seven stars collide with seven roads

(A quick note before we begin: I have obtained the entamesubs version of this episode as well. (Thanks, Ritchie!) Since I have watched this episode done by both sub groups, I will do my best to cover both in this post! I do not see a ton of differences between the two subs so far, but in instances where I do, I will be denoting the entamesubs' sub as sub2. I am not here to analyze which sub translation is more or less accurate, merely to comment on any differences. In this post, Rook/Luke in the sub will still be called Rook.)

We start off with Romin looking at a card and her guitar case. Not much different here since there isn't any dialogue, but the only audio here in the sub is birds chirping, and the dub decided to...add some music over this scene?

I don't talk about music much on this blog, mostly because it would make analyzing each epiosde take twice as long, and each post would probably double in length and take twice as long to type. However, in this case, it just feels like such an odd choice, because adding any music at all just changes the feeling this scene has. So this time it feels more worth mentioning.

After this, drones are greeting citizens of Goha City in this new day. The sub drones just tell everyone to have a lovely day, while the dub drones put more emphasis on rules once again. The trend continues!

Speaking of trends that continue in this episode, Yuga rides his bike again in this episode.

I honestly don't remember this much bike riding in Sevens. The helmet edits are. Not good.

Yuga rides by Rook/Luke, who uses this Pauli Effect to make Yuga's bike stop working. Yuga complains that's it too early to Pauli him in both versions, and in the dub, adds a complaint that he's going to be late to school.

Yuga and Rook/Luke discuss that videos of their Rush Duel have been taken down, but duel disks can still transform to Rush Duel, meaning Rush Duels are still possible. Rook/Luke finds this strange, for different reasons:

-Rook thinks it's weird because Goha should already know about them (installing Rush Duels), implying that it's strange their accounts haven't been deleted. -Luke thinks it's weird that Goha is able to delete the videos but not able to discover their identities (as the ones who installed Rush Duels).

Both come to the same conclusion: Goha actually does know about them and is just watching them for now.

We see Romin take a picture of them from behind. She then continues ahead, telling them both that they'll be late for school. Rook thinks she's acting fishy; Luke outright calls her Goha's spy at this point. (Rook will be joining Luke on this later.)

Upon request, Gakuto/Gavin later gives Rook/Luke and Yuga info about Romin. This information is mostly the same, except the part where her band is discussed; Gakuto says that Romin's the lead guitarist in the elementary school's band, RoaRomin, but Gavin refers to RoaRomin as "a super popular band". The dub doesn't tie the band to the school, and if my memory is correct, this fact will remain consistent for the rest of the episodes of the show. (edit: Sub2's Gakuto actually says that Romin plays in an elementary school band. He doesn't specify that the band is tied to their school, but considering that Romin does go to their school, so I would say it's still implied that it's tied to their school.)

Since Rook/Luke already knows everything he was just told, Rook calls Gakuto unhelpful. Luke has a differently worded complaint: "What's the point of being the Prez if you can't get the dirt?" Gakuto/Gavin asks Rook/Luke why he's asking about Romin. Rook tells Gakuto that Romin is suspicious. Luke, meanwhile, proves he's a Gen Z kid.

After a flashback to Romin suggesting the use of Real-Time Duel Programming in episode 1, Gakuto and Gavin both concede something to Rook/Luke. Gakuto (sub1) concedes that for someone not interested in dueling, she sure knows some specific things about it, or (sub2) she's pretty knowledgeable about dueling. Gavin concedes that for someone not interested in dueling, she sure knows a lot about it.

After some thoughts on this difference, I prefer (sub1) Gakuto's line here. Gavin seems to think Romin is just a general dueling expert, which we'll see later is definitely not the case. However, it was pointed out to me that Romin knowing very specific things about dueling could easily overlap with her actual interest in, or any other possible hobby she might have. It would be very easy for her to happen to be around someone who knows about Real-Time Duel Programming who tells her about it, while still not knowing much about duels themselves. Gavin, on the other hand, is just...wrong? It'll be obvious later on she doesn't know a lot, because...she'll showcase later on that there's very basic duel rules that aren't specific to Rush Duels that she doesn't know. (for example, she can't play regular spells during her opponent's turn.)

Rook makes the connection here of Romin being a Goha spy, while Luke uses this as proof of his already existing theory that Romin's a Goha spy. We see a cute little stylized animation showcasing Rook/Luke's animation: imaginary sub Romin determines Yuga's weakness to be bell peppers, and dub Romin determines Yuga's weakness to be, more broadly, vegetables.

We still get an image of peppers here in the dub, though... Did the dub think kids don't know what peppers are? Because I know I did when I was the age of the general target audience? Or did they think the more broad category of vegetables was more relatable to kids?

Gakuto loudly tells Yuga that bell peppers are nutritious. Gavin loudly tells Yuga that he should eat his vegetables.

Sub Yuga tells everyone he wasn't listening to the conversation, while dub Yuga just asks why he's being yelled at. It's hard to say if the dub's trying to still give the implication that Yuga wasn't listening or not, I could go either way based off this dialogue.

Rook clarifies that they're talking about Romin being suspicious, while Luke tells Yuga he's being yelled at because Romin is a spy for Goha.

After a couple more flashbacks of Romin, sub Yuga agrees that she seems like she's hiding something. Dub Yuga more specifically asks why Romin's took their picture earlier. Rook/Luke agrees with Yuga's statements in both cases, feeling like Yuga's on his side. Gakuto is just worried about Yuga's reaction, it seems, while Gavin tries to defend Romin, saying there's no proof of her being a spy.

Overall, after Romin's duel knowledge is brought up, I don't think the rest of the conversation had overly meaningful changes; they're written here for documentation purposes, but there's not much to grab here besides dub Yuga possibly being more attentive than sub Yuga, Gavin defending Romin more than Gakuto, and the dub possibly thinking kids don't know what peppers are, or that dislike of peppers isn't relatable.

Been a while since I had any bell pepper, though. To be fair, it was mostly only my one grandma who ever had them around. I was picky about them, though, I would only eat slices of green ones.

In the next scene, after Yuga shoves his new 'road' (invention) in Romin's face, Romin asks what it is. Sub and Dub Yuga give different dialogue here, and I thought about these different lines a little too much:

Yuga (sub): My new road! It analyzes soundwaves, which lets it automatically determine if someone is telling the truth or lying! (speaking into the microphone) I love bell pepper! (negative sound effect plays) See?

-

Yuga (sub2): My new road! It analyzes soundwaves to determine whether you're lying. (speaking into the microphone) I love bell peppers! (negative sound effect plays) See?

-

Yuga (dub): Presenting my road to the truth! This is my Truthinator and it can tell if you're lying or telling the truth. (speaking into the microphone) I love veggies! (negative sound effect plays) See?

Ultimately, Yuga's explanation here gets the same point across, and each version calls back to the previous jokes about bell peppers/vegetables. Sub Yuga gives a slightly more thorough explanation on how it works, though. This could have the smallest implications on differences in Yuga's character between sub and dub; does dub Yuga simply think his classmates wouldn't understand/care about an explanation? Or is there some personal reason he doesn't care to tell how his road works? Does he like being more mysterious?

At the same time, dub Yuga does name this invention where sub Yuga doesn't. This won't be the only time this episode that dub Yuga names something where sub Yuga doesn't. Dub Yuga seems to be sentimental towards his roads in a way sub Yuga isn't. Or, alternatively, people say that giving something a name gives it power; maybe sub Yuga doesn't want his roads to become more powerful than him.

Romin is asked by Yuga if she's hiding something. Her responses are slightly different between sub and dub, but that difference is enough to have very different implications about Yuga's Truthinator.

In the sub, Romin responds by asking if it looks like she's hiding something. Yuga's lie detector initially claims this response is a lie, before rapidly switching between Romin's response being a truth and a lie, assumedly because she responded with a question instead of a statement that a truth or lie can be parsed from. Because the lie detector can't make this distinction, it breaks.

In the dub, Romin responds by saying of course she isn't hiding anything. Yuga's Truthinator initially claims this response is a lie, before rapidly switching between claiming it as a lie and a truth. Since it can't figure out the distinction, it breaks. In this version, it looks more like the Truthinator malfunctioned or wasn't built properly, rather than Romin accidentally breaking it with an unimpossible response.

On a side note, I really love how expressive Yuga is in this scene and just...how enthusiastic he is. It really shows how much he just enjoys creating things and not just Rush Duels themselves. He's so excited to show off his new road.

