Episode 53: "Sakura and the Panicky Bike" or "Running Out of Time"
Introduction to the Experiment
Episode 52
Episode 53: Sakura and the Panicky Bike (Card Captor Sakura) or Running Out of Time (Cardcaptors)
Baseline Version: Japanese Card Captor Sakura
I'm not sure if this is part of the actual episode or just the particular version the youTuber is using for the Cardcaptors but there is very odd bit in the English version where Li explains basically what happened in the first two seasons, how the Elemental Cards are super dangerous, and that Sakura has to change the Clow Cards into Star Cards before the theme song starts. The Japanese version does not contain this part.
After the theme song, Sakura is cleaning up the yard but is really sleepy. Eriol comes by and offers to help. While he's helping, he offers to move a bike out of the way. As he does, he places his hands on it and does some sort of evil magic things to it.
The Japanese version then has a scene where Fujitaka and Eriol get to meet each other. Fujitaka and Sakura offer to have Eriol eat dinner with them but he declines.
Both versions come in at this point where Eriol leaves, with Sakura wishing him a good day/weekend. Eriol comments to himself that he's going to have a much better time than Sakura will.
The Japanese version has Sakura and Fujitaka have dinner. They discuss Eriol and how super awesome and mature he is. Sakura nearly passes out at the table, much to Fujitaka's alarm.
Both version have Toya come home briefly. He notices his now-cursed bike and he asks Sakura if she touched it. She admits that it was moved while she was cleaning. He warns her not to ride/touch the bike. Sakura says she can't even reach the pedals. Toya leaves in the family car.
After dinner, Sakura comes up to her room, gives Kero some pudding, and collapses on the bed. She complains about how tired she is. Kero points out that changing Clow Cards into Sakura Cards is going to use a lot of her magical energy so of course she's tired.
Sakura goes over to her Book of Clow and some of the Sakura Cards come out. This pleases her. However, the Cards that haven't changed feel cold to her now. Kero confirms her impression.
The versions differ here:
In the Japanese version, Kero explains that until Sakura sealed them, they were using Clow Reed's energy. In a sense, magical energy is like food to them. Since Sakura is their Master, now she is their food. However, something is stopping the unchanged Cards from accessing her energy so the unchanged Cards sleep. However, if they sleep, they can't eat either. Eventually, they will become ordinary cards. Sakura panics, saying that they've gotten close. Kero tries to comfort by explaining that the Sakura Cards are fine because they have access to her power.
In the English version, Kero explains that until Sakura sealed them, they fed off of Clow Reed's magic. Now, they are feeding off Sakura's star. Only Sakura has the power to change them all into Star Cards. However, they have to be changed within a certain time frame. Because of this, the Cards are losing their connection to her. Without a master, the Cards will "run wild" and "imminent disaster" will occur, especially if the Elemental Cards join together. With their forces combined, they could easily destroy a city. Sakura does not want that to happen and starts rambling that the Cards will listen to her. Kero cuts in, explaining that a. she can use the Star Cards she already has to help stop them and b. she's already split the Elemental Cards up by changing Windy.
In any case, Sakura decides to just transform all of the Cards at once to solve the problem. She is able to transform a few of them (my cynic in me thinks it's the Cards that the creators just didn't want to design another episode around, like Sweet) before she collapses. Kero tells her that she can't just do that - she doesn't have enough magical power to transform that many Cards at once.
The Dash Card isn't doing so well. It's very agitated. Sakura asks Kero what's wrong with it. In the Japanese version, the magic is simply out of control while the English version clarifies that the Dash is "caught in transition". Eventually Dash escapes and possesses the cursed bike and, well, dashes off.
Sakura and Kero give chase. The versions differ on the delivery and the exact details but essentially Sakura did two very dumb things: she tried to control too many Cards at once and she activated a Card without a specific purpose. So, now Dash is panicking because it doesn't know what it should do. Kero points out that he's worried about the Cards too but if something happens to Sakura, then no one will be able to use the Sakura Cards. Kero says that Sakura has to calm Dash down.
Sakura and Kero are unable to catch up to Dash nor can Windy capture it. Sakura decides to call Tomoyo and Li, much to Kero's annoyance (in the English version, she only calls Li). Tomoyo doesn't pick up but Li does. She explains the situation and Li promises he's on his way.
