Digimon Adventure S01E26

Shining Wings! Garudamon (JP)

Sora’s Crest of Love (EN)

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Written by:

JP: Atsushi MAEKAWA
EN: Jeff Nimoy & Bob Buchholz

First aired:

JP: September 5, 1999
EN: November 13, 1999

The kids finally catch up to Sora, and she reveals the horrible truth about her disappearance: she’s been working as a health inspector, and she personally shut down each of their places of employment! The amusement park: shut down before it even opened due to scattered, uncapped needles. The restaurant: sanitation violations. Vademon’s universe: improperly stored biological materials. Princess Mimi’s castle: uncleared debris and absence of actual castle. This list goes on!

Her guilt stems from her mother, whose flower shop has a long-standing enmity with their local health department, and her mother forbade her from following her dream of enforcing cleanliness and safety standards in any official capacity. Before she can resume rebelling, however, her manager, Myotismon, appears. He is less than pleased with her performance, as it turns out she was supposed to issue warnings before shutting down businesses. Sora is fired, but her friends forgive her because those jobs sucked, and she rejoins the group.

In the episode opening, before we see the crew approaching on the swan boat, Tai recaps for us: “Because of DemiDevimon’s tricks, we all became separated. Once we caught wind of that blowhard, we were able to find each other! Except for Sora…” The original covered that already in the actual recap.

[The swan boat has docked with Mimi sitting on top, and Taichi goes to help her down]
Taichi: “Okay, Princess, give me your hands!”
Mimi: “Don’t call me ‘Princess’ anymore!”
Taichi: “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!”
Tai: “C’mon, Mimi, get off your throne!”
Mimi: “Ha! I wouldn’t exactly call this a throne!”
Tai: “Yeah, well I wouldn’t call you a princess!”

Well, I wouldn’t call you a princess. Jerk. >:(

They discuss Sora’s absence, and as usual, the dub’s flashback of Sora looming over Mimi while she sleeps has Sora repeat her lines. In the original, the scene replayed, and Mimi spoke over the footage.

Mimi’s memory is also unreliable:

What Sora actually said: “That’a girl! I knew you’d find yourself again!”
What Mimi recalls: “That’a girl! I knew you’d come back to yourself!”

To be fair, though, she was still half-asleep.

Jou: “So it was something like that…”
Joe: “I think you’re right; it must have been a dream.”

Sora is a known dream-invader, after all…

Yamato: “There’s no use thinking about it. We’re not Sora.” *checks his beeping Digivice* “First, let’s catch her.”
Matt: “Well, maybe Sora just doesn’t want to. Even worse: maybe she just can’t!” *checks beeping Digivice* “All I know is we’ve got to find her, quick!”

Listed for the difference in assertions. Yamato‘s is, “we can’t speculate on Sora’s behalf”, and Matt’s is full-on “Imma speculate on her behalf SO HARD!”

[Switch to PicoDevimon getting his ass beat by Vamdemon]
Vamdemon: “I’m so tired of your incompetence…”
Myotismon: “Because of your stupidity, all of my evil plans have failed!”
DemiDevimon: “Even the ones I wasn’t involved in?”
Myotismon: “ESPECIALLY the ones you weren’t involved in!”

Dang, these performance evals get straight to the point!

Narrator: “Vamdemon: a very brutal and cunning Undead Digimon. His special attacks are Night Raid and Bloody Stream.”
DemiDevimon: “Oh, boy – Myotismon! How’d I ever get stuck working for this guy? Talk about a bad temper! And he’s got all those bats! I hate bats!”

Well, don’t say that in front of him!

Vamdemon’s attacks are Night Raid and Bloody Stream. These become Grisly Wing and Crimson Lightning in the dub, both of which are great names for old cars.

