Dogasu's Backpack (11-27-2008) - "Cream of the Croagunk Crop!"

"Cream of the Croagunk Crop!"
November 28th, 2008

Dogasu @ 16:28 JST -- The JLPT is coming up in just a little over a week (it's being held on December 7th), so I'm still in hardcore study mode for the time being. I've still managed to update a few things, though.

First off...I hope you guys were able to take advantage of that DeepDiscount.com sale. Personally, I got the third Indigo DVD set, both Battle Frontier DVD sets, and the Manaphy movie DVD, all for under $70. Not too shabby, I must say. Once I get those in, I'll start working on updating my Recycled Characters page.

The big update this time around is a comparison for "Cream of the Croagunk Crop!" I wasn't planning on taking a break from the Indigo comparisons (in fact, I was about halfway through the "Bye Bye Butterfree" comparison when the Croagunk episode premiered), but the edit that takes place in that episode kind of necessitated an "emergency" update. I wanted to kind of nip some rumors in the bud, so I hope the pages I uploaded today will be helpful in debunking some of the crap going around out there. Seventy-four screencaps were taken (with smaller versions being made for 72 of those), so that's kind of the reason the update took so long.

I've also updated the List of Anime Episodes with a new Japanese title and the new English episode order. Putting the two part Pokemon Ranger episodes in between "Cream of the Croagunk Crop!" and "A Crasher Course in Power?" Friggin' brilliant.

In some somewhat sad news...Pokemon 151, the name of the clothing line that appeals to us older fans, has announced that the site will be closing on December 31st. Guess the line wasn't all that successful, huh? The shirts will still be on sale in the Pokemon Center stores scattered around the country, but it still kind of sucks that the line seems to be ending.

I might, might post some lyrics from the recently released High Touch/Ashita wa Kitto CD soon, but I probably won't get around to it until after my test.

Please be sure to check out this thread on Bulbagarden and leave any feedback if you feel like it.

Quick Note
November 15th, 2008

Dogasu @ 10:45 JST -- I just wanted to let you guys know that DeepDiscount.com is having their annual 25% off sale on everything on the site. Meaning you can get some really cheap Pokémon DVDs (i.e. Kanto box sets for about $19 apiece), manga (basically everything Pokémon-related Viz has released in the past three years or so), and CD soundtracks (like the anime background music collection) by typing the code SUPERSALE into the site right before checking out. So if you have some holes in your collection to fill, now would be the time to do it. The sale ends November 23rd.

I've actually made some real progress on the "Bye Bye Butterfree" comparison, so I should hopefully have it up before the end of next week. Fingers crossed.

Staying up-to-date
November 12th, 2008

Dogasu @ 07:22 JST -- I didn't really have the time to do a new comparison this week, but I did manage to prepare a few quick updates.

First of all, check out the List of Anime Episodes for some new Japanese titles. While checking everything out, I noticed that Pokemon.com has updated their episode list with the first part of the Riolu episode and have pretty much confirmed that they've ahead and officially changed the order of the episodes around. Before, I thought PUSA was just airing episodes out of order (like May's last contest in Hoenn), but now it looks like the order has been "officially" changed to push those two episodes further back.

So in Japan, "Pokemon Ranger! The Wave-Guiding Riolu!" takes place in between that Lishan filler and the goodbye Dokucale episode while in the U.S., "Pokémon Ranger And The Kidnapped Riolu!" take place between that Chimchar training episode and the Croagunk festival one. We haven't seen the dub rearrange episodes like this since Pokémon Chronicles (4Kids pushed all the Meowth-centered episodes to the end of the series for no real reason), and while it doesn't create any plotholes or anything like those Kanto episodes that were switched around, it's still a bit weird.

(And before anyone else brings it up...I also think it's weird that the site doesn't have any listing for episode 1128).

I also went in and added the English title for the second DP movie to the list while I was at it.

Secondly, I've updated the DVD Guide. The Region 2 Movies page now has information about the DVD release of the aforementioned Giratina movie, and the Best Collection page now has box art for the eight discs that were just released earlier this week. With this box art, we learn that the episodes being released has changed; gone are the Fuwante, Hippopotas, and Tatetops episodes and in are the Roserade, Dainose, and Lishan ones. I've already managed to pick up these discs but, sadly, have not had the time to take a look at any of them yet.

