Digimon Adventure S02E18

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Gear’s Notes: Hey, the dynamic duo are back! This episode might have been produced out of order, or maybe they were on vacation, or had to step away to work on the movie. Who knows at this point? I do know they eventually leave the series, but my timing might have been off. There’s not a lot of solid information.

Cody and Izzy stumble upon the Digimon Emperor’s base, which leads to a close encounter with the Emperor himself. Narrowly escaping, Ken takes note of Tentomon’s champion form, Kabuterimon. Izzy and Cody brief the others on what happened, and the group decides to destroy the Emperor’s base, in the hopes that it will render the Control Spires useless. However, TK points out that this isn’t a one-day operation, so the group hatches a plan for Tai, Izzy, and Matt to go camping as cover for the Zero-Two team’s mission. Meanwhile, Davis’ sister Jun invites herself to the camping trip, but is ultimately left behind.

Yolei is struggling with her worth to the team and starts to behave manically, scaling Control Spires and putting herself in unnecessary danger. Her impulsive behavior leads to Hawkmon being injured by a Dokugumon. Yolei and Kari stay behind to watch over him while the others search for the base. Upon Hawkmon’s recovery, Yolei promises to be less brash, but Hawkmon says that her traits, flaws and all, make her who she is, and he wouldn’t trade her for anything. However, their conversation is cut short when the Emperor’s base appears. On board, Wormmon and Ken are working on a project that apparently involves Garurumon’s legs and Kabuterimon’s head.

Kari’s recap of the previous episode is so… bad, mostly because it’s not tragic at all. The dub didn’t use a lot of the more emotional footage for the recap (the original used the images of Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon, as well as the hand-touching image I used in the previous comparison’s infobox) and Kari’s narration sounded really upbeat. Even as Gatomon has tears in her eyes while Wizardmon leaves, Kari says, “…the only way we can defeat it is with the Golden Radiance. I wonder what he means!” in a very matter-of-fact voice. It’s so incongruous.

Tentomon: Koushirou-han, hurry over here!
Tentomon: You two get up here right away! You won’t believe it!
[…]
Cody: I don’t believe it!
Tentomon: I told you!

He does love being right.

The dub omits the sound of wind howling when Izzy and Cody shield their faces, a sound effect that’s very prominent in the original. It looks more like they’re shielding their eyes from teh evulz of the Emperor’s base.

The dialogue in the beginning of the episode is mostly the same between versions, aside from Izzy’s usual sesquipedalian lines and a few jokes here and there. It starts to go downhill from this point.

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[Kuwagamon attacks]
Armadimon: Leave this to me and run!
Armadillomon: I knew I should have brought my giant fly swatter!

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Koushiro: We should be far enough…
Izzy: My D-3’s gone wild!

Your what is doing what?

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Like last season, Tentomon just says “Oh, forget it” when he realizes he can’t Digivolve. In the original, he starts to say Kabuterimon in his evolved voice even though he hadn’t appeared on screen yet, but is interrupted by the pulse from the Kaiser’s D-3.

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Kaiser: Did you forget that the Dark Digivice keeps you from Digivolving?
Emperor: How many times do I have to tell you people you’re sitting in the no Digivolving section?!

In their defense, the No-Digivolving sign isn’t turned on at this altitude usually.

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Digmon: Made it just in time.
Digmon: Do I know how to dig a hole or what?

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Daisuke: [The Dark Towers] were all over our area, too.
Davis: There must have been a Dark Spire convention in town!

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Koushiro: When you connect them…
Takeru: This is…
Miyako: It’s like a huge slug passed through…
Izzy: If we connect them together…
Davis: It’s a circus clown! I love this game!
Izzy: No, Davis. It’s a path!

Rorschach tests are pretty pointless, but I’d still love to see Davis’ results.

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Poromon: The areas are being conquered systematically.
Poromon: He’s taking over all the areas! Talk about nasty!

That line came moments after we saw the map of the Control Spires.

Poromon clearly wasn’t paying attention during Izzy’s monologue, but decided to say that thinking it was a safe bet.

