Plot: Sakura, her family and Yukito are at a summer house for a few days when she meets a kind old man up the road. She spends quite a bit of time with him, talking about his granddaughter who passed away, playing games, and dining together. While Sakura tries to do something nice for him after everything he’s done for her, it becomes apparent that he knows her better than she thinks.
——————————
Wow. Unlike 4Kids, Nelvana has no problem showing driving scenes where everything is on the ‘wrong’ side.
Title Change: “Sakura and the Rainbow of Memories” is changed to “The Summer House”.
They remove a moving shot of the road and the landscape as Yukito talks about imposing on them during their vacation. Sakura’s dad says it’s no imposition then apologizes for basically forcing him to go with them. Yukito replies that he didn’t force him. Toya points out that neither of them have any homework to do even though it’s summer break. We cut to Sakura saying she’s jealous of them because she has a huge pile of homework at home. Toya says Sakura will probably put it off until the end of vacation, which Sakura denies. No idea why all of this was removed.
The dub doesn’t say that they’re renting this cabin, just that they’re using it. I’m only noting this because they mention that the owners are overseas this year so the dub kinda makes it seem like they’re sneaking into this cabin because they know the owners aren’t there.
Fujitaka apologizes for not being able to take Sakura and Toya overseas for vacation, and Sakura says this place is awesome too. In the dub, he tells Sakura that she can visit her grandpa whenever she wants because he lives close by.
Sakura tells the picture of her mother that they’ll be staying there for two days. Dub!Sakura doesn’t mention this.
Dub!Sakura contradicts original!Sakura’s earlier line mentioning that they’re going to be there for two days by saying they’ll be there for a week.
Sakura mentions that Kero doesn’t technically need to eat. Kero confirms. Sakura then says that he still enjoys sweets, and Kero says it’s just something he likes. Then Sakura accuses him of being a glutton. In the dub, Sakura says there’s more to life than sweets, and Kero says there’s nothing in life as good as sweets. Sakura then says one day she’ll make Kero exercise.
That doesn’t make much sense to me. If it’s still canon that he doesn’t need to eat but can still eat, doesn’t that mean his body has to be amazing at burning off those calories anyway since his body has no need for the nutrition the food gives? If his body wasn’t good at that, the excess would just be stored infinitely, making him gain significant amounts of weight even after eating a meal or two.
Oh now I understand that line change earlier about her grandpa’s house. In the original, the boys ask Sakura if they’d rather go with them to go shopping or take a walk. She says she’d rather take a walk, and Yukito points out that they passed a large house right before they arrived, supposedly suggesting that she go there. In the dub, Fujitaka asks if she’d rather go visit her grandpa, but the rest of the conversation (about the house being close by and Sakura missing it because she was asleep) is kept the same.
I think that was changed because they really seem like they’re suggesting that Sakura go to some random nearby house for no reason, especially considering that she’s alone. Nelvana probably didn’t want to give kids the message that visiting strangers’ homes, especially alone, is a good idea. I’ll actually give Nelvana that one. Safety first, kids.
Sakura says goodbye to her mom’s picture before she leaves. In the dub, she goes “Huh?” then looks at the picture….I don’t know what’s happening. Why did she say “Huh?” Did something happen?
Originally, Kero says it’s great to be out in the fresh air since he was stuck in that bag for so long. Sakura agrees. In the dub, Kero says she never mentioned that her grandfather lives nearby and then asks what he’s like. Sakura says he’ll see soon.
Sakura compares her grandfather’s garden with that of Alice’s in Alice in Wonderland. Kero says he knows of that book, and Sakura says he knows a lot. Kero agrees. In the dub, Sakura says Tori and her father never told her the house was so big. Kero asks why she never went with them to this house and Sakura says she was too little to go….Too little to go to a house?
Sakura’s grandfather, calling her ‘pretty little miss’ asks if Sakura’s lost. She says that she’s not and that she was just out for a walk. She then points out that she’s vacationing in the summer house up the road. Her grandfather asks if she’s like to have some tea, and Sakura agrees. She slowly walks up the porch, looking at the various sights around the house, before she decides to settle down for some tea.
All of this is removed for the same obvious safety reasons. Maybe I’m coming off as paranoid or cynical, but would you be incredibly pissed if you heard your kid stopped at some random old man’s house and accepted an invitation to have tea with him, and told him exactly where you were staying? Especially given that she’s alone in the middle of nowhere with hardly a soul around? And this is not helped in the slightest during the shot when Sakura’s walking towards the table. She does it so slowly and the music is so soft and downright creepy that it really makes it seem like she’s headed towards some creepy pedo serial killer’s trap.
Granted, they could’ve still kept most of that scene and just changed the dialogue, outside of the walking on the porch bit, but still.
