Digimon Tamers Episode 6: The Meaning of Being Partners: Renamon Evolves! | Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: Ruki and Renamon are at odds with each other since she won’t evolve. When faced with a new Digimon threat, Renamon puts her life on the line to save Ruki. Will that be enough to prove to Ruki that Renamon’s more than data?

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I know I’ve mentioned that all of the recaps are different, but this one is particularly different. Originally, given the subject matter of the episode, the narrator focuses purely on Ruki and Renamon’s role in the episode. She explains that Ruki and Renamon saved Takato and Lee from Vilemon, but Ruki also has a terrible view on Digimon, believing them to be data and nothing more. Even her partner Renamon is seemingly viewed in such a manner.

In the dub, it’s a plain recap, and there’s really no mention whatsoever of Rika and Renamon’s role. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to change this is all.

Title Change: The Meaning of Being Partners: Renamon Evolves! is changed to O Partner, Where Art Thou?

Title Card:

Ruki’s mom says she should decide what she wants to be in the future quickly. In the dub, she says when she was Rika’s age, she didn’t have the luxury of ‘playing little card games’ because she was already hard at work.

Ruki’s grandma laments that Ruki acts like a boy. She doesn’t mention this in the dub.

Ruki’s grandma is making fried chicken gizzards for dinner. Rika’s grandma is making eggplant and liver casserole.

The reason Guilmon gets dizzy in the original is because every time they complete a round of janken, they say “Look over there!” and point. For the sake of summary, here’s an old Wiki explanation of what’s going on here.

“In some versions of the game, a second round of play is used. After one player has won the paper/scissors/stone game, another count of three is conducted with the phrase “Acchi mite (muite) hoi!” (あっち見て(向いて)ホイ！?, “Hey, look [turn] over there!”). On “hoi!”, the player who won previously points in one of four directions (up, down, left, or right), and the player who lost previously tilts their head to look in one of those directions. If both directions are the same, the game is over, and the player pointing is declared the final winner; if the directions are not the same, the game reverts back to the original jan ken pon and the original winner’s win is canceled.”

In the dub, he just gets confused since he keeps losing (Guilmon can’t form anything but paper.)

They remove the impact shot of Renamon kicking Allomon and replace it with a pink impact blast.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

The card Rika uses is for YukiAgumon not plain Agumon. Plain Agumon’s elemental abilities are fire-based, not ice.

Card Name Change: Devil Chip is changed to Hyper Chip.

I actually prefer Impmon’s dub voice over his Japanese one. The dub voice just seems to fit him better. However, I definitely prefer the original VA’s method of speech over the dub’s. He just sounds like a kid pretending to be a mobster.

Ruki is completely silent as she’s bathed in the glow of the Digivice. In the dub, Rika’s thinking to herself that maybe this gives her one wish. She wishes Renamon was hers and that she knew how to make her Digivolve. She then wishes that she were a real Digimon Tamer.

The only reason I’m mentioning a dialogue-where-there-is-none-in-the-original moment here is because this dub scene always seemed kinda silly to me. Originally, she just seems to accept what’s happening and almost appears to be cherishing the new Digivice she’s been given. I don’t see Rika as the type of person to believe she gets wishes off of something or anything. Especially if she believes she’s dreaming. And if she doesn’t really believe she’s dreaming, uh, Rika, your scanner just transformed into a Digivice. Pretty sure you don’t need to wish to be a Digimon Tamer now.

Plus, why wish that you knew how to make her Digivolve? If she’s not currently at a level to your liking, wouldn’t you wish for a Digimon that was?

Renamon originally says “You wanted a strong Digimon. That is me.” In the dub, she says she’s been searching for a strong Tamer for a long time, and Rika is the one. It’s no accident that they ended up working together, and if she shares her strength with her, they’ll be unstoppable. Yeah, both lines can basically be the same. I just wanted to highlight something I’ve noticed with Renamon.

Notice how short the original lines are and how long the dub prattles on? Since you can’t see Renamon’s mouth most of the time, they can make her talk for ages in the dub without problems. On screen or off, they can make her talk as long as they want.

Impmon’s Index Screen is translated and changed.

Dokugumon’s Index screen is also translated and changed.

Oh boy, that animation after Ruki gets ensnared by the webs is budget-y. They are literally just making a cut out shot of Dokugumon larger to imitate movement.

Originally, Ruki thinks to herself ‘Renamon, help me!’ In the dub, she screams. While the original line is technically better, the dub’s line fits better because the original doesn’t add in at least a soft scream under the dialogue, so it makes her screaming motion seem weird.

They just continue using that cheap animation on Dokugumon….

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a goddamn minute. They will edit out Renamon kicking Allomon in the head…..but they leave that brutal shot of Renamon getting her entire torso bitten by Dokugumon alone? Saban, please make sense.

Culumon just makes noises when he walks up. Calumon says “Game over?”

I’ve always kinda disliked that ‘rawr’ sound effect they use on Kyuubimon when she Digivolves in the dub….it sounds like a mountain lion. She’s a fox, Saban. Foxes don’t make that noise. Also, this is indeed just a dub sound.

Attack Name Change: Onidibama is changed to Fox Tail Inferno.

Attack Name Change: Koenryuu is changed to Dragon Wheel.

Kyuubimon just trails off after saying “The evolution we both wished for….” In the dub, she tells Rika that she couldn’t Digivolve until Rika truly cared about her. And Rika responds with “Oh.”

After Impmon’s line, Ruki says that Kyuubimon saved her. Kyuubimon says because they’re partners and asks if Ruki understands what that means. After a pause, she pets Kyuubimon and says she understands a little. In the dub, Rika congratulates her on her victory, and Kyuubimon says it wasn’t about winning. Rika asks what she means since winning made her stronger. Kyuubimon corrects her – Rika makes her stronger since she wasn’t afraid to show that she truly cared about her. Rika agrees and asks Kyuubimon to keep it a secret.

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I have always and still do love this episode with all my heart. It’s well-written…mostly, gives us some background into Ruki and her relationship with her mother as well as her origins with Renamon. It’s obviously a great character development episode for Ruki and Renamon as a team, even if this is far from the end of Ruki’s issues with working with Renaman. Kyuubimon is an awesome Digimon, and the situation they used to get Renamon to evolve was well-constructed. It was even a good intro to Impmon, however brief it may have been.

Dub-wise, it fares very well. There aren’t too many changes, and we know to deal with the filler dialogue and puns just fine. Melissa Faun does a good job with Rika, and she can emote pretty well. Kudos for her actually screaming as opposed to doing that stupid ‘Ahhh’ scream so many dubbers tend to do.

Next episode, Guilmon is starting to disappear. Will Takato have to say goodbye to his best friend?

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