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| Episode Comparisons | Orange Islands
Episode
Stats:
Japanese Episode 116: "A Rival Showdown! Satoshi vs. Shigeru!!"
American Episode 311: "The Rivalry Revival"
Pokémon Dare Da? Eevee (Japanese), Dewgong (English)
Dr. Ookido's Pokémon Course: Saihorn
Japanese Air Date: October 7th, 1999
American Air Date: October 14th, 2000
Important People: Gantetsu (Kurt)
Important Places: Johto Region (Johto Region), Wakaba Town (New Bark Town), Hiwada Town (Azalea Town)
Thoughts
Whenever I do one of these Episode Comparisons I always like to go back to old message board review threads from back in the day to see what the fans were talking about back then, and I have to say I found it really interesting to see just how differently they reacted to the Satoshi vs. Shigeru battle in this episode compared to the way they'd react to later battles in the series. Here, Satoshi's Pikachu -- who took down a whole entire Kairyu just a few episodes ago -- loses to an unevolved Eevee trained by a kid who did worse than its Trainer did in the Sekiei League. And yet, I didn't see there being nearly as much fan outrage at this outcome than, say, there was with Pikachu vs. Tsutarja at the start of Best Wishes!, or Satoshi vs. Kasumi during the Mezase Pokémon Master series. There were a few complaints, sure, but nothing like what we'd see in the years to come. If this Orange Islands episode had aired today, Satoshi's loss would have been considered the greatest insult to his character ever, a terrible stain on his legacy that shows just how little the writers care about the show and its fans. But back in 1999, it was fine! And I kind of miss those days, if I'm being honest.
"A Rival Showdown! Satoshi vs. Shigeru!!" also introduces us to a softer, slightly more mature version of Satoshi's rival. Shigeru's given up the red sports car and his girlfriends after his low placement in the Sekiei League, and he's actually grown to be not as purposefully obnoxious as he was in the past. It's kind of jarring, actually! I mean, not nearly as jarring as, say, final Diamond & Pearl episode Rocket trio vs. first Best Wishes! episode Rocket trio, though I suppose a lot of that has to do with how it's been a little while since we actually last Shigeru, making the feeling of whiplash that much less severe. We'll be seeing Shigeru 2.0 throughout the entire rest of his time on the show, and while I do wish it had happened a bit more gradually I do think, at the end of the day, that it's still nice that even the recurring side characters like Shigeru get to change and grow throughout their time on the series.
The other big part of the episode was the show deciding to keep Satoshi around for another saga. I don't really mind, personally, though I can't help but wonder just how much different things would have been if this episode had served as Satoshi's final curtain bow. Can you imagine the domino effect that would've taken place if the kids from the Legend of Thunder special took over from the next episode onward? I don't know if anyone involved in the show's ever talked about why they decided to continue with Satoshi instead of swapping him out with a new protagonist, but if I had to guess I'd say it's probably because it was a whole lot easier to just keep Satoshi around. If you replace the show's main cast then you also have to come up with a ton of new character designs, cast new actors for each new character you create, figure out how to incorporate Pikachu into the story (as it is the mascot of the show at this point), and probably a million other logistical nightmares we can't even begin to imagine. I also can't help but wonder if there was any sort of negative reaction to Kenji replacing Takeshi (I haven't been able to find much on the Japan side regarding this, for what it's worth), causing the show's producers to be like "Well if they're this upset over us replacing one character then how are they going to react if we get rid of the whole cast?" And so maybe they restored the original trio, just to be on the safe side? I don't know, and we may never find out the truth, but it's still fun to wonder about what could have been.
The 4Kids English dub is the same as it always is, really. Entire conversations get rewritten, Delia's weird obsession with her son's underwear makes a comeback, there's a few absolutely pointless paint edits, an odd series of cuts, the replacement dub soundtrack is still ever present, etc. etc. Will the company's upcoming dub of the Gold & Silver portion of the TV series be any better than its work on the Red & Green & Blue portion? Well...no, and in fact you can even argue that things'll only get worse from here on out. But hey, at least 4Kids has ensured I'll have plenty to talk about in the hundreds of comparisons yet to come!
Shigeru's Eevee keeps its Japanese voice.
Cut -- 2 seconds, Added Footage -- 2 seconds
During the recap of the previous episode, a shot of Satoshi running ahead and then a large chunk of the cut to all black gets removed from the dub. It's kind of hard to explain in just words so let's take a look at the two versions side-by-side to illustrate what I mean.
My guess is that 4Kids probably thought the cut to black up there went on too long (putting aside the fact they had no problem with keeping it as-is in the actual episode itself) and so they removed nearly all of it, and then to keep from having any noticeable skips in the background music they also lengthened the other shots around it to make sure this sequence ends up being the same length in the English version as it is in the Japanese version. The result, unfortunately, is that the initial shot of Satoshi and his friends walking now suffers the same abysmal framerate as a post-Pokémon Shock edit episode.
Anyway, 4Kids creates an awkward music skip not even thirty seconds after all this when they edit it so that the background track, which in the Japanese version plays all through the title screen and then even a little bit after, is stopped right before the episode's title screen. So if the reason for the edits above was "to enable us to shorten the cut to black while also not having the music skip," but then the show makes a soundtrack edit just a few seconds later that does cause the music to skip, then what was even the point?
Dialogue Edit
Gary sets up the rules for the battle:
Originally Shigeru wants them to battle each other with only their number ones, and so the fact that Shigeru chooses to go with Eevee tells us he trusts his Evolution Pokémon the most out of all the ones on his team. Likewise, Satoshi going with Pikachu (instead of Lizardon, for example) is for of the same reason. This explanation is removed from the 4Kids dub.
Also, Gary's "a one-on-one battle to the finish" sounds suspiciously a lot like one of those "battle to the death" type euphemisms so many 90s made-for-TV-dubs used to come up with back in the day, when in the original he's just telling Satoshi to pick the Pokémon he thinks will do the best in battle.
Our heroes marvel at how well trained Eevee is:
Kenji's surprised Shigeru's keeping Eevee as-is instead of evolving it into one of its three evolved forms (fun fact: neither Eifie nor Bracky's existence had been made public yet!), adding even more fuel to the fire that this Eevee Satoshi's about to fight's going to be unusually strong.
The 4Kids dub changes this to Tracey saying "I bet it's ready to evolve," as if being touched by an evolution stone requires any sort of prep work whatsoever.
Eevee uses Reflect attack:
Kenji's explanation of what Reflect attack does is clearly based on the way the attack works in the Pokémon video games, but since 4Kids doesn't know what those are they kind of just work around it the best they can.
Eevee uses Skull Bash:
Yet another video game term goes unnoticed by the localization team.
Misty sees Ash deep in thought:
Misty only ever talks about Gary throughout this scene, while in the original Kasumi's also interested in what Satoshi's doing sitting out there by himself.
Ash decides that, sure, he'll advertise the next set of games:
The English dub makes it very clear that battling is a key component to becoming a Pokémon Master, something the Japanese version sort of hints at but never actually says outright.
On an unrelated note, it's interesting to see how the English dub has no problems with having the characters mention how Johto is to the "west" of Kanto after spending the last half year or so scrubbing the show's scripts of every mention of the Orange Islands being in the "south." I wonder why "west" is fine but "south" isn't...?
Brock rejoins the group:
One of the symptoms of hypocalcemia is "irritability," which is probably what Takeshi's referring to with his observation here. The dub simplifies this to "eating right."
Brock assures Professor Oak:
Takeshi's love of women isn't brought up in the original at all.
