"Any card—so long as it exists—has a power that is needed."

Episode Review

The episode starts off with an establishing shot and a taunt from Darkness/Nightshroud. Judai retorts claiming he's having fun with the duel, while Jaden trash talks a bit. When Judai pulls the Fusion Undone/De-Fusion play, the dub cuts a peanut gallery line from Asuka explaining the strategy.

After direct attacking, Judai and Jaden both comment on Darkness/Nightshroud's lack of flinch, though Jaden turns it into a joke both in the moment and later on. Darkness cites it as a benefit of the duels of darkness, while Nightshroud uses it as a springboard for trash talk.

The dub adds some quips to Jaden's Mirage of Nightmare play and Nightshroud’s following turn. Shou and Hayato staying strong for Judai is changed to a dig at Syrus. Jaden has a minor pun leading into the Tempest fusion. After that, Nightshroud's Chazz side rears its head again:

Judai: And that's a comeback! Darkness: The flow of battle means nothing in a Duel of Darkness. Which of us is standing when all is over... That is everything!

Jaden: There's that flinch I was lookin' for! Nightshroud: No, it wasn't. That was a twitch. It's not the same! I had something in my eye, that's all, you got that? It was a twitch!

Seriously, tell me that isn't a Chazz line. Similarly, Darkness's edgy dragon dialogue leading into Red-Eyes Black Chick is turned into more trash talk.

Darkness: It is my turn - I draw! I hear them... The spectral voices of the dragons resting in my Cemetery as they whisper to me... They yearn to use their scorching flames to incinerate this land once more! Allow me to call forth the ultimate dragon that will fulfill that desire!

Nightshroud: Ha! You chump. Life Points don't decide who's winning the duel. ...It's the cards you hold. And if you don't believe me, I'm quite certain that this one here will prove it to you! Did you honestly think, Keykeeper, that you could get rid of all my dragons so easily? That you could simply banish them all to the graveyard and then be done with them?

And then finally!!! Nightshroud gets some edgy dragon lines, which I think is a step up from sounding like Chazz every other line:

Darkness: The shrieks of my dragons deep within the earth will become my Darkness Dragon's flesh and blood. My Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's ATK will increase by 300 points for every Dragon-type monster in my Cemetery!

Nightshroud: Now the molten ashes of my fallen dragons boil up from their fiery graves, ablaze with new life, each granting my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon additional attack points!

Darkness talks again about the terror of darkness, while Nightshroud reminds Jaden (and the audience) of the duel stakes. The dub cuts some peanut gallery reactions as Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon attacks. 

Outside, people react. Kaiser quietly contemplates the volcano: 

Kaiser: I feel it…

While Zane is much more talkative:

Zane: Hmm. There's something amiss. A Shadow Rider. This key's telling me… One's close.

Misawa's line is the same between versions. Ojama Yellow is actually dancing in the dub, where in the sub his quivering is just mistaken for it. The dub also adds a few extra "hmmm"s from the teachers. Samejima/Shepard remind the audience of the objective, and Shepard reminds you of the stakes while he's at it. 

Back in the volcano, Nightshroud has a joke about deep frying as he reminds everyone of the hostages. Shou and Hayato telling Judai to focus on the duel instead of worrying about them is changed to....what else, a Chumley fat joke about French fries. They do add a better joke about his dad's hot sauce to follow up, though "better than a fat joke" isn’t exactly a high bar.

The duel resumes, with minor quips on both sides added in the dub. After destroying Tempest, Nightshroud taunts Jaden where Darkness ends his turn.

When Asuka intervenes, she gives her name in the sub and that's how Darkness recognizes her; in the dub, she doesn't give her name so Nightshroud recognizes her face instead. Judai tells her not to take such an intense duel from him and he's still got cards to play, while Jaden claims he's about to win. Asuka is concerned; Alexis calls him delirious.

We get another Chumley fat joke, because the French fry thing clearly wasn’t funny enough the first time. The dub adds a quip to Wildedge’s summon, and the duel finishes out without further notable changes.

When everyone wakes up outside the volcano, Shou worries about Judai and Asuka worries about Shou/Hayato. Syrus instead comments on how they're still alive, and Alexis confirms that Jaden won. When they spot Judai, Shou worries and Asuka is relieved to see he's injured but alive.

Shou: Big Bro, stay with us! Big Bro! Asuka: He's really bruised up, but it looks like he'll pull through… Hayato: Judai…you got like this because of us… Shou: Big Bro! Asuka: Judai…

In the dub, Alexis instead brushes off Syrus's concern because he's alive, why is he panicking? Another potshot at Chumley, and the same gag repeats: he's alive, Syrus, why are you so upset? Stop being unreasonable, Syrus.

