User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episodes 1 & 2 (Sub), 1 (Dub)

Table of Contents | Episodes 2 & 3 (Sub), 2 (Dub) Japanese titles:
 * “The Earth’s in a Big Pinch! The Last Pretty Cure Left!!”


 * “Gah! Cure Heart’s Identity is Revealed!!”

English title: “A New Adventure”

Remember how Glitter Force cut 8 episodes? If you don’t, that’s okay, but it did. When I heard that Glitter Force Doki Doki would have 19 episodes less than its Japanese counterpart, I thought, “Holy moley! Nineteen episodes, all down the drain!” Well, I was wrong. I failed to account for a new trick up Glitter Force’s sleeve: combining episodes.

What’s more, the combination doesn’t even stop here. The second part of episode 2 of the original is combined with episode 3 into Glitter Force Doki Doki’s episode 2. Rather than reviewing multiple episodes of each version in one document, I’ve decided to save episode 2 of Glitter Force Doki Doki for another article.

So here we start, with the dramatic entrance of Cure Sword and the sparkling debut of Cure Heart. Let’s begin!

Like its predecessor, Glitter Force Doki Doki adds these two slides to the beginning of each episode:

 Then, a rainbow-colored light appears and reversese all the property damage. As this happens, dialogue is added where Kippie explains that it will be as if the fight never happened. Also, a shot of Heart reacting to the light is removed from before a shot of the tower roof to after.

 With the battle won, Heart tries to re-introduce hereself to the purple warrior, but she refuses to become her friend. When Heart protests, she expresses her doubt that Heart would be able to manage herself in a real battle. As she walks away, Heart begs her to answer her questions, such as telling her how to return to normal.

 The last scene of episode 1 of Glitter Force Doki Doki has the purple warrior walking down the stairs. Dabi/Davi asks why she was so rude to Heart and says that Heart could help them with their search. The warrior tells Dabi/Davi to shut up and says that she doesn’t need a partner.

 And with that, all that’s left of the first episode of Glitter Force Doki Doki is the ending theme. The original Glitter Force had 8 more ending themes than its Japanese version, making for a total of 10. However, for the latter 8 endings, they had to create original CGI footage, which was less than spectacular, to say the least. Glitter Force Doki Doki has learned its lesson, and it only has 2 ending themes, just like its Japanese counterpart.

 With this, we can finally evaluate the first Japanese ending theme, “Beyond the Sky” by Hitomi Yoshida. This is an amazing ending theme. It’s poppier than the other Pretty Cure ending themes I’ve heard, and it’s catchy and memorable. Definitely worth a listen.

 By comparison, “You and I” by BLUSH, which uses the same footage as “Beyond the Sky”, is good, but not great. It’s fun to listen too, but it doesn’t have that pop to it that “Beyond the Sky” does.

 We are done with Glitter Force Doki Doki, but the majority of the second episode of ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure'' remains. However, we’re going to save that for next time, as this Word document is already long enough as is. (Seriously, Word is freezing up every minute.)

 Overall:  While I have heard bad things about ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure, one thing’s for sure so far: it had an excellent ''debut. The best thing about it was Mana. In the Pretty Cure franchise, most of the main characters in Pretty Cure are extremely similar. They’re ditzy and clumsy, but they’re friendly and courageous and they bind the team together. Mana is different. For starters, she’s the student council president. No pink Cure has ever had a leadership position like that before (though Nagisa/Cure Black did become captain of her lacrosse team in Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart). Mana is always getting into trouble not because she’s ditzy, but because she’s selfless. Plus, her reaction to being a Pretty Cure is so far unparalleled. She wasn’t surprised at all about the fairies appearing, and she instantly agreed to become a Pretty Cure. The comedy was fun, too, and the first fight scene was excellent. I am greatly looking forward to more ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure''!

 Now, let’s move on to the dub. I’ve got a question for Saban: what happened here?? By combining two episodes, the first episode of Glitter Force Doki Doki had to cut a lot and ultimately suffered for it. Sure, the stuff it cut wasn’t essential, but it definitely was nice to watch. Though to be honest, that isn’t even my greatest gripe with the dub. This may seem minor, but once again, why the heck did Saban have Kippie purposefully misinform Maya about how to transform? They could have easily had Kippie not say how to transform and it would have worked well. But no! They had to give Kippie an unnecessary line change that made her into a jerk.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> There is one thing that I’d like to note before we stop. Maya Aida is voiced by Debi Derryberry. In case you forgot or didn’t know, Derryberry also voiced Candy in the first Glitter Force. In my Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force sub/dub comparison, I stated numerous times that there were many instances in which Derryberry didn’t act well at all. Here, though, she’s greatly improved. Sure, you wouldn’t expect Maya to have such a deep voice, but you get used to it. Derryberry does a good job of emoting and sounding convincing, so she’s right up there with the rest of them!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Next episode:  Rikka/Rachel becomes Cure/Glitter Diamond!