Eyecatch
Shigeru's Pokémon gets replaced with a random Dewgong.
This isn't the first time the English dub has such used an awkward side view image like this before, even though there's no way they didn't have a better image of Dewgong laying around somewhere, right? So I'm thinking, maybe they chose this particular image, on purpose, in order to make this little eyecatch "game" a bit more challenging...? That's what's going on here, right?
Dialogue Edit
Ash's mom starts packing:
Delia's weird obsession with her son's underwear continues, forcing 4Kids to rearrange a bunch of the dialogue in this exchange in order to squeeze it all in.
Misty and Brock discuss their upcoming journey:
T
In the original both Kasumi and Takeshi try to allay any fears Hanako might have about her son setting off on another journey, while Misty and Brock come up with completely different things to say to her.
The Rocket trio makes its way into town:
Aside from rewriting every single line here, the English dub also removes a reference to the Trainer Tips signs from the video games that was in the original script. I'd make yet another comment about 4Kids not knowing video games, bla bla bla, but I think we all pretty much get it by now.
Paint Edit
The Trainer Tips sign gets its scribbles...replaced with different scribbles.
Remember how, a few comparisons ago, I was like "these edits must be being made just to secure funding for additional seasons or something, because there's no way any sane human would decide to spend actual real world money on this sort of nonsense, right?" And after seeing an edit like this...well, actually, I still think that theory tracks pretty well, because what in the hell is this?
Dialogue Edit
The Rocket trio approaches the sign:
The "sharp" pun is...whatever. But the big change here is the claim that Pallet Town is "one mile" away, something not even hinted at in the original.
The Rocket trio spots Gary:
The Rocket trio actually saying any of the good guys' actual names instead of "twerp" or "that kid" or whatever almost never happens, and part of that is probably because whenever they do say their names it ends up sounding super awkward and unnatural. So I'm not really a fan of 4Kids' decision to have Meowth casually use Gary's name here!
Also, James' final line here implies the trio's going to just straight up kidnap this elementary school aged child, which is all kinds of yikes.
Paint Edit
As you can see from the screenshot above, the sign gets edited a second time.
If you click/tap on the images above to enlarge them you'll see the outline around Kojirou's right shoulder's a little bit thinner in the English dub screenshot, as if the editors were in such a hurry that they accidentally shaved some of it away while they were working on this shot. It's not quite "oops, we accidentally erased Musashi's earring" levels or anything, but it still sticks out!
Dialogue Edit
The Rocket trio's motto:
The Japanese version has the trio do the old school version of the motto from their debut episode, the one without the opening "If we're asked about this or that / It's up to the world whether or not we answer" lines that were tacked on in later episodes. But! 4Kids adds their equivalent of those extra opening lines at the beginning of the motto here, for some reason, requiring them to then have to omit the "To denounce the evils of truth and love" and "To extend our reach to the stars above" lines later on in order to get everything to fit.
The trio realizes its mistake:
As you can see the Rocket trio is a lot more self deprecating in the original than they are in the English dub.
Ash is about to eat dinner:
Satoshi's focus on the Johto League is more or less replaced with a focus on home-made cooking instead.
The kids eat what is very conspicuously not a "deep-dish chili-dog pizza-pot pie":
4Kids has made it this far into the series without once mentioning the Orange Islands as being "tropical islands" or in "the south," and by golly they're not about to slip up now!
Paint Edit
The "text" on Satoshi's new Pokémon Bestiary gets erased.
Again, not Japanese (not that it should matter either way), but it still gets erased anyway.
Dialogue Edit
Tracey tells the gang he's not going to Johto:
The big change here is that the 4Kids dub claims Tracey's the one who asked Professor Oak if he can be his assistant when, in the Japanese original it actually happened the other way around.
Ash wants "seconds" (despite the fact he's still very clearly not finished eating):
Tracey says that "Ash taught me to always go for what you really want," implying he sees this kid from Pallet Town's as some sort of inspirational figure he looks up to when in the original Kenji just says he's going to cheer him on.
Also, we can add "future Champion" to the list of Pocket Monsters video game terms that didn't make it over to the 4Kids English dub.
The Rocket trio appears in its latest disguise:
The TV show segment the Rocket-Dan's claiming to be from, Gekitotsu! Tonari no Yuugohan (激突 隣の夕ごはん), or "Nice to Meet Ya! Now What's for Supper?," is an (extremely thinly veiled) homage to a real world TV show segment called Gekitotsu! Tonari no Bangohan (突撃！隣の晩ごはん), or "Nice to Meet Ya! Now What's for Dinner?" The real world TV segment, which was featured on various different TV shows over its 25+ years on the air, featured famous Japanese comedian Yonosuke and his camera crew bursting into random people's homes during dinnertime so he can "interview" the family about what they're having for dinner. The premise is that the family was caught completely off-guard by these unexpected visitors, though in later years it was revealed that everything was arranged with the families beforehand.
The 4Kids dub removes this reference, for obvious reasons, changing the disguise from "Japanese TV comedy segment" to "TV news report." It also adds in a bit about this show being broadcast "live," probably to help set up a play on words that'll come up in just a minute.
The show continues:
The part where Jessie almost slips up and refers to Ash as a "twerp" is a dub invention; there's nothing like that in the original at all.
Jessie continues stuffing her face:
So I guess the premise of the "news report" in the English dub is that the "reporters" who have broken into the Ketchum residence are fully aware of who this Ash Ketchum boy is, and are now doing a report on his imminent departure from Pallet Town...? Nevermind the fact he literally only just made this decision a few hours before?
As you can see, the Japanese version has Musashi talking up the virtues of family and how this gathering at Satoshi’s house reminds her of her mom (or, rather, the mom of the character she's playing right now) instead.
Brock steps in:
This was mentioned in the previous comparison, but the thing that causes Takeshi to go all blue and upset is in the original isn't just the professor's name, it's anything to do with his time in the Orange Islands altogether. "Dr. Uchikido" triggers a reaction like this, sure, but so do phrases like "southern islands" or "that time back then."
I will admit that, as pointless as a rewrite as it is, Jessie's "L-I-V-E" is a pretty clever line.
The Rocket duo makes its escape:
The duo's line Pikachu aru tokoro Roketto-Dan ari! (ピカチュウあると ころロケット団あり！) is yet another one of those character catchphrases the English dub just never bothered bringing over, for whatever reason. It's a phrase the duo'll repeat over and over throughout their entire tenure on the show, and every single time they do it gets a new "translation" in the English dub. This time around, for example, the duo makes TV news related puns instead.
Scyther steps in to save Pikachu:
Guess we can't let Tracey leave the show without his Pokémon getting at least one more attack mistranslation!
Team Rocket blasts off:
The English dub keeps up with the "we're TV reporters on live television" schtick while in the original we hear Nyarth lament the fact that he never got to enjoy any of Hanako's delicious cooking.
Everyone looks back on successfully surviving the Rocket trio's attack:
So in the original, Dr. Ookido isn't telling a joke. He just says "everything's all wrapped up," prompting everyone else to do that thing Japanese cartoons like to do where they have everyone burst out into laughter to serve as an easy transition to the next scene.
My guess is that 4Kids mistakenly thought Dr. Ookido actually was trying to tell a joke here, and that it just wasn't a very good one, and so they changed it so that Professor Oak delivers the forced guardin'/garden pun we see above.
Ash stays up at night:
So 4Kids just rewrote this entire scene, huh? In the original Satoshi's talking to Pikachu while in the English dub he's merely talking at Pikachu.
