Dub episode discussion thread

At last, my reviews of each dub episode of last Saturday's marathon, now that I'm done reeling from SM021...

S20 E16: "They Might Not be Giants!"

I’d skipped all of TR’s scenes when I saw this one in Japanese, so now that I’ve seen them, I can say at least they were somewhat important. Though now I see this is the episode where they made those faces that became a meme. God, they’re hideous. First time I’ve ever not liked an over-the-top SM reaction face.

Damn it all, I wish that unnecessary narration over the Stoutland scene was cut out. The JP version has disrespect for humanity’s ability to remember (as well as tons of other things, but still), so I wish the dub would quit inheriting such nonsense, as it makes it look as though it has the same disrespect.

So that annoying-as-fuck theme that sounds like a bunch of wild animals aimlessly striking instruments (I'm talking about that noise that played over Popplio and the others floating away) got replaced. Excellent. It’s definitely the funniest bit of dub music thus far. Nothing else to note music-wise.

Average episode overall.

S20 E17: "Crystal-Clear Sleuthing!"

For fuck’s sake, dub, quit keeping unnecessary narration. Just because the JP version enjoys sticking it to the all-important rule of “show, don’t tell” doesn’t mean you need to. It’s okay to deviate from the JP version!

Can’t believe I’m saying this, but, this episode was just as useless in English as it was in Japanese. Only Marc Swint's performance as Kiawe was memorable.

S20 E18: "A Seasoned Search!"

If the “forgotten recipe” was in a cookbook (no matter how antiquated), it’s not entirely forgotten.

I wonder if we’ll ever know what Bewear thinks of TR basically renovating its home.

About time Mallow got a focus episode. Jessica Paquet must’ve been so bored before now. And now Mallow has a Steenee. As far as evolution episodes go, this was a fun one.

Neat! Oricorio’s mambo-esque theme returned! See this is why I don’t mind when the dub reuses music; it generally has more rhyme and reason to said reuse. Like here, for example: that mambo-esque theme I mentioned hasn’t been heard since SM008, and both times had to do with Oricorio. Oh, and a lot of yes to the return of the “Under the Alolan Sun” instrumental during the Sweet Scent scene. And as for the other Sweet Scent scene (the one that kept speeding up), I know nobody will believe me when I say this, but I liked how the JP version did that part. And I’m happy the dub kept the joke with its own music. But then it had to keep that use of the Hall of Fame theme, which I felt would’ve fit better sometime after Bounsweet evolved. Mima acted too soon with that track’s use. The battle theme on the other hand was a good choice of JP music retention. So, in general, though I’ll always prefer the dub’s music, I can admit when the JP music is done right.

So, good episode.

S20 E19: "A Guardian Rematch!"

This episode’s JP version brings to mind a question I’ve had for a long time: why does it think that disgusting phlegmy throat-clearing sound is “cool?” It was tough enough getting through the Zoroark movie with that damn sound being uttered by the eponymous Pokemon. Now I had to hear it from my favorite Alola Legendary??? Needless to say, I liked Erica Schroeder’s performance as Tapu Koko. I don’t care if it sounds a lot like her Pidove voice.

Now that I’ve gotten my JP version complaint out of the way, there’s something about the dub I need to bring up. Sophocles’ dad referring to his wife as “Sophocles’ mom.” I know it’s a part of Japanese culture to refer to the spouse that way, but it doesn’t fully translate to other cultures (as far as I know; certainly not in the case of any English-speaking one). This is one of the only problems I have with the dub: its tendency to be overly literal with its translation. It doesn’t need to be a complete facsimile if the JP version, so it should cut down on trying to be.

Can’t say I’m happy the XY Trainer Battle theme got kept (can’t even stick to the corresponding generation’s game soundtrack, huh?), but I guess there’s worse choices of music to retain. Same to the Title Screen theme at the episode’s end. Can’t say much about the dub music, as it was just its standard good.

And overall, it’s a pity this episode wasn’t so important after all. What even happened? Pikachu got faster? Whoop-de-doo. Neither of the battles in this episode were all that good, especially the one this episode was about. So, consider me unimpressed.

S20 E20: "Partner Promises!"

I get on the JP version for overacting/underacting, but I have to admit that the dub ran into a variation of that in this episode: Lillie did quite an overread in the episode’s beginning that made it sound like she called Lana “Luna.”

It’s not often I criticize the dub’s music editing, but there was a little mistake after the title card: it used the XY dub version of the Fashion Theme (so I titled because of its association with Pokemon Showcases back in the XY saga), as evidenced by the accordion section. If it were the SM version, there would be a steel drum section replacing the accordion. The rest of the dub music worked out great, though. Another return of the “Under the Alolan Sun” instrumental was welcome for the Exeggcutor scene. And that theme that went over Ash’s reminiscence (which made its debut back in SM007’s dub) was excellent here. Tapu Lele’s theme was beautifully mystic-sounding. A lot of hard work goes into composing and editing the dub’s music, and occasional mistakes here and there really don’t ruin the end result, so I don’t know what people are talking about when they say TPCi “drops the ball” on the soundtrack.

This wasn’t an important episode, either, but it was still a neat one to see. Ash and Pikachu might not have enough character to carry a whole series by themselves, but it’s still nice to spend some time with just them every now and then. At first I thought he’d catch that Wimpod, but it’s fine that he didn’t. I wonder if Ash struck as much a chord with Tapu Lele as he did with Tapu Koko. I guess we’ll see. But in general, an episode doesn't need to be important to be good.