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Gatomon: “The time is near.”
Hikari: “Hurry, all of you.” I wonder if this is what Wizarmon was telling us!
Gatomon: If we could only destroy that base…
Kari: Wait a minute, that’s it! If we could destroy the Emperor’s headquarters, then the Control Spires will be useless!

It’s like the dub is allergic to continuity in all its forms.

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Davis wants to “rip up” the Emperor’s base “like it’s a bad check.” Jokes that don’t age well.

Wow, I suddenly feel old.

Daisuke tells Iori to make up an excuse for being in the Digital World for several days, something like he’s staying at a friend’s house. In the dub, Davis suggests that Cody’s been selected by the Army for a secret mission to Mars.

Because Davis is a space cadet.

Ba dum tssh.

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Most of the dialogue is retained when Taichi comes up with the plan to go camping as a cover for the base mission, but the dub kids are dumber about it, from TK not realizing the idea as quickly as Takeru did, to Matt cracking jokes while Yamato points out that they could be the kids’ alibi.

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Koushiro’s mom knocks a few times on the door before he lets her in. In the dub, she just keeps knocking over and over again. Makes me wonder if Izzy’s one of those kids who wears a headset while gaming and can’t hear his door.

QUICK IZZY’S MOM IS COMING, LOOK BUSY

Takeru, in addition to asking his father to chaperone their trip, asks him to buy them a computer with the bonus he got at work (this will be relevant later). In the dub, TK asks him to recount the time he was chased by a grizzly bear. Honestly, I didn’t know before now that bears were natural predators to happy little buffalo.

^That bad joke is the only reference to the previous dub episode you’ll get. You’re welcome.

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Jun: Hey, hey
Daisuke: What’s with you?
Jun: So you’re going camping?
Daisuke: Yeah.
Jun: With Takeru-kun and the others?
Daisuke: Yeah.
Jun: That means Yamato-kun is going too?!
Daisuke: Yeah! [annoyed]
Jun: I see… then, then…
Daisuke: Stop being so annoying! Get out!
Jun: What are you doing?
Davis: None of your business.
Jun: Looks like you’re packing for a camping trip.
Davis: It’s your imagination.
Jun: Are TK and the others going?
Davis: I can’t remember.
Jun: So then, is Matt going camping, too?
Davis: Matt moved to another country.
Jun: Well if you’re going, and everyone else is going, and Matt’s going… can I go too?
Davis: Sure you can go! GO AWAY!

As pretty much anyone with younger siblings can attest, the dub did a better job with the dialogue here. Davis’ defiant attitude toward his sister feels a lot more real (at least as an American, anyway) than the original.

The dub left the Japanese text in the bottom-right corner of the news broadcast. Seems odd, because it looks like an easy fix.

When Yolei sits up in bed remembering what the group said about needing to stay overnight in the Digital World, the entire scene’s tone is shattered by the super upbeat voice acting in the dub.

Miyako is concerned about how much more intense this mission will be, but in the end motivates herself to remain optimistic. Yolei on the other hand says she’ll do it even though she’ll miss her soap operas.

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Originally, Poyomon is concerned that Miyako is awake because he wants her to be rested. In the dub, Poromon’s annoyed that she woke him.

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Miyako: I have to do my best… I have to do my best… I have to do my best… Zzzzzz
Yolei: Go Yolei, Go Yolei, Go! Go Yolei, Go Yolei, Go!

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This whole scene with the kids preparing is just… you know what? I’ll just show you. (Be sure to turn on the captions if you don’t understand Japanese.)

The music, the dialogue, all of it. In the original, Yolei is clearly psyching herself up, but everyone is pretty much mission-focused. The dub just made a mess of the whole thing, with Yolei coming off like she’s just plain psycho, and everyone being entirely focused on her behavior rather than the mission.

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There’s a line in the original that implies that Yamato and Takeru’s father is aware of the mission, as he asks if they’ve left yet. This is not retained in the dub.

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Koushiro and Taichi poke fun at Yamato for the way Jun follows him around, saying Daisuke is in big trouble, and that being a popular guy can’t be easy. Izzy expresses jealousy at Matt’s way with women, while Tai claims he knows exactly what Matt is going through.

