マンフィーのふしぎなぼうけん: The Japanese version of Magic Adventures of Mumfie

[mimitchi33]

I was browsing NicoNico Douga yesterdy looking for Pretty Cure Max Heart commercials and wondered "Hey, Percyfan94 on deviantART said he recalled seeing a Japanese Mumfie clip a while ago-maybe it's still on Nico, but not on YouTube?", so I typed "マンフィーのふしぎなぼうけん" into the searchbar and saw that there was a video of the first episode on there. I was excited, and thus, I watched it. Even though I was getting the Japanese VHS of the series, I was worried that I would be disappointed with this dub like I was with the Japanese versions of Teddy Ruxpin (as one YouTuber put it, Grubby sounds like a dying cow, plus Teddy couldn't hit high notes) and Garfield and Friends (not only for messing up the order of the quickies, but for cutting out U.S. Acres for no reason-it's not like it's Malaysia where pigs are seen as evil). The dub also has a few familiar voice actors- Kei Tomiyama (the original Japanese voice of Bugs Bunny) plays Scarecrow, Sakura Tange (Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura) plays Pinkey and Michie Tomizawa (Rei Hino/Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon) played the Electric Eel. The mother of voice actress Megumi Han (Hime Shirayuki/Cure Princess from HappinessCharge Pretty Cure), Keiko Han, narrates the series. The video I found has been uploaded to YouTube. I plan on buying the other VHS tapes of Mumfie in Japanese due to this. This will be updated with each VHS tape I get from this series, or if more of these show up on NicoNico Douga.
Episode 1: Hajime No Ippo (First Steps)

Click to view

Like many dubs of foreign shows, a few changes were made. Here's the list for episode 1.

1. The theme song is sung by children, unlike other versions where male grown-ups sang the song. I like this theme song better than the English one for some reason. The English version of the theme was about Mumfie being a brave hero will many friends and dreams, as well as the Norwegian version. The Japanese one has the lyrics keep mentioning how Mumfie has many friends and how he's a hero.
2. During the theme song, the Japanese logo appears under the English Mumfie logo, and the Japanese and English credits appear on screen at the same time.
3. The Japanese text "はじめの一歩" ("Hajime no ippo", or "First steps" in English appears over the first shot after the opening theme, fading out before the camera moves to the cottage.
4. The narrator is female, as well as the magic bird.
5. The word "penny" is changed to "koin" (coin), "woods" is changed to "mori" (forest), and  "way" and "path" are changed to "michi" (road).
6. The narrator doesn't talk again after the magic bird's "Where are you going?" line.
7. Mumfie gasped when he saw the magic bird in the original version. In the Japanese version, he yells "Kotori-san!" (Birdie!).
8. In the original, the narrator says "Mumfie began to feel nervous!". Instead, Mumfie thinks to himself "Kotori-san to yakusoku chatta sou..." (I must keep the promise I made to Birdie!" and then says "Mou! Atama tori ga dekinai!" (That's it! My head can't take this anymore!)
9. Instead of "Drat them birds! They're what's wrong", Scarecrow says "Yama karazu da!" (These crows are menaces!)
10. Mumfie offered cake crumbs to Scarecrow in the original. In the Japanese version, he offers him a full cake.
11. In the original, Scarecrow said he didn't know if he could walk. The Japanese version has him say that he forgot how to walk.
12. During "The Beginning Of Things", a sparkle sound is added in when the giant butterfly appears.
13. Mumfie does not say anything when the cat's wind blows him away. In the Japanese version, he screams.
14. After the cat dissapeared, Mumfie said nothing. He yells "Matte!" in the Japanese version after the cat dissappears.
15. In response to Mumfie asking if he would like to sit down, Scarecrow replies "No, thank you. I could go on like this all day." In the Japanese version, he replies "Daijobu! Ichinichi juden wa arui itte souda yo" (It'll be alright. I haven't been like this since the last day I walked.)
16. Mumfie says that having wings is fun in the English version. The Japanese version has him saying that wings are amazing to have.
17. There is a cut scene in the movie version that occurs from 08:25-08:49 after Pinkey shows Mumfie and Scarecrow that she can fly. To me, this is one of the funniest scenes in the whole series, and it was a shame that it was cut from the movie. Here's the transcript:

(Pigs make growling noises as Pinkey gasps for help)
Scarecrow: Hora, yameru da! (Hey, stop arguing!)
(Scarecrow picks up the pigs and places them on a pile of hay as he says the following line)
Kimi-tachi ko kara tobioritte mita dayo. (I saw you guys come out and scare that poor child!)
Scarecrow: Yappari dame ga... (This is useless...)
(The pigs then run away)
Scarecrow: Ore ga hane ga donnani subarashii mono ga wakatta na no (My opinion is that it's wonderful to have wings.)
(The pigs run back in the house and snarl)

18. The original English version of the reprise to "The Beginning of Things" was about Pinkey and her motive for joining the team and how they were going to go to the ocean to find her.
   19. The other cut scene is just the narrator recapping what has happened in the story and tells us to tune in next time to see what happens next.


UPDATE APRIL 30, 2O14: I got the Japanese volume 1 VHS in the mail on April 23, 2014, and to my surprise, it was not used, but new. How do I know this? First off, the packaging was sealed, and second of all, it came with the lyrics to the songs on a little pamphlet. I will post the lyrics once I get a chance to watch the tape.