Episode 31: "Sakura and A Nameless Book" or "Dragon Slayer"
Introduction to the Experiment
Episode 30
Episode 31: Sakura and A Nameless Book (Card Captor Sakura) or Dragon Slayer (Cardcaptors)
The Japanese version starts with Sakura and Toya having their "you're a monster/no, I'm not" argument and Sakura fantasizing about growing big and stomping on Toya. The English version starts after this with images of a fantastical setting with a dragon. It turns out that this scene is part of a book Naoko is reading. Naoko loves fantasy books and this discussion goes into lunch, where Naoko describes how fantasy works while Nikki describes dragons in general. In any case, Meilin jumps into the conversation, either commenting that China has lots of fantastical stories as well or that Li knows everything there is about dragons because Li knows everything. In any case, Meilin needs to find Li. It turns out that Li is on the roof, staring into the cityscape. Meilin pounces on him for running off when she brought lunch but Li admits that he sensed a Clow Card. Later, Sakura and her girl friends are in town when Naoko notices a bookstore and wants to go inside. Just when they're about to, Sakura senses a Clow Card. Inside the store, Naoko has found a book with no title. Not only that but it stops halfway through. The Japanese version has Naoko read an instruction saying that she is expected to continue the story while the English version Nikki guess that it's "one of those" old books that you write the end of, complete with old-fashioned writing quill. Naoko gets the book. Outside, Sakura concludes that she'll come back for the Card later. Later, she comes back to look for the Card. Tomoyo gushes about her costume before Meilin interrupts. She and Li on top of a building and jump down to talk with them. And by talk, I mean Meilin and Kero talk some smack toward each other about how awesome Li and Sakura are, respectively. Anyway, both Sakura and Li sense a Card in a particular direction, which has a giant cat coming from it. They are chased by the cat and Sakura and Tomoyo manage to fly away but Li and Meilin are still on foot. The cat holds Meilin down but Li challenges it. The cat releases Meilin and approaches Li. The cat eventually licks and nuzzles Li. Kero concludes it's the Big Card and they head off in the direction of the Card. Li tries to follow but the cat holds him down and won't move, no matter how much Meilin pulls at its whiskers. The Big Card seems pretty benign but it's making stuff big so Sakura has to seal it, which she does after a fashion. When she does, the cat shrinks and Meilin yells at the cat for ruining Li's chance at the Card. Meanwhile, Naoko is finishing her new book and contemplates what to write. After that, the kids are heading home while Kero and Meilin fight some more about who really deserved the Card before Sakura notices a ghostly woman float past. In the Japanese version, Sakura totally flips out and eventually everyone else does to when they see the woman as well. The English version jumps straight to Li asking Meilin if she saw the ghost. Since Meilin did, it can't be a ghost. After this point, Naoko writing interrupts the action every so often but it would be monotonous to write this every time. Pretty soon, they are approached by a panther. They are frightened until they notice it has swirls for eyes and then it gets wings. Then lots of other animals, native and foreign to suburban Japan, are flying around with swirls for eyes and wings. Kero eventually concludes that it has to be the Create Card. The Create Card only works at night so all they have to do is wait and all the weird stuff will disappear. The Create Card works by someone writing in the book and it creates what's written. But the reason all this is happening is because whoever is writing in it has a very big imagination. Once they think it's all fun and games, a dragon shows up. It's going to stomp on the city so it's up to them to stop it before it does. Li tries a lightning bolt but it's too big. Good thing Sakura just got the Big Card, huh? In the Japanese version, Sakura is so not for this plan but the English version just cuts straight to Sakura becoming big. Sakura runs after the dragon and fights with it but it's too powerful. It really doesn't look good when it starts breathing fire at her. Luckily, at this point, the dragon suddenly stops and starts to dissolve. Apparently, Naoko is done for the night and is going to bed. Now Sakura can seal the Card by sealing the dragon, which she does. The next morning, Naoko wakes up to find her book gone. The English version ends here but the Japanese version has Naoko wonder excitedly if she just had a supernatural experience. The Japanese version goes on further to have another round of "you're a monster/no, I'm not" but this time, Sakura is calm because she could actually stomp on Toya any time she wished.