Syrus: He's not moving! Come on, Jay! Alexis: Sy, he's fine! Tired, maybe, but who could blame him? Chumley: Not me. I'm tired, and I didn't do a thing. Syrus: Jay! Don't do this! Why?! Why?! Alexis: He's okay.

Once the other keyholders arrive, the dub tries to make the French fry thing a full running gag. On top of another “licious,” that’s a swift +2 to the fat joke counter!

Kaiser is concerned about Asuka, while Zane looks for the fallen Shadow Rider. Asuka explains that Darkness's soul was taken to leave his host's behind, while Alexis skims over that for the moment and focuses on "It's him! He's back!" Which isn't unreasonable, honestly, given she's just found her missing brother after watching her friend fight evil in a volcano.

As the sun rises, the sub leaves everyone silent and relies on tense music to communicate that everyone is processing the shock of discovering Asuka's missing brother and the heavy toll the first Seven Star duel has taken on Judai. The dub instead has Alexis give a quick explanation of how Atticus got left behind, and Zane spells out the message for the audience:

Zane: And if this is how it is after you win a duel...just think what it's like when you lose. The sun may be coming up now, but night will fall again soon. And when it does...we must be ready.

The delivery of this line falls flatter than it could, too, largely because the script tries to cram this whole monologue into the shocked silence on top of trying to cram Alexis’s last-second explanation of the soul-sealing mechanics into the same space. As a result, none of these lines are given time to breathe. Zane’s monologue especially feels both rushed and flat, like a kid trying to finish their class presentation script when they realize the teacher’s just given them the signal indicating they have a minute left.

I don’t usually critique performance but this was just so wild to listen to I felt it was worth bringing up. Tell-don’t-show approach aside, I think the whole thing would have been fine if they hadn’t tried to shove so much dialogue into the amount of time they had. Instead, even when the dub wanted me to take things seriously I couldn’t help but laugh for the wrong reasons. 

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Empty!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 4 fat jokes, 1 miscellaneous potshot.

Part of my discussion about Darkness vs. Nightshroud in the previous episode was about the tone the show wants to take for this arc, as conveyed through these last two episodes. Darkness isn't exactly the most compelling villain but he at least communicates a vibe: we're dark now. There's danger. We've toyed around with duels of darkness/shadow games and now they're going to be our bread and butter as we try to prevent the end of the world.

The dub doesn't want to linger on the danger. Sure, it'll remind you that we're fighting against the end of the world and that Syrus and Chumley will get cooked if this duel takes too long, but there's the usual quips and trash talk - I stand by the opinion that Nightshroud's dialogue is mostly indistinguishable from Chazz's - and they certainly don’t skimp on the requisite Chumley fat jokes. The dub’s avoidance of the original serious tone feels really obvious at the end, where everyone is concerned about Judai's well-being in the sub and the dub tries to play it off as - haha, look at Syrus, he's so stupid because Jaden is merely exhausted and not dead! What’s there to worry about?

And then they try and have Zane tell you at the end, actually that was bad! It's going to get worse! And you can have a debate about whether having Zane basically look into the camera and say That's Bad And We're In Danger fulfills the same purpose as letting everyone's silence speak for itself, but I think it's hard to argue that they're kind of inconsistent on the tone given that two minutes earlier the tone was "why is Syrus so hysterical."

Episode Review

In the opening Seven Stars/Shadow Riders meeting, the dub adds extra dialogue from Kagemaru dialogue over the mood-setting cave shots. Nightshroud also has more dialogue.

Kagemaru: Our time...has finally arrived. You have all sworn your powers to me to bring the cards of destiny here. Who will lead us into battle? Darkness: I will. Kagemaru: Darkness... (Darkness activates his duel disk)

Normally I’d skip over this, because the information is mostly the same. Kagemaru brings up their target in the sub and the dub dialogue is more vague, but that's really it.

Kagemaru: Our enemies have been tested. Our allies are in place. The hour is upon us. It's time to cover the world in shadow. Which of you will lead us to battle? Nightshroud: I'll be the first to go, master... Kagemaru: Nightshroud...so be it. Nightshroud: I will not fail. Academy Island's prize... (activating duel disk) ...will be ours.

But I think as the introduction to the season plot and its antagonists, this is actually kind of important.

What’s the point of this opening scene? I’d argue that it’s here to set the mood more than to tell you about most of the coming enemies (some of whose silhouettes don’t even match the actual characters). In the sub version of the show, the second half of season 1 comes with a brand new opening song and animation starting episode 34* to drive in the fact that our lighthearted school anime is getting more serious. (The dub doesn’t change the opening song animation aside from adding a “Rise of the Sacred Beasts” subtitle on, but given inconsistencies with a certain character’s uniform in later seasons I think they were mostly locked into what they had already.)

* The fansubs move 99% up to debut this episode, so in fact you would have gotten that right before the opening scene. This is not the canonical GX experience, so to speak, but since I’m primarily relying on the fansubs for this blog I thought it was worth mentioning.