It's also kind of funny, because the way the scene's written in the dub it sounds like Pikachu's just kind of politely responding to its Trainer so that he'll hopefully shut the hell up and let it get some sleep. And yet Ash just keeps babbling on and on! It's like geez kid, read the room!
Ash gets ready to leave:
I feel like Tracey almost never visits Ash's mom? Professor Oak does all the time, of course, but I don't think the young Pokémon Watcher ever really follows up on Ash's dub-only request here.
Delia says goodbye to her son, which means:
This extra little bit of lore the 4Kids dub came up with, where Ash Ketchum has to constantly be reminded to change his dirty underwear, is of course extremely weird and unsettling. But it also raises questions about why this is even a thing in the first place. Does Ash have a history of going days, maybe even weeks, without changing his boxers? Would the main character of the TV show Pokémon be constantly walking around with skid marks in his underwear if it wasn't for his mom's regular reminders? Do the other kids who travel with him, day in and day out, notice any foul odors and just haven't said anything yet, or do they also have terrible hygiene and so they haven't noticed? The more you think about it the more horrifying the whole thing becomes!
Ash leaves:
Hanako's final line here could probably be seen as being a bit sexist (Sexism!? In a 90s anime!?) so the dub changed it to something completely different.
This page was last updated on December 12th, 2025
Japanese Episode 116: "A Rival Showdown! Satoshi vs. Shigeru!!"
American Episode 311: "The Rivalry Revival"
Pokémon Dare Da? Eevee (Japanese), Dewgong (English)
Dr. Ookido's Pokémon Course: Saihorn
Japanese Air Date: October 7th, 1999
American Air Date: October 14th, 2000
Important People: Gantetsu (Kurt)
Important Places: Johto Region (Johto Region), Wakaba Town (New Bark Town), Hiwada Town (Azalea Town)
Satoshi and Shigeru decide their impromptu match should be a
one-on-one Pokémon battle. Satoshi goes with Pikachu and Shigeru
goes with Eevee, and before long it becomes clear just how well-trained
Shigeru’s trained his Pokémon. Shigeru’s Eevee ends up claiming
victory with a powerful Skull Bash attack, showing Satoshi that he
still has a ways to go on his path to becoming a strong Pokémon
Trainer. Later, Dr. Ookido tells Satoshi that Shigeru’s headed west to
compete in something called the Johto League, inspiring Satoshi to want
to do the same. The professor also reveals he’s been examining the GS
Ball but hasn’t had any more luck than Dr. Uchikido did at discovering
its secrets. So, Dr. Ookido tells Satoshi he’ll need to go to Wakaba
Town first in order to register for the Johto League, and then asks the
young Trainer to visit a Monster Ball expert in Hiwada Town named
Gantetsu to see if maybe he can find out anything about the GS Ball.
Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi all agree to head for the Johto Region
while Kenji, having accomplished his original goal of meeting his hero,
decides to stay behind to work as Dr. Ookido’s lab assistant. That
night, the Rocket trio crash Satoshi’s going-away party and try to
kidnap Pikachu but Kenji’s Pokémon step in to help take care of
the criminals. The next day, Satoshi and his friends say goodbye to
Masara Town before setting off west toward their new adventure in the
Johto Region.
Thoughts
Whenever I do one of these Episode Comparisons I always like to go back to old message board review threads from back in the day to see what the fans were talking about back then, and I have to say I found it really interesting to see just how differently they reacted to the Satoshi vs. Shigeru battle in this episode compared to the way they'd react to later battles in the series. Here, Satoshi's Pikachu -- who took down a whole entire Kairyu just a few episodes ago -- loses to an unevolved Eevee trained by a kid who did worse than its Trainer did in the Sekiei League. And yet, I didn't see there being nearly as much fan outrage at this outcome than, say, there was with Pikachu vs. Tsutarja at the start of Best Wishes!, or Satoshi vs. Kasumi during the Mezase Pokémon Master series. There were a few complaints, sure, but nothing like what we'd see in the years to come. If this Orange Islands episode had aired today, Satoshi's loss would have been considered the greatest insult to his character ever, a terrible stain on his legacy that shows just how little the writers care about the show and its fans. But back in 1999, it was fine! And I kind of miss those days, if I'm being honest.
"A Rival Showdown! Satoshi vs. Shigeru!!" also introduces us to a softer, slightly more mature version of Satoshi's rival. Shigeru's given up the red sports car and his girlfriends after his low placement in the Sekiei League, and he's actually grown to be not as purposefully obnoxious as he was in the past. It's kind of jarring, actually! I mean, not nearly as jarring as, say, final Diamond & Pearl episode Rocket trio vs. first Best Wishes! episode Rocket trio, though I suppose a lot of that has to do with how it's been a little while since we actually last Shigeru, making the feeling of whiplash that much less severe. We'll be seeing Shigeru 2.0 throughout the entire rest of his time on the show, and while I do wish it had happened a bit more gradually I do think, at the end of the day, that it's still nice that even the recurring side characters like Shigeru get to change and grow throughout their time on the series.
The other big part of the episode was the show deciding to keep Satoshi around for another saga. I don't really mind, personally, though I can't help but wonder just how much different things would have been if this episode had served as Satoshi's final curtain bow. Can you imagine the domino effect that would've taken place if the kids from the Legend of Thunder special took over from the next episode onward? I don't know if anyone involved in the show's ever talked about why they decided to continue with Satoshi instead of swapping him out with a new protagonist, but if I had to guess I'd say it's probably because it was a whole lot easier to just keep Satoshi around. If you replace the show's main cast then you also have to come up with a ton of new character designs, cast new actors for each new character you create, figure out how to incorporate Pikachu into the story (as it is the mascot of the show at this point), and probably a million other logistical nightmares we can't even begin to imagine. I also can't help but wonder if there was any sort of negative reaction to Kenji replacing Takeshi (I haven't been able to find much on the Japan side regarding this, for what it's worth), causing the show's producers to be like "Well if they're this upset over us replacing one character then how are they going to react if we get rid of the whole cast?" And so maybe they restored the original trio, just to be on the safe side? I don't know, and we may never find out the truth, but it's still fun to wonder about what could have been.
The 4Kids English dub is the same as it always is, really. Entire conversations get rewritten, Delia's weird obsession with her son's underwear makes a comeback, there's a few absolutely pointless paint edits, an odd series of cuts, the replacement dub soundtrack is still ever present, etc. etc. Will the company's upcoming dub of the Gold & Silver portion of the TV series be any better than its work on the Red & Green & Blue portion? Well...no, and in fact you can even argue that things'll only get worse from here on out. But hey, at least 4Kids has ensured I'll have plenty to talk about in the hundreds of comparisons yet to come!
Shigeru's Eevee keeps its Japanese voice.
Cut -- 2 seconds, Added Footage -- 2 seconds
During the recap of the previous episode, a shot of Satoshi running ahead and then a large chunk of the cut to all black gets removed from the dub. It's kind of hard to explain in just words so let's take a look at the two versions side-by-side to illustrate what I mean.
| Japanese |
English |
 |
|
| The
Japanese version of this scene starts with Satoshi and his friends
walking at regular speed.