On the North American side of things, I've also updated the Pokémon Tenth Anniversary page with two more entries in the series, this time featuring Skitty and Chikorita. We've got two more of these discs to go before the current batch is done with, and I really hope Viz doesn't do a third batch and instead start focusing on releases we fans actually want (*coughJohtoboxsetscough*). I've also put up the box art for the second Diamond & Pearl box set.

I'm actually getting somewhat caught up as far as my studies go, so there's a good chance I'll be able to at least start on the "Bye Bye Butterfree" comparison this week.

"The Ghost of Maiden's Peak"
October 31st, 2008

Dogasu @ 17:32 JST -- Busy week! Doesn't help that the comparison I'm posting had a lot of cultural stuff that I had to look up and provide links to in order to make sense of the whole thing.

So here's the comparison for "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak," which is the first episode on the third disc of that first DVD boxset. I hope you guys click on all those little links I put in the comparison and can learn a thing or two about Japanese holidays. Educating yourself is always good :D

Why not go over and post your thoughts about these and any other comparisons on this thread over at Bulbagarden and complain about my elitist pro-Japanese rant? It'll be fun!

I've kind of been slacking off on my studying for the JLPT Level 2, so I need to start focusing on that some more. which means that I won't be able to update this site quite as much as I am now. Since learning the language is kind of the entire reason I'm in Japan in the first place, this test has to take top priority. Hopefully you guys will bear with me .

"Bye Bye Butterfree," from what I remember, didn't have too much done to it, so I'll try to have that comparison up early next week.

"Beauty and The Beach" and "Tentacool & Tentacruel"
October 27th, 2008

Dogasu @ 00:12 JST -- Sorry about the long absence, guys. I had some issues with uploading my files through my FTP program, but I've made what should be a permanent solution to the problem to make sure something like this won't happen again. Hope it works out.

Even though my FTP programs weren't working, I was. I was able to find a copy of "Beauty and The Beach" (silly 4Kids and their inconsistent capitalization practices), so I went ahead and did a full-on comparison of the episode. I also went ahead and did "Tentacool & Tentacruel" since, y'know, there's been more than two whole weeks since my last update.

You can post your thoughts about these and any other comparisons on this thread over at Bulbagarden.

I've also corrected the translation of the ship diagram over on the "Pokémon Shipwreck" comparison, thanks to Tony. I've also made an additional comment about Takeshi's Noah's Ark story later on in the same comparison.

Lastly, I've added a bunch of episode titles, both English and Japanese, to the List of Anime Episodes.

I'm already about halfway through with the revised "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak" comparison (I have all the screencaps taken for it and everything), so I should hopefully have that up within the next day or two.

"Island of the Giant Pokémon"
October 9th, 2008

Dogasu @ 07:33 JST -- Sorry about the long gap between updates, but a number of unexpected real world stuff + catching a cold + Mega Man 9 have all prevented me from getting things done. Plus...this comparison I'm about to post just took a while anyway because of all the subtitle stuff.

So without further ado, here's "Island of the Giant Pokémon."

I don't have a copy of the English version of the next episode since it was never released on DVD, so I'll probably just dust off the existing comparison, clean it up a bit, and then move on. Hopefully, that won't take too long. After that, I'll do "Tentacool & Tentacruel."

There are a few other little updates I wanted to make, but those are going to have to wait until after I get off from work.

"Pokémon Shipwreck"
September 30th, 2008

Dogasu @ 07:30 JST -- So I've got a new comparison up, everyone: "Pokémon Shipwreck." Unlike the others I've been doing, this one is actually brand new for this site, so it should be more exciting than the others have been.

It also looks like Youtube slash Shogakukan's taken down my videos off YouTube, so I've uploaded them onto another site instead. It's kind of annoying, but I really can't say I'm surprised at all. While I personally don't see the harm in posting clips that are barely under a minute in length, I also recognize that Shogakukan has every legal right to keep videos of the series that they own off the Internet.

I have no idea when I'll have the next comparison up, but I'm betting it'll be sometime in October. Just a hunch.