The first two of the Seven Stars/Shadow Riders to come calling are Darkness and Camula, both among the more malevolent members of the group. There’s a very purposeful tone shift starting this episode, and you can argue how well that sticks but there’s definitely intent.

So with that in mind, the sub gives you fourteen seconds to take in the dark ominous atmosphere before Kagemaru starts talking. The dub gives you five seconds. That’s about one-third of the time to breathe and take in the mood.

The dub cuts a shot of Darkness flying over the volcano leading into a scene, also cut wholesale, between Asuka and Kaiser at the lighthouse briefly discussing Asuka’s improved mood before spotting Darkness on his glider. This isn't the most essential scene, but the setting helps remind you that Asuka is searching for her brother. This, of course, will be relevant quite shortly. 

As the principal sees the shadow in his office, Samejima notes that he was informed they would be coming while Shepard is more vaguely ominous again: "And so...it begins. The fight...the war..." Upon landing at the volcano, Darkness has a light chuckle while Nightshroud lets out a full-length evil chuckle.

In the Red dorm, Hayato and Shou comment on Judai's lack of anxiety during such a strong storm. The dub makes it more about Jaden’s sleep, while also taking potshots at Chumley as usual.

In class the next day, the summons to the principal’s office is largely the same with some minor dialogue changes. Judai mentioning his lunch is a handmade Tome (Dorothy) special is changed to a joke about lunch as a class. Hayato's concern over the principal's summons is turned into a fat joke (DING goes the counter). The dub adds a joke leading into Banner's explanation that he was also summoned, but otherwise the scene going into the principal’s office is also about the same between versions including Judai/Jaden's misinterpretation of Chronos/Crowler's mockery. 

The principal’s office meeting is similarly mostly the same between versions, with minor joke changes in the dub. When introducing the Phantasms/Sacred Beasts, Judai comments on the school's age while Jaden jokes about hiding places. After the explanation that the cards could cause the apocalypse, the joke in the sub is that Judai thinks such dangerous cards sound cool whereas in the dub Jaden directly suggests trying them out - suggesting that either he wasn’t listening to the “using them will lead to the world’s ruin” explanation or that he wants to start up the apocalypse.

The dub is slightly more upfront about having the students guard the keys, so it points out the principal is putting targets on their backs while the sub is still getting around to asking them about it. The principal is also a bit more dismissive of the two teachers he invited in the dub...despite having the option to choose anyone else? His appeal to take the keys is also a bit different between versions. In the sub he talks about it with some gravity:

Samejima: That is why I had you, the best duelists within our academy, assemble here. Though, we are joined by two others I've summoned to even the odds... They will all come to challenge those duelists who wield these seven keys. If you feel that you are prepared to battle with the Seven Stars, then please...take one of these keys with you.

Shepard adds levity to his lines, but it doesn’t really play well with the stakes by his own admission. When I first heard these lines I actually thought he was being passive aggressive.

Shepard: And so, I've called on our school's seven best to take up this challenge and fight the good fight! Well, five best, really, but I needed seven so, you know... Of course, if any of you don't think you're up to it and feel like backing out, I won't blame you. After all, these Shadow Riders play for keeps. So...who feels like saving the world?

Jaden makes an additional joke when picking up his key, and the dub adds dialogue for the other students as they pick up theirs where they're silent in the dub. The dub being the dub, they also change a Crowler line to be more about personal vanity compared to Chronos's consistent elitism:

Chronos: My, my, oh my... Principal, you musn't sound so alarmed. Essentially, we can think of this as challengers coming here to steal from the academy's own figureheads, correct? Samejima: Well...I suppose seeing it that way is fine for now.

Crowler: Hmm. How could I refuse?! I mean, our very world is at stake! Our way of life! The future of the school! And if I said no, I wouldn't get this very posh piece of jewelry! Shepard: Yes, well...good to know you're doing it for the right reasons, kind of...

The banter between Judai/Jaden and Chronos/Crowler about who's strongest among them and Judai/Jaden having lost to Kaiser/Zane is about the same between versions, up until Chazz asserts himself as the strongest where Manjoume points out that Judai beat Chronos already. Samejima thanks everyone for taking the keys and emphasizes that the battle has started, while Shepard admonishes them for jockeying before getting to the same point.

In the Red dorm, when Judai/Jaden tells his friends about what happened Hayato comments on the Phantasm cards while Chumley talks about the Shadow Riders. Judai resolves to go to bed early, figuring Kaiser will be the first target and he should rest up while he can - taking Chronos's point from the earlier conversation. Jaden rests early because surely he's going to be the first target, i.e., his evaluation of himself hasn’t changed. This moment leads into banter between Judai and Shou about Shou's method of referring to his brothers ("aniki" for Judai, "onii-san" for Kaiser) in the sub. This doesn’t translate to the dub, so Jaden and Syrus instead banter about Jaden trying to sleep in. (DING goes the fat joke counter.)

