Digimon Adventure S02E16

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Gear’s Notes: Translation issues from Season 1 hurt this episode a lot. Many of you already know this, but Jou’s Crest is the Crest of Sincerity (sometimes translated as “Faithfulness”) in the original. The dub changed it to Reliability. As such, Cody’s struggle in this episode makes very little sense, even without minor changes in previous episodes with regard to his feelings on lying. I remember watching this as a kid and just thinking Cody was a dumbass, not realizing that the translation issues were causing most of the harm.

Detecting a Digi-Egg, the group travels to an offshore oil platform to investigate. Once there, they’re attacked by MegaSeadramon sporting a Dark Spiral. He traps them inside the rig and smashes the walls, causing water to flood in. Veemon activates the emergency shutter, closing out the water, but depriving them of escape or oxygen. They find an escape pod, and because Cody is terrified of the ocean, they send him out in it against his wishes, instructing him to find Joe because they need Ikkakumon’s help to escape.

Cody tracks down Joe’s school, but because he’s in a test, he can’t get the staff member to send a message. Cody is then forced to lie, saying Joe’s father is in the hospital. When Joe leaves class, Cody fills him in on what happened, and being the planner he is, Joe contacts Izzy for a favor.

Ikkakumon appears, and successfully lures MegaSeadramon away, allowing Joe and Cody to break through the wall of the rig with Whamon, which had been Joe’s request to Izzy. The group determines that the newly-found Digi-Egg of Reliability must belong to Cody, but he refuses it, saying the fact that he lied makes him undeserving. Joe explains to him that lies can be good or bad, and if he hadn’t lied, they might have never been able to save the others in time. Cody takes it, Armor Digiviolving Armadillomon to Submarimon. Together with Ikkakumon, they destroy the Dark Spiral, freeing MegaSeadramon. The episode ends with Submarimon taking Cody on an undersea tour to help him overcome his fear of the ocean.

Meanwhile, the Digimon Emperor works on a secret plan that even Wormmon doesn’t know about.

The original makes a note at the end of the recap that Jou’s Crest is the only one that hasn’t spawned a Digimental yet. The dub doesn’t talk about this.

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Iori blames himself for the kids’ current situation, and the narrator starts the flashback. In the dub, Cody states he’s terrified of being underwater, and narrates the flashback himself.

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Armadimon claims the Digimental must be for Iori. Hawkmon points out it could be for Hikari or Takeru, but is cut off by Iori and Armadimon running off to get it. In the dub, Armadillomon just says he hopes the Digi-Egg is waterproof, while Hawkmon muses on who its owner would be.

Cody’s characterization is coming back to bite the show in the ass. In the original, Iori wants to race to see who gets to the Digimental first. It doesn’t really raise any red flags. But since Cody has to do the same given the source footage, it’s wildly inconsistent with his character, who to this point has been a self-important pompous little boy who tries to act way more mature than he is. To see him behaving like a playful, carefree kid is jarring.

MegaSeadramon doesn’t speak in the original version. In the dub, he shouts Lightning Javelin when he attacks, and makes a lot more grunting and growling noises.

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silence
Davis: I’ve heard of earthquakes before, but never oceanquakes!

Dumbass.

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In the original, Iori stands firm that the situation is his fault, that his impulsive behavior and failure to check for traps is what got them trapped underwater. In the dub, he apparently had a recurring nightmare as a kid (he still is one) about being trapped at the bottom of the ocean, and this is causing him severe anxiety now.

In the dub, Patamon says “This sure doesn’t look like a dream. It looks real to me!” Then the sound of an electric sliding door opening. “What is it?” The door noise wasn’t in the original, and there’s nothing to indicate how Patamon opened it, or how he knew it was there before he opened the door.

In the original, it’s implied the group wants Iori to get into the escape pod because he’s the youngest and they want to protect him. In the dub, it’s because of Cody’s sorta-kinda thalassophobiaFear of large bodies of water.

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Davis says drawing straws isn’t a fair way to decide because he’s bad at drawing.