PicoDevimon: “I am ashamed! B-But, Lord Vamdemon, not all of the Crests have activated yet! Especially this child – her Crest of Love will never glow! The truth is, it’s because I’ve given her some advice. The other six should be meeting where she is soon. We’ll aim there…”
Vamdemon: “At that time, call for me. I’ll personally send the Children to Hell.”
PicoDevimon: “Yes, sir!”
DemiDevimon: “Everyone makes mistakes! Remember disco? Besides, sir, not all of the children’s crests have begun to glow yet! That girl has the Crest of Love, and it’s still not glowing, thanks to me!” *laughs* “Anyway, according to my schedule, she’ll be meeting up with the other children very soon. And when she does, Master Myotismon, when they are all together, that’s when I’ll get ’em!”
Myotismon: “You think you can? If you fail me again, my bats will have a new chew toy: YOU!”
DemiDevimon: “Eheheheh… I hate bats…”

You see, the joke is that DemiDevimon is a bat Digimon…

[The Chosen Children have been wandering around, looking for Sora]
Jou: “Hey… Let’s stop for today and find a place to rest. It’s too dangerous to walk around in the dark.”
Mimi: “I’m tired…”
Yamato: “But… she must be close.”
Joe: “Ugh. Why don’t we find a spot to rest for the night? Or better yet, for the next couple of weeks? My feet are killing me, not to mention every other part of my body.”
Mimi: “Ugh… I can’t go another inch!”
Matt: “Hold it – I’m getting a reading on my Digivice!”

That’s just the ‘battery low’ alarm.

In the dub, Flymon has a voice, and he announces his attack, Bum Bomb Stingers. He didn’t speak in the original.

Koushirou: “Flymon: an Insect Digimon, Adult Level. His type is Virus. His special attack, Deadly Sting… sprays poison stingers?!”
Izzy: “Flymon. Classified as an Insect Digimon, a Virus type. And I think we already know what his attack is, and it’s not very pleasant! And here he comes now!”

Deadly Sting apparently becomes Bum Bomb Stingers.

It’s been 20 years, and I’m still not over how bad dub Birdramon’s bird-roar sounds.

[Sora has shooed Flymon, run off, and been caught by her friends in that order. She now explains her nonsense]
Sora: “I… I saw them. I saw PicoDevimon talking to someone.”
Takeru: “What were they talking about?”
Sora: “They were talking about our Crests.”
Taichi: “Crests?”
Sora: “I saw a strange Digimon. He looked like a bowling ball with wings, and he was talking to something in a giant bubble.”
T.K.: “So, could you hear what he was saying?”
Sora: “Yeah, I heard him talking about our Crests.”
Tai: “What about them?”

She’s getting to that, Tai! JEEZ!

Tai proves himself to have similarly unreliable memories while flashbacking to the time he went through a safe hole in an otherwise electrified wall. He remembers Agumon telling him, “gather your courage!” instead of what he actually said in that scene, which was “I know you can do it!”

To be fair, though, he’s a dick.

[Sora names their Crests to them for the first time]
Takeru: “And mine?”
Sora: “Yours is the Crest of Hope.”
Takeru: “Heh! The Crest of Hope!”
T.K.: “And mine?”
Sora: “Yours is special, T.K.; it’s the Crest of Hope!”
T.K.: “All right! I hope we can get back home!”

It’s not that special, Sora. Don’t get his Hopes u– err…

[Sora continues the Crest list over a scene of Koushirou et al. catching up to them]
Sora: “Koushiro has the Crest of Knowledge. Jou has the Crest of Sincerity. Mimi has the Crest of Purity.”
Sora: “Izzy’s Crest is the Crest of Knowledge. Joe’s is the Crest of Reliability.”
Gomamon (echo-y voice-over for some reason): “Thanks for being there, Joe.”
Sora: “And Mimi’s is the crest of Sincerity.”

Yeah, Joe. Schmuck.

Jou’s Crest, seijitsu 「誠実」, can be translated as “honesty”, “faithfulness”, and/or “sincerity”. It’s usually localized as “Sincerity”, so that’s what I’ll be using in these comparisons. All three describe Jou pretty dang well, though, so I really don’t think you can go wrong with any of them.