The rest of this scene plays out about the same in sub and dub, and ends with everyone going to his lab (named Road Research Lab in the sub).

Outside the Road Research Lab, Yuga just introduces the location to everyone as his lab, but the dub gives this exchange more flair:

Yuga: Here's my lab! This is where the magic happens! Luke: Whoa. Gavin: This looks like private property. Are you sure we're allowed to be here?

Ignoring Yuga's wording on that one, the real interesting bit is Gavin's dialogue. Gavin draws attention to the fact that the lab isn't at Yuga's home. This'll be relevant in several episodes, so this is a nice little teaser.

From here, we have two very different exchanges as a drone bursts out of Yuga's lab.

In the sub, the drone welcomes everyone to the lab. Gakuto freaks out because a drone is here, and the drone scans for their identities before recognizing Romin and asking for her autograph. Gakuto recognizes this drone was reprogrammed by Yuga. Romin asks for the drone's name to include in the autograph, and the drone begs Yuga to name him. Yuga gives the drone the name 'Kaizo', which the drone says is too literal.

In the dub, the drone identifies everyone as trespassers. Gavin screams that they've been found by Goha. The drone scans for their identities, recognizes Romin and asks for her autograph. Gavin recognizes this drone was reprogrammed by Yuga. Yuga, already calling the drone 'Kaizo', says he didn't realize Kaizo was a fan of Romin's. The drone asks Yuga to take a picture of just the drone and Romin, saying that Yuga must have a camera amidst his inventions. Yuga says he doesn't have one.

This kind of plays upon the differences on the Truthinator in the previous scene; dub Yuga names his roads, sub Yuga doesn't, only naming Kaizo because Kaizo asked for a name, and the name he picked being very literal.

When we enter the Road Research Lab, things play out fairly identically until Yuga tries to manipulate Romin into accepting his duel challenge. Romin gets mad that Yuga says that she'll lose the duel anyway, and sub Yuga is way more chill about his response than dub Yuga is.

Yuga (sub1): Ah, don't worry about it. Everyone hates losing, you know.

-

Yuga (dub): Chill out! Mastering Rush Duels isn't easy, unlike the guitar.

And, yes, I recognize Yuga's just trying to get Romin to duel him here. But dub Yuga, what is your damage?? As someone who grew up as a musician, mastering music isn't easy. But it's a fun exercise to look deeper into his brain on this; is he just saying that because he wants Romin to duel him, or does he genuinely believe what he says? Does he think music is easier than Rush Dueling?

Romin takes the bait either way and, with a borrowed duel disk and a borrowed deck, accepts the duel challenge.

In the sub, Kaizo offers to carry Romin's belongings. Romin refuses, and Kaizo points out her guitar case will get in the way of her dueling. Romin tells him it's fine. After Rook imagines the guitar case as holding high tech gear to help Romin spy for Goha, Gakuto tells Rook there's no way he's right, and Rook says the whole thing's suspicious.

In the dub, Kaizo offers to store Romin's guitar case somewhere safe. Romin refuses, telling Kaizo she doesn't want him to drop her guitar because he's got tiny hands. After Luke imagines the guitar case as holding high tech gear to help Romin spy for Goha, Gavin tells Luke that he's crazy, and Luke replies that he's 'crazy smart'.

I do like the dub giving Romin a slightly more specific reason she wants to keep her guitar case. Otherwise, there's not a huge difference here, but Rook/Luke is funny so it's worth noting.

As everyone walks outside for the duel, Yuga tells Romin that she'll do fine even if it's her first time dueling, because Rush Duel strategies are easy to pick up. There's not really a difference between sub and dub on this one, but I'm still noting it because I'm calling out dub Yuga. You literally said like a minute ago that Rush Duels are more complicated than playing music! Even if you probably were just saying that to manipulate Romin into dueling, I'm not letting you get away with it! Just give it to me straight!

(Obligatory 'No One in Yugioh is Straight' joke here)

Romin opens her guitar case briefly. In the sub, she silently fumes over Yuga calling her a beginner, while the dub actually gives the dialogue here to Luke, who says he can't see inside the guitar case.

Kaizo determines the duel order, and it's the same duel order in both sub and dub. However, in the sub he's more clear that he picks Romin to be first because he likes her more than Yuga. Dub Yuga takes Kaizo's disrespect of him less seriously than sub Yuga does.

Rook/Luke has his eyes on Romin's guitar case, for pretty much the same reasons in sub and dub: he's already suspicious of it, and Romin's left it sitting alone in the open. Rook monologues about this over some shots of Romin, Kaizo, and Yuga conversing. The dub, however, gives these shots dialogue:

Kaizo: It must also be charged up, wireless or battery. And I can see it is charged up! Yuga: You're being pretty thorough, Kaizo.

It's not bad detail at all; it's probably obvious that duel disks have to be powered by something, and any power source will be finite, but it's a neat little worldbuilding thing to me to acknowledge that. And to point to power sources being similar in Goha City as they are in the real world.

Rook gives Yuga credit here for keeping Romin distracted from her guitar case; Luke merely is excited to have the chance to look inside the case. He's stopped by Gakuto/Gavin, who wants to respect Romin's privacy, and the sub and dub give different reasons for Rook/Luke to be upset about this:

Rook: This is all for becoming the King of Duels!

-

Luke: But privacy is meant to be invaded, Gavin!

Rook's a bit more single-minded on his goal of the ultimate crown. Luke...remind me to never let him watch my stuff for me. What kind of thought process makes him think this way? Between this and the willingness to bribe classmates into silence, Luke is a lot shadier than I remember.

Sub Yuga says he'll explain Rush Duel rules to Romin. Romin says she already knows them.

Dub Yuga says not to get distracted with Luke and Gavin's duel when they have their own duel going. Romin says lets get this duel going then

Romin starts explaining the rules she knows for the beginning of the first turn, and Yuga confirms she has them right. But he's distracted by Gakuto/Gavin and Rook/Luke fighting in the background. Dub Yuga directly calls them out to ask what they're doing, sub Yuga does not, but both versions notice the attention on them and stop immediately.

Romin's first turn goes about identical in sub and dub. Since I'm keeping track of duel phase changes in the dub, there's no extra flair to her language this turn. After she ends it, when she questions what Gakuto/Gavin and Rook/Luke are doing as they approach her guitar case, the two backpedal. Gakuto announces that it is now Yuga's turn, while Gavin actually answers the question and says that he's stretching. (In both versions, he is visibly doing stretches during this dialogue.)

Dub Yuga does declare the start of his turn, and he draws, but does not verbally declare his draw.

Yuga summons out Sevens Road Magician, and Gakuto/Gavin and Rook/Luke have different commentary on the effect activation:

Rook: He immediately used it! Gakuto: Just like always!

-

Luke: Better watch out, Romin! Gavin: That's his move!

The dub puts this slightly more in the realm of trash talk towards Romin, but otherwise, it gets the same point across: Elemental Road (Sevens Road Magician's effect) is Yuga's signature move.

Sevens Road Magician attacks. Both the sub and dub are a bit vague about the attack declaration dialogue.

Otherwise, the rest of Yuga's turn doesn't have any noticeable or consequential differences. End of turn is declared in the dub standardly.

Rook and Luke make slightly different comments after Yuga's turn finishes.

Rook (sub): Consecutive attacks are always painful. Ah! But, it won't buy me any time!

-

Luke (dub): That means this duel is almost over, bro. Oh! So we better hurry up!

Kaizo yells at Yuga for being so mean to her in her first Rush Duel. Sub Yuga says he can't go easy on her even if it's her first Rush Duel. Dub Yuga says he feels like it's rude if he does go easy on her because it means he's not taking her seriously, but he is taking her seriously. Both mention that in a Rush Duel, there's always a chance for a comeback.

Romin's turn starts. Here, dub Romin prays for luck on the turn's draw rather than declaring the draw phase normally.

Now we've reached our next summoning chant! Again, I don't plan to do this for every summoning chant, but I'm interested in differences between summoning chants of important monsters, and Prima Guitarna is very important.

(Sub1) Let's start Live! A complete Dive! Patience at limit -> go overdrive! It's Prima Guitarna of Colorful Light! She finally debuts!

-

(Sub2) Starting a live with a full-body dive! Patience at the limit -> go overdrive! Prima Guitarna of the Colorful Light! Here with her super-awaited debut!