The sub's final punchline for this scene is about how Judai is going to bed super early for someone who doesn't think trouble's coming for him anytime soon. In the dub, it's about how much rest Jaden's getting for when the Shadow Riders come for him. The nighttime scene where Asuka/Alexis comes to warn Judai/Jaden he'll be targeted and runs into the plot is mostly the same, except as the scene fades to white the dub adds evil laughter from Nightshroud and a bit of dialogue:

Alexis: What's happening?! Nightshroud: The first duel is happening...

He does intro himself with a dragon made of flame so you could argue it fits, but along with the start of the episode this scene definitely reminded me of how much the dub loves extra dialogue. Case in point, Darkness doesn't speak during the whole flame dragon intro but Nightshroud gets an added line and more evil laughter.

The dub adds more banter between Nightshroud and Jaden around his introduction and the mention of the Gravekeeper medallion. Darkness is serious if edgy, and the way he speaks is meant to give his introduction some gravitas.

Darkness: My name is Darkness. ...I am one of the Seven Stars. ...Judai Yuki, you will be my first opponent. ...I'm not sure why, but I was led to you by the light of this pendant. That said, I desire that key to the seven Spirit Gates that sways on your chest. I will steal that key from you - with a Duel of Darkness. ...Yes. Our Duel of Darkness is already underway.

Nightshroud is…generically trashtalky, to the point that if you removed his name I think you could mistake it for Chazz dialogue. Seriously, try reading this in Chazz’s voice:

Nightshroud: And call me Nightshroud! I'll be the one taking that key you have around your neck! ...Hmm. Nice medallion. The Gravekeeper must be getting sloppy. But if you think you'll be able to beat me as easy as you beat him, you have another thing coming. I'll get that key. And I'll get it now. Oh, and to just make sure of that...I brought friends. …Here! Say hello to Syrus and Chumley!

Judai assumes Darkness singled him out because he was the strongest, which Darkness refutes saying he chose Judai because of their medallions. Nightshroud instead references the Gravekeeper and trashtalks Jaden. Nightshroud also repeatedly refers to Jaden as Keykeeper, which I kind of like for no particular reason.

Darkness's intention with the hostages is to motivate Judai to play his best with a side of keeping things quick, whereas Nightshroud does it more explicitly for blackmail. The carding stakes are introduced similarly, but Nightshroud boasts more about it. When Judai talks about his experience with shadow games, Jaden also talks about making sure his friends are safe on top.

That said, the dub makes sure to take another potshot at Chumley right after the recap flashbacks. So, you know, who cares about that friend.

The duel starts with some jazzed-up dialogue on the dub side, but no major differences until Nightshroud taunts Jaden and talks about starting doomsday instead of re-establishing the shadow game stakes as Darkness does. After the Rampart Gunner/Blaster play, Darkness has a line emphasizing his dragon-flavored edginess:

Darkness: This pain whittling my life away will become a blood tribute to my dragons, raising our stage to even greater heights!

This is followed with more dragon imagery that's turned into less impressive trash talk about Rampart Blaster in the dub.

Nightshroud: That blaster doesn't change a thing! But you can bet this next card will. It's going to change your life points, Jaden. Oh, and not in a good way! 

I think this is an interesting line for discussion for reasons that belong in the Spoiler Zone.

Also, the fat joke counter increases by two.

No major differences in the duel past that. The episode closes with Judai thinking to himself that he won't lose, while Jaden reminds us that the stakes are his friends and the fate of the world. Roll To Be Continued.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 4 fat jokes, 2 miscellaneous potshots.

Darkness/Nightshroud is the first enemy of GX’s major season plot. As I wrote about at the beginning of the review, this episode is where the show tries to shift its tone to something more serious. You could argue Darkness is kind of just an edgy starter villain, but he helps set that shift in tone here. He’s soooo cool and dark and mysterious. Look, he’s even got the Red Eyes Black Dragon! Don’t you remember that from the first series? Now it's evil!

Nightshroud doesn’t really do anything for a tone shift in my opinion. As I mentioned during the episode review, a trashtalking hotshot antagonist is just Chazz all over again. He gets the job done, he reminds you he’s here to kick off the apocalypse, but he doesn’t have that same weight to him. This isn’t even to say that Darkness feels that memorable as a villain here, either, aside from how he’s Asuka/Alexis’s brother. Nightshroud just lacks even what substance Darkness has in this episode in my opinion; even his line about being an edgy dragon lover is converted to generic trash talk.

There’s more to say, but the rest is Spoiler Zone material. If you haven’t watched season 4 (and plan to), stop reading here. There is no more non-spoilery content after this point.