The dub adapts it as “Reliability”, which while not a terrible translation, is kind of a puzzling choice – not just because “honesty” and “faithfulness” are more accurate, but because “reliability” is six syllables long. That is no small matter when writing spoken lines which will be matched to mouth movement. I’m just curious if it was a strategic choice because it made things easier, or if it ended up being a pain to work with.

Mimi’s Crest, junshin 「純真」 is “purity”. What does it mean, exactly? It probably steams from the Shintō concept of purity, which is the absence of “pollution” or “sin”.

What does THAT mean? I don’t know. This concept of “purity” is somewhat unique to Japanese culture (versus the emphasis on physical “purity” we see in Western cultures), and I don’t understand it well enough to describe it. I’ll leave that to the cultural experts!

After Taichi tells Sora the Crest of Love is perfect for her, she reacts way more intensely in the original – she even interrupts Taichi when he tries to say she’s always thinking of others. It’s obvious she’s really upset in the original, but she just sounds kind of annoyed in the dub.

Yeah, this episode’s a fucking bummer! What about it?!

[Sora has explained her reasoning and now defends it against Taichi’s objection]
Sora: “PicoDevimon told me.”
Sora: “That Digimon thought I was funny, too.”

Uh… nobody was laughing at you…

[Flashback of Sora confronting PicoDevimon]
Sora: “Who are you?”
PicoDevimon: “Well, well. You were here for something you shouldn’t have seen. Did you hear us talking about the Crests?”
Sora: “I did hear it!”
PicoDevimon: “You’re Sora, aren’t you?” *chuckles* “The Crest of Love, huh?”
Sora: “What’s so funny?”
PicoDevimon: “I feel sorry for you! You were raised without knowing any real love, so your Crest of Love will never glow.”
Sora: “Is your name, by any chance, DemiDevimon?”
DemiDevimon: “It sure is! And you’re one of those kids, the DigiDestined! Tell me somethin’: did you hear about the Crests?”
Sora: “Yes, in fact, I did!”
DemiDevimon: “Oh, yeah! You’re that kid Sora!” *chuckles* “The Crest of Love.”
Sora: “And why are you laughing about that?”
DemiDevimon: “You just think you’re so hot! But guess what? You wouldn’t know love if it knocked down your door! You wouldn’t know it now – you never knew it bef–“
Sora: “Nobody knows who Michael Bolton is anymore.”
DemiDevimon: “DAMNIT. I’ll have to switch to Plan B… Your MOTHER didn’t raise you with any love!”
Sora: “GASP.”
DemiDevimon: “You’ll never be able to make the crest glow! Never!”
Sora: “Oh… OOH! D:”

[Back to the present]
Taichi: “That’s stupid! PicoDevimon was obviously lying!”
Tai: “That’s it? I thought it was something serious, like they were going to stop making those stuffed bean bag animals. Besides, DemiDevimon is a liar!”

Don’t even joke about that, Tai! Those bean bag animals will never go out of style!

Original Sora mentions that she was the soccer club’s ace striker, which makes her inability to make it to the game a tad more serious. Dub Sora claims the match was to win “the title” – the Primary School Soccer Title, of course, which is obviously an even BIGGER deal!

[More flashbackery – Sora confronts her mum with a bandaged leg]
Mama Takeuchi: “And how do you plan to play with your leg like that?”
Mama Takeuchi: “Sora, you can’t go with your knee injured like that!”

Listed because Sora’s mum’s original line will be called back upon later.

[Sora flinches while sitting due to her injury]
Mama Takeuchi: “You can’t even sit in seiza because of soccer – you should quit.”
Sora: “No! I like soccer more than flowers!”
Mama Takeuchi: “Sora! Are you even still my child?!”
Mama Takeuchi: “I want you to stop playing soccer and come to work at the flower shop after school.”
Sora: “Do what? I won’t stop playing to work with smelly old flowers!”
Mama Takeuchi: “I can’t believe a daughter of mine would act this way! My decision is final!”

