Episode Stats:

Weekly Pokemon Broadcasting Station #087: "Kasumi and Lovecus!  Love Battle"
Pokémon Chronicles Episode 16:  "Luvdisc is a Many Splendored Thing!"
Japanese Air Date:  September 14th, 2004
American Air Date:  September 23rd, 2006
Important Characters:  Kasurin (Kasurin), Lovarin (Lovarin)

Kenji is summoned to the Hanada Gym one day by Sakura for an unknown reason.  When he arrives, he hears about Kasumi's and Sakura's Lovecus, two pokemon who need to hook up in order for Sakura's underwater stage show to succeed.  Sakura explains that the two pokemon will spread love energy throughout the audience, but that can't happen until Sakura's Lovecus, Lovarin, accepts the advances of Kasumi's Lovecus, Kasurin.  As our heroes attempt to figure out how to get Lovarin to fall for Kasurin, Yamato and Kosaburou appear and kidnap Lovarin!  Kasumi, Sakura, and Kenji follow the duo to an underwater cave, where they fall into one of the Rocket-Dan's traps.  As the villains gloat over the young trainers, Kasumi coaches her pokemon into standing up for the one it loves, enabling it to gather the courage necessary to escape.  The two Lovecus make a run for it, so Yamato and Kosaburou chase after them.  Kasarin's fearlessness in the face of danger impresses Lovarin, who combines her power with Kasumi's pokemon to defeat the Rocket-Dan.  Now that the rendez-vous pokemon are a couple, Sakura's underwater show can go forward as planned!  As the two pokemon share their love with the audience, Kasumi, Sakura, and Kenji wonder what awaits them in the future.

---

Thoughts
So we've finally arrived at the final Kasumi Housoukyoku, and...it really isn't anything to write home about.  I mean, it's not really a bad episode per se, but it's not really all that interesting either.  It's nice to see Sakura as part of the main cast, and her antics with the sunglasses and the driving gloves were hilarious, but other than that, this episode was a standard filler. 

I also really liked Kasumi's clothes in this episode, and I know a lot of people agree with me in wishing she had kept these clothes instead of reverting back to her "Kasumi Enters!  Togepi and the Kingdom of Illusions!" look when she reappears in the future.

Also, the guy at the beginning who gives Butch and Cassidy their ice cream looks an awful lot like the guy Roger in "Stage Fight," doesn't he?  I can't claim that my memory was good enough to spot the resemblance; credit for that goes to Evil Azurill over on the Serebii.net forums.


He's also developed a bit of an accent since the last time we saw him.  I blame Weezing's smoke attack.

As far as the dubbed version goes...this turned out to be the least altered Misty special in the series.  There are almost no paint edits (more on that later), and the ridiculous cuts and rewrites aren't as prevalent as they usually are.  My major complaint with the episode is the continuation of the butchering of Sakura's character, but that's been going on for so long now that even that doesn't ruin this episode for me.

For your reference, this episode was released between episodes AG 093, "Pearlu and Banebuu!  Search for the Pearl!" ("Clamperl of Wisdom!") and AG 094, "Jiiransu and the Deep Sea Treasure!" ("The Relicanth Really Can").  In the Japanese version, Marching March is used as the episode's ending theme.

Music Edit
Other than the title screen, every bit of Japanese music is removed from this episode.  Big surprise.

Dialogue Edit
First of all, Nanba-Hakase originally greets his agents in the morning.  In the dub, he tells them "good afternoon."  Yeah, it's an extremely minor thing to point out, but whatever. 

Also, the dub has Butch and Cassidy going after Luvdisc to "eliminate love from the world forever," but in the Japanese version, he wanted the pokemon captured for his R Project. 

I mean, "eliminate love from the world forever?"  Does 4Kids realize what a clichéd Saturday morning plot that is?

Video Edit
Title screen edit.  Whoo!


Dialogue Edit
Oh god:


Thank you, 4Kids, for adding that unnecessary line about Misty and Tracey.  It totally made the episode a hundred times better.