Spoiler Zone

When it comes to comparing Darkness and Nightshroud, there’s two different elements that stand out to me: their name, and their characterization.

I don’t usually discuss name changes, but I think Darkness to Nightshroud deserves a little bit of attention. Looking at season 1 alone, it’s a name change I feel neutral on: GX uses the English loanword for “Darkness” to make it sound cool, whereas Darkness is a bit plain in an English dub and “Nightshroud” conveys a similar coolness factor. But if this were purely about how cool a name sounds, I wouldn’t be covering it in these reviews.

GX’s fourth season was famously never dubbed, and it sees Darkness return as a major season villain representing the darkness in people’s hearts. Hence, you know, the name Darkness. “Darkness of the heart” is a term used by multiple people with different interpretations: Satou/Stein defines it as the burden a duelist carries, while Yubel defines it as unacknowledged pain or ulterior motives. Darkness, the season 4 villain, defines it as people’s doubts and despair leading into a subconscious desire for death and/or assimilation. I think the entity going by the name Darkness contributes to that ambiguity around darkness of the heart while framing itself as a naturally occurring - if malevolent - force.

But while Darkness is a natural force, it’s not the only such one. It’s not even the only dark force, as the Gentle Darkness was introduced two seasons ago. Fans can speculate but GX itself, with its famously detailed and unambiguous metaphysical lore, does not provide an answer. All we know is that Darkness and the Gentle Darkness seem to be different forces. And on top of that, there’s also the general powers of darkness used by the Seven Stars/Shadow Riders which are are largely framed as evil in GX’s first season, i.e., the current focus.

So how well does Darkness (the entity) represent darkness (for some definition of darkness), anyway? This is debatable, and you could argue that the entity being named Nightshroud sidesteps that ambiguity. Whether that’s for better or worse is left up to the reader to decide. 

Of course, in 2005 4KIDS definitely didn’t know about Darkness returning in 2007 and they never dubbed season 4 anyway. So of course there wasn’t any intention with respect to season 4 in naming Nightshroud; I just think it’s an interesting bit of trivia to discuss here.

And then aside from the name, there’s also the question of Darkness as a character. In these two episodes, he’s not much of a character. But much like with his name, what’s more interesting is how Darkness in this episode connects to the Darkness we see in season 4.

(For anyone who’s about to go “um, actually” about his appearance in season 2: he gets three total minutes of airtime. It’s a Fubuki/Atticus episode more than a Darkness episode. I don’t find it interesting to discuss for the purpose of this section.)

The Darkness we see in this episode has an edgy kind of gravity to him, with (to my limited, anime-based understanding of the Japanese language) an archaic flavor that means he wouldn’t be out of place declaring himself the lord of dragons or whatever. Because this guy has a slight dragon theme, because hey don’t you remember the Red Eyes Black Dragon? He’s back! Darkness gets a frankly decently cool line about being a blood tribute for his dragons and he makes dragons out of lava and

Oh none of that is relevant in season 4. Okay.

It’s very unlikely that Darkness was conceived in season 1 with the idea of having him return as the season 4 arc villain. That’s evident in a bit of discontinuity between these two episodes and the lore introduced in season 4, where the mask is a conduit of sorts and the one-off starter villain of an early arc turns out to be a Grim Reaper-like figure representing the whole of humanity’s despair and the final overarching plot antagonist of the series. It helps explain his archaic speech, as essentially a primordial force of its own, but connecting season 1 Darkness to season 4 Darkness is a weird transition.

That said: while the dub doesn’t use the dragon theme only to drop it like the sub, the way Nightshroud completely talks is completely different from the way Darkness does. And if the dub were consistent about dubbing Nightshroud in season 4 the way they did in season 1, that might not be as much a problem.

Of course in reality, 4KIDS didn’t dub season 4 at all. So a dub watcher who wants to watch the fourth season has no choice but to watch the sub, and the gap between Nightshroud the chatty trashtalking starter villain and Darkness the stern avatar of humanity’s despair is also pretty significant. It’s easy to think they’re different characters, and I’m reasonably sure of that because when I was reviewing this episode multiple people who watched or knew of the dub version of season 1 said they weren’t aware Nightshroud and Darkness were the same entity upon first watch of S4. 

As with the names, though, it’s not exactly as if 4KIDS would have known this in 2005. And if you’re a dub watcher who never watched season 4 and has no intention to, none of this really matters that much. But the context is there in 2026 hindsight, and as per the purpose of this blog I wanted to explore the impact of Nightshroud’s adaptation on how different viewers might experience Darkness as a larger-scope villain.