Wanna see?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 31: Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZN1UF8-ztw
Card Captor Sakura Episode 31: Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUUy4Et2xfw
Card Captor Sakura Episode 31: Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bET3He6CRio
Cardcaptors Episode 31: Part 1/3
Cardcaptors Episode 31: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 31: Part 3/3
I was a little disappointed with this episode. I had read about the Create Card on wikipedia so I thought Naoko would come up with some totally wild stuff but they spent half the episode on the Big Card, which was frankly a rather boring capture. Although it makes me wonder what kind of stuff Sakura and the gang would have seen if the book had been found by, I don't know, a yaoi fangirl or something. "Why is everyone in the city making out? AAA! Where is everyone's PANTS?!" I'm a horrible person.
Card Tally
Sakura: Windy, Fly, Shadow, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, Illusion, Silence, Thunder, Sword, Flower, Shield, Power, Mist, Float, Erase, Glow, Move, Fight, Loop, Sleep, Song, Little, Mirror, Maze, Shot, Sweet, Big, Create
Current number: 30
Li: Time, Storm, Return, Dash
Current number: 4
Hm, the titles. I think the Japanese title is a bit plain but the English title is too over the top and makes me think of Lina Inverse from Slayers. I'll go with the English title, I guess.
A lot of scenes are cut in this episode, for the better. The whole Toya and Sakura fight is gone which made me glad. That scene was so repetitive that I actually thought I had accidentally picked the wrong episode. And then they had to do that scene virtually unchanged twice. I know it's the end of the season but was this much stock footage necessary? The rest of the cuts are fat-trimming or ways around the written Japanese language, which were gracefully done for the most part. The cuts made the episode move a lot faster than the original.
Sakura gets to gain some brain cells in the English version. First of all, she knows what fantasy books are. I find it hard to believe that a ten-year-old child would not know what fantasy is, especially one who is friends with someone is obsessed with the genre. Second of all, like always, she doesn't completely flip out when the ghost and panther come. Unfortunately, for the latter case, it creates a rather amusing moment because when the panther comes, Sakura is clearly gripping on to Madison but Sakura says to her, "Don't worry, Madison". If she's got nothing to worry about, then why are you using her as a human shield, Sakura? Third of all, she doesn't try to get out of growing big and saying she's embarrassed and all that nonsense. I didn't get why it was such (no pun intended) a big deal in the Japanese version. I mean, the dragon is about to destroy the city and Sakura is all "Oh no, it's too embarrassing!" What?! The English version skips that nonsense and has Sakura do her job.
Madison became less gay again but, like before, the parts they removed were dragged on too long or were stupid so I don't mind. I'm thinking in particular the part where Tomoyo begs Sakura to carry out the growing plan because, as I've said, I don't get why Sakura is so reluctant to save the city. Unfortunately, the line they gave her instead was kind of dumb ("Remember dragons aren't real!" But Create makes them real, stupid!) but it led up to a funny joke ("This dragon sure feels real to me!") so it is somewhat excused.
The weirdest changes are with Kero and Meilin. I mentioned last episode that, in the English version, Kero was a Cardcaptor Taskmaster, which annoyed me (and cost Cardcaptors a superior rating for that episode). In this episode, the Japanese version has Kero mention every other scene about Sakura being a Cardcaptor and her Cardcaptor duties and so on while the English version has Kero barely mention it at all. As for Meilin, in the Japanese version, for most of the episodes, Meilin is all about how awesome Li is while in the English version, Meilin is all about how awesome she is as well as Li. In this episode, during the part where they discuss fantasy stories, in the Japanese version, Meilin brags about how China has stories like that too while, in the English version, Meilin brags about how Li knows everything about everything. In other words, for some reason, the interpretations of Kero and Meilin were switched for this episode. It was kind of confusing.
I really liked how the English version made Nikki actually be writing an actual story with a plot rather than just writing in random animals. It gave Nikki some credit for her intelligence and made more sense overall.