Originally, Kenji was providing the narration, telling us that he had been summoned to the Hanada City Gym by Kasumi's sister, Sakura.

Paint Edit
You know how 4Kids always paints away the words HANADA GYM and changes it to CERULEAN GYM?  Well, in this episode, the Japanese producers did something different that makes 4Kids' job easier...they left the text off the gym!  Check it out:


So really, all the dubbers had to do was slap the words CERULEAN GYM onto the building and the sign in the foreground and call it a day.  Click on each image to view a larger version.

You'll also notice how the layout of the lobby is changed to remove all the bulletins that had their "text" painted away in the previous Kasumi special.  The "me-wa-ni" sign is gone as well.  If you ever wanted proof that the Japanese producers are bending over backwards to make 4Kids' job easier, all you have to do is look at an episode like this. 

Dialogue Edit
The pedicure that Lily's out getting was actually a massage in the Japanese version.  That's why we see Lily wincing in pain as the masseuse sticks that...thing in her foot.

Misty's line about Daisy's "tiara phase" is quite different from Kasumi's line, which was telling everybody that Kasurin is a boy.

In the dub, Tracey is worried about having to wear tights for the play.  In the Japanese version, he simply wonders if the only reason Sakura called him to the gym was to participate in her show.

Added Footage--3 seconds
The footage of the gang coughing after Yamirami's Shadow Ball kicks up all that smoke is played twice in the dub.  In the Japanese version, it's only played once.

Side Note
So I've never really addressed the way the dub ruins Sakura's character, and this comparison seems about as good a place as any to talk about her.  While she's a perfectly likable character in the Japanese version, the English version has to be one of the most obnoxious characters in the dub.  Not as bad as dub Marina, but she's pretty high up there.

Take this episode for example.  Sakura is pretty damn hilarious, going from a sweet yet somewhat absent-minded sibling to a sun glasses wearing, speed obsessed adventurer.  The same can be said for Daisy, but the difference is that 4Kids adds all these unnecessary "valley girl-isms" to the character.  All that crap about Daisy wanting to be an actress?  Dub added.  All that "High Speed Hannah" stuff?  Dub added.  Calling people a diva and worrying about ruining her mascara?  Dub added.  To top it all off, the voice Daisy is given in the dub has to be one of the most obnoxious voices 4Kids has given to a character in this show (I'd probably rank it somewhere between Butch's voice and Morrison's voice).

It's things like this that really make me hate the dub of Chronicles more than any of the unnecessary paint edits or inane rewrites.  Sakura was a minor enough character in the main series for any of this to matter, but when she's put in the spotlight time and time again in this series, the problems with 4Kids' reversioning of the character become more apparent.

Cut--3 seconds altogether
After Sakura's raft takes off into the horizon (right after Daisy's "Aye aye mates!"), there's a two-second pan up of the sky that's removed from the dub.

Then, when the show returns from commercial break, there's a second removed from the initial shot of the islands.

Dialogue Edit
I love how 4Kids will only keep about half the references to the main series:


Originally, Yamato comments on how easily they did something that Musashi-tachi haven't been able to do.

Added Footage--3 seconds altogether
4Kids replays the footage of Butch and Cassidy walking away from our heroes as Tracey stands up due to a commercial break.  This lasts four seconds.

However, once Kenji gets on his feet, 4Kids removes two seconds of him just standing there from the dub.  So in the Japanese version, Kenji gets up, stands there for two seconds, and then starts talking while in the dub, Tracey gets up and immediately starts talking.

Later, the scene in which Cassidy says "Yeah!  We need you to help eliminate love from the world!" is made a second longer in the dub.

Paint Edit
4Kids adds text to the Hanada Gym again where there was originally nothing.  I guess they feel guilty for erasing all that text in previous episodes.


Video Edit
The final shot of the episode, which has that dreaded TO BE CONTINUED text, is replaced with an older shot of the gym, digital paint and all.  The new scene is a second shorter than the Japanese one.

Previous Episode

Next Episode