This shot lasts one second. |
The
English dub starts the same way, except the scene is artificially
slowed way down to stretch it out to three seconds, not just one. |
 |
|
| We
then see Satoshi running toward the the screen. This portion
is removed from the dub completely. |
Meanwhile,
the English version is still on this initial walking sequence. |
 |
|
| In
the Japanese version, this cut to all black lasts almost two seconds. |
But
in the English dub, it lasts less than a second. |
 |
|
| And
then we see Takeshi turning around at the very end. |
The
two versions sync up again with this shot of Brock. |
My guess is that 4Kids probably thought the cut to black up there went on too long (putting aside the fact they had no problem with keeping it as-is in the actual episode itself) and so they removed nearly all of it, and then to keep from having any noticeable skips in the background music they also lengthened the other shots around it to make sure this sequence ends up being the same length in the English version as it is in the Japanese version. The result, unfortunately, is that the initial shot of Satoshi and his friends walking now suffers the same abysmal framerate as a post-Pokémon Shock edit episode.
Anyway, 4Kids creates an awkward music skip not even thirty seconds after all this when they edit it so that the background track, which in the Japanese version plays all through the title screen and then even a little bit after, is stopped right before the episode's title screen. So if the reason for the edits above was "to enable us to shorten the cut to black while also not having the music skip," but then the show makes a soundtrack edit just a few seconds later that does cause the music to skip, then what was even the point?
Dialogue Edit
Gary sets up the rules for the battle:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| シゲル 「お互い育てたなかでいちばん自信のあるポケモン１匹だけでバトルしよ
うじゃないか」 |
Shigeru: "How about we battle
using the Pokémon we have the most confidence in out of all the
ones we've raised?" |
Gary: "Maybe the best way to
do this is for each of us to pick just one Pokémon and have a
one-on-one battle to the finish." |
| サトシ 「１対１か…」 |
Satoshi: "So a one-on-one
battle huh..." |
Ash: "That's fine with me.
Urh." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカ！」 |
Pikachu: "Pika!" |
Pikachu: "Pika!" |
| サトシ 「うん。オレのポケモンは ピカチュウだ！」 |
Satoshi: "OK. Then I'll go
with Pikachu!" |
Ash: "Uhn. I'm gonna battle
with Pikachu!" |
| ピカチュウ 「ピーカ！」 | Pikachu: "Piika!" |
Pikachu: "Piika!" |
| シゲル 「なるほど…ならば…いこう！ パートナー」 |
Shigeru: "That makes sense. In
that case...let's go, partner!" |
Gary: "Just as I thought. Good
choice. I choose you!" |
| イーブイ
「ブイ！」 |
Eevee: "Vee!" |
Eevee: "Vee!" |
Originally Shigeru wants them to battle each other with only their number ones, and so the fact that Shigeru chooses to go with Eevee tells us he trusts his Evolution Pokémon the most out of all the ones on his team. Likewise, Satoshi going with Pikachu (instead of Lizardon, for example) is for of the same reason. This explanation is removed from the 4Kids dub.
Also, Gary's "a one-on-one battle to the finish" sounds suspiciously a lot like one of those "battle to the death" type euphemisms so many 90s made-for-TV-dubs used to come up with back in the day, when in the original he's just telling Satoshi to pick the Pokémon he thinks will do the best in battle.
Our heroes marvel at how well trained Eevee is:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| タケシ 「よく育てられている」 |
Takeshi: "It's been raised
well." |
Brock: "Gary's raised it very
well." |
| ケンジ 「イーブイか…ブースター、
シャワーズ、サンダースのどれかに進化させるトレーナーが多いと聞くけど…」 |
Kenji: "And it's still an
Eevee? But I
heard a lot of Trainers tend to evolve it into either a Showers, a
Booster, or a Thunders..." |
Tracey: "Yeah, Brock's right. I bet it's ready to evolve into a Flareon, a Jolteon, or a Vaporeon." |
Kenji's surprised Shigeru's keeping Eevee as-is instead of evolving it into one of its three evolved forms (fun fact: neither Eifie nor Bracky's existence had been made public yet!), adding even more fuel to the fire that this Eevee Satoshi's about to fight's going to be unusually strong.
The 4Kids dub changes this to Tracey saying "I bet it's ready to evolve," as if being touched by an evolution stone requires any sort of prep work whatsoever.
Eevee uses Reflect attack:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ケンジ 「あのリフレクター強力な効果を持ってるな」 |
Kenji: "That Reflect is really
powerful." |
Tracey: "I've seen a lot of
Reflect attacks but never one like that." |
| カスミ 「えっ？」 |
Kasumi: "Huh?" |
Misty: "Huh?" |
| ケンジ 「リフレクターって物理攻撃の効果を半減させるけどあのイーブイほとん
どダメージを受けていない！」 |
Kenji: "Reflect's only
supposed to cut the effects of physical attacks down to half, but that
Eevee's barely taken even that much!" |
Tracey: "Does it look to you
like Eevee felt even half of Pikachu's Quick Attack? Not to me. It
looks more like it didn't feel it at all." |
| カスミ 「それだけイーブイのレベルが高いってこと？」 |
Kasumi: "Does that mean his
Eevee's at a really high level?" |
Misty: "I guess that means
Gary's Eevee is at a really high level." |
Kenji's explanation of what Reflect attack does is clearly based on the way the attack works in the Pokémon video games, but since 4Kids doesn't know what those are they kind of just work around it the best they can.
Eevee uses Skull Bash:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ケンジ 「早いぞあのイーブイ」 |
Kenji: "That Eevee's so fast!" |
Tracey: "Eevee's a lot
stronger than it looks!" |
| カスミ 「会心の一撃だわ」 |
Kasumi: "It's a critical hit!" |
Misty: "I think Pikachu's in
real trouble!" |
Yet another video game term goes unnoticed by the localization team.
Misty sees Ash deep in thought:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| カスミ 「な～にしてんのかな～？」 |
Kasumi: "Whacha doin' out
here?" |
Misty: "Wanna know where Gary
is?" |
| サトシ 「べ… 別に」 |
Satoshi: "N...Nothing." |
Ash: "Why should I care?" |
| カスミ 「シゲル 旅に出ちゃったよ」 |
Kasumi: "You know, Shigeru's
left on a new journey." |
Misty: "He's out on a new
journey already." |
| サトシ 「あ… 旅？ どこに？」 |
Satoshi: "Ah! He is? To where?" |
Ash: "He is? To where?" |
Misty only ever talks about Gary throughout this scene, while in the original Kasumi's also interested in what Satoshi's doing sitting out there by himself.
Ash decides that, sure, he'll advertise the next set of games:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「オレも西に行く！ジョウトリーグにオレも挑戦するんだ。オレだって
もっともっと上のレベルを目指す！」 |
Satoshi: "I'll go west, too.
And I'm also going to challenge the Johto League. Shigeru's not the
only one looking to level up!" |
Ash: "I gotta do that, too. If
I'm gonna become a Pokémon Master then I have to battle with the
best so I'm gonna try for this Johto League." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカチュウ」 |
Pikachu: "Pikachu!" | Pikachu: "Pikachu!" |
| サトシ 「ピカチュウ 頑張ろうぜ」 |
Satoshi: "Pikachu, let's do
our best." |
Ash: "I know we can make it,
Pikachu." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピッ」 |
Pikachu: "Pi" | Pikachu: "Pi" |
| サトシ 「ポケモンマスターを目指すんだったら立ち止まってなんかいられないん
だ」 |
Satoshi: "After all, I can't
just sit
around and do nothing if my goal's to be a Pokémon Master." |
Ash: "And I will become a Pokémon Master. I just have to start training as hard as I can." |
The English dub makes it very clear that battling is a key component to becoming a Pokémon Master, something the Japanese version sort of hints at but never actually says outright.