Sakura uses Jump to go a little faster. The English version adds a scene where Eli and his team are watching Sakura's progress. They comment on what is going on but it's nothing crucial that I need to summarize here.
Sakura and Kero see Dash-the-Bike go up a building. Sakura jumps up to it but doesn't quite reach it and falls. Li catches her with Wind Magic.
After some banter, Li decides to use Lightning on it. Doesn't work. Li wants to try again but finally Sakura says that she needs to calm it down. She needs a way to trap it so it stops running away. She comes up with the Loop Card. Kero warns her that is yet another Card she has to transform that day but Sakura is insistent. Kero promises to support her if she collapses.
She uses Loop and Dash-the-Bike is trapped. Finally, Dash leaves the bike behind but Sakura sends Windy after it to capture it. Dash is still freaking out but Sakura holds it in her arms to soothe it. She asks it to go back to being a Card and it does.
The two version differ on the details but essentially Sakura agrees to pace herself and to eventually change all of the Cards. She faints. At this point, Tomoyo arrives, dismayed that she missed the capture.
Eriol looks on from higher ground.
This episode is just bizarre. Just plain bizarre. I did wonder if the creators intended the audience to remember that Dash was actually one of Li's cards before Sakura won by cheating the Final Judgement. "I want to go live with Dad!"
Anyway, this episode is pretty bad but it is far worse in the English version.
Since it's more of panicky card than a panicky bike, I prefer the English title.
So, the English version cuts all of Mr. Avalon's scenes. Why? He didn't do anything weird or anything. I just thought that was odd. By cutting these scenes, Sakura appears really rude - she practically throws Eli out as soon as he's done. The two actors' delivery is odd as well, it really sounds like Sakura is throwing him out!
The English version also adds a scene with Eli. Unlike last episode, where those added scenes contributed something, this scene did not. It was really pointless. Yes, Eli is watching, he is always watching, we know. It also creates a plot hole because he's watching this from his home and then he is outside with Sakura. Why change locations?
The biggest change is the nature of the problem. I really didn't get why the English version felt the need to change it to "the Cards will run wild!" instead of "the Cards will change into normal cards". Not everything has to be connected to the world ending, okay? I can imagine that English Sakura would be just as upset that these Cards that she has made a connection to would essentially die to the level that Japanese Sakura does. So what gives?
When I was first watching it, I thought Eli cursing the bike would be the premise of why Dash freaked out hence the change. But they essentially went with the same explanation - Sakura didn't have enough power to control it and she didn't give it a command. Again, so what were they trying to accomplish with the change? It's even more head-scratching that Kero brings up the Elemental Cards (if they join together, they'll destroy a city) only to go, "Oh wait, just kidding! Windy has already been changed!" Then why bring up the crisis, stupid?!
Speaking of stupid, another change was how Kero behaves when they are chasing Dash. In a reversal of the Dash episode, Japanese Kero is practically screaming at her the whole time. Holy cow, Kero basically bitches at her for, like, the entire chase scene. Basically, Japanese Kero's dialogue can be summarized as, "You stupid! You stupid stupid stupid! Stop being stupid!" English Kero is still upset but he shows a lot more compassion for Sakura. Unfortunately, the animation doesn't change so Kero's relatively softer tone in English clashes with the Enraged!Kero animation.
Another change is that Sakura doesn't call Madison. Okay, fine, so I thought they were going to cut Madison's scene since it's not that super important. However, they kept the scene and created this huge plot hole with how Madison got there. Madison says that she "saw the thunderhead" - what?! How did that convince her that a Card capture was happening?!
Now, I want to talk about some head-scratching moments that were either in the original or both versions had it:
1. Li blushes a lot in this episode and not always for a particular good reason. There's a moment where Li is blushing because Sakura is explaining she needs to calm Dash down. Why would that cause him to blush? I get it, Li is into Sakura now, but they went nuts in this episode with blushing from him! Although I will admit that I found that scene with Li reading a book really cute - I don't know, I think little moments where Li acts like a normal boy make me smile.
Him reaching behind him to grab the phone while not taking his eyes off the book made me chuckle a little bit too - now that our lives are so full of cell phone use, this is probably a more common action these days than when the episode was produced.
