Digimon Fusion S01E04

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Gear’s Notes: I’m surprised the titles match up so well.  Someone else translated the title as Island Zone in Chaos which is even closer, but I’m sure that they’re similar enough, plus or minus some etymology.  The series is going pretty well so far.  The original version is holding its own, though I don’t feel it’s as strong of a story as Tamers was.  And the dub is going well also, though I don’t think it’s quite as strong as Data Squad.  But there have certainly been worse series before now on both sides of the ocean.

Nene Amano, a mysterious human who seems to appear and disappear at will, informs Mikey and the Fusion Fighters about the Code Crowns.  She explains that the Code Crowns are actually fractured pieces of code that represent each Zone in the Digital World.  Whoever loads the crowns into their Fusion Loaders becomes the ruler of that Zone.  She disappears, and the Fusion Fighters are transported to the Island Zone where they meet the senile Archelomon, under attack by a group of Gizamon.  The group gets pulled into battle with Octomon who drags Shoutmon X2 and the kids underwater so they can’t breathe.  A young Digimon, ChibiTortomon, jumps into the fray, merging with Shoutmon X2 to allow him to breathe underwater.  The battle is won, but the war is far from over; the enemy commander Neptunemon captured Archelomon with the intention of trying to find the Code Crown for the Island Zone.

Nene Amano’s name is retained in her official introduction.  In English, she’s voiced by Melissa Fahn, a Digimon veteran known for voicing many characters.  Her most major roles have been Rika from Tamers, as well as Kristy from Data Squad.  Thanks to Toefe for correcting the error.

The Code Crown is retained.

In an interesting twist, there isn’t a lot of dialogue deviation here.  Most of the dialogue is spot-on, save for a few of Jeremy’s lines, but they’re pretty trivial to begin with in the opening scene.

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Taiki: Did this cheer you up, Akari?  You kept going on and on about the marine.
Akari: I was just upset about missing the Ikasumi pasta that’s only at special price on Marine Day!  I wish I could have eaten it…
Mikey: THis should cheer you up, Angie.  You loev the ocean, don’t you?
Angie: Are you kidding?  I love it so much, that I’d practically live there if I could.  Can you live in a sand castle?

Her face matches the original dialogue much better.

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I can already tell we’re going to run into problems here.  Archelomon (whose name is retained in English, so I don’t have to put a new header in) has hearing problems and some light dementia.  There are going to be a lot of jokes where he mishears what others say, and they’ll make more sense in Japanese.  This could get to be a long list.  Bear in mind that I don’t speak Japanese myself, so I’m relying on subtitles here…

So, first up:

Gizamon: Where is the Code Crown for this Zone?  Fess up already!
Archelomon: …Fresco Brush?
Gizamon: Tell us where the Code Crown for this Zone is, or you will be crushed!
Archelomon: Did he say he wants a brush?  How’s this?  *presents a paintbrush*

So…this is odd.  In the original, the DigiXros is performed beneath the patterned blue sky.  In the dub, the same Fusion is performed in what appears to be a digital tunnel.  The dub, for whatever reason, used different footage for the DigiFusion to create Shoutmon X2.

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Why?  No idea.  Maybe to cut down on the number of changes they had to make to the background cards, the dub just started using a single stock DigiXros that was altered instead of changing each one each time it happened.  Not a problem in previous series, where what few edits they had to make were okay to duplicate since the evolution sequences were stock footage anyway with no differences.  Do what you can, I suppose.

…And they do it again when they form the Star Axe.  I’m just going to assume this will keep happening and not keep taking screencaps unless it’s particularly jarring or problematic to the story.

In the original, the Summer Festival is when the Island Zone’s Code Crown is most vulnerable.  In the dub, it’s the Harvest Festival.

DigiNoir, the delectable digital treat that you can’t beat to eat becomes Digi-Bites (or Bytes, not sure which).

Trying to get a handle on this here.  In the original, the DigiNoir is supposed to be an offering for the Harvest Festival.  In the dub, Archelomon’s just hungry.  The earthquake that symbolizes the festival drawing close just becomes particularly violent stomach rumblings in the dub.

Yeah.  This is going to be a great episode.  -_-‘

The Mantaraymon retain their names.

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So does Neptunemon.

Neptunemon: We’ll storm the island, capture the humans, and crush them like Bugmonz!

…Bugmonz?

Holy crap, the original version is just now getting to the theme song?!

Taiki, Zenjirou, and Akari talk about how great the DigiNoir tastes.  Mikey makes a lame joke about “biting bytes” and the other two comment on how funny (or not funny) they found his joke.

Shakomon is retained.

Silence
Neptunemon: Crushing them like bugs is too good for them!  I’m going to crush them like GERMS.

Just pick a damned metaphor already.

The Hangyomon are renamed Divermon, consistent with previous seasons.

Taiki: Do you guys know about the Tomoe Throw? (A circle-throw used in Judo)
Zenjirou: Who’s Tomoe?
Akari: Taiki, stories about you helping out the Judo Club have no place with what’s going on right now.
Mikey: We need to use their own power against them.
Jeremy: Huh?  How do we do that?
Angie: Mikey, you’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking of doing, are you?

In both versions, Taiki/Mikey plans to launch a surprise attack of some sort, but Taiki intends to feign defeat and gain the upper hand.  Mikey wants to sneak up behind them and fight real hard.

The music in the original dwarfs the dub’s in this scene.  The original has a feeling of intrigue, while the dub music is generic.  Not a new complaint in the series by a long shot, but worth noting.

The dub throws in more occurrences of Archelomon having a terrible memory that aren’t in the original.

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Akari: Why do I have to act like a ninja along with you guys?
Taiki: At least you got to swim!
Angie: Hey Mikey, can you get me to the main controls on the ship?
Mikey: Yeah, I think I can manage that.

This led to a…

This scene with Akari at the controls was copied to this point in the dub to make it appear that Angie was taking an active role early in the mission by firing the enemies’ own torpedoes at their ships.

The scene was duplicated with new dialogue at its normal location.  I’m not sure why this change was made.

Octomon is retained.

ChibiKamemon becomes ChibiTortamon in the dub. Not sure why this was changed, since Kamemon retained his name in Data Squad.

Shoutmon X2 was originally reluctant to merge with ChibiKamemon, but in the dub, he was excited and saw the reasoning behind it.