match up.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Reika/Chloe tells the girls that Nao/April is afraid of bugs. For some reason, Miyuki/Emily and Akane/Kelsey are completely shocked. How often has Nao/April freaked out over various creatures this episode?? Anyway, Yayoi/Lily pets the ladybug, wondering why Nao/April hates the bug if it’s so cute. Nao/April protests that they aren’t cute.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Suddenly, the ladybug flaps its wings and takes off after poor Nao/April, who apologizes for saying it isn’t cute. She climbs up a blade of grass, but slips off one of its leaves and falls. Eh, she’ll be okay. They’ve fallen before, right? To make the landing even less threatening, she lands on some more bugs. After an added comment from April asking who put the sofas there, she realizes what she landed on, screams, and faints. The other girls in the sub are concerned and scream her name; in the dub, they congratulate her for sticking the landing.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We then cut to Majorina/Brooha, who has returned to the police office to look for her Turn-Me-Small/Shrink-A-Roo. The policeman recognizes her from earlier in the sub, but not in the dub. Also, the Japanese policeman calls her “granny” (the subs translate this as “old lady”; it could be translated either way), while the English policeman calls her “ma’am.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">In both versions, Majorina/Brooha gets upset over being referred to like an old lady and tells the police officer her name. The policeman says he likes her name. In the dub, he also asks if it’s a family name. Majorina/Brooha blushes. Majorina is amazed that he recognizes the greatness of her name, while Brooha, to accompany the change to the last name, says that it’s kind of a funny story.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The conversation is interrupted by Candy running by, calling out for the other girls. When Majorina/Brooha sees that Candy is carrying her invention, she chases after her. The policeman calls after the witch not to trip, but she does so anyway, after which he asks if she’s okay. On the ground, Majorina/Brooha states her intent to get her Turn-Me-Small/Shrink-A-Roo back.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We have our eyecatches in the sub, which show Cure March and Candy. Then, we cut back to our team, where Nao/April wakes up. Before she wakes up, it’s silent in the sub, but Kelsey says, “Earth to April!” in the dub. After she wakes up, Reika says, “Are you awake?” (Well, duh, she is! Didn’t you see her open her eyes?) while Chloe says, “Thank goodness!” Yayoi/Lily asks Nao/April if she’s alright.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">When Nao/April sits up, Akane/Kelsey tells her that the bugs from earlier (referred to as roly-polies in the dub) saved her life. I doubt that, but they sure saved her some pain. Nao/April clings to Reika/Chloe and freaks out, especially when one of them starts moving towards her. It stops before it gets to her, though, and gives Nao/April a leaf as a gift. In the dub, Emily says that it’s sharing its lunch with her. The noise it makes as it does this is changed in the dub. Both are good noises, though. I mean, I don’t know what roly-polies sound like, so I’ll just take whatever.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Reika tells Nao that the bug was concerned for her, while Chloe tells April that she has to admit that’s really cute (It is!!). As the bug goes away, Yayoi/Lily and Miyuki/Emily wave their goodbyes, and Nao/April grudgingly thanks the bug.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Akane says that pill bugs come in many sizes, while Kelsey says she didn’t know they came in many sizes. Yayoi/Lily then tells them that the small ones are the children and the big ones are the mothers. As Nao/April’s eyes tremble as she looks at the bugs, dialogue is added where Kelsey says she thinks Lily is right.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Then, they notice a white butterfly and some ants. The ants are carrying a piece of candy. Miyuki/Emily and Yayoi/Lily decide to help them, and the former gets carried away by an ant, much to Akane/Kelsey’s dismay. Then, Reika asks Nao if she knew so many little creatures were around them all the time, while Chloe says it must be hard for April to be afraid of creatures that are all around them. Nao/April says that she tries to stay away from them, and Reika says that this is the bugs’ city, while Chloe says that the world is as much the bugs’ as it is theirs.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Nao/April looks around at all the bugs. It’s silent in the sub, but in the dub, Chloe talks about all the things the bugs do and says they’re not that different from humans. I feel that this added dialogue enhances the scene.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We then cut to Majorina/Brooha, who is chasing after Candy. Majorina just tells her to give the hammer back, while Brooha says that if Candy gives it over, everything will be fine. She leaps for Candy, but Candy dodges at the last moment, sending Majorina/Brooha crashing into the ground. The witch just happens to land right in front of the five girls. Majorina says, “That hurts…” while Brooha apologizes. Then, Majorina/Brooha realizes just who she almost crushed. As she calls out her surprise, Candy runs over and finally notices the girls, seeing that they’ve become super small.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">When Majorina/Brooha says that they used her Turn-Me-Small/Shrink-A-Roo, Nao/April realizes the magic hammer was hers. Majorina says they saved her a lot of work, while Brooha says they look like little ants. She then summons a Bad Ending, causing all the bugs to fall into despair. In the dub, a lame joke is added where Brooha speculates that the reason the bugs have so much negative energy is because something’s bugging them all the time.