-

(Dub) Are you ready to get amped up? 'Cause here she is to rock the stage is Level Seven Prima Guitarna the Shining Superstar!

In comparison to the other two, the dub summoning chant for Prima Guitarna is kinda...lackluster. I want to give Romin a pass for this being her first ace summon, but...I don't think the dub summoning chant ever changes, if I'm remembering right. Sub1 and sub2 are expectedly pretty similar, but sub2 reads a bit more naturally to me, so I prefer that translation over the original.

When Romin declares that Prima Guitarna is her card, not Yuga's, Yuga has the completely opposite reaction to that information between sub and dub.

Yuga (sub): I knew it! You had such an awesome card!

-

Yuga (dub) Wow, that's awesome! I didn't know you had such a powerful card!

This is a really weird one. Why did the dub change it so Yuga didn't know about Romin's card when he originally did? Was there any reason behind this?

We see the flashback of Romin obtaining Prima Guitarna, and there's not much difference in these scenes, but in the sub, her admired musician refers to the card as 'her soul' while in the dub she doesn't give it that distinction.

After that flashback, Romin activates Prima Guitarna's effect. In the sub, before activating the effect, she makes reference to Prima Guitarna using up her very life to bring about the best musical performance, while in the dub, it's stated that Prima Guitarna performs best in front of a crowd.

Again, the dub's line here is a bit more lackluster. If you compare the sub line directly to Prima Guitarna's effect cost, it makes sense. However, examining that sentence outside that context makes me really concerned about what Romin thinks is required for a good musical performance. Burning away your life...

(Romin doesn't specify how many life points she pays for effect activation in the dub, but considering we see the life point counter, and Gavin's next line is "1,000 life points?!", I'll forgive this one.)

At the end of Romin's battle phase, the dub just has her state she's not done yet, while the sub has her state that being patient paid off. It's a nice bit of continuity from Romin's first turn, where she realized she couldn't summon Prima Guitarna yet and had to tell herself to be patient.

I think the sub is giving her an interesting bit of characterization here. Romin can be patient to do what she wants, but she doesn't like to wait for it.

Turn ending dialogue for Romin here is standard in both sub and dub.

When Romin asks Yuga how it feels to be on the other side of a comeback...

In the sub, Yuga forces a laugh as he says that this is the most exciting part of a Rush Duel. Gakuto tells Yuga this is no laughing matter. Rook tells Gakuto that Yuga's probably just acting, and Yuga's sweating too much to be genuine.

In the dub, Yuga laughs awkwardly as he asks "Is it cool if I come back to you on that?" Gavin tells Yuga to focus on his gameplay over his wordplay. Luke tells Yuga he's got this, and when Yuga's shown sweating, Luke says this is no time to feel blue.

Sub Yuga stammers out that Rush Duels are about comebacks, and declares his turn and draw. In the dub, Yuga says "It's true that you made a comeback, Romin, but that doesn't mean I can't make one too! Watch this!"

Interesting things to note from this exchange (between the end of Romin's turn and the start of Yuga's) here are include:

Rook (sub) seems more in tune with Yuga's actual feelings and mental state here than Luke (dub) is. This isn't the first time this has happened, here, either; in episode 1, Rook picked up on an interest in the King of Duel title from Yuga that Luke did not comment on. This isn't consistent, though; last episode, both Rook and Luke thought Yuga lost a duel on purpose when that was not the case.

Dub Yuga seems a lot more confident here than sub Yuga; we get the same visuals, but sub Yuga stammers out lines that dub Yuga gives us straight. And, once again, the dub gives Yuga more trash talk on a turn starting line that the sub just has a declaration of turn start on.

After some relatively unchanged commentary on the duel from Rook/Luke and Gakuto/Gavin, Kaizo trash talks Yuga. It's a bit different between sub and dub; in the sub, Kaizo calls Yuga a moron and tells him to reflect on his foolishness in the depths of hell, while in the dub, Kaizo says he didn't realize this duel was on easy mode and that Yuga should've raised his difficulty settings.

Yuga realizes he has a path to victory, however. The sub gives us the classic "Are you sure about that?", and the dub has Yuga declare the duel's not over yet.

Yuga activates Recovery Force from his hand. If I want to get really nitpicky, Yuga doesn't state in his deck that his deck is shuffled as part of the card's effect (the sub does), but we do get a visual of his deck getting shuffled in both sub and dub, so it doesn't really matter that much.

His goal here is to return Sevens Road Magician from his graveyard to his hand, so he wants to draw it now. But when he makes his draw, he expresses slightly different sentiments:

(sub1): Come! My ace!

-

(dub): Let's see where my road takes me!

He does draw Sevens Road Magician, and after he summons it and activates its effect, Yuga's the one who explains the bulk of the effect in the sub, while Gavin and Luke explain the bulk of it in the dub.

After the duel ends in Yuga's win, Gakuto and Gavin tell Romin different things, Gakuto complimenting Prima Guitarna while Gavin complimenting Romin's dueling skills:

Gakuto (sub1): The more monsters your opponent has, the more powerful your own monsters become... Prima Guitarna is a very strong card! If Yuga hadn't drawn Sevens Road, he would've lost.

-

Gakuto: Hey, for someone who says dueling isn't their thing, you dueled wonderfully, Romin. You played your Prima Guitarna card like an expert. Romin: Hmm. Luke: Yeah, totally, bro. If Yuga wasn't able to draw Sevens Road Magician, he would've lost.

These are both nice sentiments, but I like the dub's just a bit more. Prima Guitarna is a strong card, but that wouldn't mean anything if Romin didn't play her correctly.

Yuga follows up with essentially the same sentiment: no matter how little of a chance he had of winning, he should bet on it and carve his road to victory-- And Kaizo interrupts. In the sub, Kaizo interrupts to compliment Romin, and in the dub, Kaizo interrupts to tell Romin that Yuga only won because he was lucky.

Gakuto and Rook point out that Yuga didn't need to activate Sevens Road Magician's effect and attack Prima Guitarna to win, that he could've just attacked a weaker monster. Yuga responds that he wanted their ace monsters to do battle; when you see a strong show of power, you should respond in kind.

Gavin and Luke come to the consensus that Romin outplayed Yuga in every way in that duel. Yuga says as long as everyone had a good time, that's all he cares about.

Gakuto/Gavin drags away Rook/Luke; Gakuto does so silently, while Gavin makes the excuse that they both have to go tie their shoes.

Gakuto says it's clear Romin's not spying on them for Goha, and Rook says he'll drop it for now. Gavin asks Luke if he has any regrets on snooping on Romin since she's clearly not spying on them for Goha, and Luke says he has 'zero to none'. So...Luke still seems suspicious of Romin where Rook isn't?

Yuga approaches Romin, and says (sub) he thinks she always wanted to duel (dub) she really enjoyed dueling, because (both) of how happy she was when she summoned Prima Guitarna. Sub Romin says she only wanted to try it because they were dueling, and says not to get the wrong idea, while dub Romin says he would be happy too if he thought he was going to win, and says not to get the wrong idea. Both romins admit, though, that Rush Dueling was fun.

From here the rest of the episode seems to go the same, including our first sneak peek of Roa!

So, final takeaways from this episode that I'll be bringing into the future:

Goha City: The trend of the dub making the culture a bit more strict than the sub was continues! Didn't have much overall impact on the episode itself this time, but it was still there.

Yuga: Sub and Dub give Yuga quite a bit different personality in this episode. Sub Yuga is more likely to explain how his roads work, dub Yuga is more likely to name his roads where sub Yuga has to be prompted to do so. Dub Yuga is willing to trash talk music just to get a duel challenge accepted. Sub Yuga seems to have less confidence in himself than dub Yuga does, which makes sense given that last episode I noted sub Yuga being more self deprecating. Sub Yuga knew Romin had a cool card (Prima Guitarna) while dub Yuga did not. Also, an early teaser that Yuga's lab isn't at his home in the dub!

Rook/Luke: I think I'm getting a handle on their differences; Rook seems to have a bit more perception over how people really feel behind how they're trying to present themselves, while Luke is just...always very oblivious about these things, so far. I think Luke just also cares less about societal norms than Rook does.

Gakuto/Gavin: I think Gakuto still hasn't had his name said in the sub so far. When needing to pull an excuse for something, Gavin comes up with very silly things where Gakuto just...avoids the topic, it seems. Gakuto seems to note a duelist's cards where Gavin seems to note a duelist's skills.