2. Sakura acts like she's in love with Eriol during the dinner scene. O-kay.
Alright, time for some plot holes:
1. I'll start with a tiny one first: I almost wrote last time about why Sakura doesn't just take a weekend to activate all of the Cards and change them one by one but I had a feeling that would be addressed. Fine, so she can't do that. I still would like to suggest that Sakura could activate, like, three or four with a specific purpose each weekend. She has 52 cards and let's assume that about 10 are changed at this point (I'm too lazy to check which ones she's changed at this point). That leaves 42 cards to change. If she just changes 3 Cards a week (with a specific purpose in mind, obviously), that would take her 14 weeks or about 3.5 months. Essentially, she would solve her Cards-are-gonna-die and her I'm-tired-all-of-the-time problem by the time the school year is over.
If she felt a time crunch, she could change 1 Card per day. That would take 42 days or 6 weeks. Again, this would solve the problem.
2. Speaking of problems, why hasn't Fujitaka taken Sakura to a doctor by this point? She nearly passed out in front of him and, to the un-magical eye, looks like she has some sort of sleeping disorder.
3. Another minor one but it bothered me: Toya has his brief scene because he was at work but needed to return to get something. However, both the bike and the family car are present during the yard clean-up scene. So how did Toya get home to get his bag if he needed the car to get back to work?
4. The largest plot hole, large to drive a truck through, is what exactly was Eriol planning to accomplish with cursing the bike? Is Eriol that much of a Chessmaster that he anticipated that the Clow Cards would go cold, Kero and Sakura would have the conversation about why they are growing cold, Sakura would freak out and activate the Dash Card, Dash Card would not change completely, and it would decide to possess the bike? When I was watching it, I was anticipating the bike would be the main source of the problem (maybe Dash is reacting to the bike?). But, nope, Sakura is just dumb and it panicked on its own.
What would the bike had done if Sakura hadn't tried changing the Cards? What if Sweet had been the one to panic? Would it have turned the bike into a sugar wafer? Speaking of, is the bike better now or is it still cursed? Because it was cursed before Dash entered it so Sakura calming Dash down had nothing to do with the bike being okay.
So, although the episode was pretty dumb in both version, with the unnecessary cuts and odd changes made to the English version, I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the Japanese Card Captor Sakura being the superior!
Episode 54
Episode 52
Episode 53: Sakura and the Panicky Bike (Card Captor Sakura) or Running Out of Time (Cardcaptors)
Baseline Version: Japanese Card Captor Sakura
I'm not sure if this is part of the actual episode or just the particular version the youTuber is using for the Cardcaptors but there is very odd bit in the English version where Li explains basically what happened in the first two seasons, how the Elemental Cards are super dangerous, and that Sakura has to change the Clow Cards into Star Cards before the theme song starts. The Japanese version does not contain this part.
After the theme song, Sakura is cleaning up the yard but is really sleepy. Eriol comes by and offers to help. While he's helping, he offers to move a bike out of the way. As he does, he places his hands on it and does some sort of evil magic things to it.
The Japanese version then has a scene where Fujitaka and Eriol get to meet each other. Fujitaka and Sakura offer to have Eriol eat dinner with them but he declines.
Both versions come in at this point where Eriol leaves, with Sakura wishing him a good day/weekend. Eriol comments to himself that he's going to have a much better time than Sakura will.
The Japanese version has Sakura and Fujitaka have dinner. They discuss Eriol and how super awesome and mature he is. Sakura nearly passes out at the table, much to Fujitaka's alarm.
Both version have Toya come home briefly. He notices his now-cursed bike and he asks Sakura if she touched it. She admits that it was moved while she was cleaning. He warns her not to ride/touch the bike. Sakura says she can't even reach the pedals. Toya leaves in the family car.
After dinner, Sakura comes up to her room, gives Kero some pudding, and collapses on the bed. She complains about how tired she is. Kero points out that changing Clow Cards into Sakura Cards is going to use a lot of her magical energy so of course she's tired.
Sakura goes over to her Book of Clow and some of the Sakura Cards come out. This pleases her. However, the Cards that haven't changed feel cold to her now. Kero confirms her impression.
