User blog:GlitterInformer/Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force SDC: Episode 13 (Sub), 12 (Dub)

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'Japanese title: School Trip! Miyuki, Happy at the Very Depths of Kyoto!?'

English title: Emily’s Unlucky Day

First: what’s up with the Japanese title? What does it mean?? Second: This episode takes place on the field trip, so I imagine there’s gonna be a lot of changes in the dub. Third: I’m looking forward to this episode for a slightly morbid reason. Why? You’ll find out…!

We start out on the train, where Miyuki/Emily is talking about how excited she is for the field trip. This goes on longer in the dub, which also adds dialogue for Lily, who is excited about all the things to see and do.

Text is removed from the girls’ books. Rather inconvenient that they wouldn’t have any text. They removed a lot of text last episode, too. This is the same dubbing company that went through all the painstaking effort of changing the text on a banner flapping in the wind in episode 7! What happened to you, Saban?

Japanese version:



 Akaoni/Brute laughs about their bad fortune and Miyuki/Emily gets embarrassed. Akaoni says that now is his chance, while Brute says that he’s right and he’s almost never right. He then turns the fortune paper into an Akanbe/Buffoon. Interestingly, even though the dub fortune has English text, the Buffoon made out of it has Japanese text. The girls then transform. It’s the same footage as past dub episodes, even in the sub. Both Cure and Glitter Peace go with scissors.

 The Akanbe/Buffoon shoots a projectile at March/Spring, who hits it away, accidentally sending it crashing into Happy/Lucky. Then, it tries to hit Peace with a stick, but when she blocks it, part of it breaks off and hits Happy/Lucky. Akaoni/Brute then laughs at Happy/Lucky’s misfortune; in the dub, he also ridicules Glitter Lucky’s ironic name.

 Cure Happy says it isn’t over yet, while Glitter Lucky says it isn’t funny. Then, Sunny tries to take care of Akaoni/Brute herself with her Sunny/Sparkle Fire. Of course, since the Akanbe/Buffoon is blue-nosed, it doesn’t work. In the sub, Sunny and Beauty are shocked that it didn’t work. You know, you guys are supposed to be smarter than that, especially you, Cure Beauty. In the dub, it’s more understandable, with Sunny saying she forgot and Breeze saying their attacks won’t work. In both versions, Happy/Lucky seems to be aware that the attack wouldn’t work, but this could also be interpreted as Happy/Lucky wanting to do the attack herself and protect Sunny.

 Candy tells them to use Rainbow Healing/Tiara Mode Torrent, but Happy/Lucky trips and lets go of her Smile/Glitter Pact, which falls into the river (with added cartoony falling sounds in the dub). When the girls react in shock, Sunny asks how bad Happy’s luck is going to get, while Lucky bemoans her bad luck endangering everyone. Candy shouts at Happy/Lucky to get it backs, so she jumps into the river. Akaoni/Brute takes the opportunity to get the Akanbe/Buffoon to charge up a finishing attack to take down the other four.

 Happy/Lucky is panicking in the river. Cure Happy shouts, “Where is it!?” while Glitter Lucky begs the Glitter Pact to be waterproof. Then, the Akanbe/Buffoon shoots the other four. In the sub, Happy shouts, “Everyone!!” and the others groan in pain, while in the dub, Lucky asks if everyone is all right and Spring says that it depends on her definition of “all right.”

 Akaoni/Brute mocks the girls for teaming up with someone with such bad luck, and Happy/Lucky becomes distraught, thinking this is all her fault. When the Akanbe/Buffoon shoots a big ball at the other four, Happy/Lucky intercepts it and pushes back with all her strength. She tells the others that at first she was having fun despite her bad luck, but now that it’s affecting everyone else, she’s nothing but a drag. Then, March says that they were having fun too because Happy was with them, while Spring says that people should stick with their friends when times are rough and that she doesn’t believe in predestined luck anyway. Beauty says that their problem is not caused by bad luck, while Breeze says that they wouldn’t be a team without Lucky and that the fortune doesn’t matter. Then, in both versions, Peace and Sunny say they’ll have good luck when they’re together.