S20 E21: "One Journey Ends, Another Begins..."

Now that I can finally think straight about this episode and focus on stuff other than its biggest improvement…

How many times do I have to tell this show that abundant narration isn’t necessary?!

I already said my piece about the big moment’s dub music saving it, but how’s the rest of the soundtrack? Well, of course it was great. I like how that recurring tragic cue for the falling leaves built up to a devastating climax in said big moment. That piano piece (the one that made its debut in SM007) that went over everyone keeping vigil by Litten seems to have received an alternate mix, and it’s glorious, especially its buildup to the point where Stoutland appeared in the clouds. Believe it or not, *THAT’S* the true musical highlight of this dub episode, and of the SM dub so far.

The episode itself was great. It was indeed as emotional as people and Kotaku were saying it was. Not much time was spent on Stoutland in episodes prior, but it still worked out just fine. It really was tragic. But I have to admit, I don’t like its ending. Ash’s capture of Litten was too soon, I felt. I mean, it just lost its best friend; it ought to be allowed just a bit more time. I mean, I know Litten did reach the “acceptance” step of the Stages of Grief, but still. But it is a relief that it didn’t harm the episode overall. So, yes, this was definitely a landmark.

Alright, so, character themes are fine and all, but TPCI plays them almost EVERY TIME said character appears.

Character themes are only supposed to be played when that character is doing something that's worthwhile.

And it is worse when they cut off one song suddenly to play a character's song just because they are talking.

Sorry about this, just watching some dub clips and this really bothered me, so I needed to get it off my chest.

GUYS, MY EMOTIONS ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE RIGHT NOW AND I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THAT FUCKING EPISODE, I'M SO SORRY!

I didn't watch the entire Stoutland passes away episode in English. But did they fill all silent moments with music? They did, didn't they?

It is what made the episode emotional, the huge amount of silence, it made you know something bad was going to happen to Mooland.

In fact in the original it was only at the end were the music picked up, when Nyabby had its new resolve, meaning it's time to move on.

That was the whole point, the Japanese version was giving you all the same feelings the episode was giving out by the music handling.

Also how is Kuki saying "I'm sorry" in the dub over him saying "Don't ask" in the original making it more obvious about what happened?

Here's the answer: it doesn't. It gives out the exact same feeling over saying "Stoutland is dead" while not saying "Stoutland is dead".

In the original, Kuki was feeling so upset doesn't want to talk about it, while in the dub, Kuki was feeling terrible about what happened.

And yes I guess that does make Kuki come off as much more kinder in the dub (so some you would prefer it) but yeah, that's basically it.

I'm okay with people wanting the Snowbelle City theme to be replaced, but if you seriously thought this scene needed music, no, just no:



What made this scene so goddamn powerful is that there was barley any sound, even hardcore fans of the dub should be able to see that this is better.

Okay, I'm done, I know I must have pissed Ryu off a lot. Seriously dude, why can't you be more like Trey? But I'm very sorry, I just had to get this all out.

I find both versions of his voice annoying as they are both doing the meowing cat-talk voice and that can never be appealing.

But I learned to deal with it, both Japanese and English, because I've been watching the Pokémon anime for a very long time.

Also i am glad to see nothing in my post didn't upset you like I thought, I just assumed it would as a similar post did just that.

In just about every possible regard, the JP version is an infuriating failure. I say this because despite the fact that I never saw this episode in Japanese in its entirety, I saw that "STRIKE" clip spammed everywhere on Twitter, which confirmed to me that the JP version can even fail at humor. And what a failure at humor it was. It's the absolute worst joke I've ever experienced in my life. Even when I quit watching it, I can't get the JP version out of my life, which is why I have no problems whatsoever laying into it. It hurts me, so I use Counter on it (there, I can make terrible puns, too, except I, like everyone not writing for the JP version, am better at it).

Of course, I never thought the dub could do anything with that...no, it doesn't deserve the honor of the j-word even in airquotes. But anyway, I was right; it became complete nonsense. But I'll take complete nonsense over the abomination against humor the JP version gave the world.

To be honest, that's all I think is worth saying about this episode because in general, it sucked. It was like watching an actual baseball game on TV: unengaging. I'll just stick to "The Sandlot", Disney's "Casey at the Bat" short, any LP of "Winnie the Pooh Home Run Derby", and other such stuff to satisfy any baseball fix. In fact, to quote the first of those: "You play ball like a GIRL!!!"

The absolute worst SM episode so far.

US trailer


UK trailer


The following things are confirmed once and for all about M20's dub: the TPCi cast is in it, it'll have dub music, and it'll be playing in theaters on November 5 and 6. Tickets are sold here, so get them while you can (and yes, showing for countries other than America are included, and if not now, they will be later): www.fathomevents.com/events/pokemon-the-movie?utm_source=pokemon&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=pokemon+movie&utm_term=client+%28pokemon%29

Now then, my thoughts on it: while I do maintain that the movie will still likely suck since TPCi doesn't alter the general plot and characters of the show/movie, the dub's acting and music look fantastic from the trailer alone. Even the logo which looked cheap on the poster ended up looking amazing with some animation on it. I've got my ticket to see it.