On an unrelated note, it's interesting to see how the English dub has no problems with having the characters mention how Johto is to the "west" of Kanto after spending the last half year or so scrubbing the show's scripts of every mention of the Orange Islands being in the "south." I wonder why "west" is fine but "south" isn't...?
Brock rejoins the group:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| タケシ 「まったく。２人とも全然成長してないな」 |
Takeshi: "Wow, you two haven't
grown up at all." |
Brock: "I guess I should have
known you two wouldn't get along without me." |
| サトシとカスミ 「んっ？“２人とも”？」 |
Satoshi and Kasumi: "What do
you mean 'you two'!?" |
Ash and Misty: "What are you
talking about, Brock?" |
| タケシ 「カルシウムが不足してるぞ。やっぱりオレがいなくちゃダメなんだよな
あ」 |
Takeshi: "You're
obviously not
getting enough calcium. I guess you can't do without me after all,
huh." |
Brock: "With me around you'll
start training right, eating right, and fighting right, just like you
used to." |
| サトシ 「え？ タケシ 一緒に行くの？」 |
Satoshi: "Oh? Does that mean
you're coming
with us?" |
Ash: "Uh, you mean you're..." |
| タケシ 「当たり前だ！」 |
Takeshi: "Of course it does!" |
Brock: "Yeah, Brock's back!" |
One of the symptoms of hypocalcemia is "irritability," which is probably what Takeshi's referring to with his observation here. The dub simplifies this to "eating right."
Brock assures Professor Oak:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| タケシ 「オーキド博士ご心配なく。自分がついております」 |
Takeshi: "Don't worry, Dr.
Ookido. I'll be with them the whole time." |
Brock: "And don't you worry,
Professor. I'll be there to keep my eye on 'em the whole time." |
| カスミ 「あ～ら。でもさっき西と東を間違えてたけどね」 |
Kasumi: "Don't worry? Weren't
you the one who couldn't tell east from west earlier?" |
Misty: "You mean you'll keep
your eye on us the whole time there's not a pretty girl in sight." |
| タケシ 「そっ… そういう細かいことを気にしてたら旅は楽しめないぞ
カスミ」 |
Takeshi: "Y'know, Kasumi, our
journey's not going to be any
fun if you keep getting caught up on minor details like that." |
Brock: "Well, maybe I am a
little more interested in girls than I am in geography." |
| カスミ 「よく言うわ！」 |
Kasumi: "Nice save!" |
Misty: "Maybe just a little!" |
Takeshi's love of women isn't brought up in the original at all.
Eyecatch
Shigeru's Pokémon gets replaced with a random Dewgong.
 |
 |
This isn't the first time the English dub has such used an awkward side view image like this before, even though there's no way they didn't have a better image of Dewgong laying around somewhere, right? So I'm thinking, maybe they chose this particular image, on purpose, in order to make this little eyecatch "game" a bit more challenging...? That's what's going on here, right?
Dialogue Edit
Ash's mom starts packing:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「あれ？ 何してんの？」 |
Satoshi: "Huh? What're you
doing?" |
Ash: "What are you doing with
my backpack?" |
| ハナコ 「さっき博士から電話があってね。お前 また 旅に出るんでしょ？」 |
Hanako: "The professor called
just now. You're setting out on another journey, right?" |
Delia: "I'm putting in some
fresh you-know-what. I was just on the phone with Professor Oak... |
| サトシ 「うん」 |
Satoshi: "Right..." |
(no
dialogue) |
| ハナコ 「だから…荷造り」 |
Hanako: "And so...I'm packing
your bags." |
Delia: "...so I'm packing
things up for you." |
| サトシ 「え…」 |
Satoshi: "Huh..." |
Ash: "Uh..." |
| ハナコ 「はい」 |
Hanako: "Here ya go." |
Delia: "Here." |
| サトシ 「あ… ありがと」 |
Satoshi: "Th...Thank you." |
Ash: "Then...you know I'm
leaving?" |
Delia's weird obsession with her son's underwear continues, forcing 4Kids to rearrange a bunch of the dialogue in this exchange in order to squeeze it all in.
Misty and Brock discuss their upcoming journey:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| カスミ 「ママさん、あたしたちもついていきますからどうぞ、ご心配なく」 |
Kasumi: "Mama-san, we're
tagging along
too so please don't worry about a thing." |
Misty: "It'll be great! In the
Johto League there'll be new Trainers and new Pokémon and new
everything!" |
| タケシ 「そうです」 |
Takeshi: "That's right!" |
Brock: "But don't worry!" |
| カスミ 「うっ」 |
Kasumi: "Whoa!" |
Misty: "Ack!" |
| タケシ 「サトシくんの健康管理は自分にお任せください」 |
Takeshi: "And I'll be the one
making sure Satoshi-kun stays healthy." |
Brock: "I know you're
disappointed I'm leaving but Mr. Mime will be able to fill in for me." |
| ハナコ 「う…
それじゃあ今夜は豪華なお料理にしなくちゃね。旅立ちをどどーんと盛り上げちゃいましょう」 |
Hanako: "Ah...So I guess we'd
better have a big feast tonight. Let's get everyone pumped up for your
new adventure!" |
Delia: "Well, I'd better get
to work and cook up a big 'bon voyage' dinner in honor of this joyous
occasion." |
| サトシ 「ええ。そんな大げさな」 |
Satoshi: "Eh, don't you think
you're overdoing it?" |
Ash: "You don't have to be that happy." |
In the original both Kasumi and Takeshi try to allay any fears Hanako might have about her son setting off on another journey, while Misty and Brock come up with completely different things to say to her.
The Rocket trio makes its way into town:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| コジロウ 「イテ イテテ… イテ～もう… やっと戻ってこれたよ～」 |
Kojirou: "Ouch...ow
ow...ow...we finally made it back." |
James: "Uh...I'd sell my soul
to rest my soles." |
| ニャース 「マサラタウン、どっちニャ～」 |
Nyarth: "Which way is it to
Masara Town Nya?" |
Meowth: "Let's take a pause so
I can rest my paws." |
| ムサシ 「あら？見て見て。お得な掲示板」 |
Musashi: "Huh? Hey look! A
Trainer Tips sign!" |
Jessie: "Huh? Let's see what
that sign says." |
Aside from rewriting every single line here, the English dub also removes a reference to the Trainer Tips signs from the video games that was in the original script. I'd make yet another comment about 4Kids not knowing video games, bla bla bla, but I think we all pretty much get it by now.
Paint Edit
The Trainer Tips sign gets its scribbles...replaced with different scribbles.
 |
 |
Remember how, a few comparisons ago, I was like "these edits must be being made just to secure funding for additional seasons or something, because there's no way any sane human would decide to spend actual real world money on this sort of nonsense, right?" And after seeing an edit like this...well, actually, I still think that theory tracks pretty well, because what in the hell is this?
Dialogue Edit
The Rocket trio approaches the sign:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| コジロウ 「マサラタウンこの先…この先？」 |
Kojirou: "Masara Town,
straight ahead...that means that way?" |
James: "Pallet Town, one
mile...that way." |
| ニャース 「あっほれ！見るニャ！」 |
Nyarth: "You guys, look! Over
there Nya!" |
Meowth: "Hey you two, look
sharp." |
| コジロウ 「爪か？」 |
Kojirou: "At your claw?" |
James: "Sure does." |
| ニャース 「あがっ！違うニャ！あっちニャ」 |
Nyarth: "Bwah. Not that Nya! Over there!" |
Meowth: "Bwah. That's not what
I meant! Look there!" |
The "sharp" pun is...whatever. But the big change here is the claim that Pallet Town is "one mile" away, something not even hinted at in the original.