In the dub, by the way, her grandfather instantly recognizes her and he invites her for tea before we ever even get a closeup shot of him.
They remove a shot of Sakura wordlessly going ‘Huh?’ before her grandfather pulls out the chair.
Yukito points out that Toya is very good at barbecuing. Toya says it’s because of his job at a Korean barbecue. Sakura points out that Toya excels at working anywhere. In the dub. Tori asks how they want their steaks. Julian says he wants his well done and Sakura says it doesn’t matter since they all look great.
Fujitaka asks Sakura how her walk was. She says it was great because she met a nice old man at the house down the street and had tea with him. Fujitaka smiles at her, and Toya asks if she gulped all of the tea down. She denies it, then Yukito asks how the tea was. She says the tea was delicious and so were the sweets. Toya then coyly points out that she really can’t control herself.
In the dub, Aiden asks how her visit with her grandpa was. She says it was great and that he should’ve told her how amazing his house was. Then she mentions that she had tea with him. Tori asks if she left any for him, and Sakura scolds him. Julian asks why their grandpa couldn’t make it to the barbecue, and she responds that he had to go to town. Tori then says it was probably to refill his supplies after Sakura ate with him.
Originally, Sakura tells her dad that the old man said she should visit again tomorrow. Her dad agrees and says it’s good to meet new friends on vacation. In the dub, Sakura says her grandpa told her she should visit tomorrow. Her dad says it’s a great idea and says how great it is that he’s nearby.
Seriously? Again, I get the change – Safety and necessity because it’s been the running plotline. However, who would really sit there and smile hearing that your small child had tea and sweets with an unknown old man down the street? And then hear that he told her to visit again tomorrow and agree that she should go because ‘It’s nice to make new friends.’ Even coming from the simpler days of the 90’s, this wouldn’t fly. I wish we lived in a nice world where this would initially come off as totally innocent, but we don’t.
I know that Fujitaka knows that the man up the street is her grandfather, and that might be why he’s so comfortable allowing this, but until we get to that reveal, this isn’t a great message for kids. Again, I know it seems super paranoid and cynical, and it’s sad that stuff like this can’t be viewed as 100% totally innocent by default, but that’s just my view on it.
Tomoyo says she has the national competition for her choir club coming up and that’s why she couldn’t go on vacation with Sakura. In the dub, she doesn’t really give a reason but says her mother is taking her to a film museum tomorrow.
As Sakura tells Tomoyo about the man down the street, Tomoyo kinda frowns and doesn’t respond. Sakura asks her what’s wrong, and she says it’s nothing before prompting her to continue. In the dub, she talks about how great the house is and how great her grandpa is and the pause doesn’t appear because Sakura keeps talking through the expression change. Then Madison asks if he lives in that big house all alone.
Sakura tells Tomoyo that she’s going to his house again tomorrow, and Tomoyo says that’s great. In the dub, Sakura keeps going on about the house, and Madison says they should move there when they retire. Then Sakura suggests that they live in houses next to each other.
Tomoyo looks forward to Sakura’s return before they say their goodbyes. In the dub, Sakura contradicts her earlier statement by responding to Madison asking how long she’ll be out there by saying a couple of days, the actual original length, rather than a week, which is what the dub mentioned earlier.
Entire Episode Edit: Any time you hear them discussing the old man in the original, replace it with mentions of grandpa. It will make my job easier.
Now she’s being invited into his house….into a bedroom…filled with dolls. What the shit? There is no way I’m taking the “being paranoid and cynical” fall here – that is fucked up without telling her that’s her grandpa. Did Fujitaka never teach Sakura even a sliver a stranger danger? This is basically the headline of a true crime story under a different context.
In the dub, since Sakura’s aware that this is her grandfather, she’s also well aware that this room used to be her mother’s and they talk about her. In the original, she’s unaware and they drop hints here and there about who it was – saying she passed away several years ago and showing his silhouette in front of her picture earlier.
After the shot of the old man smiling on the couch, he gets up and we get a rather long shot of the empty couch. He sees Sakura is sad about his granddaughter so he goes to comfort her and tells her to smile. He asks her name….Wait, you had tea yesterday and didn’t even bother getting each other’s names? I feel like the Japanese version of this episode is poorly written for the sake of a ‘big surprising reveal.’ Anyway, she introduces herself, and he seems to recognize her last name. He then asks if he can call her Sakura-chan. She agrees, and he says she can spend all day playing there if she doesn’t mind.
For real? Come on. Does he drive a white windowless van? Does he keep his candy in the basement? The longer you prolong this grandpa reveal, the more uncomfortable I’ll get.
