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"Enter Pandora! Black Magician
User" |
6-19-01 | |
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" Master of Magicians (Part 1 of 3)" | 2-8-03 |
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Ah, my favorite episode. The Japanese version isn't great, the villain is really non-threatening and the only interesting aspect of the show is that Pandora uses the Black Magician and the historical tie-ins. The 4Kids version adds unintentional humor to the entire three-part arc in the form of Dark Energy Disks, where one touch can send your mind to the Shadow Realm (believe me, you'll know when this concept is first introduced in the comparison), paint edits on the cards and animation, Pandora/Arkana given an extremely homosexual-sounding voice (people, we're talking Richard Simmons on helium), and that's on top of the usual stuff. Just wait and see, this comparison is quite colorful. Enjoy the ride! |
| This opening scene involves a bully that is having a problem with the rules of Battle City. Mokuba steps in, but Kaiba decides this is the appropriate time for a nether-region wagging contest, and challenges the bully to a duel. He gives the bully an entire briefcase of the rarest cards in the game, and shows off his Obelisk card, leaving the bully's stuff in ruins. Pretty much the same, but I wanted to sum this up in two boxes to get to the Pandora part of the episode. |
| The other of the "two boxes" for the opening scene, Kaiba calls the bully "shamoshii duelist" in Japanese which translates to "mean duelist". Not a big change, I equate it to having bread and butter without any jam in the morning. Not a huge deal. |
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"The Millennium Necklace allowed her to withstand my attack" - Marik We've already established that Marik has a terrible, terrible voice in the dub, and this brief bit of dialogue just reinforces that he shouldn't be taken seriously. The dubbers add this little bit so that the kiddies can get excited about a Millennium Rod-Millennium Necklace contest, but really there is nothing like that in the real version. Malik and Isis were having a conversation. Isis tells Malik it is his duty to serve the Pharaoh, but Malik responds that he wants to break this myth using the God cards. Malik uses the Rod to force her to let him pass, there is no Necklace-Rod contest that the 4Kids dubbers try to convey. |
| Now, the good part. After this recollection of the dialogue between himself and Isis/Ishizu, Malik calls on his minion Pandora to finish Yuugi Mutoh. In the dub, he claims this is to soften up the Pharaoh. In any event, this is where the episode gets fun. First off, a bit of dialogue change. In the dub, Grandpa and the cheerleading gang of Tea, Tristan, and others are congratulating Joey on his Espa Roba victory. In the Japanese, they have already put this behind them and are talking to Jounouchi about fighting for Shizuka now that her bandages will be coming off. I'm on the fence on this one. Is the Japanese dialogue better or the dub's? |
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(Cut: 10 Seconds) Cut is a little scene where, when things were looking pretty awful for Jounouchi, Yuugi thinks to himself, "Don't give up until the last second. Where there's will, there's hope." 4Kids took this out! They had to add in pointless dialogue earlier but now at this perfect moment for an interjection they take it out? Remember what I said about the doobie? Yeah, big time light-up when they were doing this episode. |
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"My master is waiting for you"- Random Clown The clown doesn't talk in the Japanese version. Why, oh why can't there be silence in the dub? Just once? Gah! Anyway, NOW is where the episode gets good. Yuugi disappears into a magic box, opening the door to a duel against a fellow user of the Black Magicians, Arkana. "You're not worthy to have me in your deck. It's time you met the true master of the Dark Magician!"- New Dark Magician in the dub This is a gem uttered in the dub by a Dark Magician Yugi has never seen before. However, the dialogue was less lame, instead rather creepy in the real version: "I've been waiting for you. Please play with my master, Pandora. Only one in the world can control the Black Magician, and that's my master Pandora." And now, the moment you have been waiting for- the introduction of Pandora! Here's how the dub handles it: "Hello, Yugi. I am the illusionist known as Arkana! Soon your Dark Magician will be playing for me!"- In Arkana's dub terrible homosexual squeaking voice Heh heh heh. You have to hear this to grasp the hilarity. The unintentional humor dictates that Yugi's Dark Magician will soon be playing for him, therefore, on the other team, therefore entering Arkana's world of fairies and pixie dust. In the Japanese Pandora just introduces himself and says he is the #2 Rare Hunter. |
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In the dub, Arkana (in squeaky Richard Simmons on helium voice) says his
superiors have ordered a real spectacle. That leads Yawmee to think to
himself if Marik is his superior. In the real version, Pandora flat out
says Malik is his boss. In fact, he makes it clear Malik is the superior
from the beginning, when he calls himself the #2 Rare Hunter. Why the
ambiguity in the dub? Then, they shuffle each other's decks as is the custom, and in the dub Yawmee warns Arkana not to try sleight of hand. In the real version, he worries that Pandora's shuffling will hurt his cards. Finally, the dueling platform is revealed, which shackles both Pandora and Yuugi in place with a special twist in both versions. In the Japanese, buzzsaws are revealed which would cut the loser's legs off when the loser reaches 0 Life Points. In the dub, 4Kids decided to go with this gem: |
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"These are Dark Energy Disks. One touch and your mind will be sent to the
Shadow Realm!"- Arkana Again, you must hear this because he squeaks all the way through that sentence. Now, grasp it. Dark Energy Disks. Might as well have just cut out the entire freaking 3-parter, 4Kids, because this is the lamest thing you have ever done. Dark freaking Energy Disks instead of the original metal rotating saws. Shadow Realm. At the very least they could have said that one touch would kill you, and maybe make the disks poisoned or something, but no. Dark Energy Disks. Shadow Realm. Obviously in the real version, Pandora points out the obvious and says that the loser would be "cut in half", really just the legs, but same principle. |
| 4Kids brings the whole Dark Energy Disk thing home even more by putting shiny color-changing paint on top of the buzzsaws so instead of metal, spiky, circular, rotating saws you see shiny, non-spiky, kid friendly, circular rotating blobs. |
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(Cut: 30 Seconds) A great historical parallel is cut out of the ending, because obviously since 4Kids changed Pandora's name to Arkana they had to cut this out, but the Japanese writers explain, complete with illustrations, through Pandora's dialogue, that Zeus sealed all misery into Pandora's Box. This scene of Zeus sealing the box and Pandora opening it, and the shred of hope in the box's bottom, is completely eradicated. Pity. |
English Episode 58 Ends
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