Episode 30: "Sakura and the Injured Card" or "The Race"
Introduction to the Experiment
Episode 29
Episode 30: Sakura and the Injured Card (Card Captor Sakura) or The Race (Cardcaptors)
Sakura is chasing after a card. This one is apparently the Dash Card and it's good at sprinting. Eventually, it starts to get tired so Sakura sics Windy on it. However, it fights back and shots off into the night. So, Sakura, Kero, and Tomoyo go after it, locating it at a house. Dash has been injured as a result of fighting off Windy so now is a good time to seal it. But Sakura can't get over the wall before a woman with a cop comes, claiming to have seen some "girl in a strange outfit" try to enter the house. The trio decide to capture it later. Meanwhile, a girl discovers Dash in her garden and bandages up its leg. The next day, Tomoyo produces a baseball uniform to give Sakura an excuse to go to the house. After throwing a ball into the yard, she enters the yard to be found by the girl whose name is Rei/Jessie. Rei scolds Sakura for playing baseball on that side of the park since that is not allowed while Jessie merely wishes Sakura luck with her baseball game and mentions that she is trying to qualify for the interschool track meet. Sakura goes back to Tomoyo, defeated. Later at school, Sakura and Tomoyo watch Rei do the 100-meter dash. The first time, she doesn't do so well but the second time, after some glowing that catches Sakura's attention, she performs a personal best. Sakura and Tomoyo accompany Rei home who then tells them about her new pet, Peewee/Hoppy, which she believes is giving her the power to run so fast. She's right, obviously, because Sakura realizes that it's Dash. In the Japanese version, Kero thinks that as well while in the English version, he makes some food jokes. Rei offers to show them her pet but Sakura suddenly "realizes" she has to be anywhere but there and practically runs out of the house. When Sakura is gone, Rei notices that Dash is shivering with fright and comforts it. After that, Kero tells Sakura that she should have sealed Dash because it's weak now and if they wait, Dash will recover and be hard to catch. But Sakura is reluctant. The next day, Rei is running again and this time, breaks the school record. In the English version, she also gets to qualify for the track meet, to boot. Sakura and her girl classmates are watching this happen and as Sakura is being eaten up by guilt, her classmates infodump about how fast this girl is and how they are going to cheer for her at the meet. In the Japanese version, this scene is followed by Yamazaki telling some lies and Li looking at Sakura mysteriously as she runs off to be guilty somewhere while the English version cuts this moment. After having an awkward (on Sakura's part) conversation with Rei about the track meet, Sakura walks home with Tomoyo and Kero. Kero tells her that Sakura has to seal Dash before it heals. Again, Sakura doesn't want to because Dash is helping out Rei. Sakura wants to wait until after the track meet. Kero gets annoyed and says that if they wait that long, Dash will be healed and harder to catch but Sakura is not having it. She won't do it until after the meet. That night, Sakura's family discusses the girl and her amazing track skills. The next day, while Sakura and her cheerleading club practice, Rei is also practicing. Sakura watches guiltily as everyone else says how amazing this girl is at running. Meanwhile, Li and Meilin are putting away some books when Li senses something when Rei is running and notices Sakura watching. That night, Rei is playing with Dash who is much better. Meanwhile, Kero tells Sakura again that she has to seal Dash, like, yesterday but Sakura won't answer. Sakura and Tomoyo notice Li with his Lasin Board and see him get a trail to Rei's house. They realize that Li has discovered Dash so they give chase. Back at Rei's house, Dash starts jumping higher and higher until he's sitting on the wall. Li sees him and Sakura tells Li to stop what he's doing but Dash bounces off into the forest. Li chases after Dash but Sakura again tells him to stop. Li doesn't listen and fires some lightning bolts at it. Dash starts flying toward Sakura who is dumbstruck. Kero and Li yell at Sakura to seal it already but Sakura won't do it. Finally, Kero spells it out by saying that if Rei wins the meet because of Dash, Sakura will know she didn't win with her own strength. That convinces Sakura to seal Dash. The Dash Card goes to Li and he asks if Sakura knew about the Card this whole time, why didn't she seal it? Sakura doesn't have to answer because Rei is now running around the forest, woefully calling out to her pet. After witnessing Rei being sad the next day, it's time for the meet. In the Japanese version, we see Rei qualify for the finals while the English version jumps straight to the big event. Both Sakura and Rei look forlorn until Dash appears in the middle of the track briefly. This encourages the two girl to cheer and run, respectively, and Rei wins first place. As this is going out, the audience gets to see that Li is here and he has activated the Card. After the win, Sakura runs to Li and asks him if he used Dash. Li acts all mock insulted: Did Sakura really think that Rei didn't win with her own strength? Li holds up the Card and says that he just had the Card, implying that he didn't use it to help her run. This cheers Sakura up immensely and she goes back to her place in the stands to see Rei on the podium. Rei waves at Sakura with glee as the episode closes.
