Episode 49: "Sakura and the Dangerous Piano" or "The Dangerous Piano"
Introduction to the Experiment
Episode 48 (the second attempt)
Episode 49: Sakura and the Dangerous Piano (Card Captor Sakura) or The Dangerous Piano (Cardcaptors)
Baseline Version: Japanese Card Captor Sakura
The episode starts with Sakura being super tired in bed, with her father and brother looking on in concern. Eventually, the two men decide to let her stay in bed. Toya worries to himself about what Sakura is up to.
The Japanese version has a scene with the kids at Sakura's school baking some cupcakes (?). Eriol establishes that he is awesome at making cupcakes and that he has three "people" in his family. Li looks on in his usual paranoid way. Tomoyo suggests seeing Sakura after school. The English version completely cuts this scene.
Meanwhile, at Toya's school, after Yukito establishes that he is super hungry, Toya starts to try to tell himself something but they are "interrupted" by the noise of Nakuru totally defeating the entire basketball team. It is pointed out that Nakuru and Yukito are very similar to each other.
After this, Sakura wakes up and feels much better. And she should because it is 3pm. Tomoyo and Li come to visit and (off screen) Sakura explained what happened. To make a long story short, Sakura is tired because she created a new card that draws upon her own power so that drains her. The Japanese version calls these new cards "Sakura Cards" while the English version calls them "Star Card". While this is cool and all, Kero is worried because Yueh and he were helpless during the battle and they were not in their temporary forms. Only two people can seal them: Sakura and Clow Reed.
The next day, Sakura is writing a letter to Ms. Mizuki when she hears a piano playing. It is Eriol and he's super good at playing piano. Sakura and Eriol talk about his awesome piano playing skills when Tomoyo comes in. In the Japanese version, Eriol has been explicitly playing the tune that goes with Tomoyo's upcoming contest song so Sakura suggests that Eriol plays while Tomoyo sings (the English version just has Eli play another song and Tomoyo doesn't sing). While Eriol is playing, some of the keys flash evilly red.
It is now the end of the day. Sakura and Li talk a little bit about whether Kero has said anything further about the problem they are facing. In the Japanese version, Sakura explains that Kero just said that Clow Reed is very dead. In the English version, Sakura says that Kero wants to talk to Yueh some more. While they are walking, they hear Tomoyo singing and then suddenly scream.
The piano is now trying to attack Tomoyo. Sakura feels a presence (Japanese Sakura explicitly says it's Clow Reed's presence, English Sakura just feels a strong presence). Cue chase scene with the piano flying after the kids. Li hurts it with his Lightning spell but, once Tomoyo speaks, it's alive again and chases them. Eventually, Tomoyo figures out that it seems to attach whenever she sings or speaks. That gives Sakura an idea!
They go to the roof and Tomoyo sings. The piano goes after the singing and eventually Sakura summons the Song Card. It now sings and the piano chases that... over the roof, crashing to its "death" below. The presence is now gone and Sakura faints.
A shadowy figure with two other shadowy figures says that this is going to be fun.
So, nearly another three years, huh? It's not on purpose and I hope it won't take me another three years to do the next episode.
Part of it was the standard "it's on youTube, now it's not, now it is" issue I keep running into. However, Card Captor Sakura is now on Crunchyroll so hopefully Cardcaptors will stay on youTube (ironically, Crunchyroll has a dubbed version of CCS - it's just not CC so I can't use it for this experiment).
The other part of it was this episode is so boring. Nothing happens for such a long time. Keep in mind, I watched it before but I never got around to doing the write-up so I had to watch it again just now to do this. Argh.
Anyway, the titles are nearly the same. I just hate the "Sakura" titles so yeah, English version wins.
Cardcaptors trims a lot from this episode. I mention in the summary what is cut but most of it is really not necessary: the Home Economics teacher is obsessed with making the kids bake cakes, Li hates Eriol, Tomoyo is a good singer, and so on. It is still a boring and slow episode and the English version picks up the pace a little bit.
One tiny change that I liked was English Sakura actually asks if she can stay home. When I was watching the Japanese version, I was thinking that Sakura's father is really nice to let her stay home because she's tired. So, for an American viewer, it is a good idea to have Sakura ask permission to stay home since she doesn't have a fever.
One change that I didn't like is that Madison is still singing that same dang song. Let her sing a new song, for the love of God! There are only two songs in this entire school district! How hard could it be for her to sing something else - there is nothing in the public domain that they could use?
Another change that created a slight nitpicky plot hole is because Madison doesn't sing, it doesn't make sense why it targets her. In the Japanese version, this makes complete sense: she was singing when Eriol cast his freaky spell. In the English version, it's just targeting her for some reason. It's not episode-breaking but, yeah, it just loses something.
Another odd change is that the English cast is afraid to say "die". I've heard of "Never Say Die" before but I've never seen it so blatantly used. The Japanese version is quite comfortable with the "it can't be Clow Reed because he's dead!" thing while the English version is doing this:
"It can't be him!"
"Why?"
"Because... well, you know..."
"You know what?"
"You know."
"He's... Lord Voldemort?"
It's going to be like the "Hong Kong can't be mentioned ever again" thing, isn't it? *sigh*
Only one major plot hole this time: Okay, so the kids just destroyed the evil piano. So, what is going to happen the next day when the faculty and staff come to the school and see the school piano completely destroyed?! I mean, that was my first thought!
Because of some fat-cutting trim cuts, I judge that these episodes are...