Episode Review

The dub starts the episode by adding taunts from the chief during the establishing shots and field review. Shou and Hayato cheering Judai on becomes Syrus cheering Jaden on while Chumley yells about how he wants out, because the dub likes portraying Chumley as more of a coward. The dub also cuts a moment with Daitokuji thinking about how this test allows him to see Judai's full abilities only to realize he literally can't see anything with the coffin lid blocking his view.

The Chief insults Judai's strategy with Winged Kuriboh in the sub, and Winged Kuriboh itself in the dub. Making fun of the individual monster is also a dub trend, as with previous Winged Kuriboh duels and also Ojama Yellow. The dub jazzes up the duel procedural dialogue as usual. After the failed LV10 play, the Chief's insults about Winged Kuriboh (and Judai/Jaden's retorts) are about calling Kuriboh small/weak in the sub and a rodent “for pounding” in the dub.

I’m not sure Winged Kuriboh is even a mammal, but more importantly does “pounding” count as slang in this context? My (admittedly not that indepth) research has been mixed, and if it counts that’s extra funny because a few turns later the dub changes the chief’s duel trashtalk to commenting on Jaden’s slang again.

After the Chief summons himself Jaden finds out he's participating in a shadow game, which Judai has known this entire time. The dub cuts a couple lines from Judai and the Chief's description of his "heart which does not yield to the powers of darkness," as well as a close-up of Sara/Gravekeeper's Assassin's hesitation. The dub omits a reference to Yugi participating in duels of darkness, and Jaden's dialogue is more pep talk than Judai's determination.

Judai: For my friends' sakes, I can't lose this. I've got a big dream - to be the Duel King! And even the Yugi Mutou - the guy I look up to - won his way out of tons of Duels of Darkness! You think I'll let that take me out?!

Jaden: Come on, Jaden! You've gotta get your game on! You've gotta get it on for your friends! They're all counting on you! And I won't let 'em down! Especially when down means...six feet under in an old sarcophagus! No way, no how - they're coming home!

The Chief calls out Sara's hesitation in attacking, which buys Judai time for his Emergency Provisions play; the dub instead has him trash talk, so it appears Yasmin's approach is just slow motion. The Chief gives an order to Sara in the sub, while he ignores her and addresses Jaden in the dub.

Chief (sub): Gravekeeper Assassin, listen to your Chief!

Chief (dub): Curse you! But Assailant's attack still cuts through!

The dub cuts the shot where the Chief backhands Sara, but keeps the part where she withdraws. The Chief doesn't speak here in the sub, but the implication is that she's being punished for disobedience; in the dub, he instead explicitly says he's punishing her for being too slow. In response Judai calls him out for not appreciating his own monsters, while Jaden calls the Chief out for blaming her for his mistakes.

After this the dub cuts some of the sub’s post-eyecatch footage recycling and continues with minor dialogue changes: Judai and the Chief banter about Judai's hopes of winning vs. Jaden having fun, which is kinda interesting because usually the sub focuses more on how much fun Judai has in duels. Some of the Chief’s taunts are slightly changed or cut. When it comes time for his final turn, Judai’s explanation of how that he can still use in-Graveyard effects has a more metaphorical tone in the sub compared to the dub (highlighting the Necrovalley symbolism).

Judai: Ravine of the Resting Royal Family - Necrovalley, sacred ground protected by the Gravekeepers... Here on this sacred ground, any magic aimed at the afterlife loses its effects. Chief: If you are aware of that, cease your struggling! I will at least send you to your rest peacefully. Judai: But that doesn't mean the monsters in the afterlife always want that to happen! Chief: What? Judai: Powers from our sacred ground might not hit the afterlife, but powers from the afterlife will just activate on our sacred ground instead!

The dub by comparison has a much plainer explanation.

Jaden: For sure, Necrovalley field spell card is all I need! Chief: Please! Necrovalley simply negates any effects aimed at monsters in the graveyard. Jaden: Exactly, but not the effects coming out of the graveyard. Chief: What? Jaden: Don't "what" me! You know exactly what I mean! My monsters that are in the graveyard? If they have an effect I can use, I can use 'em!

The rest of the duel finishes the same in both.

After the duel, Judai says the duel was fun because he got to duel against spirits while in the dub Jaden talks about how he'd rather his friends hadn't been in danger. The dub skips over a brief mention that the other person who passed the trial (i.e., Fubuki/Atticus) didn't have the luxury of enjoying the duel like Judai did.

The Chief's directions to return to their world are more flowery and prophetic-sounding in the dub for a joke. The soldiers' attack and Sara/Yasmin's save is the same between both up until she gives her message for Fubuki/Atticus to Judai/Jaden, at which point the dub makes a joke about her already having a boyfriend. The rest of the scene proceeds the same, aside from an added Yasmin line at the end.

As the gang runs towards the gate, Hayato saying he can't keep going on his twisted ankle is changed to another Chumley potshot because we can’t have nice things. And of course they add another joke about running...while he's being carried on Death Koala/Des Koala's back, and therefore not even running.