Wanna see?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 30: Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBKqU5To0X8
Card Captor Sakura Episode 30: Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuzeUgNx2sU
Card Captor Sakura Episode 30: Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFWTD-idUkk
Cardcaptors Episode 30: Part 1/3
Cardcaptors Episode 30: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 30: Part 3/3
What is this show's obsession with running? Anyway, for some reason, this episode felt more like a Sailor Moon episode than a Card Captor Sakura one. I kept expecting someone from the Negaverse to come and suck out Rei's energy or something. I actually liked this one because its little morality play that it had going on. It was nice to see Sakura have to make a decision about sealing a Card that might actually be helping someone rather than hurting someone.
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
Current number: 28
Li: Time, Storm, Return, Dash
Current number: 4
Man, both of the titles are lame but were the English producers not even trying? Japanese title wins but only because the English title is so unbelievably poor this time.
Not much is cut except for a few fat-trimmings. Nothing super important is cut and, in fact, one scene that deserved it was the scene where they argue about Toya running the track meet himself. What was the point of that conversation? Okay, the Kinomoto family members are awesome at track, we got it. And the scene where Li looks at Sakura mysteriously was kind of pointless too. It's clear from the ending that he didn't suspect that she knew anything at the time so what was the look for? Li's been doing this a lot lately. Seriously, quit staring at her without any explanation.
I like some of the dialogue changes. My personal favorite was, after Sakura tries to get over the wall the first time, she mutters, "I should have used Jump." Because, yeah, duh, Sakura, why aren't you using Jump?! Another favorite was when, after the woman mentions that she saw a girl wearing a weird outfit, Sakura turns to Madison and goes, "See?!" and Madison replies, "It's very Mardi Gras." Maybe it's because I'm older and more critical, but I love it when the English dub acknowledges the huge plot holes or the nonsensical aspects of the show. They're never mean about it, they're just, like, "Yeah, we don't really get this either. But we'll try!"
However, I'm torn about Kero's line changes. I found Kero's English line, in response to Jessie saying that running in the interschool meet is her dream, of "I dream of cake" hysterical but it made absolutely no sense. They really should have kept the original line with Kero acknowledging that it has to be Dash who is behind everything. But that's small stuff. A lot of Kero's characterization and lines are changed in this episode. On one hand, I liked how they didn't knock the audience over the head with the fact that Jessie is only running fast because of Dash. Please, give the ten-year-olds in the audience some credit. Also, they changed Kero's first piece of insight from a false Aesop ("running because of magic comes to no good") to a true Aesop ("sometimes the choice you have to make is one you don't want to"). Real-life kids don't deal with moral dilemmas involving magic cards; they do deal with ones that deal with making hard choices: telling a teacher that your friend cheated on a test, taking care of your little brother when you'd rather go play baseball, etc. I much preferred that piece of advice versus the Japanese one.
On the other hand, I felt that Kero was played a little too harshly in the English version. He came off as a huge insensitive jerk toward Sakura. He seemed this way because he kept bringing up how Sakura's job is capture the Cards. Now, I know I just said that I liked how the English version didn't spell out the moral dilemma for the audience in the first act but there's a difference between "Sometimes you have to make hard choices and I know how you feel but that's the way it is. Go get that Card." and "GET THAT CARD BACK NOW, SLAVE!" Kero hasn't treated Sakura like this since Li's appearance. I personally don't like it when Kero is getting all Cardcaptor Taskmaster on her butt. Even the ending is played really rough. In the Japanese version, Kero says that Sakura won't be able to congratulate Rei from the heart knowing that it was all Dash's doing while the English version has Kero accuse Sakura of being a bad friend if she lets Dash go. Dude, harsh.