The English version did a fantastic job with dialogue. Nearly every line was either funnier, more logical, or just plain better delivered in the English dub. The whole sequence where all the animals are flying around and they are debating what exactly is happening is one of the best examples. It's not just the lines given but how they are delivered that really makes that scene funny ("So, Cardcaptors, any ideas? Anyone?" "A Card that has a sense of humor?"). The dialogue made a kind of subpar episode into a much more entertaining one.
The only line of dialogue that was bad was the one where Li talks to the cat after it licks him. I have no idea what he's saying there.
One bad point: Seriously, English version, stop with the gong. You don't need the gong.
Another bad point: I didn't like how they cut the ending, with Nikki wondering if she had had a supernatural experience. It's a cute moment and very much in character for her in the English version as well. Maybe it was a time issue? Couldn't they have trimmed the Meilin/Kero argument to fit it in?
And this has nothing to do with anything important but, concerning Meilin's line about Li knowing everything about dragons: Can't you just imagine a tiny Li reading every book he could find on dragons and telling anyone who would listen about what he knew?
Alright, plot hole time!
1. Why is the book Naoko is reading at the beginning have an English title? I found that kind of odd.
2. If the book was a Clow Card, then how did Naoko buy it? It wouldn't have a price or even be in the book store's system, so how could she actually buy it?
3. In the English version, Nikki says that the book must be "one of those old books that you write the ending of!" I've never heard of these. Are these real or are the English producers making stuff up?
4. I don't understand how the Create Card works. I mean, how could Sakura and the gang interact with any of it? Naoko has to write everything down, right? So wouldn't that mean that she would have to say what it does as well? So how would she handle Sakura holding the dragon's tail?
5. If Sakura didn't want to get big, then why not make Li big so his lightning will work? I know, because then Li would get the Card, but still.
6. Again, if she didn't want to get big, why not make the dragon small? For that matter, why didn't she make the cat small? She has the Little Card after all!
7. Why did she use Watery or Rain against the fire the dragon was spewing out? It would have worked better than running around like a ninny.
8. Why does no one notice animals flying around, a dragon, and a giant girl? It can't be that late at night!
In conclusion, because of the enhanced dialogue and carefully down scene cuts, I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the English Cardcaptors being the superior!
Episode 32
Episode 30
Episode 31: Sakura and A Nameless Book (Card Captor Sakura) or Dragon Slayer (Cardcaptors)
The Japanese version starts with Sakura and Toya having their "you're a monster/no, I'm not" argument and Sakura fantasizing about growing big and stomping on Toya. The English version starts after this with images of a fantastical setting with a dragon. It turns out that this scene is part of a book Naoko is reading. Naoko loves fantasy books and this discussion goes into lunch, where Naoko describes how fantasy works while Nikki describes dragons in general. In any case, Meilin jumps into the conversation, either commenting that China has lots of fantastical stories as well or that Li knows everything there is about dragons because Li knows everything. In any case, Meilin needs to find Li. It turns out that Li is on the roof, staring into the cityscape. Meilin pounces on him for running off when she brought lunch but Li admits that he sensed a Clow Card. Later, Sakura and her girl friends are in town when Naoko notices a bookstore and wants to go inside. Just when they're about to, Sakura senses a Clow Card. Inside the store, Naoko has found a book with no title. Not only that but it stops halfway through. The Japanese version has Naoko read an instruction saying that she is expected to continue the story while the English version Nikki guess that it's "one of those" old books that you write the end of, complete with old-fashioned writing quill. Naoko gets the book. Outside, Sakura concludes that she'll come back for the Card later. Later, she comes back to look for the Card. Tomoyo gushes about her costume before Meilin interrupts. She and Li on top of a building and jump down to talk with them. And by talk, I mean Meilin and Kero talk some smack toward each other about how awesome Li and Sakura are, respectively. Anyway, both Sakura and Li sense a Card in a particular direction, which has a giant cat coming from it. They are chased by the cat and Sakura and Tomoyo manage to