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Cliffhanger






65






Thelma & Louise






The Last of Us






DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES






The Last Starfighter




Digimon Data Squad

1.48 The ultimate farewell

original title: Digimon Savers

Comparison:

  • US Version
  • Japanese TV Version
Release: Aug 09, 2011 - Author: Jim - Translator: Tony Montana - external link: IMDB - more from this series
"Digimon Savers", or better known as "Digimon Data Squad" in the USA, is the fifth series of the popular franchise revolving around the monsters of the virtual world and their partners.

As all seasons before, the fifth series too had been edited a bit. As usual the opening and ending were made anew. Unlike previous openings this one wasn't replaced with a monotonous rap song, but with a normal, new song. The titlescreen for the episode was also changed, just like the preview for the next episode. Those are typical changes for the US version.
The translation itself is good, but Agumon refers to Masaru (or Marcus in the US version, yet I stick to the Japanese names) as "boss", while he calls him "Aniki" (brother) in the Japanese version. Most likely this was changed because it could be seen as an analogy to the Yakuza, which have a family-like hierarchy.
Furthermore some of the signs have just been emptied if they were written in Japanese. Where a sign in episode 1 was translated and the rest remained unchanged for instance, it didn't take long until the producers decided to just simply empty the signs, which makes a worse impression of course. Listing these modifications would break the mold, that's why I only mention a perfect example of episode 8 here in the intro. For some reason, the English-written Coca Cola sign has been modified as well. Usually those kind of signs remain unchanged in the US Version.



The order for comparisons is:
Left: Japanese version
Right: US Version

About this episode: I don't really know what to say about most of the differences in this episode because they're usually ineffable aqnd look like just being made for time reasons.
One of the dialogs has been censored pretty harshly btw. Yoshima drinks sake with two digimons in the moonlight at the end while anyone says bye to his digimon. That's Japanese tradition. But he's talking about milk in the US Version.

Bottom line of the US Version: Digimon has always been and still is a series for kids, even though it contains a lot of action from the beginning. The action sequences are never over the top so that that it's not a big deal for kids. It's been made pretty clear that the baddies' action is evil and that appropiate consequences are going to follow. The differences in the US Version may seem moderate, and there actually are no differences that change the content of the series, but they're pretty superfluous anyway. Furthermore there's no consistency in the censorships. The perfect example is Rosemon's dress: sometimes it's been censored, sometimes it hasn't. Sometimes her burst evolution's been censored, sometimes it hasn't. Nudity has generally never been used to attract an older audience but it's been censored in the US Version anyway, even harmless footage like having a bath or sth. There are no juicy details in the Japanese anyway.
Another aspect are the cultural references in the Japanese Version that has often been modified for the US audience. Thw writing on signs has been changed or simplay removed. Escpecially the removal harms the series because it just looks dreadful because a huge wall with a big ad on has a different effect than a blank wall.

The US Version is watchable but it's still a bummer that all these modifications have been made. The time difference in this episode is 4 seconds.
0:02:34
Anyone tries to warn Marcus by shouting.

3 sec



0:03:09
Rosemon's already barely noticeable curves have been retouched.

no difference



0:03:25
Marcus' friends are shouting at him again.

3 sec



0:04:43
Rosemon's modified dress.

no difference



0:04:56
The shot of the destroyed town is missing.

2 sec



0:07:24
Marcus hits Drasil's real figure in the face, the head gets some cracks.

4 sec



0:15:36
Agumon's hit against Marcus has been replaced by a slash-animation.

no difference



0:16:14
Missing shot of the conversation between Agumon and Marcus.

3 sec



0:22:43
The last shot of the Japanese ideographs has been removed.

2 sec