Romin: The star of today's episode! Her band in the sub is connected to the elementary school, where in the dub, her band is just...a popular band. Sub Romin is very quickly characterized as someone who has to remind herself to be patient for what she wants. Dub Romin...is someone that appeals to luck, instead. Sub Romin makes reference in this episode to a musician giving their very life to give the best performance; this is also really interesting to me specifically.

Duels: The dub still trash talks more than the sub does, but there's also a lot more places where trash talking could be happening where it isn't. Also a couple of places where the dub's dialogue was a bit more vague regarding a card's exact effect, but we had visuals that filled in the gaps, so it's not as bad as it could've been.

The Two Subs: There weren't really a lot of differences between the two subs in this episode that I noticed.

To start off with, there's only two big errors I found in the dub subtitles of this episode. However, there's some minor ones sprinkled in. I didn't note all these minor ones because they're all essentially the same, it's just that sometimes, the dub subtitles captioned gasps and grunts and hums a little weirdly. For example, here's a screenshot of someone gasping in the dub with the subtitle:

The major errors will be covered when they come into the episode. So with that, let's get into the episode proper!

The episode begins where we left off in episode one, with Yuga having just successfully installed rush duels.

Beyond an open door sits a road forward, which the hologram man Yuga dueled calls the road to the King of Duels.

As our protagonists stare at it, we see that Rook/Luke and Gakuto/Gavin's duel disks are still transformed into 7s. Where Gakuto asks why everyone's duel disks changed after the successful installation, Gavin quips that Yuga installed a virus on his duel disk to make it glitch out.

Gakuto doesn't say more here, but Gavin asks Luke and Yuga which of them will go down the road to the King of Duels.

In both versions, Yuga tells Rook/Luke he should be the one to go. Dub Yuga points to Luke being the best duelist in the school, where sub Yuga says Rook should go instead of someone like him, who isn't suited to be the King of Duels.

...This is an interesting difference. Sub Yuga's a little more self deprecating here; I've seen a few episodes, far in the future, of the sub where Yuga's made similar comments that the dub made minor changes to. It's one of the things that drove me to make this blog, actually.

It's no secret that Yuga's my favorite Sevens character. I want to examine his differences between sub and dub under a microscope. And now I am!

Rook/Luke both interrupt Yuga's reasoning for why Yuga shouldn't go, and begins walking towards the road. Rook is chastised by Gakuto and Romin for deciding too quickly to take Yuga's offer, while Luke says he earned this, and is told by Gavin and Romin that he didn't do anything.

As far as this goes...I prefer the sub interaction here because, in Luke's case, he didn't do nothing here. Yes, Yuga was the main star in episode one with installing Rush Duels and dueling the hologram. However, Luke (and Rook) contributed plenty; he told Yuga about legend of the King of Duels, brought Yuga to the secret backdoor to the dueling system that Yuga didn't know about, gave Yuga more time to install Rush Duels by disabling the drone trying to deal out punishments, inspired Yuga to take the chance to install Rush Duels even though it meant risking his account... Sure, Rook/Luke didn't duel in episode one, but to say he did nothing is severely downplaying how much he helped out Yuga. It's no exaggeration to say that without Rook/Luke's help, Rush Duels still wouldn't be installed.

But, regardless of the reason Yuga tells Rook/Luke to walk forward, and regardless of the reason Luke/Rook steps forward, Rook/Luke vows not to let Yuga down. But, upon reaching the door, some kind of invisible barrier stops him and surprises him.

Yuga tells everyone that the road they're being shown is just a hologram. Gakuto asks where the real road is, while Gavin yells that Yuga could've told Luke about the hologram sooner. Regardless, the hologram tells the group that they need to find the road to the King of Duels themselves.

At this point, everyone asks Rook/Luke what a King of Duels actually is.

Now, since we're approximately three minutes into the episode, it's time to address the elephant in the room: for at least this episode, the subtitles in the sub are, at times, inaccurate. This I wouldn't be sure of myself if I didn't get help verifying one of the inaccuracies later in the episode, but @shadowsapex provided a list in the comments of a post while I was working on my notes for this episode:

The reason I bring up this list now is that we've hit the first point in the list. Rook/Luke answers the question of what a King of Duels is:

Rook: One who dictates the rules of the game and spreads them to all the duelists over the world... is the King of Duels.

-

Luke: According to legend, the King of Duels is the one who not only creates new rules for the game, but spreads them worldwide for every duelist to play. And by doing so, they become the top duelist in the world!

How I feel on this difference really depends on how deep into nuances you want to get. On the one hand, both lines communicate that new rules for dueling come from the King of Duels. On the other, the sub implies that the King of Duels merely has ideas for duels that other people implement, while the dub implies a more active hand in the creation of those rules.

At first, my thoughts were that enough of the same concept is communicated that it's not a huge difference, but I've actually done a 180 on this one. I think this is a very big difference.

Rook's definition of the King of Duels is that the rules are 'dictated'. The King of Duels has the ideas, someone else implements. There's a lot more broad in who can become the King of Duels here; there's room for Rook to become the King of Duels here, even. However, Luke's definition is more narrow; the King creates the rules themself. With this definition, it would have to be someone like Yuga to become the King of Duels. Someone who not only wants to see a change in dueling, not only someone willing to put everything on the line to make those changes, but someone with the knowledge to make those changes themself. There's a less room for Luke to become the King of Duels here, in my opinion. Which is actually quite interesting, honestly, considering Luke will become the King of Duels later in the series.

Now that Rook/Luke has outlined what a King of Duels is, the next question is, naturally, how someone becomes the King of Duels. Rook/Luke has a four-step plan outlining how he can become the King of Duels at the ready! This plan is actually pretty similar in the sub and dub, with each version following up on the gag earlier of Rook not hesitating enough to take Yuga's offer/Luke not doing anything to earn the title.

Get hired by Goha. We'll pause on this one for just a moment to comment that Romin, in the dub, tells Luke that Goha doesn't hire fifth graders. We'll see much later that this is very far from the truth, so I had a good chuckle about this one.

Through shady dealings, become promoted to president!

As president, make the rule that everyone will have to Rush Duel every day.

Accept the title of King of Duels and enjoy a new era of dueling.

Once this plan is laid out by Rook/Luke, we see that...Yuga has been tinkering with a drone during this entire explanation. Rook/Luke takes the time to emphasize to Yuga that it's important in the quest to become King of Duels to not reveal Rush Duels to the public until the right time. They need to stay a secret!

Cue the next scene, the next day at school, where Yuga is telling everyone that he installed new dueling rules. In the sub, Yuga says it's nothing to be praised for, and in the dub, he says it's no big deal, and it was actually really easy.

Rook/Luke immediately runs in and tells Yuga to stop telling everyone about the previous night.

Most of this scene plays out the same in sub and dub; Rook/Luke drags Yuga under Yuga's desk to tell him that Goha has to have noticed the new duel rules that were installed, but hasn't banned their accounts, which means Goha doesn't know they're responsible. If they keep telling people, they'll get found out. Not to mention, Rush Duels are the key to becoming the King of Duels! They have to wait for the right moment to share about them! Yuga argues that he didn't make them for that purpose. He wants to share Rush Duels with everyone so everyone can have fun. Romin tells the boys in both versions to settle it in a Rush Duel if they're disagreeing about Rush Duels. Rook/Luke is nervous about Rush Dueling in front of their classmates.

Yuga's argument for why they should Rush Duel to decide this is a bit different between versions.

In the sub, Yuga says it's fine because he can't lose.

In the dub, Yuga points out he already blabbed to his classmates, so it's "not a spoiler or anything". He also adds that, as long as Luke isn't scared, they can give the other students a taste of Rush Dueling.

Rook declares that he won't lose because, no matter what the rules are, he's the best duelist in the school. Luke says essentially the same thing, but corrects himself that he's actually the best duelist in the city.

At this point, we cut to recess, which is when Yuga and Rook/Luke have their Rush Duel to decide on how to handle the spread of Rush Duels.

The beginning of this scene will, like the first episode did, put more emphasis on Goha City's culture being much more controlling in the dub than in the sub. In the sub, someone asks if they can finish a duel by the time recess ends. In the dub, it's instead said that dueling during recess is against the rules.

Either way, Yuga tells everyone it's fine, and activates his duel disk. Everyone then realizes...there's no drone present right now. Both versions find it strange, but the reasoning is different; the sub implies a drone should be present to officiate, while the dub says that a drone should be giving Yuga a penalty right now.