fly away but Li and Meilin are still on foot. The cat holds Meilin down but Li challenges it. The cat releases Meilin and approaches Li. The cat eventually licks and nuzzles Li. Kero concludes it's the Big Card and they head off in the direction of the Card. Li tries to follow but the cat holds him down and won't move, no matter how much Meilin pulls at its whiskers. The Big Card seems pretty benign but it's making stuff big so Sakura has to seal it, which she does after a fashion. When she does, the cat shrinks and Meilin yells at the cat for ruining Li's chance at the Card. Meanwhile, Naoko is finishing her new book and contemplates what to write. After that, the kids are heading home while Kero and Meilin fight some more about who really deserved the Card before Sakura notices a ghostly woman float past. In the Japanese version, Sakura totally flips out and eventually everyone else does to when they see the woman as well. The English version jumps straight to Li asking Meilin if she saw the ghost. Since Meilin did, it can't be a ghost. After this point, Naoko writing interrupts the action every so often but it would be monotonous to write this every time. Pretty soon, they are approached by a panther. They are frightened until they notice it has swirls for eyes and then it gets wings. Then lots of other animals, native and foreign to suburban Japan, are flying around with swirls for eyes and wings. Kero eventually concludes that it has to be the Create Card. The Create Card only works at night so all they have to do is wait and all the weird stuff will disappear. The Create Card works by someone writing in the book and it creates what's written. But the reason all this is happening is because whoever is writing in it has a very big imagination. Once they think it's all fun and games, a dragon shows up. It's going to stomp on the city so it's up to them to stop it before it does. Li tries a lightning bolt but it's too big. Good thing Sakura just got the Big Card, huh? In the Japanese version, Sakura is so not for this plan but the English version just cuts straight to Sakura becoming big. Sakura runs after the dragon and fights with it but it's too powerful. It really doesn't look good when it starts breathing fire at her. Luckily, at this point, the dragon suddenly stops and starts to dissolve. Apparently, Naoko is done for the night and is going to bed. Now Sakura can seal the Card by sealing the dragon, which she does. The next morning, Naoko wakes up to find her book gone. The English version ends here but the Japanese version has Naoko wonder excitedly if she just had a supernatural experience. The Japanese version goes on further to have another round of "you're a monster/no, I'm not" but this time, Sakura is calm because she could actually stomp on Toya any time she wished.
Wanna see?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 31: Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZN1UF8-ztw
Card Captor Sakura Episode 31: Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUUy4Et2xfw
Card Captor Sakura Episode 31: Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bET3He6CRio
Cardcaptors Episode 31: Part 1/3
Click to viewCardcaptors Episode 31: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 31: Part 3/3
I was a little disappointed with this episode. I had read about the Create Card on wikipedia so I thought Naoko would come up with some totally wild stuff but they spent half the episode on the Big Card, which was frankly a rather boring capture. Although it makes me wonder what kind of stuff Sakura and the gang would have seen if the book had been found by, I don't know, a yaoi fangirl or something. "Why is everyone in the city making out? AAA! Where is everyone's PANTS?!" I'm a horrible person.
Card Tally
Sakura: Windy, Fly, Shadow, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, Illusion, Silence, Thunder, Sword, Flower, Shield, Power, Mist, Float, Erase, Glow, Move, Fight, Loop, Sleep, Song, Little, Mirror, Maze, Shot, Sweet, Big, Create
Current number: 30
Li: Time, Storm, Return, Dash
Current number: 4
Hm, the titles. I think the Japanese title is a bit plain but the English title is too over the top and makes me think of Lina Inverse from Slayers. I'll go with the English title, I guess.
A lot of scenes are cut in this episode, for the better. The whole Toya and Sakura fight is gone which made me glad. That scene was so repetitive that I actually thought I had accidentally picked the wrong episode. And then they had to do that scene virtually unchanged twice. I know it's the end of the season but was this much stock footage necessary? The rest of the cuts are fat-trimming or ways around the written Japanese language, which were gracefully done for the most part. The cuts made the episode move a lot faster than the original.
