User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episodes 6 & 7 (Sub), 5 (Dub)

Episode 5 (Sub), 4 (Dub) | Table of Contents Japanese titles:


 * “What a Shock! Mako-pi’s Coming to My House!?”

 English title: “The Spade from Splendorius”
 * “An Intense Battle! Farewell, Pretty Cure!!”

We already seem to be starting off with some heavy editing, as the Japanese version and the English version start with different scenes. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

The Japanese version starts with Makoto filming yet another music video of her song, “~SONGBIRD~”. How many music videos do they need for that one song? Anyway, after Makoto finishes, everyone, including DB the manager, compliments her on her good work. DB then notices that Makoto doesn’t seem to be in a good mood, but Makoto tries to hide it by saying that she’s got no problems. We then hear Makoto internally wondering whether her singing will ever reach one person in particular.

DB then distracts Makoto by saying that she has another job offer. If Makoto were to accept it, she’d visit a restaurant and experience cooking first-hand. Makoto agrees, but on one condition. We don’t hear what that condition is just yet.

I’m looking through the Japanese version, and the scene the English version starts with doesn’t seem to be coming any time soon. Therefore, let’s cut to the dub. Episode 5 of Glitter Force Doki Doki starts with Mackenzie and Davi the manager in a car together. Davi says that she’s trying to have fun with Mackenzie and that the cooking show that they’re about to participate in doesn’t expect Mackenzie to be an expert. Mackenzie hopes that’s the case, as she’s far from one. Davi then asks why Mackenzie chose Pigtail Restaurant and points out that Maya lives there. Mackenzie says she only chose it because she hears the food is good, but Davi thinks that’s not the only reason. Mackenzie is embarrassed by the implied idea of her being friends with Maya. Davi ignores Mackenzie’s embarrassment and says that she’s glad that Mackenzie is making friends with people her age.

The next scene in Glitter Force Doki Doki seems to take place after the next few scenes in ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure''. We’re in for a lot of editing today, aren’t we? This should be fun! I guess that for now, though, we’ll just stick with the Japanese version until the dub catches up.

The first thing on the agenda is that the footage from the opening theme is replaced with footage from a big Pretty Cure crossover movie called Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage 2: Friends of the Heart. This movie was released in spring of 2013, the same year that ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure'' began airing. It contains not only Cures Heart, Diamond, Rosetta, and Sword, but also all of the Pretty Cures from the first season, Futari wa Pretty Cure, to the season before Doki Doki, Smile Pretty Cure! I might be receiving this movie for my birthday, so I’m going to put off the movie review until after my birthday just in case I’m able to watch something Pretty Cure-related legally for a change. For now, though, let’s take a look at all of the preview footage! Be careful, though: the images and captions contain spoilers for Fresh Pretty Cure!, Heartcatch Pretty Cure!, and Suite Pretty Cure♪. Additionally, when you're on the Pretty Cure Wiki, you can assume that all links contain spoilers for the topics that they concern.



The girls take a sharp left turn (in the sub, they just do; in the dub, Maya tells them to), causing the frogs pursuing them to crash into more frogs going the opposite way. It should be noted that the Jikochuu say, “Get out!” over and over, while the Distains mostly make gargling noises except for one moment where two Distains tell each other to “look before [they] leap”.

The girls quickly find themselves approaching a gap in the bridge. Mana/Maya says that they have to jump and Rikka/Rachel panics. Nonetheless, Mana/Maya, Rikka/Rachel, and Arisu/Clara jump the gap and make it to the other side. Makoto/Mackenzie is not so lucky. Right before she’s about to jump, the end of the bridge crumbles and she plummets. In the sub, this is silent save for Makoto gasping; in the dub, Maya calls Mackenzie’s name twice.

And this, my friends, is where episode 5 of Glitter Force Doki Doki ends. That’s right; next episode is a combined episode, too. I’ll be covering the rest of episode 7 of ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure'' next time.

Overall: So far, both of these episodes were enjoyable. Episode 6 was good, but episode 7 was great. I love that we’re already getting to see Makoto/Mackenzie become more open and trusting with the other three. Plus, Mackenzie isn’t insufferably rude anymore, save for a single line. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that Makoto/Mackenzie is my favorite character of this season right now. She’s far from the first Pretty Cure to come from another world, but she’s definitely one of the most angsty. Everybody she has ever known has become a raging monster, and there’s nothing but ruins left of her home. It’s little wonder that she’s become so rough. Plus, episode 7 set up the subplot of finding the queen/princess of the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius. I’m excited to see where this leads!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">There are two major problems with these episodes, both sub and dub. The first, and biggest, is the non-existent fight scene of episode 6. This is the second non-fight in the span of only 6 episodes. It’s a bad sign for the show up ahead. It’s especially disappointing because the first fight scene in Doki Doki was excellently animated. I’m disappointed that this quality of fighting not only hasn’t appeared again, but that the fights in this season seem to be diminishing in quality. Episode 7 is a plot-relevant episode, though, so hopefully its fight scene is better.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Second, I feel that Rikka/Rachel and Arisu/Clara have been shoved to the wayside. They’re basically background characters in these two episodes. They don’t do anything of note; if they were cut out, the episode would largely be the same. It’s a shame, because the previous 5 episodes did a good job of balancing the characters. Even episode 5, which focused on Mana/Maya and Makoto/Mackenzie, gave the other two a spot in the limelight as well. Heck, in these two episodes, even Mana/Maya’s character has been suffering. Since episode 4, we haven’t seen the selfless drive that makes Mana/Maya a unique pink Cure. She’s just been optimistic and impulsive, traits that she shares with almost every pink Cure ever.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">But hey, at least we are getting screen time for the fairies/pixies. For the first six episodes, Sharuru/Kippie, Raquel/Rory, and Lance were objects more than characters. They hardly had any lines, and their only purpose seemed to be helping the girls transform. Here, they not only get screen time, but they get scenes to themselves. It really helps to flesh them out as characters.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We’ve gone over the episodes in general. Now, I’ll get into the real meat: the heavily editing episode 6 was subjected to. Now, I’m glad that it was episode 6 that got butchered rather than episode 7; the latter is clearly more important. However, episode 6 is still very important because it exposes Makoto/Mackenzie’s flaws and brings her down to the level of the other three girls. The dub removing her public failures at cooking really limits her character development by not showing her becoming insecure. There’s not much Saban could have done under a 30-episode limit, but it still does negatively impact the show.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">But hey, at least the dub does some things right. Mackenzie is really well-voiced in this episode. In episode 5, there were moments where she sounded stilted. Here, though, her emotional performance when she's separated from Princess Marie Ange is right on par with the Japanese version.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Next time: Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force must battle the frog army and find their way back home!