Anyway, again, she agrees, and all of this is cut. They could’ve easily had Sakura sad about talking about her mom and him cheering her up and asking if she wants to play some of her mother’s favorite games outside.
I understand that the photo-shutter effect is quite common in anime, but that combined with the aforementioned creeper stuff just seemingly makes the original creepier. Also, she changed her clothes at his house. I can’t get off this track, guys. I can’t.
As Sakura looks at her glass, she wonders who is preparing the tea. Then she wonders if someone else is at the house. In the dub, Sakura hopes Kero’s not raiding the fridge at home.
The man says that Sakura being there reminds him of his granddaughter. In the dub, he says Sakura’s mom was really good at tennis too. Sakura then asks if she was in any tournaments, and he says no.
The old man asks what kind of person Sakura’s father is and she goes on about him. In the dub, since the grandpa thing is out in the open, he just asks how her father is and she basically goes on about the same stuff.
Also, I suppose the original’s weird writing explains why Toya and Fujitaka aren’t visiting their grandpa/father-in-law. I’d imagine relations with him might be rocky or awkward, like they were with Nadeshiko’s cousin, Sonomi. Although, that’s moreso for Fujitaka. There’s not much of a reason he’s not spending time with Toya….
We cut back to the house where Toya is reading under a tree and Yukito is above him in a hammock. Toya looks around, and Yukito asks if he’s worried about Sakura to which Toya just scowls. We’re then shown Fujitaka as he types on his computer. This is removed.
Now he’s dressing her up in Nadeshiko’s clothes. Come to think of it, that tennis outfit must’ve been hers too. Again, looking at it from a ‘we have no clue who this guy is’ standpoint, not only does she continue undressing and dressing in this guy’s house, but he’s also dressing her up in his dead ‘unknown daughter’s’ clothes.
Now he’s grabbing her shoulders from behind, getting up close to her face, and telling her she looks a lot like his granddaughter. Look, I don’t care if we know who this guy is either from hints or watching the dubbed version – Sakura run away NOW! We’re getting dangerously close to being the cold open to an episode of Criminal Minds!
They cut out a shot of a Sonomi’s feet from outside of the room.
So now she’s had tea with him and spent the whole day with him and she still hasn’t learned his name? Not only is that dangerous and bad writing, but it’s also bad manners.
Well, for all the praising I’ve done for Nelvana today, let’s bitch about them. They completely ruined a nice emotional moment. Sakura tells the old man to not be sad about his granddaughter since she believes she’s probably in a place with a beautiful sky just like her mother. Her brother told her that she went there because she was happy marrying their dad. His granddaughter was probably very happy being with him, so she’s likely in a similar place. He starts to get teary eyed in response.
In the dub, Sakura just reminds him to be on the balcony as they leave and says they miss him, which I guess is why he wells up. Being fair, original!Sakura does remind him about the balcony too, but only as an afterthought. The dub completely drains this scene of any emotion for absolutely no reason. Granted, half the dialogue would need to go anyway since she knows he’s her grandpa here, but you can still keep the other half.
Okay, so I was concerned that I was dealing with a translation error since Grandpa kept referring to Nadeshiko as his granddaughter while we’re also told this guy is Sakura’s grandfather, but apparently it’s not an error. This guy really is Nadeshiko’s grandfather, making him Sakura’s great-grandfather, even though he’s never referred to as such. No way is he that old. I know Nadeshiko was a young mother, but come on. He barely has a wrinkle or a gray hair.
The dub makes it clear that he is her grandpa and that Natasha was his daughter.
In the original, Sonomi emerges after the rainbow is created and Grandpa apologizes to her for causing her trouble. She was the one making the tea, and she stayed hidden the entire time Sakura was around. She commends him for his ability to spend all of that time with Sakura without revealing who he is (I agree, but that’s less skill and more derp!Sakura. Though he could’ve made up a name if he asked. She didn’t even ask the name of his granddaughter.) He goes on to say that it seems like Fujitaka is a good man, and Sonomi, having mended some bridges after their last encounter, agrees.
He says it seems like Sakura wanted him to see the rainbow. Then Sonomi asks how she knew one would occur right there. All of this is removed, and I don’t know why. Maybe they couldn’t give a legit dub reason for Sonomi being there. Also, cutting this part means cutting the scene right as we see him lean over the railing in grief over Nadeshiko instead of being more uplifting.
Sakura asks if Kero thinks he could see the rainbow. Then Kero points out that there’s someone else on the balcony with him. Sakura doesn’t question this further and runs back to the house. In the dub, Sakura asks Kero if he thinks Grandpa liked the rainbow, and Kero says he definitely did while we’re still on the far shot of his house, meaning we see him with another person but no one’s going to bother surmising as to who it might be.