Rook says Rush Duels are powerful, while Luke says that Rush Duels are probably just too new to trip the drones' sensors. Either way, Rook/Luke says they need to be careful and keep Rush Duels secret.

Yuga tells Rook/Luke that he's wrong. In the sub, Yuga states that new roads will never open without challenges. In the dub, Yuga says that Goha's wrong for stifling how they duel, and Luke shouldn't be scared to take risks to change that.

Gakuto/Gavin comes in and says that even if this duel is allowed by Goha, it still has to end before recess or else that's against school rules. Yuga (in both versions) assures Gakuto/Gavin that Rush Duels are fast enough for that.

Gakuto/Gavin are both shocked by this declaration, which reads really weird to me in both versions. Gakuto/Gavin witnessed the installation of Rush Duels, he helped with that installation, and he saw Yuga Rush Duel the hologram as part of the programming. He knows these duels are meant to be fast-paced. He saw it for himself. Why is he surprised here? This doesn't make any sense to me, but maybe I'm reading too much into this.

The students watching this duel all pull out devices to record the duel with, and Rook/Luke shuts them all down with his power. He's asked how he does that, given this is now the third time we've seen him do this on screen.

Luke says it's because he has powers beyond those of mortal men. Rook says it's because of the demon possessing him doing 'bad things' to machines around him.

Yuga (in both versions) identifies that Rook/Luke has the Pauli Effect. Gakuto/Gavin remembers he's read about the Pauli Effect, but Gavin adds on the extra detail that he read about this in extra homework he assigns himself on the weekends.

I asked why Gavin does this and said Gavin needs to stop, initially, but then was reminded about the existence of Gakuting/DJ G, and, actually? Yeah, there's something wrong with Gavin, but I prefer the extra homework behavior. This is fine.

We get an explanation of the Pauli Effect from Gakuto/Gavin, and the comment from sub and dub Yuga that the incidents surrounding the effect historically were all coincidences.

Rook/Luke looks around at his classmates spectating, and thinks to himself that he can buy their silence with rare cards.

The duel between Yuga and Rook/Luke starts here, and Gakuto/Gavin begins explaining the rules to the spectators.

As mentioned in the previous episode, I'm also interested in comparing dialogue in phase changes of duels, so we'll be looking at that here. This kind of dialogue in the sub pretty much follows a template (It's my turn/I draw/I end my turn), so it's always interesting in Yugioh dubs to see if they play with the language more.

Yuga's first turn is short and has pretty standard draw/end turn dialogue in the dub.

At the beginning of Rook/Luke's turn, Luke has nonstandard turn starting/draw language: "That's what I like to hear! Here I go!"

Rook/Luke summons three monsters, the spectators start saying Rook/Luke is better at Rush Dueling than Yuga, and Yuga has different responses to that in the sub and dub.

Sub Yuga says that Rook only has two 1,000 LP monsters and one 1,500 LP monster, so it's not a big deal. Rook declares he will use the rest of his hand to lower Yuga's LP.

Dub Yuga says Luke may have more monsters, but he can't wipe out Yuga's LP. Luke asks Yuga if he's sure about that.

Rook/Luke sets up to take out all of Yuga's LP in this turn. Yuga has a counter set; in the sub, he says he won't let the duel end so easily, and in the dub, he says he's not ready for the duel to end.

Our second sub error appears in this turn. In the sub, after Yuga's only monster on the field is destroyed and Rook goes in to try to defeat Yuga, Romin yells out that Yuga only has one monster on his field. We just saw Yuga's only monster get destroyed, so this is just...objectively wrong. I think it's an easy fix, if we change 'Yuga only has one monster' to 'Yuga only had one monster', but I have no power to make that change, so...this is an error where I think a sub watcher will simply give Romin a confused look, rather than take completely incorrect information out of the episode.

The rest of Rook/Luke's turn is pretty identical in dialogue until the end phase. Luke's end phase line is: "My turn is done, but soon, you'll be done, too!"

Before Yuga starts his next turn, Yuga makes different comments in the sub and dub:

Yuga (sub): As expected of Goha Elementary's 7th best duelist. Rook: I'll tell you since you're dying to know... The secret to my strength.

-

Yuga (dub): I can see why you think you're the best duelist in the school. Luke: I don't just think it, it's a fact, bro. Yuga: Ah. Luke: Oh, what did you say? You asked how I got these skills?

(One dub subtitle error here: on Luke's first line, it reads 'I just don't think it, it's a fact, bro.' Ultimately I think the correct meaning gets across, but it would be very easy for someone to get the opposite meaning here, that Luke suddenly does not think he's the best duelist in the school. Not good!!!)

The dub gives Yuga just the slightest most disrespectful tone here. Assuming the sub line is supposed to be 'As expected of Goha Elementary 7's best duelist', Yuga acknowledges Rook as the best in the school. The dub has Yuga say that Luke thinks he's the best, implying he actually isn't.

The tone Yuga has here actually has continuity for both his sub and dub interpretations; Gakuto was treated more respectfully than Gavin last episode.

I also wrote here in my notes that this exchange marks an incident of the dub continuing Yugioh's tradition of dubs being slightly more trash talky than subs are. My friend's GX comparison blog (getyourchangeon) is really good at documenting this in GX if you want to see examples!

Rook/Luke pulls the conversation in the same direction in both versions in a direction than Yuga (in neither version) meant for it to go at all; Rook/Luke assumes everyone wants to know the secret of his strength. Yuga clearly doesn't want to hear Rook/Luke's explanation in either version. Sub Romin points out that no one asked Rook for his secret. Dub Romin tells Yuga to just let him say it.

Rook/Luke talks about how machines keep getting destroyed around him due to his demon (sub) or powers (dub). At first, both looked at it like a kind of curse, but Rook and Luke reframe this ability in different ways. Rook realizes he was bestowed a special power. Luke decides to turn his curse into a gift.

My thoughts on these differences is...I like both in different ways. I prefer Rook's thought that he has a demon over Luke's thought that he has powers, simply because I am a sucker for possession narratives. However, I prefer Luke's more active role in reframing his powers over Rook's simply realizing his demon isn't all bad. Luke's explanation implies more effort went into seeing his powers as good. He made active choices to let his powers benefit him instead of harm him. It gives me a warmer feeling in my heart, even if both Rook and Luke are using their ability to break into adult-only spaces as a minor.

Rook: If I use this power, I can enter Duel Centers where only adults gather! From then on, I polished my skills against older opponents. It was punishing every day, but I never lost. And that is how I found a strength that surpasses even grown ups.

-

Luke: I went to the Duel Center that all the grown ups go to so that I could battle against the best. I went day after day, night after night. I would win, I would lose, but each duel helped me fine tune my skills, until my power made me invincible!

This marks our third sub error on our list. Rook says he never lost, while Luke outright he says he sometimes lost. Luke is the one with the correct translation here. Rook's line is meant to read as never giving up rather than never losing.

But, of course, when I first read that line from Rook, I did not know this was an error in the subs. This makes Rook read as a better duelist at first than Luke was. Considering these different explanations give you pretty different ideas between Rook and Luke's skills, I...think this is a pretty major error, because rather than a factual error where you can pay attention to the duel and point out that the speaker is just wrong, this one is harder to discern if you don't speak Japanese. Which I don't!

When Yuga brings focus back to the duel and starts his turn, his dialogue isn't really flourished in the dub.

When Gakuto/Gavin explain the drawing mechanic of drawing until you have 5 cards to the spectators, both say you can draw until you have 5 cards, not that you do draw until you have 5 cards. Which is interesting to me, because…that implies a choice. You could draw less cards if you wanted to.

Please witness the funny Gakuto/Gavin torture as he explains attack and defense:

He is forced to do a handstand.

There is a moment here when Yuga activates an effect that requires him to discard a card where the sub mentions that cost, and the dub does not. This may sound minor and nitpicky, but if you're trying to follow the flow of the duel and what's in the graveyard matters (like it's about to in Yuga's turn), it can trip you up. Or, alternatively, if you're trying to learn how the cards work, then you might get the wrong idea of requirements for activating effects as a result. As someone who enjoys Rush Duels myself, it makes me a little sad when they skip over these details.

When Yuga goes to use Sevens Road Magician's effect, we have our next sub error, which also sidetracked me for ten minutes trying to figure out whether the sub or dub is right, since I did not yet know about the sub errors.