After waking up from the return to Earth, Judai thinks it was all a dream while Jaden calls it hallucination by way of moldy sandwiches…which is apparently the hot new name for rice balls (see last episode for my thoughts on this), and additionally calls into question why the students brought moldy food for a ten-mile hike.

The episode closes out with Judai confirming the experience was real, while Jaden ends on a more ominous note.

Judai: So, that wasn't a dream! That Duel of Darkness...that world of spirits...they really did happen!

Jaden: Oh well, at least we're back to one sun. But still, something just tells me...the shadows will be back.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Empty!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 1 fat joke, 2 miscellaneous potshots.

There isn't a lot to say here because the primary changes aside from the usual dialogue jazz-ups were cutting the Chief's punishment (not unexpected), the graveyard effect explanation (a bit of a jazz-down, if you would, also not unexpected with 4KIDS avoiding death and related imagery as much as they can in a Gravekeepers/Necrovalley episode) and Chumley slander (so regular I'm keeping a per-episode counter until he leaves). None of that is especially fresh territory to discuss.

If there's anything more to consider, it's the fact that Jaden is a bit slower to catch onto the supernatural stuff he's involved in like with the shadow game this episode. This despite the fact that the dub - again! - suggests that supernatural stuff is part of the curriculum. Then again, you could easily say Jaden probably skipped that class...

In the episode opening, the dub adds an extra toilet humor joke about Syrus's food adventures while he’s searching for the bathroom half-asleep. Kagemaru's and Daitokuji's conversation is a bit exaggerated on both ends (Kagemaru is more forceful, Banner praises Jaden more highly) and explicitly namedrops Jaden where the sub was ominously vague, but the meaning is ultimately the same. The dub cuts a close-up of Pharaoh towards the end, so honestly just pack it up because the sub version of this episode is clearly mandatory.

The next day, Banner's alchemy lecture is vaguer (mixing unknown compounds without mentioning the goal of making gold) and he also connects it to Duel Monsters fusion in the dub. When Judai wakes up Shou comments on his nap, while Syrus comments on the lecture. Banner's description of his field trip is exaggerated to sound more tedious and boring.

Daitokuji: I've planned a picnic for this Sunday to visit the island's dormant ruins [meow]! I'd like anyone interested to participate [meow].

Banner: We're taking a 10-mile hike! All the way to the excavated ruins, where we'll be taking geologic core samples!

Cut to the morning of, and Syrus mentions that Banner threatened everyone with detention to get them to come where Shou just mentions he forced them without specifying. Chumley complains about beauty sleep (friends polled said this wasn’t a fat joke, but I still don’t love it) while Hayato talks about how the ruins are usually off-limits due to their proximity to the active volcano.

Judai asks Asuka her reasons for coming, Jaden jokes about not sleeping. Both Asuka/Alexis mention potential connections to duels of darkness/shadow games, but Alexis treats the connection as more of a sure bet.

When Shou/Syrus brings up what he heard the other night, Syrus frames it more personally as targeted at Jaden - which makes sense, because Banner mentioned Jaden by name during that call while Daitokuji merely implied it. In both cases Judai/Jaden waves it off.

The hiking montages is silent in the sub, while (DING goes the fat joke counter) the dub adds a stream of Chumley whining. When they arrive, the joke between Judai/Jaden and Asuka/Alexis about how the ruins look ruined is the same between versions.

Daitokuji describes the ruins as a duel site as well as a grave; Banner instead unleashes what's clearly meant to be historical/architectural jargon, which was really interesting to note after looking at how the dub similarly handles a certain character from a later season.

Daitokuji: Further in, we'll find the more-amazing ruins said to be of the ancient duel arenas and the ruins of the graves [meow]! Shou: I wonder how the Professor's so energetic...

Banner: It's beautiful! You can still make out the faded remains of the oculus! Ooh! And the fastigium! No doubt inspired by Amenemhet of Saqqarah! Syrus: He sure seems excited to see some rocks.

The dub takes another potshot at Chumley because of course it does, then continues the Banner jargon joke as they set up for lunch. Famously Daitokuji's special bento from Tome-san becomes pizza, and the students' riceballs become "whatever it is I'm holding?!"

And. Okay. Look. I think this is funny and so do a lot of other people, but let’s break this moment down here. Why is this funny? Because the “whatever it is” Judai/Jaden is holding is in fact rice balls, which 4KIDS is famous for renaming as jelly donuts - or pastries, in the case of a previous GX episode - as a form of cultural censorship. We can't talk about these weird foreign foods, they’re not American enough. They'll confuse the poor American kids who have never heard of rice or balls. 