The versions differ here:
In the Japanese version, Kero explains that until Sakura sealed them, they were using Clow Reed's energy. In a sense, magical energy is like food to them. Since Sakura is their Master, now she is their food. However, something is stopping the unchanged Cards from accessing her energy so the unchanged Cards sleep. However, if they sleep, they can't eat either. Eventually, they will become ordinary cards. Sakura panics, saying that they've gotten close. Kero tries to comfort by explaining that the Sakura Cards are fine because they have access to her power.
In the English version, Kero explains that until Sakura sealed them, they fed off of Clow Reed's magic. Now, they are feeding off Sakura's star. Only Sakura has the power to change them all into Star Cards. However, they have to be changed within a certain time frame. Because of this, the Cards are losing their connection to her. Without a master, the Cards will "run wild" and "imminent disaster" will occur, especially if the Elemental Cards join together. With their forces combined, they could easily destroy a city. Sakura does not want that to happen and starts rambling that the Cards will listen to her. Kero cuts in, explaining that a. she can use the Star Cards she already has to help stop them and b. she's already split the Elemental Cards up by changing Windy.
In any case, Sakura decides to just transform all of the Cards at once to solve the problem. She is able to transform a few of them (my cynic in me thinks it's the Cards that the creators just didn't want to design another episode around, like Sweet) before she collapses. Kero tells her that she can't just do that - she doesn't have enough magical power to transform that many Cards at once.
The Dash Card isn't doing so well. It's very agitated. Sakura asks Kero what's wrong with it. In the Japanese version, the magic is simply out of control while the English version clarifies that the Dash is "caught in transition". Eventually Dash escapes and possesses the cursed bike and, well, dashes off.
Sakura and Kero give chase. The versions differ on the delivery and the exact details but essentially Sakura did two very dumb things: she tried to control too many Cards at once and she activated a Card without a specific purpose. So, now Dash is panicking because it doesn't know what it should do. Kero points out that he's worried about the Cards too but if something happens to Sakura, then no one will be able to use the Sakura Cards. Kero says that Sakura has to calm Dash down.
Sakura and Kero are unable to catch up to Dash nor can Windy capture it. Sakura decides to call Tomoyo and Li, much to Kero's annoyance (in the English version, she only calls Li). Tomoyo doesn't pick up but Li does. She explains the situation and Li promises he's on his way.
Sakura uses Jump to go a little faster. The English version adds a scene where Eli and his team are watching Sakura's progress. They comment on what is going on but it's nothing crucial that I need to summarize here.
Sakura and Kero see Dash-the-Bike go up a building. Sakura jumps up to it but doesn't quite reach it and falls. Li catches her with Wind Magic.
After some banter, Li decides to use Lightning on it. Doesn't work. Li wants to try again but finally Sakura says that she needs to calm it down. She needs a way to trap it so it stops running away. She comes up with the Loop Card. Kero warns her that is yet another Card she has to transform that day but Sakura is insistent. Kero promises to support her if she collapses.
She uses Loop and Dash-the-Bike is trapped. Finally, Dash leaves the bike behind but Sakura sends Windy after it to capture it. Dash is still freaking out but Sakura holds it in her arms to soothe it. She asks it to go back to being a Card and it does.
The two version differ on the details but essentially Sakura agrees to pace herself and to eventually change all of the Cards. She faints. At this point, Tomoyo arrives, dismayed that she missed the capture.
Eriol looks on from higher ground.
This episode is just bizarre. Just plain bizarre. I did wonder if the creators intended the audience to remember that Dash was actually one of Li's cards before Sakura won by cheating the Final Judgement. "I want to go live with Dad!"
Anyway, this episode is pretty bad but it is far worse in the English version.
Since it's more of panicky card than a panicky bike, I prefer the English title.
So, the English version cuts all of Mr. Avalon's scenes. Why? He didn't do anything weird or anything. I just thought that was odd. By cutting these scenes, Sakura appears really rude - she practically throws Eli out as soon as he's done. The two actors' delivery is odd as well, it really sounds like Sakura is throwing him out!
The English version also adds a scene with Eli. Unlike last episode, where those added scenes contributed something, this scene did not. It was really pointless. Yes, Eli is watching, he is always watching, we know. It also creates a plot hole because he's watching this from his home and then he is outside with Sakura. Why change locations?
The biggest change is the nature of the problem. I really didn't get why the English version felt the need to change it to "the Cards will run wild!" instead of "the Cards will change into normal cards". Not everything has to be connected to the world ending, okay? I can imagine that English Sakura would be just as upset that these Cards that she has made a connection to would essentially die to the level that Japanese Sakura does. So what gives?