The Rocket trio spots Gary:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| コジロウ 「おおっ！あいつは！」 |
Kojirou: "Oh! It's that kid!" |
James: "That kid again!" |
| ムサシ 「イヤな感じ～なヤツ」 |
Musashi: "The one who made us
go 'that feels bad~'!" |
Jessie: "What should we do?" |
| ニャース 「この間の雪辱をはらすニャ」 |
Nyarth: "I say we give him
payback for the other day Nya." |
Meowth: "I say we stick it to
that stuck-up Gary!" |
| ムサシ 「やっちゃおっか？」 |
Musashi: "We doing this?" |
Jessie: "Good idea." |
| コジロウ 「ピカチュウゲットの前にぶわっと景気つけましょっか」 |
Kojirou: "It'll be a nice
warm-up before we go get that Pikachu." |
James: "If we get him and
Pikachu, we'll have a brat...and a rat!" |
The Rocket trio actually saying any of the good guys' actual names instead of "twerp" or "that kid" or whatever almost never happens, and part of that is probably because whenever they do say their names it ends up sounding super awkward and unnatural. So I'm not really a fan of 4Kids' decision to have Meowth casually use Gary's name here!
Also, James' final line here implies the trio's going to just straight up kidnap this elementary school aged child, which is all kinds of yikes.
Paint Edit
As you can see from the screenshot above, the sign gets edited a second time.
 |
 |
If you click/tap on the images above to enlarge them you'll see the outline around Kojirou's right shoulder's a little bit thinner in the English dub screenshot, as if the editors were in such a hurry that they accidentally shaved some of it away while they were working on this shot. It's not quite "oops, we accidentally erased Musashi's earring" levels or anything, but it still sticks out!
Dialogue Edit
The Rocket trio's motto:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「世界の破壊を防ぐため」 |
Musashi: "To prevent the world from being destroyed." | Jessie: "We're up on stage, so
prepare for trouble." |
| コジロウ 「世界の平和を守るため」 |
Kojirou: "To protect the peace of the world." | James: "It's curtains for you,
so make it double!" |
| ムサシ 「愛と真実の悪を貫く」 | Musashi: "To carry out the evils of love and truth." | Jessie: "To protect the world
from devastation." |
| コジロウ 「ラブリーチャーミーな敵かたき役」 | Kojirou: "We, the lovely and charming villains." | James: "To unite all peoples
within our nation." |
| ムサシ 「ムサシ」 | Musashi: "Musashi!" | Jessie: "Jessie." |
| コジロウ 「コジロウ」 | Kojirou: "Kojirou!" | James: "James." |
| ムサシ 「銀河を駆けるロケット団の２人には」 | Musashi: "The Rocket-Dan who holds up the galaxy are the two of us" | Jessie: "Team Rocket, blast
off at the speed of light." |
| コジロウ 「ホワイトホール 白いあしたが待ってるぜ」 | Kojirou: "A white hole - a white tomorrow is waiting." | James: "Surrender now, or
prepare to fight, fight, fight." |
| ニャース 「ニャーンてなニャ」 |
Nyarth: "What they said nya~" |
Meowth: "That's right!" |
The Japanese version has the trio do the old school version of the motto from their debut episode, the one without the opening "If we're asked about this or that / It's up to the world whether or not we answer" lines that were tacked on in later episodes. But! 4Kids adds their equivalent of those extra opening lines at the beginning of the motto here, for some reason, requiring them to then have to omit the "To denounce the evils of truth and love" and "To extend our reach to the stars above" lines later on in order to get everything to fit.
The trio realizes its mistake:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「誰かあいつに仕掛けなさいよ！」 |
Musashi: "Somebody go after
him!" |
Jessie: "That kid just walked
off and made a fool of me!" |
| コジロウ 「だって怖かったんだもん」 |
Kojirou: "But he's so scary~!" |
James: "I feel so inadequate!" |
| ニャース 「ニャーたちにも相性ってもんがあるニャ」 |
Nyarth: "Guess we're all too
afraid to go after him Nya." |
Meowth: "Well, I guess our
show just closed on the road." |
As you can see the Rocket trio is a lot more self deprecating in the original than they are in the English dub.
Ash is about to eat dinner:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「ママ、ジョウトリーグも頑張るからさ。応援してよ」 |
Satoshi: "I'm gonna do my best
in the Johto League too, Mom. So be sure to cheer for me!" |
Ash: "Bet I won't get a great
dinner like this till I get back from the Johto League!" |
| ハナコ 「ええ もちろんよ」 |
Hanako: "Well of course, dear." |
Delia: "Well, dig in
everybody!" |
Satoshi's focus on the Johto League is more or less replaced with a focus on home-made cooking instead.
The kids eat what is very conspicuously not a "deep-dish chili-dog pizza-pot pie":
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| カスミ 「ん～ なんか不思議な味」 |
Kasumi: "Wow, what a strange
and mysterious taste!" |
Misty: "This is so delicious,
Ms. Ketchum." |
| ケンジ 「おっ？ 懐かしい味かも」 |
Kenji: "Oh? I feel like I've
had this before somewhere." |
Tracey: "Ash, you gotta try
some of this!" |
| サトシ 「どれどれ？うん！うまいよ ママ」 |
Satoshi: "This one? Wow!
This is great, Mom!" |
Ash: "OK. Hey, that's great
too, Mom!" |
| ハナコ 「あら それはタケシくんが作ってくれたのよ」 |
Hanako: "Thank you, but
Takeshi actually made that one." |
Delia: "I wish I could take
all the credit, but Brock made dinner." |
| カスミ 「さっすが～ウチキド研究所にいたおかげで南国風のレパートリーも増え
たんだ。あっ…」 |
Kasumi: "Oh well that makes
sense. I'll bet being at Dr. Uchikido's lab really helped grow his
repertoire of tropical dishes...oops!" |
Misty: "He did? Well, I guess
he must have found a really great cookbook when he was working on
Valencia Island with Professor Ivy. Oops!" |
4Kids has made it this far into the series without once mentioning the Orange Islands as being "tropical islands" or in "the south," and by golly they're not about to slip up now!
Paint Edit
The "text" on Satoshi's new Pokémon Bestiary gets erased.
 |
 |
Again, not Japanese (not that it should matter either way), but it still gets erased anyway.
Dialogue Edit
Tracey tells the gang he's not going to Johto:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ケンジ 「サトシがどんなポケモンを転送してくるか楽しみに待ってるよ」 |
Kenji: "I'm really looking
forward to seeing what kind of Pokémon you send over here." |
Tracey: "It'll be so great to
see all the new Pokémon you send back here to the professor and
me." |
| サトシ 「えっ ケンジは 一緒に行かないの？」 |
Satoshi: "Huh? You're not
coming with us, Kenji?" |
Ash: "What do you mean 'back
to the professor and me'?" |
| ケンジ 「うん。博士の助手にしてもらえることになったんだ」 |
Kenji: "Nope. The professor's
gonna let me stay here and be his assistant." |
Tracey: "Well, the professor's
gonna let me be his assistant here at the lab." |
| カスミ 「そっか。ケンジは博士に会いたくてあたしたちと
一緒に旅してきたんだもんね」 |
Kasumi: "I figured as much.