Sakura gets to gain some brain cells in the English version. First of all, she knows what fantasy books are. I find it hard to believe that a ten-year-old child would not know what fantasy is, especially one who is friends with someone is obsessed with the genre. Second of all, like always, she doesn't completely flip out when the ghost and panther come. Unfortunately, for the latter case, it creates a rather amusing moment because when the panther comes, Sakura is clearly gripping on to Madison but Sakura says to her, "Don't worry, Madison". If she's got nothing to worry about, then why are you using her as a human shield, Sakura? Third of all, she doesn't try to get out of growing big and saying she's embarrassed and all that nonsense. I didn't get why it was such (no pun intended) a big deal in the Japanese version. I mean, the dragon is about to destroy the city and Sakura is all "Oh no, it's too embarrassing!" What?! The English version skips that nonsense and has Sakura do her job.
Madison became less gay again but, like before, the parts they removed were dragged on too long or were stupid so I don't mind. I'm thinking in particular the part where Tomoyo begs Sakura to carry out the growing plan because, as I've said, I don't get why Sakura is so reluctant to save the city. Unfortunately, the line they gave her instead was kind of dumb ("Remember dragons aren't real!" But Create makes them real, stupid!) but it led up to a funny joke ("This dragon sure feels real to me!") so it is somewhat excused.
The weirdest changes are with Kero and Meilin. I mentioned last episode that, in the English version, Kero was a Cardcaptor Taskmaster, which annoyed me (and cost Cardcaptors a superior rating for that episode). In this episode, the Japanese version has Kero mention every other scene about Sakura being a Cardcaptor and her Cardcaptor duties and so on while the English version has Kero barely mention it at all. As for Meilin, in the Japanese version, for most of the episodes, Meilin is all about how awesome Li is while in the English version, Meilin is all about how awesome she is as well as Li. In this episode, during the part where they discuss fantasy stories, in the Japanese version, Meilin brags about how China has stories like that too while, in the English version, Meilin brags about how Li knows everything about everything. In other words, for some reason, the interpretations of Kero and Meilin were switched for this episode. It was kind of confusing.
I really liked how the English version made Nikki actually be writing an actual story with a plot rather than just writing in random animals. It gave Nikki some credit for her intelligence and made more sense overall.
The English version did a fantastic job with dialogue. Nearly every line was either funnier, more logical, or just plain better delivered in the English dub. The whole sequence where all the animals are flying around and they are debating what exactly is happening is one of the best examples. It's not just the lines given but how they are delivered that really makes that scene funny ("So, Cardcaptors, any ideas? Anyone?" "A Card that has a sense of humor?"). The dialogue made a kind of subpar episode into a much more entertaining one.
The only line of dialogue that was bad was the one where Li talks to the cat after it licks him. I have no idea what he's saying there.
One bad point: Seriously, English version, stop with the gong. You don't need the gong.
Another bad point: I didn't like how they cut the ending, with Nikki wondering if she had had a supernatural experience. It's a cute moment and very much in character for her in the English version as well. Maybe it was a time issue? Couldn't they have trimmed the Meilin/Kero argument to fit it in?
And this has nothing to do with anything important but, concerning Meilin's line about Li knowing everything about dragons: Can't you just imagine a tiny Li reading every book he could find on dragons and telling anyone who would listen about what he knew?
Alright, plot hole time!
1. Why is the book Naoko is reading at the beginning have an English title? I found that kind of odd.
2. If the book was a Clow Card, then how did Naoko buy it? It wouldn't have a price or even be in the book store's system, so how could she actually buy it?
3. In the English version, Nikki says that the book must be "one of those old books that you write the ending of!" I've never heard of these. Are these real or are the English producers making stuff up?
4. I don't understand how the Create Card works. I mean, how could Sakura and the gang interact with any of it? Naoko has to write everything down, right? So wouldn't that mean that she would have to say what it does as well? So how would she handle Sakura holding the dragon's tail?
5. If Sakura didn't want to get big, then why not make Li big so his lightning will work? I know, because then Li would get the Card, but still.
6. Again, if she didn't want to get big, why not make the dragon small? For that matter, why didn't she make the cat small? She has the Little Card after all!
7. Why did she use Watery or Rain against the fire the dragon was spewing out? It would have worked better than running around like a ninny.
8. Why does no one notice animals flying around, a dragon, and a giant girl? It can't be that late at night!
In conclusion, because of the enhanced dialogue and carefully down scene cuts, I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the English Cardcaptors being the superior!
Episode 32