#so have my pokemon cultural evolution rant

[yokaishopping]

Episode Review: “Yo-kai Grumples“

It’s time for another Hanako-san appearance episode review!

Let’s get started, I have some things to say.

Time for another episode review because the Yo-kai World's best producer makes an appearance!

This is the episode "Yo-kai Grumples." As per usual, let's go over the plot.

After arriving home from school, Nate's mother asks him if he has something that she needs to see. He does, and goes into his backpack to find it. After being worried that he's missing the paper, he finds it ... all crumpled up and a mess! Whisper accuses him of being an irresponsible slob, but Nate insists that he made sure the paper would be in perfect condition--it must be a Yo-kai!

After a quick search with the Yo-kai Watch, the culprit is revealed: the Yo-kai Grumples! Grumples is the Yo-kai responsible for messing up, wrinkling, and crumpling any important school papers that you keep in your backpack--I know she was totally the reason I had this problem back in my school days, and that's the story I'm sticking to.

Anyway, it turns out that Grumples uses a cane that she carries around to absorb the smoothness and youth out of things and people around her. Nate and Whisper quickly fall victim to this, and when Jibanyan comes into the room, he thinks they've traveled through time again--nice movie reference, dub. In the original version he's just amazed that they look so old.

All seems lost for elderly Nate and Whisper until a Yo-kai appears to help: Hanako-san! As per usual, her VA totally nails the character once again. I know it might seem that I'm just being a suck-up, but I genuinely do enjoy the voice. Hanako-san gives them some of her beauty lotion, and after a simple face wash, Nate and Whisper are back to normal! However, even after slathering the product all over Grumples, she's still one giant old wrinkle. Hanako decides it's time for an emergency makeover (or “time to go all-out in producing” in Japanese) and runs the gang through a beauty regimen.

(I couldn’t make the subtitles go away on the Disney XD app, apologies.)

Success! Grumples is now a beautiful, youthful Yo-kai known as Everfore! In the games, Everfore is Grumples’s evolved form--she evolves after fusing her with the "ageless powder" item. The anime doesn't refer to it as evolution, but it's for a good reason: after giving Nate her medal, Everfore sneezes thanks to a fly near her nose. After a huge sneeze, all of her new youth and beauty comes shooting out of her cane--and she's Grumples once again.

I was a little long-winded with the plot, but I usually am. Let's hit up those pros n' cons!

Pros:

The dub team knocked this one out of the park. It was a genuinely funny episode and I'm going to watch it again in the future.

I can't complain about dialogue changes in this. Yes, there were dialogue changes, but they were mostly for the jokes that were actually funny, or to fill mouth flap time. I loved Grumples‘s and Everfore's voices, so whichever one of the dub VA team did them, hats off to you. You did a fantastic job.

I have no idea what the little "spell" Grumples uses was in Japanese, as the subtitled version I watched didn't translate it. Grumples's new chant of "Wrinkly Dinkly Doobity Doo!" in the dub was funny to me, and I liked it.

Hanako-san's dub VA has still got it, but that's a pro that goes without saying. I still like mentioning it, though.

Cons:

This screencap/scene depresses me. Of course, I find this better than having "TOILETTA" written down the bottle, and at least they kept Hanako's logo at the top, but seeing the blank bottle was kind of a downer because no effort was put into it besides hiding Hanako’s name. Of course, I shouldn't expect an anime dub for children to cater to one hardcore adult fan, so it's just another personal nitpick ... like most of the cons list usually is.

This con isn't from the Grumples episode, but from the Gnomey short at the beginning: Hidabat says that the invading Gnomey "violated his safe space." My opinion aside because this is one of Tumblr's hot buttons, way to seriously date the short, dub--that won't make a lick of sense in 10 years.

Incoming dubbing nitpick/rant:

Another con from a different segment: In the Mynimo part of the episode, Whisper says that what Mynimo does is "not the American way," and Nate's next line is that "all men are created equal!" I know it's for the sake of a joke, but THIS SHOW DOES NOT TAKE PLACE IN AMERICA, DUB! I know you're apparently terrified of children finding out that Japan exists because their culture is more accepting of other things than America's and might upset a parent, but seriously, please quit it.

Pokemon didn't call Kanto "America" and you should follow that example for Springdale's country. At least make it in an un-named country or something if you insist on hiding Japan. You could even follow the Japanese version of the anime and call it "Japon." It still gives you a fictional country name and would please people who dislike the change. I know I'm not the only one.

Changes for the sake of hiding the series's Japanese roots are going to ruin the plot of Yo-kai Watch 3 (and the anime dub's eventual third season) in the future, and it's going to be a trainwreck.

Should you watch this episode, despite all this? Yes, definitely, at least for the Grumples segment! If you have the Disney XD app on your phone, tablet, or whatever supports it, go watch it right now! It's very funny and one of the dub's better works.