Episode Stats:

Weekly Pokemon Broadcasting Station #008: "Hanada Gym's Revenge Match!"
Pokémon Chronicles Episode 06:  "Cerulean Blues"
Japanese Air Date:  December 10th, 2002
American Air Date:  June 24th, 2006
Important Characters:  Kasumi (Misty), Chan (Kim), Rin (Kail), Shan (Kai)
Important Places:  Hanada City (Cerulean City)

On her way home from her adventures in the Jouto Region, Kasumi sees a report that agents from the Pokemon Inspection Agency have been going around and shutting gyms down!  Worried that the Hanada City Gym will be closed due a lack of leadership, Kasumi rushes home to claim her place as the Gym Leader.  When she arrives, she finds the gym in disarray!  A Koiking that had belonged to the gym has evolved into a Gyarados and is now rampaging around the gym's pool!  Kasumi tries to calm the beast, but every attempt she makes ends in failure.  Meanwhile, the three brothers Chan, Rin, and Shan who teamed up with the Rocket-Dan back in Jouto appear in Hanada City, determined to get revenge for their defeat at the hands of the Hanada City Gym Leader.  The brothers step up and challenge Kasumi's title to the gym, and she accepts.  However, when the brothers team up and pit three Dokukurage against Kasumi's Sunnygo, it becomes apparent that they have no intention of playing fair.  After Kasumi's pokemon is defeated, they go after Gyarados, who Kasumi had confined in a cage.  The young Gym Leader throws herself in front of the water pokemon, gaining its trust and giving it the determination it needed to break out of its cage.  Gyarados, under Kasumi's command, makes quick work of the three brothers and sends them blasting off.  After the battle, the Joi who had been watching the whole battle reveals that she's a Pokemon Investigative Agent!  She deems Kasumi fit to be the Hanada City Gym Leader, securing the gym's status!  Now that Kasumi has earned her title as Gym Leader and the trust of a new pokemon, she wonders what adventures lie ahead.

---

Thoughts
This is an example of one of the better episodes of the Pocket Monsters anime franchise.  We get a really nice (and desperately needed) Kasumi episode that shows her getting back to her roots as a Gym Leader.  After all those years of traveling around with Satoshi and his friends, does Kasumi still have what it takes to be a competent Gym Leader?  I think this episode answers that question.

I also liked the nod to the old characters from "Gotta Catch Ya Later," even though they are the most pointless characters to bring back. 

As far as the dubbing goes...it's Pokémon Chronicles.  By now, you pretty much know what to expect.  While the editing hasn't gotten worse since "The Legend of Thunder," it certainly hasn't gotten any better.  Also, thanks goes to WhiteDinoRanger for digging up the official English spellings for the three brothers.

For your reference, this episode was released between episodes AG 003, "Touka Gym!  (Pikachu) vs. Yarukimono!" ("There's No Place Like Hoenn") and AG 004, "Full of Subame, Full of Peril!  I Got One in the Forest of Touka!!" ("You Never Can Taillow").  In the Japanese version, Rapurasu ni No'otte is used as the episode's ending theme.

Togepi, Gyarados, Starmie, Pikachu, and Hitodeman keep their Japanese voice.

Music Edit
Just like every other non-Pikachu short episode of Pokémon Chronicles, all the background music in the Japanese version has been replaced with dub-only music.  In fact, the only piece of Japanese music to make it through is the title screen's music. 

Paint Edit
Lots of digital paint in this one.  Click on each image to view a full-sized version.

First off, the yellow "text" on the sign underneath the big TV in town is removed.


Next, CAFFE is changed to CAFE.  You'll probably have to view the larger version to see what I'm talking about.


Later, during Kasumi's vision of her gym being shut down, a white dream-like border is added to the English version.  I guess the dubbers wanted to make sure that we knew, without a doubt, that this was just a theoretical situation.

Also, in the final shot of that scene, HANADA GYM is changed to CERULEAN GYM.

Dialogue Edit
The Invincible Pokemon Brothers start off with a tiny slip-up:


Originally, Rin was saying that she looks one of the members of that three-people group (referring to Satoshi, Takeshi, and Kasumi) who beat them up along with the Rocket-Dan. 