So, I like the subtley and reworking of the initial moral but I didn't like Kero's overall attitude in this episode.
In other areas, I much preferred how the English version did the whole "What, did you think it was Dash and not Jessie?" scene with Li. Both Lis are good but I think the English one had a little more fun yanking Sakura's chain. He was cocky but still endearing.
Oh, and one line change I found really clever was when Sakura finds out that the cheer team is going to the track meet. In the Japanese version, they just tell Sakura that they're cheering but the English version has this exchange:
Chelsea (I think): Well, you know whose fault it will be if she doesn't win!
Sakura (guilty): Wha?
Chelsea: Us, if we don't cheer her on!
I loved that. The English version really played up Sakura's guilt over knowing that Jessie wasn't really running that well on her own. It made for a more interesting episode.
Okay, not many plotholes this time around, which is a relief.
1. Why didn't Sakura use Jump to get over the wall? I liked that the English version acknowledged that she should have but still no explanation as to why not.
2. The Japanese version strongly implies that Rei has been unwell for some time. So what was wrong with her?
3. Since when do track meets get cheerleading sections? Is it a Japanese thing?
4. Since I've already mentioned how Sakura can't remember to use her Cards, I must also ask why didn't Li stop Time to slow Dash down? All he would have to do is stop time, walk over to Dash, pick it up, and walk over to Sakura to get it sealed.
5. Why was Li able to produce just the image of Dash using Dash? Doesn't activating Dash make you, well, dash? So could Li just produce the freaky old man Time thing too if he wanted? How about the swirly Return thing? Why would that be a feature of the Clow Cards?
6. Why was Sakura allowed to leave her spot to go talk to Li? I mean, the ceremony was about to start, I have a hard time believing that the coach would let her go then.
Because the changes made balance each other out, the dialogue changes helped immensely while Kero's attitude hurt the dub immensely, I judge these episodes to be...
Equal!
Episode 31
Episode 29
Episode 30: Sakura and the Injured Card (Card Captor Sakura) or The Race (Cardcaptors)
Sakura is chasing after a card. This one is apparently the Dash Card and it's good at sprinting. Eventually, it starts to get tired so Sakura sics Windy on it. However, it fights back and shots off into the night. So, Sakura, Kero, and Tomoyo go after it, locating it at a house. Dash has been injured as a result of fighting off Windy so now is a good time to seal it. But Sakura can't get over the wall before a woman with a cop comes, claiming to have seen some "girl in a strange outfit" try to enter the house. The trio decide to capture it later. Meanwhile, a girl discovers Dash in her garden and bandages up its leg. The next day, Tomoyo produces a baseball uniform to give Sakura an excuse to go to the house. After throwing a ball into the yard, she enters the yard to be found by the girl whose name is Rei/Jessie. Rei scolds Sakura for playing baseball on that side of the park since that is not allowed while Jessie merely wishes Sakura luck with her baseball game and mentions that she is trying to qualify for the interschool track meet. Sakura goes back to Tomoyo, defeated. Later at school, Sakura and Tomoyo watch Rei do the 100-meter dash. The first time, she doesn't do so well but the second time, after some glowing that catches Sakura's attention, she performs a personal best. Sakura and Tomoyo accompany Rei home who then tells them about her new pet, Peewee/Hoppy, which she believes is giving her the power to run so fast. She's right, obviously, because Sakura realizes that it's Dash. In the Japanese version, Kero thinks that as well while in the English version, he makes some food jokes. Rei offers to show them her pet but Sakura suddenly "realizes" she has to be anywhere but there and practically runs out of the house. When Sakura is gone, Rei notices that Dash is shivering with fright and comforts it. After that, Kero tells Sakura that she should have sealed Dash because it's weak now and if they wait, Dash will recover and be hard to catch. But Sakura is reluctant. The next day, Rei is running again and this time, breaks the school record. In the English version, she also gets to qualify for the track meet, to boot. Sakura and her girl classmates are watching this happen and as Sakura is being eaten up by guilt, her classmates infodump about how fast this girl is and how they are going to cheer for her at the meet. In the Japanese version, this scene is followed by Yamazaki telling some lies