The whole reason you even joined us in the first place was to meet the
professor, after
all." |
Misty: "That's great. I mean,
I wish you were coming with us but, I kind of had a feeling you might
wind up staying here." |
| オーキド博士 「いやあ、なかなか前途有望な若人であるからして渡りに船とお願
いしたしだいじゃ。ハッハッハッ」 |
Dr. Ookido: "Well, he's a very
promising young man, and so I thought now's as good a time as any to
ask him to be my assistant. Hahahahaha." |
Professor Oak: "Yes, as soon
as I met Tracey I knew he wanted to be my assistant, but it took a
while for him to get up the nerve to ask. Hahahahaha" |
The big change here is that the 4Kids dub claims Tracey's the one who asked Professor Oak if he can be his assistant when, in the Japanese original it actually happened the other way around.
Ash wants "seconds" (despite the fact he's still very clearly not finished eating):
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ケンジ 「頑張れよ、サトシ。応援してるからな」 |
Kenji: "Good luck, Satoshi.
I'll be cheering you on." |
Tracey: "Ash taught me to
always go for what you really want." |
| サトシ 「おう！土産はジョウトリーグ優勝だ」 |
Satoshi: "Thanks! And I'll
bring you back my victory at the Johto League as a souvenir." |
Ash: "That's right, Trace. And
the next thing I really want is seconds!" |
| ハナコ 「よっ！ 未来のチャンピオン」 |
Hanako: "So! To the future
Champion!" |
Delia: "Here's to all your new
beginnings!" |
| バリちゃん 「バリ～」 |
Bari-chan: "Bari~!" |
Mimey: "Mime, Mr Mime!" |
Tracey says that "Ash taught me to always go for what you really want," implying he sees this kid from Pallet Town's as some sort of inspirational figure he looks up to when in the original Kenji just says he's going to cheer him on.
Also, we can add "future Champion" to the list of Pocket Monsters video game terms that didn't make it over to the 4Kids English dub.
The Rocket trio appears in its latest disguise:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「どうも～」 |
Musashi: "Hi there!" |
Jessie:
"Hello~!" |
| コジロウ 「「激突 隣の夕ごはん」」 |
Kojirou: "It's time for
another installment of..." |
James:
"We're here to cover this very special occasion..." |
| ムサシとコジロウ 「で～す」 |
Musashi & Kojirou:
"Nice to Meet Ya! Now What's for Supper?" |
Jessie & James: "Live! |
The TV show segment the Rocket-Dan's claiming to be from, Gekitotsu! Tonari no Yuugohan (激突 隣の夕ごはん), or "Nice to Meet Ya! Now What's for Supper?," is an (extremely thinly veiled) homage to a real world TV show segment called Gekitotsu! Tonari no Bangohan (突撃！隣の晩ごはん), or "Nice to Meet Ya! Now What's for Dinner?" The real world TV segment, which was featured on various different TV shows over its 25+ years on the air, featured famous Japanese comedian Yonosuke and his camera crew bursting into random people's homes during dinnertime so he can "interview" the family about what they're having for dinner. The premise is that the family was caught completely off-guard by these unexpected visitors, though in later years it was revealed that everything was arranged with the families beforehand.
 |
| Yonosuke
often carried around a giant rice paddle on the show |
The 4Kids dub removes this reference, for obvious reasons, changing the disguise from "Japanese TV comedy segment" to "TV news report." It also adds in a bit about this show being broadcast "live," probably to help set up a play on words that'll come up in just a minute.
The show continues:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「あっ 母ちゃん 坊ちゃん嬢ちゃんに じいちゃん」 |
Musashi: "Let's see, we've got
Mom, some boys, a girl, and this old geezer." |
Jessie: "My, what a young,
attractive, vibrant group...mostly." |
| オーキド博士 「むっ」 |
Dr. Ookido: "Hmph." |
Professor Oak: "Hmph." |
| ムサシ 「よりどりみどりで 一家団らんですわ。これぞ 理想の家庭！家族！
ファミリーですわ」 |
Musashi: "What a diverse
family. This is the dream, isn't it? A real family!" |
Jessie: "With such a fine
group of friends behind him it's no wonder that this twer--...I mean,
this "Ter"-rific young man is so..." |
| ハナコ 「お宅様 どなた様？」 |
Hanako: "Excuse me, who are
you again?" |
Delia: "Just who are you
people?" |
The part where Jessie almost slips up and refers to Ash as a "twerp" is a dub invention; there's nothing like that in the original at all.
Jessie continues stuffing her face:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「テレビをご覧の皆様いかがでしょう？この幸せを絵に描いたような夕食
風景。わたくしたちが忘れてしまった家族愛というものをしみじみ思い出させてくれたのはママの愛情。籠もった料理の数々でございますですね。 |
Musashi: "What do you think,
viewers at home? This dinner scene is the very definition of happiness,
wouldn't you say? This mother's love reminds us all of the love of our
families we so often forget. Everything here was made with so much TLC." |
Jessie: "This is a
heartwarming story of a mother's abiding love and a son's insatiable
hunger for adventure (eating noises). He may be starved for affection
(eating noises) but he craves the open road." |
| The TV host
brings the plate of fruit closer to her |
||
| ムサシ 「わたくし 一口食べて不覚にも まぶたの母を思い出して。ああ… 涙 涙～メシは世につれ世はメシにつれ …っと。もう一口… うまいわ」 | Musashi: "Why, just taking a
bite now brings my mother's face to mind. Oh, I'm about to be a
blubbering mess. They say food changes the world, and the world changes
food...and with that, I think I'll have another bite. Mmm, delicious." |
Jessie: "And now, those close to him celebrate his departure even though this young man may never return home to mommy. This reporter would like to apologize for that momentary lapse in professionalism (eating noises)" |
So I guess the premise of the "news report" in the English dub is that the "reporters" who have broken into the Ketchum residence are fully aware of who this Ash Ketchum boy is, and are now doing a report on his imminent departure from Pallet Town...? Nevermind the fact he literally only just made this decision a few hours before?
As you can see, the Japanese version has Musashi talking up the virtues of family and how this gathering at Satoshi’s house reminds her of her mom (or, rather, the mom of the character she's playing right now) instead.
Brock steps in:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| タケシ 「もしもし！」 |
Takeshi: "Um, hello?" |
Brock: "You look familiar." |
| ムサシ 「ああ、この味 思い出します！南の国を！」 | Musashi: "Ah, this taste reminds of me so much of those southern islands!" | Jessie: "I want to remind you viewers that we're coming to you live. L-I-V-E, live!" |
This was mentioned in the previous comparison, but the thing that causes Takeshi to go all blue and upset is in the original isn't just the professor's name, it's anything to do with his time in the Orange Islands altogether. "Dr. Uchikido" triggers a reaction like this, sure, but so do phrases like "southern islands" or "that time back then."
I will admit that, as pointless as a rewrite as it is, Jessie's "L-I-V-E" is a pretty clever line.
The Rocket duo makes its escape:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「ピカチュウあるところ」 |
Musashi: "Wherever Pikachu
is..." |
Jessie: "We're a 'breaking'
story!" |
| コジロウ 「ロケット団あり！」 |
Kojirou: "The Rocket-Dan 'R'
there!" |
James: "But we won't 'cover'
it!" |
The duo's line Pikachu aru tokoro Roketto-Dan ari! (ピカチュウあると ころロケット団あり！) is yet another one of those character catchphrases the English dub just never bothered bringing over, for whatever reason. It's a phrase the duo'll repeat over and over throughout their entire tenure on the show, and every single time they do it gets a new "translation" in the English dub. This time around, for example, the duo makes TV news related puns instead.