Different, with English Cardcaptors being the superior (but only just)!
Episode 50
Episode 48 (the second attempt)
Episode 49: Sakura and the Dangerous Piano (Card Captor Sakura) or The Dangerous Piano (Cardcaptors)
Baseline Version: Japanese Card Captor Sakura
The episode starts with Sakura being super tired in bed, with her father and brother looking on in concern. Eventually, the two men decide to let her stay in bed. Toya worries to himself about what Sakura is up to.
The Japanese version has a scene with the kids at Sakura's school baking some cupcakes (?). Eriol establishes that he is awesome at making cupcakes and that he has three "people" in his family. Li looks on in his usual paranoid way. Tomoyo suggests seeing Sakura after school. The English version completely cuts this scene.
Meanwhile, at Toya's school, after Yukito establishes that he is super hungry, Toya starts to try to tell himself something but they are "interrupted" by the noise of Nakuru totally defeating the entire basketball team. It is pointed out that Nakuru and Yukito are very similar to each other.
After this, Sakura wakes up and feels much better. And she should because it is 3pm. Tomoyo and Li come to visit and (off screen) Sakura explained what happened. To make a long story short, Sakura is tired because she created a new card that draws upon her own power so that drains her. The Japanese version calls these new cards "Sakura Cards" while the English version calls them "Star Card". While this is cool and all, Kero is worried because Yueh and he were helpless during the battle and they were not in their temporary forms. Only two people can seal them: Sakura and Clow Reed.
The next day, Sakura is writing a letter to Ms. Mizuki when she hears a piano playing. It is Eriol and he's super good at playing piano. Sakura and Eriol talk about his awesome piano playing skills when Tomoyo comes in. In the Japanese version, Eriol has been explicitly playing the tune that goes with Tomoyo's upcoming contest song so Sakura suggests that Eriol plays while Tomoyo sings (the English version just has Eli play another song and Tomoyo doesn't sing). While Eriol is playing, some of the keys flash evilly red.
It is now the end of the day. Sakura and Li talk a little bit about whether Kero has said anything further about the problem they are facing. In the Japanese version, Sakura explains that Kero just said that Clow Reed is very dead. In the English version, Sakura says that Kero wants to talk to Yueh some more. While they are walking, they hear Tomoyo singing and then suddenly scream.
The piano is now trying to attack Tomoyo. Sakura feels a presence (Japanese Sakura explicitly says it's Clow Reed's presence, English Sakura just feels a strong presence). Cue chase scene with the piano flying after the kids. Li hurts it with his Lightning spell but, once Tomoyo speaks, it's alive again and chases them. Eventually, Tomoyo figures out that it seems to attach whenever she sings or speaks. That gives Sakura an idea!
They go to the roof and Tomoyo sings. The piano goes after the singing and eventually Sakura summons the Song Card. It now sings and the piano chases that... over the roof, crashing to its "death" below. The presence is now gone and Sakura faints.
A shadowy figure with two other shadowy figures says that this is going to be fun.
So, nearly another three years, huh? It's not on purpose and I hope it won't take me another three years to do the next episode.
Part of it was the standard "it's on youTube, now it's not, now it is" issue I keep running into. However, Card Captor Sakura is now on Crunchyroll so hopefully Cardcaptors will stay on youTube (ironically, Crunchyroll has a dubbed version of CCS - it's just not CC so I can't use it for this experiment).
The other part of it was this episode is so boring. Nothing happens for such a long time. Keep in mind, I watched it before but I never got around to doing the write-up so I had to watch it again just now to do this. Argh.
Anyway, the titles are nearly the same. I just hate the "Sakura" titles so yeah, English version wins.
Cardcaptors trims a lot from this episode. I mention in the summary what is cut but most of it is really not necessary: the Home Economics teacher is obsessed with making the kids bake cakes, Li hates Eriol, Tomoyo is a good singer, and so on. It is still a boring and slow episode and the English version picks up the pace a little bit.
One tiny change that I liked was English Sakura actually asks if she can stay home. When I was watching the Japanese version, I was thinking that Sakura's father is really nice to let her stay home because she's tired. So, for an American viewer, it is a good idea to have Sakura ask permission to stay home since she doesn't have a fever.
One change that I didn't like is that Madison is still singing that same dang song. Let her sing a new song, for the love of God! There are only two songs in this entire school district! How hard could it be for her to sing something else - there is nothing in the public domain that they could use?
Another change that created a slight nitpicky plot hole is because Madison doesn't sing, it doesn't make sense why it targets her. In the Japanese version, this makes complete sense: she was singing when Eriol cast his freaky spell. In the English version, it's just targeting her for some reason. It's not episode-breaking but, yeah, it just loses something.
Another odd change is that the English cast is afraid to say "die". I've heard of "Never Say Die" before but I've never seen it so blatantly used. The Japanese version is quite comfortable with the "it can't be Clow Reed because he's dead!" thing while the English version is doing this:
"It can't be him!"
"Why?"
"Because... well, you know..."
"You know what?"
"You know."
"He's... Lord Voldemort?"
It's going to be like the "Hong Kong can't be mentioned ever again" thing, isn't it? *sigh*
Only one major plot hole this time: Okay, so the kids just destroyed the evil piano. So, what is going to happen the next day when the faculty and staff come to the school and see the school piano completely destroyed?! I mean, that was my first thought!
Because of some fat-cutting trim cuts, I judge that these episodes are...
Different, with English Cardcaptors being the superior (but only just)!
Episode 50