Digimon Fusion S01E02
Shoutmon, Roar! (JP)
He is Shoutmon, Hear Him Roar! (EN)
Original Writer: Riku Sanjō
Dub Writers: Mark Ryan
Original Airdates:
July 13, 2010 (JP)
September 14, 2013 (EN)
Gear’s Notes:
♫ We live in a Digital World
Little monsters everywhere… ♫
I gotta admit, the theme song is catchy. And not in an Adventure-02-Tamers you-can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head-because-it’s-so-repetitive kind of way. For the title, I don’t think Shoutmon really roars as much as he whines and attempts to pimp out Lillymon to underaged kids.
This episode was a bit heavy with the censors, but it wasn’t anything I didn’t expect watching the Japanese version first, so I doubt any of the cuts will be particularly surprising to anyone.
With Mikey, Angie, and Jeremy making noises about going home, Shoutmon decides to treat them all to some Digital World hospitality. However, he fails to coax them into sticking around, despite his pleas, largely due to Angie’s indifference to their plight, and Mikey misunderstanding Shoutmon’s motivations for wanting to become the “Digimon King.” As the kids leave, they run straight into MadLeomon, who’s back for round 2. Despite his anger towards the kids’ abandoning them, Shoutmon comes to their rescue. Digi-Fusing with Ballistamon, Shoutmon X2 forces MadLeomon and his army to retreat.
Taiki: Aaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
Shoutmon: There it is! You see it?! You see it?! Right there! You love it?!
Mikey: All I see is a bad fall!
Shoutmon’s home in the Green Zone, The Village of Smiles, becomes The Village of Light in the Forest Zone.
Shoutmon: Oh, you came at a good time, old geezer!
Jijimon: Call me Jijimon-sama!
Shoutmon: I was gonna say that, you old show-off!
Jijimon: Watch your mouth, you young pup!
Return of the flash impact screen! Jijimon smashing the crap out of Shoutmon was covered up in the dub.
Is it a bad sign that I’m actually slightly impressed with the improved quality of the flash impact screens over previous seasons’?
Jijimon: It has grown difficult for us to live in this village recently.
Taiki: Did something happen?
Jijimon: I have felt ominous rumblings in the Forest Zone of late.
Mikey: Like stomach problems or what?
Okay, so this one got a little messy. Jijimon is giving his speech about what’s been going on in the Digital World as of late. The dub shifted, cut, and added scenes all over the place here.
In the original, Jijimon is first overlaid over scenes of the army marching. He disappears and we pan to an image of a shadowy Digimon standing behind the “evil Bagura Empire’s army.” Then we snap to a side shot of the army marching before Jijimon’s speech ends.
In the dub, Jijimon’s talks about an evil Lord Bagura while scenes from the first episode appear in the background. Then the shadowy figure appears, then we snap back to the shot right before Jijimon starts telling the story. I realize these images were full of guns, but can they really avoid that many guns for the entire series? That seems like it would cause some serious cuts in the future.
Note from Gear: When I originally wrote this comparison, there were several links in the above text with corresponding images. Unfortunately, those were lost in the move to the new site, and the Archive doesn’t have them. I’ll try to update these when I can.
Akari: For crying out loud, what are we doing here in this crazy place? I had plans for tomorrow’s Marine Day!
Angie: Okay, this was fun for a while, but I think I’m ready to go home now! I miss my bunny blanket! BUNNY BLANKET!!!!
And the snowball continues to roll…
(Preparing to attack Pteramon)
Shoutmon: Rowdy Rocker!
Shoutmon: Polly want a cracker?!
Shoutmon: As long as I’ve got you, I’ll definitely become the Digimon King!
Shoutmon: With you as my wingman, I’ll be crowned Digimon King in no time!
“General” and “Wingman” are kind of mutually exclusive in most cases – at least in military terms. And as far as my own personal experience in the military, I’ve neither had a General as a partner on a mission, nor as a friend to help me meet people in a bar.
In the original, an error message flashes on the screen of Akari’s phone. In the dub, the image is frozen when the message is off the screen, so there’s no Japanese text. Additionally, the dub edits out the text next to the signal bar.
In the original, you could see Akari’s mouth moving. In the dub, it looks like the blurred the mouth out so you can’t tell it’s closed. As a result, you can’t see Cutemon’s ear poke Angie in the dub via the reflection.