 Then, their feelings cause a Deus Ex Machina. The Smile/Glitter Pact starts glowing and rises out of the river. In the dub, the background music is sufficient, but in the sub, it’s a faster and higher-key remix of the transformation theme that makes the scene epic. At least the dub does better in dialogue: in the sub, it’s rather generic, with Happy exclaiming, “The Smile Pact!” and Akaoni shouting “What!?”; in the dub, Lucky says that she found the Glitter Pact, or rather, it found her, and Brute shouts, “No fair!” Poor Akaoni/Brute… if only the heroes played by the established rules of the story!

 The other four join Happy/Lucky in holding back the ball. Cure Sunny says that it’s light with all five of them, while Glitter Sunny says it’s time to show Brute what the Glitter Force can do. Then, on the count of three, the girls throw the ball back at the Akanbe/Buffoon. Technically, though, Pretty Cure says, “1, 2, GO!!” (or "1, 2, 5!!", since "go" is Japanese for "five"), while the Glitter Force says “1, 2, 3!!”

 With Candy’s prompting, the girls perform Rainbow Healing/Tiara Mode Torrent. Oddly, Candy summons the powered-up Cure Décors/Glitter Charms again. I assume she telepathically transports them from the Décor Décor/Charm Chest? Then again, last episode didn’t show the girls putting them in… Also, I’ve noticed that Rainbow Healing has its own BG music (though it’s rather forgettable), while Tiara Mode Torrent has the same opening theme remix as the transformations.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Additionally, at the beginning of the attack, Candy says, "Everyone, combine your powers!" in the sub, and "Okay, all together! The Glitter Force fights like one! Go!" in the dub.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> The Akanbe/Buffoon dies and everyone goes back to normal. Akaoni says that the blue noses aren’t useful at all, while Brute bemoans that the Glitter Force’s bad luck is better than his. He then teleports away, and we cut to the de-transformed girls. Miyuki/Emily thanks them for dealing with all the bad things that happened due to her luck. Then, Nao/April starts laughing and tells her they were talking about when she fell at the temple. I like April’s voice better here, as it sounds like she’s actually trying not to laugh as she talks.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Then, Reika/Chloe laughs, too and talks about the koi jumping out of the pond when Miyuki/Emily fell in. Reika focuses more on the fish, while Chloe focuses more on Emily’s splash. Then, Akane/Kelsey and Yayoi/Lily join in the laugh fest. Akane/Kelsey is amused by Miyuki/Emily having to wear P.E. clothes for the photo, while Yayoi/Lily is laughing about the ice cream falling in her face. At first, Miyuki/Emily is embarrassed, but then she agrees that it was funny. In the dub, Kelsey has added dialogue in which she says it was more than a little funny.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Then, Yayoi/Lily sees some geisha (referred to as maiko in the sub). Miyuki/Emily wonders why that happened with her bad luck. Reika/Chloe suspects that her luck finally turned around (Reika also says that with smiles come good fortune). Then, Nao says that Reika always says that (since when?), while April says that Emily’s their good luck charm now. Miyuki/Emily cheers up. Then, the girls take a picture together with the geisha, saying “Happy!” in the sub and “Another happy ending!” in the dub. And there, the episode ends!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Overall:  This was an interesting, but kind of sad, episode about Miyuki/Emily’s bad fortune. I really hope it doesn’t stick on her. But you know, she did defeat the bad fortune in combat, so I think it knows better than to stay on her. The dub, as expected, was way over its head trying to disguise an entire city as just an expo. This is one of the times I think it would have been better to just put the girls in Japan. Say that they’re having an international field trip funded by a Japanese sister school or something. It may be far-fetched, but it’s far more believable than the “expo.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Also, the voice acting was good, except for Candy’s, which ranged from bad to OK. Fortunately, she didn’t talk much. Unfortunately, the dub is making me want Candy to appear less. It’s a darn shame… And finally, maybe Saban should have exercised more video-editing power. Those fish-eye faces could easily give children nightmares. I would have been ecstatic had they edited them out, even if the voices were speaking over closed lips. Anything would be better than Miyuki/Emily’s faces. That was definitely the worst animation I’ve ever seen in Japanese media – and I’ve seen screenshots from Sailor Moon Crystal!!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Next time:  The girls get lost in Osaka/the “Expo”!