When I was first watching it, I thought Eli cursing the bike would be the premise of why Dash freaked out hence the change. But they essentially went with the same explanation - Sakura didn't have enough power to control it and she didn't give it a command. Again, so what were they trying to accomplish with the change? It's even more head-scratching that Kero brings up the Elemental Cards (if they join together, they'll destroy a city) only to go, "Oh wait, just kidding! Windy has already been changed!" Then why bring up the crisis, stupid?!
Speaking of stupid, another change was how Kero behaves when they are chasing Dash. In a reversal of the Dash episode, Japanese Kero is practically screaming at her the whole time. Holy cow, Kero basically bitches at her for, like, the entire chase scene. Basically, Japanese Kero's dialogue can be summarized as, "You stupid! You stupid stupid stupid! Stop being stupid!" English Kero is still upset but he shows a lot more compassion for Sakura. Unfortunately, the animation doesn't change so Kero's relatively softer tone in English clashes with the Enraged!Kero animation.
Another change is that Sakura doesn't call Madison. Okay, fine, so I thought they were going to cut Madison's scene since it's not that super important. However, they kept the scene and created this huge plot hole with how Madison got there. Madison says that she "saw the thunderhead" - what?! How did that convince her that a Card capture was happening?!
Now, I want to talk about some head-scratching moments that were either in the original or both versions had it:
1. Li blushes a lot in this episode and not always for a particular good reason. There's a moment where Li is blushing because Sakura is explaining she needs to calm Dash down. Why would that cause him to blush? I get it, Li is into Sakura now, but they went nuts in this episode with blushing from him! Although I will admit that I found that scene with Li reading a book really cute - I don't know, I think little moments where Li acts like a normal boy make me smile.
Him reaching behind him to grab the phone while not taking his eyes off the book made me chuckle a little bit too - now that our lives are so full of cell phone use, this is probably a more common action these days than when the episode was produced.
2. Sakura acts like she's in love with Eriol during the dinner scene. O-kay.
Alright, time for some plot holes:
1. I'll start with a tiny one first: I almost wrote last time about why Sakura doesn't just take a weekend to activate all of the Cards and change them one by one but I had a feeling that would be addressed. Fine, so she can't do that. I still would like to suggest that Sakura could activate, like, three or four with a specific purpose each weekend. She has 52 cards and let's assume that about 10 are changed at this point (I'm too lazy to check which ones she's changed at this point). That leaves 42 cards to change. If she just changes 3 Cards a week (with a specific purpose in mind, obviously), that would take her 14 weeks or about 3.5 months. Essentially, she would solve her Cards-are-gonna-die and her I'm-tired-all-of-the-time problem by the time the school year is over.
If she felt a time crunch, she could change 1 Card per day. That would take 42 days or 6 weeks. Again, this would solve the problem.
2. Speaking of problems, why hasn't Fujitaka taken Sakura to a doctor by this point? She nearly passed out in front of him and, to the un-magical eye, looks like she has some sort of sleeping disorder.
3. Another minor one but it bothered me: Toya has his brief scene because he was at work but needed to return to get something. However, both the bike and the family car are present during the yard clean-up scene. So how did Toya get home to get his bag if he needed the car to get back to work?
4. The largest plot hole, large to drive a truck through, is what exactly was Eriol planning to accomplish with cursing the bike? Is Eriol that much of a Chessmaster that he anticipated that the Clow Cards would go cold, Kero and Sakura would have the conversation about why they are growing cold, Sakura would freak out and activate the Dash Card, Dash Card would not change completely, and it would decide to possess the bike? When I was watching it, I was anticipating the bike would be the main source of the problem (maybe Dash is reacting to the bike?). But, nope, Sakura is just dumb and it panicked on its own.
What would the bike had done if Sakura hadn't tried changing the Cards? What if Sweet had been the one to panic? Would it have turned the bike into a sugar wafer? Speaking of, is the bike better now or is it still cursed? Because it was cursed before Dash entered it so Sakura calming Dash down had nothing to do with the bike being okay.
So, although the episode was pretty dumb in both version, with the unnecessary cuts and odd changes made to the English version, I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the Japanese Card Captor Sakura being the superior!
Episode 54