Digimon Tamers (Saban) Episode 8: Guilmon Evolves – Decisive Battle in West Shinjuku/A Question of Trust | Sub/Dub Comparison
Plot: There’s a prankster on the loose in the park, and Takato fears that it’s Guilmon. As he makes himself sick with worry over his best friend possibly being found and taken from him, or worse, Devidramon emerges and attacks Guilmon. He’s way too strong for little Guilmon. Can he finally Evolve and take down Devidramon?
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Title Change: “Guilmon Evolves – Decisive Battle in West Shinjuku” is changed to “A Question of Trust”. Give the dub credit, at least it doesn’t spoil the episode.
Title Card:
In the dub, Takato’s dialogue (“Oh well, they still look cool.”) insinuates that he’ll keep the spikes on Growlmon’s back while drawing Guilmon’s Champion design. The original doesn’t do this, and he ends up with no spikes on his back.
Takato is still thinking of names as we zoom out of his room in the original. In the dub, Takato settles on Growlmon.
So this couple is named Yoshiko and Yoshio? Okie dokie.
In the original, the couple is just briefly talking about how nice the night is before Yoshio tries to light a cigarette. He laments that his lighter doesn’t seem to be working before Impmon appears and offers him a fire via Bada Boom.
In the dub, the unnamed woman skews the conversation to how cold it is. Then they edit out all of the cigarette shots and make up for the lost time by repeating the shots of them talking back and forth. The woman talks about how it’d be nice to have a comfy couch and a warm fire, which Impmon provides with his Bada Boom.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Extras:
Guilmon tells Impmon that, since he ate so much, Takato tells him it’s polite to say ‘Thanks’ afterward. In the dub, Guilmon asks Impmon to leave some food for him since Takato won’t be back until tomorrow to give him more.
Impmon says he’ll go pee then go to sleep. In the dub, he says he’ll go somewhere to puke his guts out.
Hirokazu is originally talking about the Digimon card game. In the dub, he’s talking about the prankster.
Also:
Kazu: “Get this, guys. There’s some kind of pint-sized pyromaniac loose in the park. Heh, wish I had thought of that.”
Other Boy: “Me too!”
Wish you had thought of….setting fires in the park at night?
Dub!Terriermon: “Wise up, guys. They just think it’s a kid because it’s too small to be an adult.” You’d have a point if not for the fact that Guilmon’s a small RED DINOSAUR.
At least Impmon can pass as a kid in a weird costume.
Takato originally jokes that Guilmon’s making his own little farm when he buries his bread. Dub!Takato jokes that logic isn’t Guilmon’s strong suit.
Impmon kinda takes Takato’s line in the next scene. He originally just says no to Guilmon asking if he wants more bread. In the dub, when Guilmon says he just buried his bread, Impmon asks if he’s hoping it’ll grow.
Impmon originally asks Guilmon if he’ll come out and play, prompting him to happily rock back and forth saying ‘Play!’ over and over. In the dub, Impmon asks him if he’s afraid, and Guilmon happily (I guess because of nerves here?) rocks back and forth going ‘Not afraid!’ over and over.
Uhm….is there any particular reason the police officer in the dub sounds like Foghorn Leghorn?
The original officer asks if Takato’s the prankster, then he asks for his information. In the dub, he asks, in a bunch of needlessly complicated words, if Takato is the one interrupting couples as they get all romantic in the park.
Only reason I bring that up is that it’s kinda weird Saban has been so sexually charged in this episode.
The couple in the park keep their names, Hiroshi and Hiroko, but I was just wondering why that’s the second couple this episode that basically have the same name, just slightly different? (Yoshio/Yoshiko)
Oh my god, this next part. Takato’s catastrophizing about Guilmon getting caught, which leads him to having a daydream about a friggin’ firing squad shooting down Guilmon. As someone who adores little Guilmon, even without visible wounds or blood, this scene kinda made me tense up a little. To Saban’s credit, they, shockingly, didn’t alter this scene much. The only shot they removed is the first one where we see a closeup of the revolvers they’re using. That’s all.
Dub!Takato: “I’ll never see you again, except on the evening news. Digimon Autopsy.” Holy shit, Saban. I gave you credit for the firing squad scene, but you don’t have to make things worse. Takato’s just crying in the original.
There’s a key difference in Guilmon’s next line. While the entire line is basically the same, original Guilmon says ‘we’ were scaring people in the park whereas dub!Guilmon says ‘I’ which isn’t correct since Guilmon didn’t scare anyone, Impmon did.
Devidramon’s Index Screen is painted into English.
They remove Guilmon being pinned down by Devidramon for some reason.
Impmon wishes he could be as big and strong as Devidramon. In the dub, he thinks he might’ve seen a dog-eared bunny rabbit after catching a glimpse of Terriermon. This is a little revealing because Impmon’s main drive is an intense desire to evolve and get stronger.
They add a flash effect when Guilmon hits the wall.
I don’t understand why they cut out Guilmon getting pinned to the ground but they will show Guilmon getting pinned to the wall in the same fashion.
So it is just a big coincidence that Guilmon’s evolutions coincide with Takato’s drawings? Because his later evolutions aren’t pre-drawn by Takato.
Like always, the lyrical song accompanying the evolution is changed to regular BG music in the dub.
Name Change: Growmon is changed to Growlmon. Not sure that was necessary, but there ya go.
Takato says, at the last stretch of the evolution, “Guilmon….Grow….Growmon!” In the dub, he says “Bullseye, baby. It’s Growlmon!” I just thought that line change was too lame to not note.
For some reason, Takato decides to take the reins in saying ‘Guilmon Digivolve to…Growlmon!’ whereas it’s obviously Guilmon saying this in the original.
Also, I love Growlmon. He’s a sleek-looking dino and an awesome evolution for Guilmon.
They remove the shot of Guilmon’s attack hitting the building, both close-up and further away. I believe this was a post-9/11 edit.
Yamaki commands the girls to cut off all access from transmission systems. In the dub, he tasks Riley with coming up with a convincing cover story to tell the media.
Growmon’s not saying his attacks in this episode, for some reason, but for the record:
Attack Name Change: Exhaust Flame is changed to Pyro Blaster (Though, apparently, they might still say Exhaust Flame in some episodes?)
Attack Name Change: Plasma Blade is changed to Dragon Slash
For some reason, they remove a further shot of Guilmon crashing through the bridge and replace it with an earlier reaction shot of Takato calling out for Guilmon.
The next scene is crazy awesome. It’s almost entirely silent as Devidramon swoops down and Growmon, like a badass, shoots his Exhaust Flame straight up. In the dub, it’s fairly ruined by the excess of music and sound effects.
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It’s not my favorite evolution episode, but this was still a really good one. It was believable of Takato to have an outburst like he did. He wasn’t really getting upset at Guilmon because he was pissed at him for disobeying and causing trouble, he was driving himself crazy with worry over him getting caught and possibly taken from him or even killed.
Even though it’s a little farfetched to believe Guilmon could pass as a little kid, he does have fire powers and he does live in the park in which the pranks were occurring.
I’m a little confused as to why Takato was so flustered so soon in the battle with Devidramon, but it lead to a great evolution and a really kickass moment for Growmon. Plus, Growmon is just awesome.
Next episode, Growmon is awesome!….but way too big! Takato tries everything in his power to get Growmon to devolve to Guilmon so he can keep him hidden.
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