and Li looking at Sakura mysteriously as she runs off to be guilty somewhere while the English version cuts this moment. After having an awkward (on Sakura's part) conversation with Rei about the track meet, Sakura walks home with Tomoyo and Kero. Kero tells her that Sakura has to seal Dash before it heals. Again, Sakura doesn't want to because Dash is helping out Rei. Sakura wants to wait until after the track meet. Kero gets annoyed and says that if they wait that long, Dash will be healed and harder to catch but Sakura is not having it. She won't do it until after the meet. That night, Sakura's family discusses the girl and her amazing track skills. The next day, while Sakura and her cheerleading club practice, Rei is also practicing. Sakura watches guiltily as everyone else says how amazing this girl is at running. Meanwhile, Li and Meilin are putting away some books when Li senses something when Rei is running and notices Sakura watching. That night, Rei is playing with Dash who is much better. Meanwhile, Kero tells Sakura again that she has to seal Dash, like, yesterday but Sakura won't answer. Sakura and Tomoyo notice Li with his Lasin Board and see him get a trail to Rei's house. They realize that Li has discovered Dash so they give chase. Back at Rei's house, Dash starts jumping higher and higher until he's sitting on the wall. Li sees him and Sakura tells Li to stop what he's doing but Dash bounces off into the forest. Li chases after Dash but Sakura again tells him to stop. Li doesn't listen and fires some lightning bolts at it. Dash starts flying toward Sakura who is dumbstruck. Kero and Li yell at Sakura to seal it already but Sakura won't do it. Finally, Kero spells it out by saying that if Rei wins the meet because of Dash, Sakura will know she didn't win with her own strength. That convinces Sakura to seal Dash. The Dash Card goes to Li and he asks if Sakura knew about the Card this whole time, why didn't she seal it? Sakura doesn't have to answer because Rei is now running around the forest, woefully calling out to her pet. After witnessing Rei being sad the next day, it's time for the meet. In the Japanese version, we see Rei qualify for the finals while the English version jumps straight to the big event. Both Sakura and Rei look forlorn until Dash appears in the middle of the track briefly. This encourages the two girl to cheer and run, respectively, and Rei wins first place. As this is going out, the audience gets to see that Li is here and he has activated the Card. After the win, Sakura runs to Li and asks him if he used Dash. Li acts all mock insulted: Did Sakura really think that Rei didn't win with her own strength? Li holds up the Card and says that he just had the Card, implying that he didn't use it to help her run. This cheers Sakura up immensely and she goes back to her place in the stands to see Rei on the podium. Rei waves at Sakura with glee as the episode closes.
Wanna see?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 30: Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBKqU5To0X8
Card Captor Sakura Episode 30: Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuzeUgNx2sU
Card Captor Sakura Episode 30: Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFWTD-idUkk
Cardcaptors Episode 30: Part 1/3
Click to viewCardcaptors Episode 30: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 30: Part 3/3
What is this show's obsession with running? Anyway, for some reason, this episode felt more like a Sailor Moon episode than a Card Captor Sakura one. I kept expecting someone from the Negaverse to come and suck out Rei's energy or something. I actually liked this one because its little morality play that it had going on. It was nice to see Sakura have to make a decision about sealing a Card that might actually be helping someone rather than hurting someone.
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
Current number: 28
Li: Time, Storm, Return, Dash
Current number: 4
Man, both of the titles are lame but were the English producers not even trying? Japanese title wins but only because the English title is so unbelievably poor this time.
Not much is cut except for a few fat-trimmings. Nothing super important is cut and, in fact, one scene that deserved it was the scene where they argue about Toya running the track meet himself. What was the point of that conversation? Okay, the Kinomoto family members are awesome at track, we got it. And the scene where Li looks at Sakura mysteriously was kind of pointless too. It's clear from the ending that he didn't suspect that she knew anything at the time so what was the look for? Li's been doing this a lot lately. Seriously, quit staring at her without any explanation.