Sub Yuga says there's five attributes in his graveyard, while dub Yuga says there's four. The dub is correct here, but I can see where the error came up, given there's five monster silhouettes visualized here. Two of the monsters just happen to share the same attribute. On this line, I was able to get help confirming that Yuga actually says four in Japanese, rather than five.

Rook and Luke have different dialogue after Yuga attacks:

Rook: I'll make you regret not defeating me this turn.

-

Luke: I'm down to 100 life points, but 100 is still more than zero.

Which strikes me as off, because...this is the opposite of what the sub and dub usually do with dialogue. It's usually the dub that makes dialogue more trash talky, but here Rook is trash talking more than Luke.

The beginning of Luke's turn has a slight bit more flourish than Rook's, with Luke adding a "All right, bro" before declaring his draw.

Rook/Luke summons his ace, Rush Dragon Dragear/Multistrike Dragon Dragias. The difference in summoning chants I find more interesting here than for Sevens Road Magician:

Rook: My galaxy is turbulent...from seven supernovas' Gamma Ray Burst! It's too late to tell me to stop! It's too late to tell me to stop!!! There's a reason I said it twice! Now, come out! Rush Dragon Dragears!

-

Luke: Seven stars collide to burst into a supernova! You're not ready for this! You're so not ready for this! I say it twice because this monster strikes twice as hard! Rise into the light, Multistrike Dragon Dragias!

Luke is more forthcoming with why he "said it twice" than Rook is, but I'm more interested in the first lines of this summoning chant.

A gamma ray burst, VS a supernova.

The source of a gamma ray burst is usually a supernova, but what exactly is the difference here? I did a dive into astronomy articles on wikipedia to figure it out. From what I can tell, a gamma ray burst is more powerful than a supernova, but a supernova lasts longer than a gamma ray burst.

This has the slightest difference in implication of power for Dragias and Dragears. Dragears comes off as powerful but ephemeral. Dragias comes off as weaker, but longer lasting.

We have a very interesting exchange after the dragon is summoned:

Romin (sub): And 'rushing' means... Yuga (sub): Multiple attacks with that many attack points? Rook: That's exactly right!

-

Romin (dub): What does Multistrike mean? Yuga (dub): It means bad news for me! Luke: That's right, bro!

The sub makes no sense here to me here, admittedly. On an english-speaking level, I don't understand how 'rushing' implicitly means 'multiple attacks'. This might be a case of awkward translation, or, maybe I'm missing something here. But if I'm missing something, well, I've been upfront that I'm not a Japanese speaker. I won't act like I should have any knowledge the subtitles don't communicate.

As for the dub, I'm even more confused on this one. 'Multistrike' DOES imply multiple attacks. At least, it does to me. And yet Yuga either does not put this together or does not mention this. He just says this is bad!! Is the dub trying to build up more suspense on Dragias' effect here?

Really, I think in that small exchange, both the dub and sub would be improved by Yuga's lines being flipped. Dub Yuga going oh I'm about to get attacked multiple times, and sub Yuga going, this is bad news! But that's just my take.

We also get a cute moment in the dub where Dragias' roar gets subtitled. I love that.

Rook/Luke activating Dragias' effect in both sub and dub goes about the same. Dragears has the name 'Gears Charge' for its effect, where Dragias' effect name gets 'Double Doom'. Given the different monster names, I think both make sense.

Despite sub Yuga just stating that he's about to get multiple attacks from Dragias, after Rook explains that Dragias can attack again after destroying a monster, we still get a NANI from Yuga. Did...Did Yuga know Dragias could attack multiple times or not?

Dub Yuga is also surprised by this effect but given he didn't just predict the effect it makes more sense.

In both versions, we hear Yuga think about his plan to stop Rook/Luke with a trap, which in Yugioh we know means that Rook/Luke is about to counter it. And he does! He plays a spell, and I find his dialogue in both sub and dub for this activation interesting.

Rook: Sorry, but I will have to destroy your set card! With this dragon's authority, I activate the spell card 'Fire Dragon's Heatflash'!

-

Luke: (laughs) I bet you're thinking I forgot about the card that you set earlier. I activate the spell Dragon's Inferno to burn it to a crisp!

There's pros and cons to both versions of activation dialogue here. If I could combine pieces of them together, it'd be perfect. Let's break it down.

Rook specifies that Dragears is in some way required to activate the spell, where Luke doesn't. Most dub viewers would not know about this requirement up front. But at the same time, Luke is a bit more explicit about what the spell does, albeit in a more dressed up way. ('Burn it to a crisp' over 'destroy your set card'.) Rook mentions he's going to destroy the set card before activating the spell, but I think that leaves a bit of ambiguity in what the spell exactly does (the end result is the set card getting destroyed, but what achieves that?). We do get the visual of Yuga's set card getting destroyed in flames in both versions, so the point still gets across.

Rook simply apologizes that he has to disrupt Yuga's plan. Luke, however, has expected Yuga to think Luke forgot about the set trap. This definitely implies different things about Rook and Luke. This almost seems to imply Luke expects people to think less of him, while Rook feels at more equal footing.

From here, the duel ends in Room/Luke's favor, Rook/Luke asks Yuga to keep Rush Duels secret, and Romin tells Rook/Luke it's too late for that because the internet is already talking about Rush Duels. Romin shows this discussion on her phone; the graphic interfaces displayed on her phone in sub and dub are a bit different. This will remain consistent for the rest of the episode.

When Rook/Luke accuses Romin of livestreaming the duel and Romin denies it, she has a bit more conviction behind her words in the dub than in the sub. In both cases, Rook/Luke backs down and realizes the culprit is Yuga. Yuga points out something is behind Gakuto/Gavin, specifically in the dub asking Gavin if he has a new backpack. The 'something' is of course a drone.

The drone declares the livestream complete and flies away. After Yuga says that reprogramming the drone was easier than hacking his duel disk, Gakuto is in despair over what Yuga's done. Gavin is also appalled, but in a bit more of a specific way.

When everyone else is worrying about the ramifications of this livestream, and Yuga assures them it'll be fine, Rush Duels are being spread and enjoyed...in the dub, he specifies that, "The only reason I created Rush Duels was for everyone to have a good time!"

I don't fully disagree with this statement, but I don't fully agree, either. It's been pretty explicit that Rush Duels were also created as a road to freedom from Goha, in both sub and dub. But also... the point of fighting for that freedom is for everyone to be able to have fun. We'll call this an oversimplification, which...feels accurate to his character, so...

Yuga also mentions he will keep installing Rush Duels if they get deleted. In the dub, he says as long as they feel the rush, they can create a road a new road to dueling. In the sub, he says it's not a new road without a challenge. These lines feel accurate to how Yuga's been portrayed in each version as well; sub Yuga likes to prove himself, dub Yuga enjoys the thrill, the rush, if you will.

Gakuto/Gavin whines, but in the dub subtitles, the line is...attributed to Luke, for some reason.

The bell for recess ending rings. As they walk back to class, Rook/Luke 'realizes' that Yuga let him win. Rook claims it was to correct his path, and Luke says it was to teach Luke a lesson about sharing, because if Yuga could share the victory, then Luke could share Rush Duels.

It's a bit different, but I think still gets the same point across.

In the sub, Yuga just laughs, and Rook says this was expected of the one he put his trust in. Gakuto and Romin quietly say that Yuga probably did lose for real.

In the dub, Luke asks, 'am I right or am I right? am I?" and Yuga, laughing, awkwardly says "Yup, you figured me out, just like a puzzle!" Luke says he won't be fooled by Yuga's four dimensional chess tactics. Gavin quietly says that Luke actually was fooled, and Romin tells him to just let Luke have his moment. It is strongly implied that Yuga lost for real, but not outright said.

The end result is the same, Rook/Luke believing that Yuga threw the duel to help him learn something. But Luke forcing an answer out of Yuga and Yuga deciding to lie to Luke in this moment feels different than Rook just making the assumption and Yuga not answering. Dub Yuga, when forced to say something...doesn't want to let Luke down in his looking up to Yuga. Maybe sub Yuga would've done the same if demanded to answer, maybe he would've told the truth. But for dub Yuga, in this moment, he gives Luke the answer he wants to hear. Maybe he doesn't want Luke to be let down by the truth. Maybe he likes Luke looking up to him. Or maybe, he thinks if he tells this lie, Luke's more likely to want to keep being his friend.

