User blog:GlitterInformer/Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force SDC: Episode 42 (Sub), 34 (Dub)

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'''Japanese title: “Protect it! Nao’s Precious Bonds with her Family!!”'''

English title: “April’s Babysitting Blues”

7 more episodes, 4 more Cure Décors/Glitter Charms, 4 bad ticks, and 3 good ticks! Let’s do this!

The episode starts with Nao/April inner-monologuing as she does the laundry. Nao tells the audience her name and says she has a lot of siblings; April laments having to do the laundry but says that at least the weather’s nice. She then introduces each of her siblings. Not gonna help me remember who they are.

The youngest sibling, Kouta/Cody, pulls out a blanket from the laundry pile. Kouta just cries out; Cody yells, “Blankie!” After Nao/April and one of her sisters tries to get the blanket back, Nao/April inner-monologues that her mother is pregnant and will give birth soon. She finishes the monologue by saying that she’s excited to be a big sister to even more siblings.

We get the opening themes. Then, we cut to the front of Nao/April’s house. Her parents are headed to the hospital. Nao/April gets her siblings to line up and say goodbye to them. Nao’s mom says that she’ll give birth to a lively baby and tells Nao to take care of the others; April’s mom says that she’s sure all the siblings will behave well and that the baby will be lucky to have them in her family (aww, that’s sweet!).

The sub shows the title card, which mistranslates the title as, “Stand Strong! Nao’s Precious Bonds with her Family!!” Then, the two versions go a bit differently. The sub cuts to the hideout with the girls finding out about Nao/April’s new sibling, while the dub cuts to the Shadow Realm. I don’t believe the dub has the former scene, so I’ll review that first.

Reika is the one to tell the others about the birth because Nao called her and said she was busy taking care of her siblings. Yayoi and Akane are concerned for Nao, but Reika tells them that Nao is excited and will do her best. Miyuki and Candy say they want to hold the baby. Then, Miyuki gets the idea to help Nao out.

Then, the sub cuts to the Bad End Kingdom, too. We get several establishing shots before Majorina/Brooha pulls an apple out of a cauldron. In the sub, there’s no dialogue until Majorina cackles at the very end; in the dub, Brooha rambles on about how great her new plan to take down the Glitter Force is.

It turns out that Joker/Rascal is there. Why he went to her rather than sending her to him is beyond me. Just like the past two episodes (man, is this getting formulaic), Joker/Rascal tells Majorina/Brooha that she has one last chance to defeat Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force. Joker also brings up that Wolfrun and Akaoni have gone missing due to their failures. As Joker/Rascal delivers this news, dialogue is added where Brooha quietly says, “Oh, no!”

Joker/Rascal orders her to defeat one of the team members (Cure March specifically in the sub), and gives her a vague threat if she fails. Part of this threat involves summoning an animal skull to pop up in her potion. In the sub, Majorina sees this and agrees to defeat March, Joker thanks her, and Majorina stares angrily and silently; Brooha notes that the skull wasn’t part of her recipe and Rascal says she should find a recipe for victory, wishing her good lucky over her angry stare.

We cut to town, where the siblings are going shopping. It begins with a downward aerial pan. The sub pans all the way down to a sign with Japanese text on it; the dub’s pan is cut off before the sign is shown.



Then, Nao/April’s dad drives by, and he tells them to come with him. Nao saying, “Dad!” is replaced by her dad saying, “Come on!” Miyuki/Emily realizes that the baby must have been born.

We cut to the hospital, where the kids are waiting in the hallway. Dialogue is added where Lily and Emily voice their excitement. Nao/April’s siblings say that they all had the same dream, where Nao/April was a superhero. The oldest brother says he doesn’t remember it that well in the sub, and says the dream was “totally weird” in the dub. The dub also has him ask why they all had the same dream. Nao says their dream is mysterious, while April suggests that “great minds think alike”. Dialogue is added where Chloe says April must be right.

Then, they hear the crying of their new sibling. Dialogue is added where the father points this out to them. The kids comment on how cute the baby is. In the sub, they don’t know the baby’s gender until Nao says it’s a girl; in the dub, they know the baby’s a girl and Arpil says, “She’s beautiful.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Name Change: In the sub, the baby’s name is Yui. In the dub, she’s Nina.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Nao’s mom says that she wants Yui to strengthen the bonds of the family; April’s mom says her name comes from Nina being the ninth member of the family. In the sub, the family repeats Yui’s name; in the dub, they say hi to Nina and one of the girls says she’s excited to be her older sister.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Nao/April reaches her finger toward Yui/Nina, and Yui/Nina grabs it. In the sub, there’s no dialogue as Nao/April smiles at this; in the dub, the siblings comment on how cute this is.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The episode ends with an inner monologue from Nao/April. Nao’s monologue is just like the beginning, except Yui is included in the list of her siblings. April’s monologue starts out unique, with her talking to Nina about how life is a journey and Nina’s going to go on it with the rest of her family, but it then echoes April’s earlier statement that some may think five siblings is enough, but April is happy to have Nina, too.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Additionally, when Nao/April’s mother offers to let Nao/April hold the baby, Nao’s mother is silent and Nao monologues over this, while April’s mother speaks, interrupting the monologue. And with that, the episode ends.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Overall: These past few episodes have been quite formulaic. Despite this, I still enjoyed this one. I loved Nao/April hanging out with her siblings and welcoming her baby sister. While the fighting wasn’t as good as last episode or the episode before, the emotional moments with Nao/April crying were really touching. However, I have to ask what the heck was up with the dub today. They cut a bunch of scenes out for absolutely no reason. At least episodes 1 and 30->25 had a bit of an excuse. They had scenes added in, even though these scenes weren’t necessary. This was just cut down seemingly because Saban was bored. I can’t even chalk it up to them not wanting to make kids cry, because they cut out the scene at the beginning with the other four talking about the baby. Get better, Saban.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Next episode: Reika/Chloe decides whether or not to study abroad!