Then V-Mon says the Digimon shouldn’t be included in the drawing, implying that he feels the humans should be the ones who get out. Tailmon disagrees saying they all should draw (I presume because Iori wouldn’t have agreed to it otherwise), and Takeru proclaims that humans and Digimon are equal, and thus they should all be included. In the dub, Veemon says not to make a straw for him because he’s not thirsty.

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In both versions, Daisuke has no idea what’s going on (specifically that the game is going to be rigged to ensure Iori wins). In the original, he suggests paper-rock-scissors, but Takeru tells him the straws are fine. In the dub, Davis shouts “One for all, and all for me!” and TK tells him that’s not how the saying goes.

The hell are those sticks made of, and why did Miyako just have those in her pockets?

Or does Iori just have super strength?

Iori: That’s cheating!
Miyako: I guess I was cheating, but…
Cody: All the straws have red on them!
Yolei: The first one was so pretty I just couldn’t stop coloring them?

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We get two pieces of dumb dialogue because the escape pod is, as you’d guess, a fully closed sphere so water can’t get in. First, Davis tells Cody to keep his arms and legs inside the vehicle. Secondly, when Cody makes it to the surface, he celebrates getting fresh air, even though the pod is still closed.

Obviously neither dumb joke was in the original.

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[silence]
Joe’s Voicemail: Hi, this is Joe! Sorry I can’t answer my cell phone right now, but I had to turn it off so it wouldn’t ring during my biology test. I’m pretty good at biology, so I’ll turn it back on real soon. Unless the test is on molecular biology. Oh, I have to go study. Bye. [dial tone]

The heck kind of voicemail doesn’t let you leave a message?

The dub’s rambling goes on for a while. Near the end of it is where Iori actually calls Jou, and he gets an error saying the number is disconnected.

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Iori uses the White Pages to search for Jou’s number, evidenced by his saying “Kido… Kido…” while flipping pages. Apparently unsuccessful, he switches to looking for the Shinagawa Cram School. In the dub, Cody says he’s looking for Joe’s school from the start, but doesn’t name it.

This is where we start seeing the problems with Sincerity vs. Reliability. Iori’s grandfather in both versions tells him that it is better to say nothing than to lie. The dub takes it a step further even, saying nothing is worse than lying. Lying in and of itself has little to do with being reliable, but everything to do with being sincere.

Iori: Thank you very much!
Cody: Prune juice sure makes you smart, grandpa!

No, it just makes him regular.

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Out of the blue, Davis says he estimates they have two hours of air left. How the dumbest person on that team can estimate how much air is in a room is well beyond me.

Both Takeru and TK say that digging to find the Digimental/Digi-Egg is a better use of their time than sitting around and doing nothing. But no one points out that all that labor is just going to make their air deplete faster.

The dub makes this idiotic joke that Joe is running after he hears his father is in the hospital. But Cody explained it was because the other kids were in danger. But Joe kept running. Cody asks why he’s still running even though his father’s fine, and Joe goes “Oh,” and stops.

In the original, none of that happens, instead Jou slowing down to grab his cell phone.

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In the original, the group is laughing because Armadimon’s faith in Iori has spread to the others, making them optimistic. In the dub, it’s because they’re all pretending things are funny to cover up their fear.

WHICH MAKES NO SENSE. If they wanted to change the theme of the episode from sincerity to reliability, having the kids put their trust in Cody and believing he’ll succeed and save him would have gone a long way toward that goal.

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Narrator: MegaSeadramon! A Perfect-level Digimon that relentlessly pursues his opponents like a torpedo! His special attack is the Thunder Javelin.
Ikkakumon: He’s an Ultimate-level Digimon who destroys his enemies with his Lightning Javelin and Mega Ice Blast attacks!

This is a very subtle change, but it has a significant effect.

Ikkakumon: I beat him in Tokyo before… but how can I win without becoming Zudomon?
Ikakkumon: I’ve faced him once before in Tokyo… but I don’t think I can defeat him unless I Digivolve to Zudomon!