Scyther steps in to save Pikachu:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「ストライク！」 |
Satoshi: "It's Strike!" |
Ash: "Scyther really moves." |
| ケンジ 「ストライク いあいぎりだ！」 |
Kenji: "Strike, use your Cut
attack!" |
Tracey: "Scyther, use your Slash attack!" |
Guess we can't let Tracey leave the show without his Pokémon getting at least one more attack mistranslation!
Team Rocket blasts off:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「うわーっ！何よ～ うまくいってたのに」 |
Musashi: "What!? And
everything was going so well too!" |
Jessie: "This concludes our
live coverage!" |
| コジロウ 「晩ごはん おいしかったです」 |
Kojirou: "Dinner was
delicious!" |
James: "Tune in next time!" |
| ニャース 「ニャーは食べてないニャ」 |
Nyarth: "Too bad I never had
any Nya!" |
Meowth: "Uwaaa~!" |
| コジロウ 「ごちそうさまで～す」 |
Kojirou: "Thanks for the food!" |
Team Rocket: "Team Rocket's
signing off again!" |
| ニャース
「イヤな感じ～！」 |
Nyarth: "This feels bad!" |
The English dub keeps up with the "we're TV reporters on live television" schtick while in the original we hear Nyarth lament the fact that he never got to enjoy any of Hanako's delicious cooking.
Everyone looks back on successfully surviving the Rocket trio's attack:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ハナコ 「ハーブ畑が無事だったのはバリちゃんのおかげね」 |
Hanako: "And my herb garden's
safe thanks to Bari-chan here." |
Delia: "And let's not forget
who protected my garden from that awful Team Rocket." |
| バリちゃん 「バリバリ～」 |
Bari-chan: "Bari Bari~!" |
Mimie: "Mime Mr. Mime!" |
| オーキド博士 「これにて 一件落着じゃな」 |
Dr. Ookido: "And with that
everything's all wrapped up." |
Professor Oak: "Mr. Mime did a
great job guardin' it for you. |
| Everyone laughs |
||
| (no dialogue) |
(no
dialogue) |
Professor Oak: "Guardin'? Get it?" |
So in the original, Dr. Ookido isn't telling a joke. He just says "everything's all wrapped up," prompting everyone else to do that thing Japanese cartoons like to do where they have everyone burst out into laughter to serve as an easy transition to the next scene.
My guess is that 4Kids mistakenly thought Dr. Ookido actually was trying to tell a joke here, and that it just wasn't a very good one, and so they changed it so that Professor Oak delivers the forced guardin'/garden pun we see above.
Ash stays up at night:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「ピカチュウ、新しいリーグでもよろしくな」 |
Satoshi: "Pikachu, I'll be
counting on you at this new league too." |
Ash: "Well, Pikachu. We leave
for the Johto League first thing in the morning." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカ～」 |
Pikachu: "Pika~" |
Pikachu: "Pika~" |
| サトシ 「シゲルには負けちゃったけどさ負けたら次 勝てばいいんだもんな」 |
Satoshi: "We lost to Shigeru,
but that means we'll just have to beat him next time." |
Ash: "It would have been nice
to spend a few weeks here. But when you're a Pokémon Trainer you
gotta keep moving." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカピカ」 | Pikachu: "Pika Pika" |
Pikachu: "Pika Pika" |
| サトシ 「オレ 絶対 お前たちに恥ずかしくないトレーナーになってみせる。一緒に頑張っていこうな」 | Satoshi: "And I'll work hard
to become a Trainer that doesn't embarrass you all. So let's all do our
best together." |
Ash: "It's too bad. I'm really
gonna miss Tracey not being with all of us when we head out west. I
sure am glad Brock's coming with us." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカチュウ」 | Pikachu: "Pikachu" |
Pikachu: "Pikachu" |
| サトシ 「今度こそ優勝する。約束だ」 |
Satoshi: "We're gonna win this
time for sure! And that's a promise." |
Ash: "I think we can win that
Johto League! How 'bout you?" |
| ピカチュウ 「ピッ ピカチュウ」 | Pikachu: "Pippikachu" |
Pikachu: "Pippikachu" |
So 4Kids just rewrote this entire scene, huh? In the original Satoshi's talking to Pikachu while in the English dub he's merely talking at Pikachu.
It's also kind of funny, because the way the scene's written in the dub it sounds like Pikachu's just kind of politely responding to its Trainer so that he'll hopefully shut the hell up and let it get some sleep. And yet Ash just keeps babbling on and on! It's like geez kid, read the room!
Ash gets ready to leave:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「それじゃあ。ママ行ってくるよ」 |
Satoshi: "Well Mom, I'm off!" |
Ash: "Visit my mom so she
doesn't get lonesome." |
| ケンジ 「頑張れよ、サトシ」 |
Kenji: "Good luck, Satoshi!" |
Tracey: "Don't worry, I will." |
| サトシ 「ああ！」 |
Satoshi: "Thanks." |
Ash: "Thanks Trace." |
I feel like Tracey almost never visits Ash's mom? Professor Oak does all the time, of course, but I don't think the young Pokémon Watcher ever really follows up on Ash's dub-only request here.
Delia says goodbye to her son, which means:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ハナコ 「サトシ」 |
Hanako: "Satoshi~" |
Delia: "Ash~!" |
| サトシ 「ん？」 |
Satoshi: "Hmm?" |
Ash: "Huh?" |
| ハナコ 「寝る前にはちゃんと歯磨きをするのよ」 |
Hanako: "Don't forget to brush
your teeth before going to bed each night." |
Delia: "Remember to change
what we talked about changing every day." |
| サトシ 「分かってるよ」 |
Satoshi: "I know, I know." |
Ash: "Don't worry, I will." |
| ハナコ 「うん 頑張ってね」 |
Hanako: "Alright then...good
luck out there." |
Delia: "I'm going to miss you." |
| サトシ 「うん」 |
Satoshi: "Thanks." |
Ash: (laughs) |
This extra little bit of lore the 4Kids dub came up with, where Ash Ketchum has to constantly be reminded to change his dirty underwear, is of course extremely weird and unsettling. But it also raises questions about why this is even a thing in the first place. Does Ash have a history of going days, maybe even weeks, without changing his boxers? Would the main character of the TV show Pokémon be constantly walking around with skid marks in his underwear if it wasn't for his mom's regular reminders? Do the other kids who travel with him, day in and day out, notice any foul odors and just haven't said anything yet, or do they also have terrible hygiene and so they haven't noticed? The more you think about it the more horrifying the whole thing becomes!
Ash leaves:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「ママ いってきま～す」 |
Satoshi: "We're off, Mom!" |
Ash: "I'll bring you another
trophy!" |
| ハナコ 「いってらっしゃ～い！頑張ってね！」 |
Hanako: "Be safe out there!
And good luck!" |
Delia: "You just bring
yourself back, Ash! That's the only prize I want!" |
| オーキド博士 「行きましたな」 |
Dr. Ookido: "There he goes." |
Professor Oak: "It must be
hard to see him go." |
| ハナコ 「ええ。男の子ですから」 |
Hanako: "Yup. All boys have to
leave home someday..." |
Delia: "Ah~ But he'll be back
again." |
| オーキド博士 「うむ」 |
Dr. Ookido: "Mmm-hmm." |
Professor Oak: "Mmm-hmm." |
Hanako's final line here could probably be seen as being a bit sexist (Sexism!? In a 90s anime!?) so the dub changed it to something completely different.
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