Listed because Sora’s mum’s dub line is the one that will be called back upon later, even though the other line was translated just fine and would have made more sense.

Seiza 「正座」 literally means “proper sitting”, and it is Japan’s traditional, formal way of sitting on the floor by kneeling, then resting one’s tushy on the heels with the tops of the feet flat on the ground.

In the original, Sora‘s mother is an iemoto 「家元」 , the head of a school of a classic art – in this case, ikebana 「生け花」 (flower arranging) or kadō 「華道」 (“way of flowers”).

Ikebana or kadō (both terms refer to the same art) is one of Japan’s distinct classical art forms, and maintaining that tradition is very culturally important. Iemoto often pass down their schools to their children when possible.

The dub changes this to Sora’s family owning a flower shop, which is a fine adaptation. The closest we have to ikebana in Western culture would be bouquet arrangement, which you’d find at a florist or flower shop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iemoto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikebana

[Still in flashback territory, now at a soccer field]
Taichi: “Sora, isn’t your house one of kadō?”
Sora: “Yes. It’s an iemoto.”
Takeru: “What’s an iemoto?”
Yamato: “It means a teacher of flowers.”
Sora: “In the end, we lost horribly. I couldn’t stay in that club.”
Sora: “I walked around for hours. I found myself at the soccer field. The game had just finished.”
Tai: “What happened?”
Sora: “We lost the game, six to three. My teammates were so depressed that they didn’t even notice me when they walked by me. I felt like I had let them all down – like it was all my fault…”

Well, maybe if you’d gone straight to the field instead of walking around for hours…

[Back in the present, Sora attempts to pitch her Crest, and Taichi stops her]
Taichi: “Even so, you can’t believe what PicoDevimon said!”
Tai: “Even if what you said is true, you shouldn’t believe a word from that loser, DemiDevimon! He’s just a creep that’s trying to hurt you!”

Mon, DemiDevimon is a loser, isn’t he?

[DAMNIT, now Sora’s crying and now I’M NOT CRYING YOU ARE ;o;]
Taichi: “H-Hey, Yamato… What should I do?”
Tai: “Matt, help me out! I don’t know what to do with her when she starts blubbering!”

Step one is “don’t write it off as ‘blubbering'”.

Yamato: “If she wants to cry, then let her.”
Agumon: “Yamato’s just like an adult, isn’t he?”
Gabumon: “Well, moreso than Taichi…”
Matt: “Just let her go, Tai. She’ll be okay.”
Agumon: “Boy, Matt’s just like a real grown-up!”
Gabumon: “Now, if only he would cut his hair!”

Step two is MAKEOVEEEEER~!

[Takeru has adorably thanked Sora for warning them about those forget-o ‘shrooms back in episode 22, his adorability instantly curing her despair, as it does for all of humanity, and Piyomon has explained that she and Sora were secretly following the others and helping]
Takeru: “I really like you, Sora.”
Sora: “Eh?”
Takeru: “So don’t leave us anymore, okay? I don’t like it when my family… I mean, when everyone becomes separated.” [awwww ;o;]
T.K.: “Sora? I like you.”
Sora: “Huh?”
T.K.: “So, please, don’t go away again. I don’t like being away from you.” *laughs* “When you’re around, I don’t miss my mom as much!”

That was almost cute before you went and made it weird, T.K..

[The Chosen Children are reunited, and now it’s sleepy time]
PicoDevimon: “Before Lord Vamdemon arrives, I’ll take them out while it’s a little easier…”
DemiDevimon: “Myotismon’ll be so proud of my work, maybe I’ll get a promotion!”

You can’t get promoted while you’re on probation, dude. You’ll be lucky if he reinstates your water cooler privileges!