We get one final scene with the debut of the Goha president. The president takes a phone call from a child amidst the many phone calls Goha is receiving about Rush Duels. This phone call is slightly different between sub and dub:

(sub) Hello! Rush Duel is really fun! Ah? (note: should read along the lines of: Hello! Are Rush Duels fun? Ah?

-

(dub) Uh, hi! Can you send me the official rules for Rush Dueling? Uh...hello?

In both cases, the president just gives an evil laugh in response.

This isn't a huge or meaningful difference: a question is being asked about Rush Duels, no real answer is given. However, given the subs made an error on this line, it's worth noting on here!

And that marks the end of episode 2!

So, what's the ongoing thoughts I have that I'm taking into future episodes and analysis?

Goha City culture: the dub has continued its stronger emphasis on the controlling and strict nature of Goha compared to the sub. We saw this in episode one, it continues in this episode. I suspect it won't be going away any time soon, so I'm interested to see how much this impacts the plot in the future! In this episode, the stakes were somewhat different as a result, the dub forbidding duels during recesss where the sub just worried about finishing the duel before recess ends.

Yuga: His small personality changes are consistent so far; sub Yuga likes challenges to prove himself, dub Yuga seems more to just enjoy the thrill of a challenge in itself. We're also seeing sub Yuga is a bit more self deprecating than dub Yuga, which I'm interested to keep an eye on if that continues.

Rook/Luke: There's definitely a difference in how they present. They're both a bit goofy, but Rook seems a bit more serious/respectful/self-aware in how he talks, where Luke seems to...care less about these things? I don't think Luke cares as much if he comes off as goofy, he just wants to be authentic. This is just my thoughts right now though, and it's still hard for me to put a finger on this. I'm also noticing that Luke seems to think people will think less of him where Rook doesn't.

Gakuto/Gavin: Not a lot to comment on in this episode outside the fact that Gakuto's name still hasn't been used in the sub! They still refer to him as the student council president. Gavin's was referred to by name in this episode again.

Romin: She didn't have many lines in this episode again, but I have more thoughts on them than you might think. There's multiple times this episode where, in the sub, she basically wanted Rook to shut up, and in the dub, she was telling others to just let him have the moment for now and let him speak. She seems a bit more sympathetic towards Luke than Rook. Next episode we'll focus more on her, so we'll see if this was just a quirk of this episode, or how different she really is between sub and dub.

Duels: The dub trash talks the slightest bit more. We're also starting to see some more flourish in phase change dialogue and card activation dialogue in the dub as opposed to the sub. There's merits to both, I think. If I were in a duel, I would want my opponent to talk more like the sub. I want you to tell me without ambiguity that your turn is over. Also, please be nice to me I am just a little guy. However, from an entertainment standpoint? The dub is a little more fun, especially for a younger target audience. I think this is a preference thing rather than one being better than the other, but I'll still keep analyzing these and talking about them, because it's interesting!

We start off with a dream sequence of Yuga controlling a giant robot. This already presents a minor difference: In the sub, we're told by a voice that this is the story of a boy seeking freedom, and that this story is also how that boy became the King of Duels, while the dub has Yuga directly tell us he will not be controlled, and his road is the road to freedom.

Not a huge difference here in terms of dialogue itself, but I am interested in the change in the source of the dialogue here; the sub has someone telling Yuga's story for him, while the dub gives Yuga more agency and presents it like Yuga's telling his own story.

After the opening credits, we see Yuga at his desk trying to install new dueling rules onto his duel disk. A drone tells him if he does not stop he will receive a penalty on his account. The sub and dub give different time limits for Yuga to stop, however; in the sub, he's told he has six minutes and sixty-six seconds to withdraw, but in the dub, he's told he only has six seconds. The dub is actually more accurate here; six minutes and sixty-six seconds was probably how long Yuga was given total, but once the drone talks, Yuga's locked out after six seconds pass in both the sub and the dub.

After Yuga receives his fifth out of six possible penalties, we see some kids walking to school from the point of view of a drone. The drone speaks to the kids in both versions. However, while the sub has the drone telling kids to have a fun and healthy day, the dub has the drone reminding kids to follow all 6,666 school rules.

This is a pattern that will follow us through the episode, and one that I did not expect. If anything, with Goha City being presented as this strict and controlling society, I expected the dub to not showcase it as much as the sub. However, I instead found that the dub put even more emphasis on making Goha seem controlling and rigid.

Yuga rides in on a modified bicycle right here, and it's impossible to talk about the Sevens dub without the obviously and badly edited on helmets anytime someone is riding a bike or similar vehicle.

A drone approaches Yuga and tells Yuga his bike has been modified. The sub leaves it at that, but the dub has the drone go on to say his bike is unregistered as well, and isn't allowed on school grounds without prior permission. In both versions, Yuga rushes past the drone to talk to some other kids, who quickly notice that Yuga has received a fifth penalty.

Yuga's response regarding the penalty is just slightly different in a way that sticks out to me:

Yuga (sub): W-Well, you know... These are like the medals of a challenger!

-

Yuga (dub): It's not like I wanted one, but it comes with the territory when you live life on the edge!

It's just different enough that the sub seems to present Yuga as someone who likes to test his abilities, where the dub presents Yuga almost like a thrill seeker.

Also, after Yuga stands up from his bicycle, the next shot that shows his full head reveals his bicycle helmet has disappeared. Thank you, dub editors.

Someone else approaches Yuga upon hearing about a penalty: this is the student council president, Gakuto, or Gavin in the dub. Yuga has very different greetings for him in each version.

Yuga (sub): Good...Good morning, student council president!

-

Yuga (dub): Hey, Gavin. Do I look like a rule breaker to you?

Via Gakuto/Gavin, we see different mannerisms from Yuga in the sub and dub throughout this episode. In the sub, Gakuto's name is never actually used in the entire episode; he's always referred to as the student council president, and Yuga speaks to him with respect. However, in the dub, Yuga is a lot more casual, even using the nickname "Prez" for him at times.

When asked about it, Yuga calls his bike a Duel Bicycle in the sub and a duel-cycle in the dub. Right after this, we see Romin briefly speak with another student who compliments her band's new song, but this interaction goes almost identical in the sub and dub.

Gakuto and Gavin get some different characterization in response to Yuga's explanation of his bike:

Gakuto: Oh! That is very convenient! Not! What on earth did you do this time to receive a penalty?

-

Gavin: How brilliant, Yuga-- I mean, how illegal! As the student council president, I must remind you that riding modified two-wheeled vehicular equipment violates Rule 456 of Goha Elementary's school code!

Gavin seems to have forgotten the penalty where Gakuto refuses to drop it. Gavin's briefly distracted by Yuga's ingenuity where Gakuto is not fazed. However, when Gavin tries to slip back into his comfortable zone of his president role, he's very quick to point to an exact rule that Yuga's violating; both Gakuto and Gavin are characterized as rule breakers here, but Gavin's got them memorized, which feels like it's going the extra mile.

At this point in my notes on discord, I compared the different vibes that Goha City seems to have in the sub and dub already:

Dub Yuga does bring the conversation back around to his penalty, though, and the conversation in the sub and the dub starts to run more in parallel, hitting the same beats. As Gakuto/Gavin explains the severity of Yuga opening his duel disk, however, one minor detail sticks out as interesting to me: Gavin points to Goha owning the patent and rights to the duel disk being the key factor of why digging into the duel disk is bad, while Gakuto points to the fact that Goha controls the user data gathered by the duel disks.

Both of these points feel valid to me to be brought up as Goha's reasoning behind this rule. However, I think Gakuto's talking about Goha's control over user data is just a little scarier to me in 2025. Sure, data privacy was important when this episode aired in Japan in 2020. But in the age of LLMs, where data privacy and who you're letting access your data have become such hot topics, thinking about how much data Goha City must have from duel disk users gives me the tiniest additional amount of dread.

And as the explanation of why tampering with duel disks results in penalties continues, Gavin goes the extra mile over Gakuto to instill the fear of Goha into Yuga's heart:

Gakuto: If you meddle, you will be penalized! When you accumulate six of them, then your account will be banned!

-

Gavin: Since Goha owns all the Duel Disk's patents and rights, analyzing and modding and dissecting and reverse engineering it is strictly forbidden. If you are caught doing so, you receive a penalty. And if you have six penalties, your account will be terminated, and without an account, you can't do anything in this world!

The sub's implication here feels more like getting one more penalty would just prevent Yuga from dueling, where the dub goes for the angle that Yuga's life would be effectively over.

