Digimon Frontier S01E20
Mystery Warrior Hidden in Darkness: Duskmon (JP)
From Dawn to Duskmon (EN)
Dub Writer: Michael Sorich
Original Airdates:
August 25, 2002 (JP)
December 17, 2002 (EN)
Gear’s Notes: I’d say it’s a pretty good title. And we’re finally done with those filler episodes, and moving back to the main plot! I am so glad to be able to put those behind me.
Today’s English version was written by: Michael Sorich. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of doing a comparison on one of his episodes before, so let’s see what he’s made of.
Three of the five legendary warriors meet with Cherubimon (or perhaps an apparition in his likeness) and Mercurymon passes to him the fractal code they’ve collected so far. Cherubimon notes that he failed to give him Seraphimon’s data, leaving Mercurymon speechless. Cherubimon permits him to keep the data, albeit temporarily, then vanishes. Duskmon later steps in privately, and confronts Mercurymon, hinting that he’s aware of his true ambition: to overthrow Cherubimon and rule the Digital World on his own.
Meanwhile, the Digidestined are kicked off the Trailmon they were riding because they were approaching a dangerous area called the Continent of Darkness. The kids venture in with Bokomon reluctantly in tow, as according to the lack of data in the book, no one has ever escaped the Continent of Darkness and lived to write about it. Arbormon confronts the kids and slide evolves to Petaldramon. At first it seems he has the upper hand, but the kids soon learn to work as a better team and wipe him out, taking his beast spirit.
Duskmon appears, and stating that Arbormon is useless without his Beast Spirit (calling him a liability in the original), he slices through Arbormon and scans him, effectively killing him.
Arbormon: One! Two! Three! Four! I’m making use of my early start!
Arbormon: One! Two! Three! Four! Use Digi-Kids to mop the floor! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Them other kids I just don’t like!
And we’re off to a bad start…
Arbormon: Running, running, running…
Arbormon: I’d love to chat more, but I’ve got some road work to attend to, understand? Fuhgetaboutit.
…and it keeps getting worse…
Anyone ever notice that noise they use for scene transitions? It sounds like someone turning on their windshield wipers in a drought.
Silence
Ranamon: But why would Cherubimon be coming here?! One of you must have done something!
Arbormon: Don’t look at me! I didn’t do nothing, right?
Mercurymon: He’s coming for the fractal code, you nits!
Take close note: Mercurymon’s mouth is not moving at the end of that sentence.
Cherubimon (Kerpymon in Japanese, by the way) is voiced in English by Paul St. Peter. I’ve heard better, I’ve heard worse. It’s not too bad, I guess, but it sounds a little like a frog with throat cancer. His Japanese voice sounds a lot less croaky.
St. Peter voiced Apocolymon (Adventure), Leomon (Adventure/ Tamers), Wormmon (Zero-Two), Diaboromon (Our War Game), and SaberLeomon (Adventure/Data Squad). Just to name a few.
Ranamon: He’s [Duskmon] still not with us!
Arbormon: He’s a disappointing servant, after all.
Ranamon: He’s flakier than pie crust!
Arbormon: Don’t worry, he’ll get his, right?
No, he’s just going to kick your arse later. [/spoiler]
Cherubimon’s reference to Grottomon being “killed” has been changed to how Grumblemon had “fallen in battle” and how the kids “sealed his fate.”
I’m having a little trouble making it out, but it sounds like Mercurymon used an interjection…”bumpkins”? “Bupkiss?”
Arbormon: For me, it’ll be a piece of cake to avenge Grottomon’s defeat and to get those guys’ spirits.
Arbormon: I’ll make those human kids the weeds, and I’m the weed-whacker!
Good analogy…except you’re the warrior of wood, so wouldn’t that make you the weed?
The Dark Continent in the original becomes The Continent of Darkness in the dub. Seems kind of a useless change to me, but whatever. Hell, it might not even be a change, just a translation hiccup. The dubbers are paid to do this. I get paid nothing to compare.
I should give myself a raise.
Junpei: Izumi-chan, are you doing okay? Feel free to stick close to me.
JP: It was a dark and stormy night. Luckily there was this terrific guy there waiting to come to your rescue!
Unfortunately, he got attacked by a dog and had his leg humped.
JP: Stop acting like my Aunt Mabel’s dog!
Bokomon was clinging to his leg when he said this. Not sure how that got past the censors. XD
The original version has these strange…noises when the group walks. The dub uses normal shoe-hitting-dirt sounds for the most part.