Meanwhile, Jun is more direct in the dub, calling the outing the perfect “romantic getaway” for the two. In the original, while it’s still clear that this is a crush, she acts as if she simply wants to be included.

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Yamato tells Jun to turn around and close her eyes without any further explanation and she does so while the group escapes. In the dub, he claims to have a present for her that he hasn’t wrapped yet, so he’ll present it to her as soon as she does as he asks. Either way, WHAT A JERK. XD

Davis: Maybe it was a garage!
Cody: You mean a mirage?
Davis: No, I meant a place where the Digimon Emperor keeps his car!

You know, to me, the idea that the base flew away isn’t that crazy of a concept, yet neither version of the kids figure it out at first. That said, Davis does suggest it’s a mobile home, but given all the other stupid crap he says, it’s no surprise everyone ignored him. Then David suggests following the building tracks in the dirt (of which there are none), so sometimes good things just don’t last.

Don’t get me wrong – Miyako/Yolei is acting like a complete whackadoodle who took too much ADHD medication, but the dub plays it up for more comedic content than the original does.

Narrator: Dokugumon! An Insect-type Digimon infected by a computer virus. His special technique is a horried poisonous attack, Stingerpolation.
Hawkmon: Oh! It’s the dreaded Dokugumon! He’s an Insect-type Digimon whose special attack is Poison Thread. You don’t want to get caught up in HIS web!

The attack name change is consistent with Dokugumon’s appearance in the first season.

Dokugumon doesn’t speak in the original. In the dub, he calls out his attack.

Fladramon uses Knuckle Fire. Per usual, this is translated as Fire Rocket in the dub, which is apparently the name of EVERY ATTACK HE HAS. It’s weird, because they do the same thing to Agunimon in Frontier. I think the English name is supposed to be Flame Fist but who even knows anymore?

Hawkmon got hit by a poisonous spray of mist/thread, so I’m not sure how bandaging his stomach helps. But they’re all in middle school, maybe they just don’t know anything about medicine besides, “Band-Aids make boo-boos better.”

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Yolei’s crying is more convincing than Miyako’s. The voice actors are talented! The direction is just lacking in a lot of scenes.

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I’m not sure, but this scene where Miyako stays behind and Hikari volunteers to stay with her feels like a reference to Mimi and Joe leaving the group near the end of Adventure. Or I’m just reading into it too much.

Hikari made a comment earlier in the episode that they would need to be determined in order to complete their mission. She brings it back up again, apologizing because she felt like that comment put too much pressure on Miyako, causing her to behave the way she did.

Kari, on the other hand, says that Yolei is trying to do the right thing, but going about it the wrong way. She also says she tried to do the same thing, once, but the reference is left vague, and I can’t, off the top of my head, think of what incident she was talking about, since Hikari admittedly didn’t do that much in the first series, and nothing as over the top as climbing a spire or searching for an underground empire with no evidence that it existed.

And now both Tailmon and Gatomon go looking for antidote herbs in the forest. I feel like they should have started there…

This one’s a little tricky. In the original, Wormmon is watching various Digimon appear and vanish from the computer screen until it reaches Garurumon, from which his legs are isolated. In the dub, Wormmon keeps saying “Next. Next.” as if he’s the one doing the work rather than the computer or Ken. Ken then approaches and admonishes him for taking too long, to which Wormmon replied he had to do the dishes.

I’m not sure if that’s the case in the original though (Wormmon doing work on the project, not the dishes nonsense), as it’s left kinda vague.

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Miyako: I’m sorry… Hawkmon.
Hawkmon: Please… don’t worry about it.
Yolei: Hawkmon, what can I do to apologize?
Hawkmon: Just… get off my tail.

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Tailmon: I found the antidote.
Gatomon: I found catnip! It cures everything.

Clearly this is a subtle reference to the legalization of medical marijuana. You naughty dubbers!

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Miyako: I’m sorry I’m such a bad partner.
Yolei: I’ll understand if you want to find somebody else to be your partner from now on.

Yolei, how do you think this works? Is he just going to take your D-3 and hold auditions?

The dub omits the painful-sounding cracking noise Hawkmon’s spine apparently makes when Yolei hugs him.

Seriously, someone get the closing narrator a Xanax.