Cutemon and Dorulumon are retained.
In the original, Dorulumon claims he’s just passing through before he takes off. In the dub, he hints that he and Angie will cross paths again.
Aonuma: Annihilation complete.
Christopher: Digi-delete executed.
So “Destroy” is okay, but “Annihilation” is too much for kids?
Greymon and Mailbirdramon are retained.
Dondokomon aren’t named in the dub.
The major cut/censor for this episode is Lillymon’s dance. During the scene where Lillymon is dancing…exotically for Taiki and the others, the dub recycles shots of the Dondokomon and Lillymon’s earlier, less exotic scene to make up the time. And of course, Lillymon’s top color is changed in the dub.
In the original, after Taiki says that he and his friends will be heading home in the morning, Shoutmon tries to tell Taiki that because there are other humans fighting the war, and so the Digital World is the most fun place they could ever be. (You know, because war is fun and all.) In the dub, Shoutmon tries to appeal to Mikey’s “sense of duty” and tries to tell him that he’s needed to win this war. The facial expressions Shoutmon has fit the dub better, but given the peeing scene coming up, the dialogue is a little bit redundant.
Zenjirou: They might know how to get back to the human world!
Jeremy: Maybe their smartphones will have reception, and we’ll be able to play games and stuff!
Yup, Jeremy is definitely Mimi: Season 6.
In this scene, Taiki goes to pee in a bush. The whole shot is done in silhouette, but in the dub, he’s not peeing, he’s just…walking and stopping randomly behind a bush.
Taiki: Are you seriously going to keep clinging to me while I pee?
Mikey: Come on, Shoutmon, get a grip! And not on my ankle!
Akari: No, Taiki!
Taiki: You’re here too, Akari?!
Angie: Don’t even think about it!
Mikey: Aaah! Don’t sneak up on me like that!
Akari: Here, wipe your hands.
Taiki: Thanks.
Angie: Yeah, it’s not our problem.
The whole scene is just awkward, really, but it’s for a noble cause. We can’t let kids know that people pee sometimes.
Shoutmon: You’re the only one who can make me the Digimon King!
Shoutmon: You two can go back to that silly world of yours anytime, but helping me to become the King of the DigiWorld is much more important!
There’s that DigiWorld thing again…
In the above scene where Akari tells Taiki to wipe his hands, she hands him a cloth or wet-nap of some kind. In the dub, the previous shot of Shoutmon is frozen to cut the scene and the reference to him using the bathroom. Also, when Shoutmon speaks, they manage to freeze the background so the motions Taiki goes through to wipe his hands…erm, gloves, are lost.
Then they cut another gun-rich scene of Bagra’s Army.
Akari: Taiki, why are you being so depressed?
Zenjirou: Let’s hurry up and find those other humans who are in this world.
Akari: Yes! We have to get back to our own world, quick.
Jeremy: This is just like the Forest of Spells in Slam Quest III! You know, the Platoon Level!
Angie: I like you better when you’re scared. You talk almost like a normal human.
We’re back to putting words in their mouths when we can’t see them.
MadLeomon: You’d better run, compared to [Orochimon], I’m a pussy
WHAAAT?
MadLeomon: …cat.
Oh.
Taiki’s “solution” to being cornered by Orochimon is for everyone to clench…their teeth. Mikey tells everyone to run on the count of three. They don’t, obviously, since there’s nowhere to actually run.
Both Orochimon and MadLeomon Orochimode are retained.
Zenjirou: We’re finished!
Jeremy: Can’t we replay this level just like in real life?!
Shoutmon X2 is…retained-ish. Where in the original he was “Shoutmon Cross Two”, he is now “Shoutmon Times Two”. Not necessarily a huge change, but whatever, it’s still spelled the same. Though there’s still only one Shoutmon, so I’m not sure where the second one is coming from…
Shoutmon X2’s Arm Bunker becomes Fusion Fist in the dub.
Body Blaster becomes Sonic Tsunami.
Final Verdict
Hm...
Honestly, this is proving to not be a bad series at all. Most of the dialogue is on-point, and while Jeremy is becoming Mimi-fied, the rest isn’t doing too terribly.