Toya asks who the elderly man down the street is….so I guess he was unaware of his great-grandpa being there but never said anything about this odd situation. Which means….he’s a terrible brother. Remember, he was the one who initially suggested that she go to that house, and he never said a word against letting her see him and spend all of that time with him. Since it’s now revealed that Fujitaka knew who he was, Toya’s the one who comes out of this looking insanely irresponsible. One shot of Toya seeming kinda worried does not make up for it.
Also, does Toya not recognize his grandfather? Did he never meet him? Does Toya not remember him?
Fujitaka explains that a little girl and her grandfather used to spend their summers there to avoid city life. In the dub, Tori says Sakura’s always late, and Aiden says she and her grandfather had a lot of catching up to do.
Leave it to Kero-Chan!/Kero’s Corner: The Key of Seal is changed to the Key of the Clow.
They omit saying that Sakura wields it very well because she practices using a baton for school and that you can fly on it with Fly.
They remove Kero’s closeup.
They mentioned saying that the key stays in a convenient necklace form most of the time at the start of the dubbed version. When they say it in the original, they replace it with saying Clow Reed specially designed the staff and key so that only people with magic powers can use it.
In the original, Kero talks about how lucky we were to get a rare insight into one of the magical items of the Clow. In the dub, Kero kinda-ish spoils a later plot point by saying the book didn’t end up in Sakura’s basement by accident and that Sakura was meant to be a Cardcaptor. Then he contradicts himself by saying he chose her. It’s either destiny or a self-fulfilling prophecy – you can’t have both Kero.
————————————-
If you can put two and two together from the very first hint in the original, it’s not as creepy as it seems, but if you don’t get it right off the bat and look into it even a little, this seems like such a terribly written way of getting Sakura and her grandfather together. Even minor details like learning each others’ names or the name of the deceased granddaughter were written to be glossed over so the secret could stay a secret. You don’t spend several hours to over a day with someone, have tea, eat, change your clothes numerous times, change into clothes that belonged to a deceased relative of the person you’re talking to, etc. in someone else’s house without ever thinking to ask that someone’s name at the very least.
Like I mentioned early on, it makes more sense and is made much less creepy knowing that Fujitaka knew that’s where Masaki (grandpa’s real name) lived and that Masaki eventually realized who Sakura was, but Sakura never found out. She was just playing dress up with a strange nameless man all day, in his dead granddaughter’s bedroom, who also fed her tea and sweets that came from an unknown source with someone else in the house who won’t reveal themselves. Just look at that plot synopsis. I tried really hard to write a non-spoilery plot synopsis without it coming off as creepy, but I couldn’t.
It’s also kinda weird that Sakura clearly spent way more time with this random old man than she did with her family on their vacation.
One of the commenters on the episode made a good point too – Nadeshiko wrote her name on that rainbow painting. If Sakura had just walked closer to it and read it, this whole thing could’ve been subtly resolved on both sides.
Why not have her dad tell her about her grandfather and leave it to her to be an unknowing olive branch? Let her decide if she wants to visit, which she obviously would. Have their first interactions be a bit awkward because Masaki, as we later learn, chose to stay away from Fujitaka and the kids after Nadeshiko died. Fujitaka didn’t make attempts to communicate with him because he felt unwelcome and perhaps like Masaki kinda blamed him in some way like Sonomi did. Masaki was against their marriage, and that coupled with the severed communications can easily make it seem that way.
That’s the way it ended up either way – with Masaki realizing that Fujitaka seems like a good guy. He doesn’t seem like he’d rush out to have a beer with him anytime soon, but he obviously realized that he’s a good father and was a good husband to Nadeshiko.
Outside of that, and aware of who he is, this is a pretty touching episode. I actually wish they had gone more of the way of her knowing who he is from the start because not only would it make the episode less creepy, but it also would’ve made for many more legit heart-to-heart moments.
I don’t mind that this episode had nothing to do with the Clow cards outside of using Rain to make a rainbow, but I will say Yukito’s role was utterly pointless here.
Despite the long pointless cuts and destroying a good emotional scene at the end, this is one of those rare moments where the dub might actually be somewhat better than the original. It fixes the creepiness problem and focuses more on Nade—Natasha. Though it really only barely sniffs in the direction of the rocky relationship Grandpa has with Aiden.
None of the dialogue edits are made out to be annoying, for the most part, there are only a few instances of bad acting, and any negative safety connotations of the original are not present in the dub. I guess you have to weigh the emotional impact of the original over the better written overall plot of the dub.
Next episode, Sakura is at a summer camp and starts getting scared of the things that go bump in the night.
If you enjoy my work and would like to help support my blog, please consider donating at my Ko-Fi page. Thank you! ♥