I like some of the dialogue changes. My personal favorite was, after Sakura tries to get over the wall the first time, she mutters, "I should have used Jump." Because, yeah, duh, Sakura, why aren't you using Jump?! Another favorite was when, after the woman mentions that she saw a girl wearing a weird outfit, Sakura turns to Madison and goes, "See?!" and Madison replies, "It's very Mardi Gras." Maybe it's because I'm older and more critical, but I love it when the English dub acknowledges the huge plot holes or the nonsensical aspects of the show. They're never mean about it, they're just, like, "Yeah, we don't really get this either. But we'll try!"
However, I'm torn about Kero's line changes. I found Kero's English line, in response to Jessie saying that running in the interschool meet is her dream, of "I dream of cake" hysterical but it made absolutely no sense. They really should have kept the original line with Kero acknowledging that it has to be Dash who is behind everything. But that's small stuff. A lot of Kero's characterization and lines are changed in this episode. On one hand, I liked how they didn't knock the audience over the head with the fact that Jessie is only running fast because of Dash. Please, give the ten-year-olds in the audience some credit. Also, they changed Kero's first piece of insight from a false Aesop ("running because of magic comes to no good") to a true Aesop ("sometimes the choice you have to make is one you don't want to"). Real-life kids don't deal with moral dilemmas involving magic cards; they do deal with ones that deal with making hard choices: telling a teacher that your friend cheated on a test, taking care of your little brother when you'd rather go play baseball, etc. I much preferred that piece of advice versus the Japanese one.
On the other hand, I felt that Kero was played a little too harshly in the English version. He came off as a huge insensitive jerk toward Sakura. He seemed this way because he kept bringing up how Sakura's job is capture the Cards. Now, I know I just said that I liked how the English version didn't spell out the moral dilemma for the audience in the first act but there's a difference between "Sometimes you have to make hard choices and I know how you feel but that's the way it is. Go get that Card." and "GET THAT CARD BACK NOW, SLAVE!" Kero hasn't treated Sakura like this since Li's appearance. I personally don't like it when Kero is getting all Cardcaptor Taskmaster on her butt. Even the ending is played really rough. In the Japanese version, Kero says that Sakura won't be able to congratulate Rei from the heart knowing that it was all Dash's doing while the English version has Kero accuse Sakura of being a bad friend if she lets Dash go. Dude, harsh.
So, I like the subtley and reworking of the initial moral but I didn't like Kero's overall attitude in this episode.
In other areas, I much preferred how the English version did the whole "What, did you think it was Dash and not Jessie?" scene with Li. Both Lis are good but I think the English one had a little more fun yanking Sakura's chain. He was cocky but still endearing.
Oh, and one line change I found really clever was when Sakura finds out that the cheer team is going to the track meet. In the Japanese version, they just tell Sakura that they're cheering but the English version has this exchange:
Chelsea (I think): Well, you know whose fault it will be if she doesn't win!
Sakura (guilty): Wha?
Chelsea: Us, if we don't cheer her on!
I loved that. The English version really played up Sakura's guilt over knowing that Jessie wasn't really running that well on her own. It made for a more interesting episode.
Okay, not many plotholes this time around, which is a relief.
1. Why didn't Sakura use Jump to get over the wall? I liked that the English version acknowledged that she should have but still no explanation as to why not.
2. The Japanese version strongly implies that Rei has been unwell for some time. So what was wrong with her?
3. Since when do track meets get cheerleading sections? Is it a Japanese thing?
4. Since I've already mentioned how Sakura can't remember to use her Cards, I must also ask why didn't Li stop Time to slow Dash down? All he would have to do is stop time, walk over to Dash, pick it up, and walk over to Sakura to get it sealed.
5. Why was Li able to produce just the image of Dash using Dash? Doesn't activating Dash make you, well, dash? So could Li just produce the freaky old man Time thing too if he wanted? How about the swirly Return thing? Why would that be a feature of the Clow Cards?
6. Why was Sakura allowed to leave her spot to go talk to Li? I mean, the ceremony was about to start, I have a hard time believing that the coach would let her go then.
Because the changes made balance each other out, the dialogue changes helped immensely while Kero's attitude hurt the dub immensely, I judge these episodes to be...
Equal!
Episode 31