User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episode 39 (Sub), 24 (Dub)

Episode 38 (Sub) | Table of Contents '''Japanese title: “I’ve Come to See You! Regina Returns!”'''

English title: “The Spear of Light”



Guys, the dub is back! I’m so excited! It’s been a pretty light workload just looking at the sub-only episodes, but I’m really excited to see what the dub does this time!

Before we get back into Glitter Force Doki Doki, though, I’d like to reflect on just how much the dub cut by getting rid of the entire Blood Rings arc. Each episode is about 25 minutes. Since 7 episodes in a row were cut, that’s almost 3 hours of footage, all down the drain. I noted last time that the dub cutting episodes made the show dropping Regina and Ira’s arcs more tolerable, but the fact is that a lot of great things disappeared.


 * Bel making Ira and Marmo completely submissive to him with the Blood Rings? Gone.


 * Mana learning not to overexert herself and her classmates learning to act on their own? Gone. (Though, to be fair, this was a retread of episode 11->9).


 * A look into Arisu’s past and how she became friends with Mana and Rikka? Gone.


 * Cure Rosetta’s epic fight with the helicopter Jikochuu? Gone.


 * Rikka bonding with her mother and better learning to care for children just like she does? Gone.


 * Ai’s importance when it comes to fighting the Jikochuu, as well as the importance of her being raised well, being revealed? Gone.


 * Makoto facing her fear of the dentist? Gone.


 * Raquel’s crush on Yashima and his fight with the duck Jikochuu? Gone.


 * Aguri confronting her flaw of being a picky eater? Gone.


 * Ai becoming a selfish child just as Pretty Cure feared, only to be rescued by Cure Heart’s love for her? Gone.

Even though they disrupted the pacing of the show, these last several episodes have had a lot of great content. Overall, I think the most important thing was that we got some more character development for Ai. Before the Blood Rings arc, she was a cute baby with likeable moments, but she didn’t have much in the way of personality. But during the arc, she started to gain a sense of self, and thus, selfishness. Fortunately, with guidance from her five underage mommies, Ai was able to learn to fight her selfish urges and become a good person. It’s amazing how even a baby can have a character arc. With all of that cut, Dina is ultimately quite a bit blander than her Japanese counterpart.

Oh, and we still aren’t done with cut content. There is still four more episodes’ worth of content that is cut from the dub. I don’t know if it will come in the form of merged episodes or episodes that are completely omitted. I guess we’ll have to find out together!

Anyway, the first scene of the dubbed episode is the same as the last scene of last episode. Already, we run into a problem: Ira, Marmo, and Bel have bandages on their heads and faces. In the sub, it’s due to them having been beaten up pretty badly in the fight in episode 38. But in the dub, the last time any of them fought the Glitter Force was in episode 26->20, where Ira went against Glitter Diamond. In that episode, he had a bandage around his head because of his injuries. But at the end of that episode, he took that bandage off. Yet, here he is with another bandage. And one can only guess why Marmo and Bel have bandages in the dub.

Still, this is a small visual detail that most people probably wouldn’t notice unless they’re like me and are actively looking for inconsistencies. So, let’s move on.

Ira and Marmo hate the idea of having to go before King Jikochuu/Mercenare because they think he’ll scold them. In the sub, Bel tells Ira and Marmo to keep their mouths shut because King Jikochuu can hear them; in the dub, Bel says that maybe King Mercenare will reward them. Although the dub line does make for irony when King Mercenare electrocutes them, one does have to wonder why Bel thinks they’ll be rewarded when they haven’t done anything noteworthy lately. Not only have they not had any victories in the sub, but in the dub, they haven’t even fought the Glitter Force in a while!

When King Jikochuu/Mercenare electrocutes the trio, it isn’t darkened, even though there’s flashing lightning. I guess it’s because the lightning is medium red and the background is dark red. There isn’t much color contrast, and hence, not much potential for a seizure.

Then, Regina’s voice is heard for the first time in way too many episodes. In the sub, Regina says that the trio is still useless without her; in the dub, she mocks them for thinking it was King Mercenare that summoned them instead of her.

Bel recognizes Regina’s voice. Then, as Regina’s ball comes down from the sky, the dub adds dialogue where Regina says that he should. Also, when the ball finally bursts open, dialogue is added where Regina says, “Surprise!”