Ikkakumon’s line in the original hints at something we’ll learn later – the Season 1 Digimon have lost the ability to reach the Perfect/Ultimate level or higher. The dub’s line makes it sound like Ikkakumon could still do it, but then doesn’t explain why he doesn’t. The dub version makes it sound like it’s still an option.

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Daisuke calls Cody “Iori-sama” out of respect for saving them. In the dub, Davis just lies that he’d never doubted Cody for a minute.

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The dub makes it clear that the Whamon who came to save them was the same Whamon who died during the Dark Masters arc, implying he was reborn with all of his memories intact. The original makes no such reference, and Whamon doesn’t even have any lines.

Jou: You have to be kidding me… at this rate, the Crest of Sincerity will end up at the bottom of the ocean!
Davis: Listen, we didn’t come all the way down here and go through all this just so you could say, “Thanks but no thanks!”

I’m not listing this as a Dialogue Deviation because it’s actually a fix. There’s an animation error in that Jou’s mouth doesn’t move at all during that line. In the dub, rather than having him speak with his mouth closed, they gave a line to Davis instead, who was off-screen.

In both versions, Iori/Cody starts crying over the fact that he had to lie to get Jou out of class.

1. It’s the Crest of Reliability in the dub, so that has nothing to do with anything.
2. Cody lied about helping stray neighborhood cats just a few episodes ago.
3. Old man Cody making crying noises is disturbing.

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The “Digivice screeching” noise in the dub is so loud during the sequence, it sounds like Armadillomon is having to shout over it just to be heard.

Submarimon is retained, though his title, Whirling Sincerity becomes Guardian of the Seas in the dub. It’s a weird change – both of Armadillomon’s armor “titles” initially omit the Crest name, then add it later.

In future appearances, he’ll call himself the Reliable Guardian of the Seas.

I think I just need to make a WTF banner or something. This inconsistency is in the original version only.

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The evolution sequence says “Submarimon,” but the Analyzer says “Sabmarimon.”

Veemon: Wow, a submarine. What perfect timing.

I think that was supposed to be sarcasm, and if it was, it’s brilliant. All of this could have been avoided if they’d found the Digi-Egg sooner and used Submarimon to escape.

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Narrator: Submarimon, an aquatic Digimon that Armor-evolved with the power of the Digimental of Sincerity. His special attacks are Oxygen Homing and Submarine Attack.
Submarimon: I’m Submarimon! I digivolve using the Digi-Egg of Reliability! My Oxygen Torpedo attack makes my enemies truly seasick.

Submarimon: Iori, get in, dagyaa.
Submarimon: Come on, Cody. HOP IN.

O_o why did the dub one sound like he was trying to lure Cody into an unmarked van with the promise of candy?

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To the dub’s credit, they at least acknowledge Cody needing to get over his phobia when he and Submarimon escape. You’d half expect them to drop it entirely.

Submarimon’s Aqua Vulcan becomes Submarine Attack in the dub.

In both versions, Ikkakumon shouts to Submarimon to sneak up behind MegaSeadramon and attack. We all know it’s going to work because they shouted their secret plan right in front of him.

[silence]
Ikkakumon: I’m up here, you overgrown garden snake!

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Iori: You did it, Submarimon…!
Cody: Way to go, you did it!

Listed because Iori’s line was more surprise than congratulations. The dub line doesn’t fit Cody’s face.

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TK: DON’T WORry! WE can COUNT on COdy!

Ugh, that line read!

In the original, Submarimon takes Iori on the undersea tour to relax him after the rough day he’d had. In the dub, he does it to help him overcome his fear of the ocean, saying Cody’s fear likely comes from not understanding it.

That’s… surprisingly well-handled for a made-up plot point.

Cody is enjoying his undersea tour with light, whimsical music playing, and it’s a happy way to end the episode.

Narrator: What is the secret plan of the Digimon Emperor?!

WILL IT FINALLY DESTROY THE DIGIDESTINED?!

FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!

o_O Dude, calm down.