Bringing attention to the mystery food that is clearly neither donut nor pastry highlights the absurdity of that censorship…but by refusing to call it what it is, even something as understandable as “rice balls,” it’s still upholding that same censorship. I’ll leave the rest of this discussion for the end of the review but TL;DR interpreting this as poking fun at 4KIDS' own cultural censorship and as continued perpetuation of said censorship can both be true.

The lunch comedy is about the same leading into Pharaoh activating the buried relic. The dub adds a joke during the three-suns transition, and a second as everyone runs for cover. They also add an explanation that Jaden runs off to lead the storm away, which is kind of wild but the sub doesn't offer a better stated reason.

Jaden catches on instantly that he isn't in Kansas anymore (in exactly those words), whereas Judai needs a moment. He still thinks it's a dream though, leading into the "Winged Kuriboh pinch me--OW" bit

Once Sara/Yasmin enters the scene, the dub adds some minor jokes at the expensive of making Jaden a bit slower to catch onto the situation despite his early start. Yasmin skips the detail about the intruders being treated as graverobbers, instead focusing on trespassing - not unlike episode 3, where trespassing is used in place of voyeurism. The dub adds more dialogue during the establishing shots of the three suns and pillar formation.

While hiding out, Judai worries about his friends while Jaden wonders if Yasmin was lying to him until Daitokuji (sub)/Alexis (dub) screams for help. The dub adds more jokes to Judai getting surrounded.

The gravekeeper chief is the first to broach the topic of other worlds, while Jaden tosses it in as a joke about returning to their dimension. The dub again writes out graverobbing in favor of trespassing, and omits the allusion to someone who succeeded the trial before Judai (i.e., Fubuki/Atticus). They also censor the chief's threat about taking his liver and turning him into a mummy, and in the dub he simply threatens to bury Jaden alive. They also add a bit more banter between Jaden and the chief in place of Judai’s dialogue about borrowing Hayato’s duel disk.

As the duel starts, a small moment illustrating the formality difference between Judai and the Chief is exaggerated into a joke while skipping over another Fubuki/Atticus allusion.

Judai: Duel! Chief: May the ceremony begin. The first move is mine. I draw my card. Judai: Dude...this is totally just normal Duel Monsters... Chief: Did I not mention that there have been people who have wandered into this world before?

Jaden: All right! Get your game on! Chief: Get my game on? What do you speak of? Jaden: Sheesh. It's a figure of speech! Y'know, like slang? Chief: It's like slang?! How dare you speak to me with the rotten tongue of a filthy serpent!

The dub version of the duel contains some mechanical errors (calling a flip summon a normal summon), and some usual dialogue changes. Chumley gets slandered twice more. Taunts in place of duel procedure. Banner throws in a joke referencing the lunch comedy.

When Judai summons Flame Wingman he frames it very slightly differently, a comeback from the risk of his last turn (sub) or the product of Bubbleman's draw advantage (dub). In the peanut gallery, Asuka talks about how Judai has the advantage while Alexis talks about how he has no margin for error in this duel with their lives at stake, and part of her speaking time is given to Jaden and the chief rehashing stakes.

Necrovalley's explanation is cut slightly down to make room for trash talk. After the peanut gallery reacts, the dub cuts some duel summary and trash talk, skipping ahead to remind us of the stakes again before the episode ends. Roll To Be Continued.

And that's game! Gotcha!

Spoiler Zone

Empty!

Final Thoughts

Chumley slander counter: 1 fat joke, 4 miscellaneous potshots.

My first impression from an initial watch was that this was a relatively straightforward episode, aside from the usual Chumley slander. But upon writing it up I came to realize that censorship is a bit of a theme this episode. It happens three times in the dub version of this episode: first with the rice balls at lunch, second with graverobbing changed to trespassing, and third with the chief’s threats of disembowelment.

I’m not really going to argue that last one because it was probably a required change for American TV standards (which has its own implications, but not the part I'm most interested in discussing here). I’m not sure the same was true for the graverobbing, and honestly I think it’s of minor note that they rewrote both voyeurism (from episode 3) and graverobbing into trespassing in terms of what’s considered acceptable crimes for kids' television.

But the real moment of note to me is the rice balls, and the highlighting of their censorship by sidestepping the need to give them a name with “whatever it is I’m holding?!” To me, it’s not that different from if 4KIDS decided to keep kanji onscreen but called them “moon runes” (which was a real joke of the era). This thing is weird and unknowable, rather than something that would have been regular life for people of certain cultures.

4KIDS was very much an American corporation. The 2000 US Census reported 1.15 million people self-identifying at least partial Japanese ancestry in America - yes, I checked - and 11.9 million Asian Americans, including me at age [REDACTED]. I brought rice balls - or something like them - to lunch as a kid, and I did have conversations with people about what it was. If you told me my delicious lunch was a donut I’d have thought you were stupid; if I told you the name and you told other kids it was a donut, I’d have been insulted.