So  in other words, the Japanese version doesn't suggest that the three brothers worked for the Rocket-Dan the way the dub does.

Paint Edit
HANADA GYM is erased from the sign.  Oddly enough, they don't replace the text with CERULEAN GYM like they did in the past.


This non-Japanese text is also erased.  Even though people swear up and down that the last three characters are read "me-wa-ni," it's still not Japanese.


Cut--23 seconds altogether
The shot of the sign above is shortened by one second.

Later, a three-second shot of Kasumi and Joi going down the stairs is removed.


The shot of the inside of the pool is shortened by four seconds.  As a result, you only get to see Gyarados swim by one time in the dub.


A 15-second sequence of Kasumi imagining the PIA guys closing her gym down is entirely cut.

Cut/Scene Replacement
The last four seconds of the shot of those three guys from "Gotta Catch Ya Later" pressed against a window is removed and replaced with a shot of Gyarados from earlier in the episode.


Cut--4 seconds
Three seconds are trimmed from the establishing shot of Kasumi on a diving board.

Then, a second is shot from the close-up shot of Kasumi in her mermaid outfit.

Side Note
A garbled effect is added to Misty's voice when she's underwater, but in the Japanese version, there is no such effect. 

This is actually the only improvement I can think of about the dub, since it makes no sense for Kasumi to be able to talk so clearly underwater.  Well, actually, it makes no sense for her to be able to talk underwater AT ALL, especially when she's down there for like five minutes, but whatever.

However, by the time Misty's ordering Gyarados to attack at the end of the episode, they sort of give up on adding that little effect to her voice.

Cut--23 seconds altogether
Another bunch of snippets occur during Misty's ballet show.

A nine second sequence of Misty doing some additional dancing is removed.

Eight more seconds of Misty standing in the water followed by Gyarados looking at her are removed.
Six seconds of Misty trapped in the whirlpool are removed.  The first three seconds of this footage was just recycled from a couple of shots before that, but the final three seconds was a new shot of Kasumi begging Gyarados to stop.


Dialogue Edit
During Misty's dance sequence in the dub, she doesn't say a thing, right?  Well, in the Japanese version, we hear an inner monologue of sorts which is completely omitted from the English version.  A translated version of her thoughts would go something like "Gyarados, do you remember how we used to dance together?  Will you come over here and dance with me?"

Kinda weird that the dub would omit dialogue when they usually do the exact opposite, but the people in charge of dubbing these Chronicles episodes have always been above such frivolous things as "logic" and "common sense."

Scene Replacement
In the dub, we see a shot of Joy (with Togepi in her arms) running up to the pool as the water whirls around.  After that, we see a shot of Misty, underwater, still trapped by the currents.  In the Japanese version, these two scenes are reversed.

Dialogue Edit
Right when Kasumi breathes her last big breath underwater before fainting, we hear Kasumi think to herself "Satoshi...Takeshi...help me...!" in the Japanese version  In the dub, oddly enough, she doesn't say a thing.

Cut--3 seconds
A three-second shot of Kasumi's Tattsu helping Kasumi out of the water is cut from the dub.


Video Edit
An awkward CGI transition is added between the final shot of Tattsu and the opening shot of Kasumi's vision with Satoshi and Takeshi.  Like the white border added earlier in the episode, I suspect that this was added to make sure kids knew that the next scene wasn't real. 

That, or 4Kids was just dying to add the same transition effects you'd find in a Powerpoint presentation.

Has 4Kids been taking notes from the Sailor Moon dub or what?

Cut--11 seconds altogether
A three second fade-in / fade-out during the above transition edit were removed.

Later, the scene with Kasumi and Gyarados in the pool has tons of little snippets made to it.  First of all, a second is trimmed from the pan shot of the pool during Misty's "All right now, listen up!"

After Misty fails to catch Gyarados with a PokéBall, the shot of the pulley is shortened by one second.