After breaking out of the ball, Regina stretches. In the sub, she groans as she stretches; in the dub, she’s silent. Ira, Marmo, and Bel then gasp. They make noise in both versions, of course, but Ira and Bel make a lot more noise in the dub. Bel usually sounds really good in the dub, but when he gasps here, he sounds downright ridiculous.

Also, the sub has various close-up shots of Regina interspersed with shots of the villains gasping. These close-ups are removed in the dub.

Mana/Maya and Makoto/Mackenzie are sparring in front of the shop. This is really cool because in Pretty Cure, we rarely see the main characters practicing their combat outside of actual battles. In fact, I believe this is only the third time in the entire franchise that Pretty Cures have done this. The second time was also in ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure'', back when Arisu/Clara sparred against a robot in episode 25->19.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The reason Mana/Maya and Makoto/Mackenzie are sparring is because they’re both pumped up because of how much stronger they’ve gotten. Arisu says that they’ve indeed become more powerful thanks to the Magical Lovely Pad; Clara says that Maya and Mackenzie need a Mercenare to fight so they can stop fighting each other.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Aguri/Natalie says that they’ve become strong enough that it’s time for them to go straight to King Jikochuu/Mercenare himself. Mana/Maya and Makoto/Mackenzie agree; Mana/Maya is excited to save Regina, and Makoto/Mackenzie is excited to restore the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Rikka/Rachel points out that they unfortunately don’t have a way to get to the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius, which deflates Mana/Maya and Makoto/Mackenzies’ moods. In the sub, Sharuru says they should have a meeting and Dabi agrees, saying they should have tea with it as well. In the dub, Kippie wonders if they have a portal lying around somewhere and Davi complains that they can’t go between worlds even though the Mercenares can.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">And then… hoo, boy. Joe/Johnny is back. After all this time, he’s finally come to face the schoolgirls he abandoned his own daughter to. And he’s just as cheerful as ever. To be fair, the situation with Johnny isn’t as bad as it is with Joe, as it’s only been 5 episodes since Johnny last appeared compared to 14 with Joe. And since unlike the sub, Glitter Force Doki Doki hasn’t shown that Dina is sleeping at Maya’s house, one can still assume that Johnny is still Dina’s primary caretaker and he just lets Dina hang out with the girls a lot since she’s Natalie’s transformation partner. Still, I don’t think Joe/Johnny should get the benefit of the doubt, as both versions of him gleefully left Ai/Dina in the hands of two girls who were going to school in episode 9->7.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We get the eyecatches in the sub. Then, we cut back to the antique shop, where Mana/Maya, Makoto/Mackenzie, and Rikka/Rachel are rightly calling out Joe/Johnny for being away for so long. Arisu/Clara is still calm as ever, though, and politely introduces Aguri/Natalie. It should be noted that Aguri/Natalie respectfully dipping her head isn’t removed from the dub. I guess that since it isn’t a complete bow, it’s not distinctly foreign and won’t confuse American viewers.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">It turns out that although they’ve never met before, Joe/Johnny and Aguri/Natalie have somehow heard about each other before. Joe/Johnny knows that Aguri/Natalie is Cure/Glitter Ace, and Aguri/Natalie knows that Joe/Johnny is engaged to the queen/princess. I’m using so many slashes now that the dub is back. Please let me know if it gets too hard to read, and I’ll try to tone it down.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Speaking of the queen/princess, Joe/Johnny has finally come up with an idea that might finally break her free from the ice: the Miracle Dragon Glaive/Spear of Light. Since it’s a legendary weapon, it can pierce through anything. It should be noted that at the part where Johnny tells the Glitter Force about the Spear of Light, he stops sounding like a person and more like the narrator of a movie trailer or something. It’s kind of jarring. Add in that Maya’s sounding a bit iffy today, too, and this episode isn’t a great one voice-acting wise for the dub. But at least Rachel, Mackenzie, and Natalie still sound fine. And Clara doesn’t sound as wooden as usual. Plus, this weird acting spot for Johnny only lasts for this bit. After that, he’s back to normal.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Arisu/Clara then interrupts and Lance asks a question. In the sub, Lance asks where the Miracle Dragon Glaive is; in the dub, Lance points out that the Spear of Light is in Splendorius. Fortunately, Joe/Johnny knows how to teleport… somehow. When Mana/Maya asks how, Joe/Johnny starts acting very suspiciously. Joe claims that he learned how to teleport by training; Johnny says that he learned how by reading about it in a book.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The girls are excited to head on over to the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius. But Lance’s stomach suddenly grumbles. In the sub, Lance just says he’s hungry; in the dub, he says he learned the stomach grumbling thing from Maya (In the last episode of Glitter Force Doki Doki, Maya’s stomach rumbled and interrupted a conversation just like Lance’s did now).