When Yuga explains to his classmates that he's made new rules for dueling that are his road to freedom, the sub has his classmates excited that Yuga's said his catchphrase. The dub, however, changes this dialogue to...

That hits right in the tingles.

And I do not like that. Never say that again.

Eventually, this conversation is interrupted by the school bell, and a drone entering the classroom to tell students they can't use their duel disks right now. However, the sub leaves it at that while the dub has the drone continue on to say that anyone who touches or looks at their duel disk will be given extra homework.

Gakuto tells Yuga he wants to talk after class at the student council room to discuss this further.

Gavin concedes Yuga may have a point about the strict rules surrounding them, but tells Yuga that if he wants to change school rules, they can talk after school.

Gavin and Gakuto already have a bit of different characterization here. Gakuto feels more rigid to me, like he's already decided Yuga's nothing more than a troublemaker, a problem to correct. Gakuto seems a bit more interested in what Yuga says, and is more willing to hear him out, but this also clashes with his role of student council president.

I'm definitely interested to see if Gakuto and Gavin keep these kinds of differences throughout future episodes.

We see a couple of kids try to trade cards after school, but a drone stops them. The sub drone just says that Goha Corporation supervision is required, and the dub says that trades must take place with proper software at a Goha-affiliated location. After this, Yuga rides by on his bike, and, you guessed it, the dub helmet edits return.

After Yuga turns down the duel invitation, he is stopped by Luke, or, as the current subbing group will make his name, Rook.

In the sub, Rook asks if he's Yuga, and Yuga recognizes that Rook is from a different class. In the dub, Luke opens with "Yuga, I need to talk to you." Yuga tells Luke that he doesn't know who he is.

When Rook/Luke introduces himself to Yuga, Rook gives his full name while telling Yuga to call him Rook, where as Luke only gives a first name and says to call him Luke. I'm aware that the culture surrounding names and how you refer to others is different in Japanese and English. However. Given who Luke's family is, I still find it very interesting that he's left out his last name, and given how Luke feels about his family, I like to think he did this on purpose.

Gakuto/Gavin sees Yuga and Rook/Luke interacting from the student council room as Rook/Luke convinces Yuga to talk to him. Gavin is given more dialogue here than Gakuto, and something about how Gavin says it just feels very silly. I enjoyed it quite a bit:

Gavin: Yuga should be here by now, hm, but he's there...

Rook/Luke discusses the legend of the King of Duels with Yuga. (The legend rhymes in the dub, which is cute.) We see a brief shot in both the sub and the dub of Yuga wearing a gold crown, before Yuga sheepishly insists he's not interested in the title. Interestingly, Rook says that Yuga did seem interested when he talked about it, but Luke says...nothing. It makes me wonder, did Luke not see Yuga's interest? Is he choosing not to point it out? Or, alternatively, is Yuga's dismissal of the title more genuine in the dub?

Well, there's no time to find out, because a hologram man has just appeared on a pillar in this basement Rook/Luke has led Yuga to.

This hologram is intended to test for worthiness of becoming the King of Duels, and Rook/Luke has challenged it multiple times to duels, only to receive a penalty each time regardless of duel outcome. Rook and Luke describe the experience differently: Rook says "even if I beat him", where Luke says "no matter how many times I beat him", implying Rook had a harder time winning in duels against the hologram. F.

While trying to inspire Yuga to try to take the chance of installing his Rush Duel rules despite the risk of receiving his final penalty, Luke makes the comment that it would be awesome if Yuga succeeded and changed the world they live in to be less strict, where Rook says he believes Yuga's capable of doing so. Luke seems to have the slightest bit more genuine enthusiasm for Rush Duels themselves at this point over Rook, but Rook seems to have the slightest bit more faith in Yuga's ability to succeed.

After Gakuto/Gavin enters the scene, a drone flies in. If Yuga doesn't stop trying to install his Rush Duel rules, then everyone present will receive a penalty; the drone gives Yuga (in the sub) 6 minutes and 66 seconds to stop, or (in the dub) 6 minutes, 66 seconds, and 66 milliseconds to stop. Thanks, dub, those extra milliseconds make all the difference.

After a little bit, Rook/Luke reveals he knows Romin is hiding out here as well. Romin gives her excuse that she was practicing her guitar upstairs. The dub gives extra details that her whole band was practicing upstairs with her, and she came down alone to see what the commotion down here was.

After Yuga accesses the secret backdoor into the duel system, the hologram man's pillar rises. In the sub, the hologram acknowledges Yuga as the future King of Duels. In the dub, it asks Yuga if he is the future King of Duels.

When Yuga's duel disk runs low on power, Gakuto/Gavin runs off to bring in Yuga's bike so he can use it to charge the duel disk. And, you guessed it, that means it's time for another dub helmet edit, this time Gavin Edition.

But, when Gavin begins charging the duel disk and keeps the bike stationary, the helmet disappears again. He really only put it on for half a second.

When the drone turns back on, Rook/Luke tries and fails to shut it down once again. Since he already used this ability twice in this episode, Rook (in the sub) states that twice a day is his limit. Luke (in the dub) instead states he's out of juice, implying he might have a less precise idea of how often he can use that ability.

Yuga initiates Real-Time Duel Programming, and his duel disk transforms into a 7 shape. The dialogue here is slightly different

Rook: But Goha's symbol is a hexagon! Yuga: The one to break that is... SEVEN!

-

Luke: But Goha's Duel Disks are all six-sided. Yuga: That means I'm one better!

(This dialogue made me sit down and count the sides on a standard duel disk. Luke helped me learn new things in this comparison. Everyone say thank you, Luke.)

ANYWAY, the point here is that, knowing the SEVENS lore that we'll get into in the future, I prefer the sub dialogue here.

This brings us to our first duel!

Not a lot of differences within the duel itself.

The sub calls Blue-Eyes White Dragon "the ultimate monster", while the dub makes it lose its edge a little, describing it as "a monster that (I) normally couldn't (summon) until much later".

One thing that Yugioh dubs certainly like to do is to spice up dialogue within duels, both from the duelists themselves and the audience. A closer lens at whether the Sevens dub follows that pattern has been requested, and I am, honestly, interested to see how this is handled as well.

The Sevens dub, in this duel, does not do much of that.

However, after Yuga takes a direct attack from Blue-Eyes, the dialogue from Gakuto/Gavin, Rook/Luke, and Romin is slightly different.

Rook: 3,000 damage at once?! Romin: But he still has 1,000 left! Gakuto: He only has 1,000 left!

-

Luke: You're not supposed to get knocked down! Romin: I don't think it was by choice. Gavin: Ah! This is a disaster!

We have our first summoning chant here: I probably will not highlight every summoning chant's difference, but this is a major monster we will see often, so it deserves the attention:

(Sub) Blocking my path, the walls, the mountains, the planets! I will cut a road through them and move forward! Let's do it! Sevens Road Magician!

-

(Dub) A wall, a mountain, not even a planet can block my way! Nothing will stop my road to victory! Let's go! Sevens Road Magician!

It's hard to have much variation in this summoning chant with the visuals of Yuga literally bursting through a brick wall, a mountain, and a planet, combined with the mention of his road. The sub will change hands soon enough, but I doubt there will be much difference in the summoning chant at that point, for already stated reasons. But, while there's not much difference here, it's worth bringing up because this is an ace monster that will literally travel with us to the end of the road.

Yuga gets a "Are you sure about that?" in the sub, but the dub instead gives us a "You're right, Prez! Good thing I have Wind Spirit's Protection!"

F

From here, there's really no noticeable differences to the end of the episode. Yuga wins the duel, Rush Duels are installed, and the road to becoming the King of Duels has opened.

So, here's some final thoughts I'll be taking into the future:

At this point, I've already noticed some differences between the sub and dub for characterization for Yuga and Gakuto/Gavin (as already mentioned) that I'm interested to witness the progression of as the series continues.

Romin and Rook/Luke, however, I have less of a handle on. Very few lines of dialogue for Romin have any noticeable difference so far. Rook and Luke I can definitely feel a difference between in this episode, but it's hard to articulate at this point. I'm also interested in watching these two as we go and seeing how they compare between the sub and dub.

The other big thing here I'm interested in seeing the differences between is how Goha City is portrayed. Both versions set it up as strict and controlling, but the dub goes farther in showcasing rules and punishments than the sub does. Is this a pattern that will continue?