A second is trimmed from the very next shot, the one showing the cage going into the water ("I didn't want to do this, but I see no other choice").

The shot of the cage lowering on Gyarados as it struggles to get free is shortened by a second.

A second is then cut from the shot of Gyarados slamming its body into the cage.

The shot of Gyarados' Hydro Pump shooting out of the pool and almost hitting Misty was a second longer in the Japanese version.

Finally, two seconds are trimmed from the very next shot showing Gyarados ramming against the cage again.

Paint Edit / Cut--1 second
Hanada Gym becomes Cerulean Gym again, both on the building and on the sign on the left-hand side.


As always, click on each image to view a bigger version.

Also, this scene is shortened by one second.

Dialogue Edit
When the three brothers introduce themselves in the Japanese version, they give a little more information than they do in the dub.  Originally, Chan (the spiky-haired one) introduces himself as the new Hanada City Gym Leader, Rin (the blue-haired one) calls himself the younger brother, and Shan (the fat one) introduces himself as the older brother.

In the dub, they just say their names without really revealing their relationship to each other. 

Cut--1 second
The shot of the pool rising up as the brother challenges Misty is shortened by a second.

Dialogue Edit
More pointless rewrites:


*sigh*  Originally, Shan was saying that if she's such a good Gym Leader, she should prove it by showing everyone her power.  Then the crowd cheers because they know they'll get a good match.

I don't like the way the dub does it because 1) they add this lame baseball music over the crowd's cheering, and 2) it makes it look as if the crowd is only there to support the three brothers instead of being more neutral like they are in the Japanese version.

Cut--1 second/Scene Replacement
A close-up of the three brothers before the shot of the stadium lights turning on is altered in the dub.  What 4Kids does is shorten it by four seconds and then replace three of those seconds with a shot of Misty from earlier in the episode ("Alright big shot!  I'm ready!  Let's battle!")  Then, the final second is cut from the dub.

In the Japanese version, we just see the shot of the three brothers for four seconds before going straight to the shot of the stadium lights turning on.

Dialogue Edit
Time for a good old-fashioned goof-up:


So, um...what's a punching type?

Later:


Aside from the horrible delivery and the unnecessary -s at the end of the word "Tentacruel," this line is nothing like the original. 

Originally, Chan was saying that the three Dokukurage are brothers just like them. 

Cut--4 seconds
A four-second "black out" screen is removed from the part during Kasumi's fainting after getting the crap beat out of her by the brothers' Dokukurage.  As a result, Satoshi's and Takeshi's dialogue (which was basically just them repeating what they said earlier in the episode) is removed.

Side Note
Is anyone else amused by the fact that 4Kids adds female voices to all the crowd scenes when there doesn't seem to be a single female in the bleachers?

Dialogue Edit
Hey, you know I had to comment on this:


In the Japanese version, they just scream as they fly through the air.

Cut--6 seconds
Later, the shot of Joi and Kasumi on the diving board after Kasumi puts Gyarados back in its Monster Ball is shortened by a whopping six seconds.

Paint Edit
HANADA GYM becomes CERULEAN GYM one more time.

I'm too lazy to check, but I wouldn't be surprised if the font used in the dub here is different from the font used back in Kanto. 

Dialogue Edit
Two more before this episode wraps up:


In the Japanese version, she actually does the opposite; she calls Joi "Agent Joi," apologizes, and then calls her "Nurse Joi"

And here's a rather surprising change:


Originally, Kasumi only addressed Satoshi during this scene; in other words, 4Kids made this moment less shippy by adding Brock into the mix!  If that doesn't convince you that this special wasn't dubbed by the same people who usually do the TV series, I don't know what will.

Cut--11 seconds altogether
A second is trimmed from the zoom-out shot of the Hanada Gym.

Then, the last ten seconds of the episode are cut.  After Kasumi jumps into the water, we see her swim around a bit before the scene freezes, zooms out to reveal all the gym's pokemon, and ends with the words TO BE CONTINUED at the bottom of the screen.

I guess this was cut out because it would have been too much of a pain in the ass to paint TO BE CONTINUED out of the shot like they did last time.

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