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Joe/Johnny happens to have a snack for them, and by sheer coincidence, it’s takoyaki. And oddly enough, it has the opposite problem of Bel’s takoyaki. Bel put octopus in the takoyaki when Regina didn’t want it, but Joe/Johnny forgot to put the octopus in when the girls didn’t want it. The one who’s the most angry about it is Lance, who actually blows up at Joe/Johnny. He’s usually subdued, so this is pretty interesting. What’s even more… interesting… is Lance’s voice in the dub. It’s still distracting that Lance is voiced by a full-grown man. You can tell his voice actor is doing his best to sound like a toddler, and he’s hitting all the emotional beats. But there’s only so much he can do to pitch up his voice. When Lance shouts at Johnny, he sounds more like a Muppet than a pixie!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">After that, we cut to the girls teleporting to the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius. We don’t get to see how they do it or anything, but they do teleport in the same way that the villains do. Though, in the dub, Maya implies that it was really difficult and says that Johnny made it look easy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">This is Aguri/Natalie’s first time in the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius. However, she feels a strange sort of nostalgia, as if she’s been here before. This was previously hinted at in the sub-only episode 35, where Aguri said that although she’d never met Queen Ange, it felt like she’d known her for a long time.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The girls are worried about getting spotted on their way to the palace, but fortunately there are underground tunnels that block them from view. These tunnels are very convoluted and easy to get lost in. But fortunately, one of Ai/Dina’s magic baby powers is technological know-how, so she’s able to show a map of the tunnels on the Magical Lovely Pad.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Name Change: Speaking of which, Rachel calls the pad a “Glitter Crystal Pad thingie”. (The subtitles say it’s Natalie saying that, but it sounds like Rachel.) Given this line and the Pretty Cure Wiki, I think we can safely say that what is the Magical Lovely Pad in the sub is the Glitter Crystal Pad in the dub.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Joe/Johnny says that just as he expected, the three sacred treasures can communicate with each other. In the sub, he says this in an unusually low-pitched voice that sounds more like a villain than a (supposed) good guy, which gets the fairies suspicious. Johnny doesn’t speak unusually, but he does say that things are working out better than he thought. This gets the pixies suspicious, even though Johnny isn’t as suspicious as Joe. Still, given everything Joe/Johnny has done throughout the season, there’s plenty of reason for the pixies to be suspicious of him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">There’s then a montage of the team walking through the tunnels. In the sub, the montage is silent save for background music; in the dub, dialogue is added where the girls complain about the tunnels and Lance cries when he falls into a river. The girls then seem to reach a dead end, but Joe/Johnny pushes on one of the bricks, causing the wall to rise up. With this, the montage continues for a bit more, and the dub adds dialogue where Maya says they’re getting close.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">By the way, it should be noted that the Magical Lovely Pad/Glitter Crystal Pad’s icon for the group’s location is Mana/Maya. More favoritism, huh?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Anyway, the girls finally reach the Miracle Dragon Glaive/Spear of Light. They’re excited to have finally found one of the treasures. But there’s a problem. See, there’s a huge plot twist: Joe/Johnny was actually Bel the whole time!! That’s why the fairies/pixies were so suspicious of him. That’s why his takoyaki had no octopus in it. That’s why he knew how to teleport. This plot twist was genius! But somehow, the girls are even more genius, as they figured out the truth before Bel could take the spear from them.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The sub shows the eyecatches. Then, the team explains how they figured it out. The first clue is different in the dub. In the sub, the girls noticed that “Joe” called Queen Ange “Queen” instead of “An” like the real Joe does. In the dub, the girls noticed that “Johnny” called the princess “Princess Marie” instead of “Princess Marie Angelica”. The second clue was that “Joe/Johnny” figured out how to teleport. And the third clue was that he was wearing a different-colored scarf and apron than usual. His apron was black instead of its usual pink, and the scarf he wore was the same as Bel’s.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">It should be noted that this whole time, as the girls and fairies/pixies are explaining how they figured it out, more and more of them are just standing there and pointing at Bel. They just hold that pose for the whole sequence. It would look ridiculous in real life.