The exchange between Duskmon and Mercuremon was held together rather well, not too many changes. The only significant one I noted was the Japanese Duskmon saying “I know your secret,” where the Duskmon in the English version made no direct reference, more hinting at his knowledge. I think each version handles it well in its own way.
And by the way, I think Crispin Freeman doth a great Duskmon maketh…crap, now I’m doing it.
Bokomon: …filled with ectoplasmic digi-spirits…
Bokomon, stop stringing random words together. That’s Izzy’s quirk.
This’ll be fun. The kids in both versions use tongue-twisters to try and trip up their copycat assailants. Obviously, translated to English, they no longer sound like Tongue Twisters, but here’s what each kid says in comparison to their counterpart:
Izumi: Kitchen waste, unboiled rice, raw egg!
Zoe: Beetles battle better in butter!
Takuya: Tokyo, Tokyo, chief among cities!
Takuya: Six sick bricks might bring back a snack!
Tomoki: No matter the client, they’ll eat good oysters!
Tommy: Peter Piper poked and picked a pack of pickled peppers!
Junpei: Blue scroll, red scroll, yellow scroll…gggkk!
JP: Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boy, toh boaaah!
The last two are the only ones I’ve heard of before.
Good grief, that is one solid chunk of moss.
Narrator: Pipisumon. Active at night time. With large ears, they are able to mimic any sound that they hear.
Bokomon: Those creatures are Pipismon, the mutant Digimon whose power is greatest in the dark. It can reflect sound exactly back as its heard.
Bokomon’s explanation didn’t make sense, because the sound that was sent back didn’t sound anything like the kids’ voices.
There’s a scene where the kids try to convince Bokomon to write a book about the Dark Continent. Though it remains relatively unchanged, the dub Bokomon’s delivery still drives me up the wall. “Let’s continue our journey into the unknoooooowwwwwwn!”
Silence
Arbormon: Oh, yeah! Feel the power, Baby! Oh, that’s good.
I have to refrain from commenting on that one. I’m busy cleaning out my ears.
Arbormon: You kids are next!
Arbormon: That was just an appe-teaser! Youse kids are ‘da main course!
Somehow I doubt that “Appe-teaser” bit is a result of his Brooklyn accent. Probably too many nights at Applebee’s.
Oddly enough, the dub omitted a portion of its usual sound effects used in the Spirit Evolution sequence. As usual, the dub separates out the evolution sequences to make the segment longer.
Silence
MetalKabuterimon: You know what I think? It’s Petal-pulling time!
So many people consider this series to be Power Rangers: DigiForce. This almost seems like a meta-joke.
Same scene, the dub repeats it where the original does not.
MetalKabuterimon: Petaldramon, you’re all bark and no bite!
Thank Gennai this is the last Arbormon/Petaldramon episode. I’d otherwise be getting scared that these lame tree jokes would “branch off” into something worse. (Hee hee)
Silence as Petaldramon eats a tree
BurningGreymon: Man, talk about getting fiber in your diet!
He’ll poop well tonight, kids!
Petaldramon: Everything I eat gives me more energy!
Bolgmon: Ultimate Thunder!
Petaldramon: Eating good makes you grow up big and strong, right?
MetalKabuterimon: Right! Bolo Thunder!
Glad they agree on something.
Now BurningGreymon sounds like Takuya. The VA’s aren’t doing so well lately…
Looks like they re-localized one of the attacks. Thousand Spikes, which they at first called Thorn Jab has now become Thorn Jab, BABY!
Yes, I’m joking, though he did really say that.
Arbormon: I thought you were my comrade, but you’re evil! My enemy!
Arbormon: Yesterday’s ally is today’s enemy!
Arbormon… you’re evil, too. How is this a surprise?
Final Verdict
Total Footage Kept: 100%
Lots of dumb dialogue changes, but they’ve done worse. This episode was pretty faithful to the original script.
The guy with nothing but free time, and yet still never gets anything done. Former Frontier contributor, current owner of Digimon Uncensored. Actively comparing Zero-Two, Frontier, and Data Squad. Buy me a coffee?
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Excellent annotations! The shoved-in comments from the characters got cornier every following episode in Frontier.
Also, it’s probably been years since you first wrote this, but there was a blink-and-you-will-miss-it animation suspiciously cut in the dub: during the time Petaldramon catches Zephyrmon with his tongue, there are additional frames where she struggles to break free while as giant digimon further pulls her into his maw.
The English dub only leaves the first couple of frames in which Zephyrmon gets restrained, removing the pulling part. Maybe her movements were too suggestive?
Anyhow, great overview, as always. Hope this helps!
Good catch! I’ll have to go back through and grab some screencaps to add it in. All about that stupid sexy bird person!