PicoDevimon’s previously cut attack, Pico Darts, is now uncut and translated as “Demi Dart” in all its syringey glory!

(1 sec) The actual shot of Pico Darts hitting Piyomon, however, did not make it into the dub in all its stabby glory. It’s replaced with a shot of DemiDevimon grinning with satisfaction at his minimal-effort work.

[Now the Chosen Children are awake (nice work, PicoDevimon), and Vamdemon has made an extravagant rock star entrance, but he must have skipped a few lessons from Etemon, because he forgot the actual rock]
Vamdemon: “Chosen Children…”
Sora: “It was this guy! The one PicoDevimon was communicating with!”
PicoDevimon: “He’s not ‘this guy’!! He’s Lord Vamdemon!”
Myotismon: *evil cackle* “DigiDestined! Your journey ends here.”
Sora: “That’s it! That’s the thing DemiDevimon was talking to!”
DemiDevimon: “He’s not a thing, he’s… Lord Myotismon!”

Listed mostly because it sounds like DemiDevimon forgot his boss’ name for a second, which is hilarious.

Vamdemon: *subdued evil chuckle* “This is the end of your journey. Night Raid!” *unleashes the adorable bats*
Myotismon: *exuberant evil cackle* “These DigiDestined are making me feel a little…batty. Grisly Wing!” *unleashes the adorable bats*

Myotismon’s actor is getting into it! I love it! Gotta work on your puns, though, mon.

[Battle ensues, and Palmon evolves to Togemon]
Togemon: “Everyone, get down! Chiku-Chiku Bang Bang!”
Togemon: “Let me try to get my point across! Needle Spray!”

See? That’s how it’s done!

During the Battle of the Adorable (ha! get it? battle? shut up), the original plays an instrumental version of Brave Heart – it’s not the karaoke version, but rather, the vocals are replaced with a synthesizer – and the dub follows suit by playing the theme song without vocals! Nice attention to detail, dub team!

After Vamdemon is decidedly not defeated by Harpoon Vulcan, he instead attacks with Bloody Stream, laughing all the while. Noted because his laugh is strangely monotonous in the original – almost robotic. It’s weirdly unsettling and creepy.

Myotismon’s voice actor, Richard Epcar, is still lovin’ it and goes all-in on his evil cackle. He’s also the voice of Etemon, the original rock star. I like him! I feel like he knows what’s important in life – evil cackling and rock and roll!

Sora: “How do you plan on attacking him with your body like this?”
Piyomon: “Please understand, Sora… I have to go!”
Sora: “You can’t go!”
Piyomon: “Let go!”
Sora: “No! You can’t go!”
Piyomon: “Why can’t you understand?!”
Sora: “It’s no use! You can’t do anything in your condition!”
Biyomon: “Please understand, Sora – I have to go!”
Sora: “No, Biyomon, you can’t! You’ll get hurt, I won’t let you! My decision is final!”
Biyomon: “Sora, why can’t you understand?”

Listed for the aforementioned call-back, which, in the original was “how do you plan on [doing stuff] with your [stuff-doing-nullifying condition]?” In the dub, the call-back is, “my decision is final”. Didn’t need to be, but eh.

Sora has also caught the deadly unreliable memory, and she flashes back to herself asking her mother, “why can’t you understand?” instead of what she actually asked, which was “why can’t you understand me?” She only left off one word, though, so she’s still way ahead of Mimi and Tai.

Sora: “Mom… I was really… I was really what she thought was important…”
Sora: “I always thought my mom was thinking about her flower shop, but she was really worried about me getting hurt!”

Uh… sure… I mean, what she said was that she wanted your child labor, but we’ll go with your version…

[Piyomon has evolved to Birdramon and been subsequently smacked by Bloody Stream]
Sora: “BIRDRAMOOOOON!!”
Sora: “Birdramon! No! I love you!!”

Haha, familial love! Gross.