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Then, the girls transform. Interestingly, the sub uses different footage from the dub. In the sub, the girls’ transformations are shown almost in full, while the dub uses a mashup that was used in the past couple episodes. I suppose Saban couldn’t stand any more “Poof, poof, glitter bands!” than they had to. Because of this, Cure Peace goes with rock, while Glitter Peace goes with scissors. They may have done this because the scissors sign is like the peace sign, and they got rid of the rock, paper, scissors thing in the dub.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Majorina/Brooha steps (in the dub, Brooha also mocks the girls), and this sends the team flying. She then makes fun of their miniscule size and turns a flower into an Akanbe/Buffoon. Weirdly, the Akanbe/Buffoon isn’t much taller than the team is. When Happy/Lucky points this out, Cure Peace says Majorina may have made the Akanbe smaller to give them a fighting chance, while Glitter Peace says she thought Brooha would’ve given the Buffoon a size advantage. Sunny then tells them to stop talking so Majorina/Brooha won’t figure out her mistake.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Interestingly, the sub this time writes Majorina’s name as “Majo Rina.” This is weird, because when she was talking to the policeman, they wrote it as “Majorina.” “Majo Rina” would translate as “Witch Rina.” Maybe Rina is her real name, and “Majo” is just an honorific! Interesting…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Majorina/Brooha orders the Akanbe/Buffoon forward. It shoots projectiles at the girls, so they scatter. From above, Candy cheers on the team, while Majorina/Brooha cheers on the Akanbe/Buffoon. Down below, everyone except Happy/Lucky beats up the monster. However, the Akanbe/Buffoon knocks March/Spring into a blade of grass and shoots more projectiles, wreaking havoc on the garden. When Peace calls Majorina/Brooha out on hurting the bugs, the witch says she doesn’t care and orders the Akanbe/Buffoon forth again.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">It shoots more projectiles, one of which hits Happy/Lucky and knocks her into a bug. Sunny and Peace run to check on her (in the dub, Glitter Peace exclaims that the caterpillar saved her). March/Spring looks around at the bugs and has a flashback to the roly-polies saving her and one of them giving her a leaf. In the sub, the flashbacks are silent; in the dub, they have dialogue. Then, March/Spring gets up and kicks the monster right in Majorina/Brooha’s face (March is silent; Spring shouts, “No, you don’t!”). March/Spring then berates the witch for trying to kill the bugs. Even though she’s not good with them, the little creatures are just trying to live in peace. Also, a joke is added in the dub where Brooha can’t hear Glitter Spring.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Majorina/Brooha puts the Akanbe/Buffoon back down, and it starts shooting again. We then get some action! March/Spring kicks the monster’s projectiles back at it. When the Akanbe/Buffoon shoots again and March/Spring can’t dodge, Beauty/Breeze takes her out of the way and Peace smacks the projectiles away. Sunny then throws a soda can several times her size into the air, where Happy/Lucky kicks it into the Akanbe/Buffoon’s face and it bounces off and hits Majorina/Brooha. At Candy’s prompting, March/Spring finishes it off with her March Shoot/Sparkle Shot.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Majorina/Brooha throws a temper tantrum. Her repeatedly kicking the ground causes the team to fall over due to their size. When she notices this, she calmly decides to kick the ground some more just to make the girls suffer. Then, she realizes that she can crush them without an Akanbe/Buffoon. She takes the hammer from Candy and uses it to squish them. However, the girls are blown away by its force (Brooha even laments that she missed) and its magic causes them to grow to normal size. While both Majorina and Brooha notice what’s going to happen as soon as the light appears, I love how Brooha says, “Oh, no…”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Happy/Lucky rejoices, and Beauty/Breeze says the light from the hammer caused them to go back to normal. Majorina says she’ll let them off for now, while Brooha makes up that someone’s calling for her. Majorina/Brooha then teleports away and the Bad End disappears. A new Cure Décor/Glitter Charm shaped like lip gloss falls into March/Spring’s hands, and at Candy’s urging, she puts it in the Décor Décor/Charm Chest.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We cut to later, where everyone has de-transformed. Candy is talking to the bugs. According to Candy, the bugs are saying thank you. Yayoi/Lily is shocked that bugs can talk. In the dub, Candy says that bugs talk more when they’re excited about something. Reika/Chloe says bugs aren’t that different from humans. When Akane/Kelsey asks if Nao/April’s okay with bugs now, Nao/April begrudgingly says “a little.” However, when a ladybug lands on her nose, she runs around screaming. In the sub, Reika says they can’t force the impossible and Yayoi muses that the ladybug was cute; in the dub, Chloe says that April spoke too soon and Lily agrees. The four girls and Candy laugh, and the episode ends.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">And that’s it. Also, “Run (All Together)” is starting to grow on me. The dancing is pretty good for original dub footage, too.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Overall: I liked this episode. Will there ever be an episode I don’t like of this show? I like the creativity of the small word the girls entered, the scenarios they got themselves into and out of, and Nao/April facing her fear of bugs. The voice acting could have used some work at times, but overall it was good. Even Candy was good half the time!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Next time: Candy feels useless, and both the villains and the Pretty Cure/Glitter Force get a power upgrade!