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Anyway, there’s a funny imagination spot where Bel screams while circling around into the distance on a spiral background. Then, back in reality, Bel abandons his disguise. He asks why the girls still followed him all this way if they knew who he really was. Mana/Maya says that it was so that they could go to the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius and have a chat with King Jikochuu/Mercenare. Bel thinks the idea of having a chat with a gargantuan lord of evil is ridiculous, but Mana/Maya is confident that they can convince him to free the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius and make sure that he never hurts Regina again. Everyone else is confident, too, because not only do they have one of the legendary treasures, they’re about to get the second one, too.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The five girls (plus Ai/Dina) thank Bel for leading them to the palace. They bow in both the sub and the dub, even though Americans don’t bow when they thank people. Glitter Force and Glitter Force Doki Doki are both inconsistent about when they cut bowing and when they don’t.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">But Bel isn’t letting the girls get their hands on the Miracle Dragon Glaive/Spear of Light just yet. He calls an octopus Jikochuu/Distain into battle. The dub adds dialogue where Lance says that the octopus has finally arrived.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">As usual, the girls transform and Heart does her catchphrase. Then, they spring into battle. In the sub, the Jikochuu says that it’ll turn Pretty Cure into octopus paste. In the dub, the Distain makes an incredibly lame comeback to Glitter Heart’s catchphrase (“Feel the Doki Doki!”) by saying, “No thanks! You feel this!”) Then, when four of the girls go past the Jikochuu/Distain instead of towards it, the dub adds dialogue where the Distain asks where they’re going.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Ace tells the others to get the Miracle Dragon Glaive/Spear of Light while she fights the Jikochuu/Distain. This is despite the fact that the other four are already headed towards the Glaive/Spear. How did they know what to do before Ace told them?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The Jikochuu/Distain squirts ink at the other girls to try to keep them from reaching the Glaive/Spear. Bel then tells it to stop because he wants them to pull the weapon out so he can grab it from them.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Unfortunately for both sides of the battle, it turns out that Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force can’t pull the Glaive/Spear out after all. At least they don’t get shocked like Ira did in a flashback at the beginning of the episode. While the girls are struggling to pull out the weapon, dialogue is added where Glitter Heart says, “It’s really in there!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Ace is having better luck, as she singlehandedly takes down the Jikochuu/Distain. But just then, Regina comes in, much to Heart’s delight, and ridicules Bel for failing once again. In the sub, Regina came to check on Bel because she had a bad feeling; in the dub, Regina came because she sensed Glitter Ace.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Regina prepares to take down Ace as revenge for her defeating her in episode 23->17. But before she can do anything, Heart leaps up and hugs her, causing them both to crash into the ground. Heart is extremely excited to see her old friend and asks how she’s been doing and if she’s been healthy. Of course, since she’s brainwashed, Regina wants nothing to do with Heart. She believes that nobody truly loves her except for King Jikochuu/Mercenare. Even when the others insist that isn’t true and Heart invites Regina to talk with her, Regina isn’t having it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Regina shoots a laser at Heart, but somehow, Heart is completely unharmed. Heart says it’s because they’ve all gotten stronger since Regina last saw them. Cure Heart says that they became stronger so they could talk with Regina again; Glitter Heart says that they’re strong enough that they can finally save Splendorius and invites Regina to join her. In the sub, Diamond, Rosetta, and Sword call out Regina’s name. In the dub, Diamond says that Heart is right and Clover says that they’ve missed Regina.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Bel is in worse and worse spirits. Not only is his Jikochuu/Distain being defeated by Ace Shot, but it seems like the girls are going to leave the place with Regina and the Glaive/Spear. But Regina isn’t un-brainwashed just yet. Regina tells Heart that when her daddy held her when she was recovering from her injuries, she didn’t have to think about anything. But when Heart comes in and tries to turn her against her own father, it makes everything so much more confusing. In the sub, Regina says that Cure Heart wants to make her feel pain again (it’s ambiguous what sort of pain – from Ace Shot or from having one’s heart broken?). In the dub, Regina says that Glitter Heart wants to make her weak.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Not only does Regina get more powerful when she taps into her hate for Heart, but the Jikochuu/Distain also gets more powerful, allowing it to break free from Ace Shot. It flies into the air and rains ink down on the ground. When Diamond asks what happened, Ace says that Regina has so much Janergy/dark energy that it’s flowing out of her and into the Jikochuu/Distain.