Vamdemon: “Wh-What is this light?”
Myotismon: “What? Where is that glow coming from?”

I dunno – in front of you? From the thing that you’ve specifically been trying to not make with the glowies?

[Birdramon has evolved to Garudamon]
Garudamon: “Sora, your love… I feel so much!”
Sora: “Piyomon… You’re so cool!”
Garudamon: “SOOOOORAAA. I can FEEL your LOVE. It’s making me STRONG!”
Sora: “My crest…i-it glows!”

SOOOORRRAAAAA. I can TASTE your FEEEAAAARRR

Narrator: “Garudamon: a Bird-Woman* Digimon that evolves from Birdramon. She is a disciple of justice and order, and a nature-loving guardian deity. Her special attack is Shadow Wing.”
Tentomon: “Garudamon is the Ultimate form of Birdramon. She commands the sky and protects the earth. Her attack is a rude gesture in which she flips someone the flaming bird, called ‘Wing Blade.'”

*Literally “bird person” (choujin 「鳥人」)

Garudamon: Shadow Wing –> Wing Blade

Okay, now I’m starting to remember why I hate “Hey , Digimon” so much. GO AWAY, ‘HEY’. I’ve already heard you two times this month, and they were both terrible!

Dub Garudamon says “Wing Blade” likes she’s trying to take a poop.

While deflecting “Wing Blade” with adorable bats, Myotismon laments, “I did not anticipate such strength despite trying to prevent the emergence of this exact strength!”

While Garudamon flies off with her friends, he declares, “Huh? Next time, you won’t escape, but for now, I’ll make no attempt to stop you even though I’m way more powerful than you are and have a way cuter attack!”

[Safety]
Taichi: “There was nothing to worry about – your Crest glowed!”
Tai: “All you had to do was stop worrying about it, Sora, and you got your crest to work!”

It’s just like plunging yourself into an electrified wall – just stop worrying about it and– oh woops

Pyokomon: “I felt it too! Your love!”
Sora: “I’m sorry.”
Pyokomon: “I’m glad you’re back to your usual self!”
Taichi: “I want Sora’s love, too!”
Jou: “You idiot, Taichi! What sort of thing are you saying?!”
Takeru: “Hey, Jou, you’re red.”
Mimi: “Jou, shall I give you my ‘love’?” *hands him some seeds* “Here!”
Jou: “Mimi… you…”
Yokomon: “And it was your love that helped me Digivolve, Sora!”
Sora: “I’m glad.”
Yokomon: “You see, you are capable of love after all!”
Tai: “I felt something! I guess it was your love shining through!”
Joe: “I felt something, too. It made me feel uncomfortable.”
TK: “Love shouldn’t make you feel like that.”
Mimi: “That’s right, T.K.! I know why you felt uncomfortable, Joe.”
Joe: “Why?”
Mimi: “Deez were in your pocket!”

DEEZ NUTZ
_sorry

Joe: “Oh, I guess it wasn’t love…”

Why was the ‘love’ in your pants, Joe?

… Why were you looking for ‘love’ in his pants, Mimi?!

Ah, yes, the seeds of mystery. She sounds like she’s saying “love” (“aijou” 「愛情」, but then she deposits the seeds in Jou’s hands, much to his bamboozlement and consternation.

Narrator: “The children accepted Sora back into their group, and their connection was stronger than before. However…”
[Their peaceful, seed-inclusive cool-down is interrupted by dark clouds and a familiar, creepy, monotonous laugh!]
Sora: “That voice!”
Vamdemon: “Chosen Children. With only the seven of you, you won’t be able to stop the beat of our evil power.”
Matt: “Sora joined up with us again, and we were closer than ever! We finally thought things were going our way. And then…”
Myotismon: *more evil cackling*
Sora: “I know that laugh!”
Myotismon: “You foolish DigiDestined! The seven of you are no match for my powers! Prepare for your ultimate destruction!” *maniacal laugh*

I love you, Richard Epcar.