Digimon Data Squad S01E20

The team finally arrives at the Criers’ home in the mountains, but Keenan still isn’t prepared to face his past. He flees, and the others give chase, Marcus and Agumon literally running into Kevin Crier, Keenan’s father. He already heard about Keenan being alive from Commander Sampson, and begs them to leave and never look back. He says that knowing Keenan is alive is enough for him, but his wife only very recently got over grieving his loss, and doesn’t want to reopen the wound. Marcus is pissed, but has no other choice than to respect his wishes.

A Digital Gate opens, releasing a Hagurumon into the house. It takes over, merging with Keenan’s toy robot from his childhood, and transforming the house into a giant mecha, taking his mother captive. RizeGreymon and Keenan manage to free her and defeat Hagurumon, saving his mother. But their reunion is cut short when Director Hashima arrives, intending to arrest the Criers for illegal experiments regarding the Digital World. Keenan steps forward and takes the blame, claiming to have brought Hagurumon himself to destroy humankind, then flees before Hashima’s men can capture him.

The narrator mentions during the recap that Ikuto’s parents live in the Japanese Alps. Thomas omits this from the dub. Interestingly though, Thomas’ narration is much more sympathetic to Keenan than the narrator is to Ikuto, even though Thomas isn’t exactly known for being a paragon of compassion.

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Masaru and Marcus both ask Ikuto/Keenan if he remembers the house he grew up in. Yoshino points out that this was ten years ago, and he probably doesn’t remember anything. Masaru says he remembers falling off the monkey bars ten years ago and that he has the scar to prove it. Marcus on the other hand says he remembers “every single nook and cranny” of his first house.

Masaru’s statement makes less logical sense, because ten years ago, he was four. People can usually remember something from that age. But ten years ago, Ikuto was an infant, less than a year old, so of course he wouldn’t remember anything. Marcus’ statement about his first house at least lends some ambiguity to when that was, giving him a little credibility.

Of course, it also opens up the possibility that he still lives in that same house, so he could be an even bigger dumbass than Masaru, but at least it’s open to interpretation.

Wow, that’s kinda weird. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that Ikuto’s mom and Keenan’s mom were voiced by the same VA. They sound way more similar than any two voices I’ve compared on this site before. Later in the episode the differences become clear, but when she’s shouting, she sounds a lot like her counterpart. Good casting!

Kenji Noguchi (Ikuto’s father) becomes Kevin Crier in the dub.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a theoretical physicist of any kind, but I honestly feel like if I was attempting to open a portal to another dimension, I would not keep a baby sitting right next to the dimensional gate. It feels like common sense to me.

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I’m trying really hard to accept Steve Blum as Falcomon here, but the exact tone of voice he uses when talking to Keenan in the field is the same tone he used as the Archmage of the Circle in Dragon Age: Origins. Yeah, the super old guy. XD

I’m over eight minutes into this episode now, and they keep referring to the father as Kevin, but every time the mother’s name is spoken in the original, the dub replaces it with “His mother” or “Honey,” or “My wife.” The same happens with their daughter Yuka.

Narrator: Hagurumon, a Child-Level Digimon shaped like a gear. His attack is Darkness Gear. He uses black gears, which dig into his enemies, to control them.
Miki: Hagurumon! A Rookie-Level Digimon shaped just like a gear. He works his way into machinery, and takes over the parts until he’s in complete control!

Though not mentioned in the analysis, Darkness Gear is retained in the dub. Though the idea of black gears digging into people and controlling them sounds oddly familiar…

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And finally, Misuzu Noguchi becomes Michelle Crier in the dub. And now it’s being screamed every other line, so okay.

And now Lalamon can’t detect Falcomon’s Digimon signal because of the thunder. USELESS.

In the fantasy sequence, when the Commander finds out they lost Ikuto/Keenan, Satsuma calls them idiots. In the dub, blockheads. Either way it’s pretty funny.

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In the original, Yoshino and Masaru theorize that a random gate opened letting Hagurumon through. In the dub it’s similar, but Marcus sarcastically calls the place “cursed” because a gate opened in the same spot ten years apart. Keenan demands to know when the gate opened the first time, but they’re interrupted by Kevin, begging them to save Michelle, who’s now trapped inside the house.

Man, even though they sound different, both versions make Hagurumon come off creepy as hell when he’s crying out “Mama, don’t leave me!”

The dub cuts a bondage fanservice shot of Ikuto’s mom.

But then they retain it when it happens again. So… cut for time?

Then they cut it again.

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When RiseGreymon attacks toward the camera, the dub cuts the footage so you only see the recoil and hear a single shot. In the original, there were three shots, all visible and audible. However, in both versions, the three shots can be seen hitting Hagurumon in the face.

Michelle finally says Yuka‘s name out loud and… I think she said Ruka? Could be Yuka, but I’ve listened a few times now and it sounds like Ruka. Just seems like a weird thing to localize.

Hashima claims that Kenji violated the laws of the Ministry of Confidentiality by opening a Digital Gate and illegally possessing a Digimon (Hagurumon). Additionally, he’s accused of doing illegal research on the Digital World. In the dub, he says he violated a Cease & Desist order with basically the same terms.

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In the original, he refers to himself as “Digimon Warrior Ikuto-sama.” My limited knowledge of Japanese honorifics tells me that calling yourself -sama is a very arrogant way to introduce yourself. Presumably he’s doing this to distract Hashima who’s trying to arrest his mother. In the dub, this is left out since we don’t really have an equivalent.

Can’t remember if I’ve said this before, but Falcomon’s Uchitake Otoshi (translates roughly to “Lighter Drop”) becomes Firecracker Smokescreen in the dub.

SaberLeomon refers to Merukurimon as “the man who had once ruled the Digital World’s woodlands.” The dub version just calls him a powerful leader of the Digital World. So… he used to rule the forest, but now the Infinite Ice Ridge? Was that a lateral transfer, or a promotion?