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Heart begs Regina to snap out of it and not to give in to her father’s power, but Regina refuses. In the sub, Regina says that Pretty Cure are her enemies because they hurt her father; in the dub, she says that she isn’t giving into anything and that this is her true self.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Regina seems hopeless, so the team takes on the Jikochuu/Distain first. Well, that’s what Cure Ace says. Glitter Ace instead says the vague line of, “Time to get legendary!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Then, we see Heart’s solo attack with the Magical Lovely Pad/Glitter Crystal Pad. Sure, she already has Lovely Straight Flush/Five of a Kind Glitter Bow, but that’s technically a group attack, and everyone else has had a solo attack with their Pads. Well, in the sub, anyway. It makes a lot more sense in the sub that Heart has a solo attack as well as Lovely Straight Flush. But in the dub, we haven’t seen any of the other solo attacks. So, first, we get the highly Heart-centered Lovely Straight Flush, and then we have Heart getting a solo attack on top of that when nobody else has one. Hopefully, we see the other solo attacks in the dub, too.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Name Change: Cure Heart’s solo attack is called Heart Dynamite. In the sub, it’s called Love Bubble. You may be thinking that the dub attack name sounds a lot less awesome and a lot more lame. But it actually makes more sense. See, the attack doesn’t explode or anything; it just traps the Jikochuu/Distain in a heart-shaped bubble. I have no idea where the sub name came from.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">During Heart Dynamite, Cure Heart says, “Gather around! Heart Dynamite!” In Love Bubble, Glitter Heart instead says, “Yeah! Here comes the love cloud! Glitter Force Love Bubble!”, which is a lot more lame. Also, the Jikochuu says, “I’m flaring up…” when it’s trapped in the bubble, which doesn’t make much sense since Heart Dynamite doesn’t involve fire in any way. The Distain instead says that it’s “so pink in here!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">With the Jikochuu/Distain trapped, the team uses Lovely Straight Flush/Five of a Kind Glitter Bow to finish it off. Regina is forced to descend because of all the dust the attack kicks up. When the dust settles, Ace tells Regina that no matter how much she tries to push Heart away, Heart will always be her friend because her love for Regina is just that strong.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Regina refuses yet again, though. She says that she’s her father’s only friend and that if she joins the group again, King Jikochuu/Mercenare will be left all alone. She’s so determined to protect her father that she pulls out the Miracle Dragon Glaive/Spear of Light. It’s a mystery how Regina was able to pull it out when nobody else could, but I’m sure that’ll be explained later. Anyway, the spear turns dark in Regina’s hands. She uses the spear to shoot a dark beam at the girls. In the sub, Regina shouts, “Disappear, Pretty Cure!” when she shoots the laser. In the dub, this is replaced by Glitter Heart begging Regina not to shoot.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">With help from Rosetta/Clover Reflection, the girls are able to hold off the beam for a little while. Cure Ace expresses astonishment on seeing the Miracle Dragon Glaive’s power, while Glitter Ace complements Glitter Clover and warns her that the Spear of Light is powerful.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Rosetta/Clover is starting to reach her limit, but Heart refuses to give up until she gets through to Regina. However, the Magical Lovely Pad/Glitter Crystal Pad seems to side against Heart. It floats up in front of Heart and displays a mirror. Ai/Dina interacts with it and makes Oogai/Sea Shell Bay appear in the mirror. The pad then teleports the girls back home just as Rosetta/Clover’s shield breaks.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force may be safe for now, but Regina isn’t deterred in the slightest. She’s completely confident that the next time they meet, the girls won’t be so lucky. And with that, the episode ends.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Overall: It’s great to see Regina again! Though the combat this time was on the same level as usual, a lot of interesting plot developments happened. Now that we’re in the final stretch of the anime, we’ve finally started the quest for the other two legendary weapons. Plus, Regina actually took the victory this time, as the Spear of Light is hers. Bel was also an interesting villain this time; even though Regina has put him back in a lowly position, he’s still ruthlessly determined to secure a victory for the Jikochuu/Mercenares and especially for himself. The plot twist with him pretending to be Joe/Johnny was also really cool. I do wonder where the real Joe/Johnny is. Perhaps he’s being held captive and that’s why he hasn’t come back in so long… but knowing the guy, he’s probably just a jerk as usual.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Next time: Makoto writes a song to try to get through to Regina!