TV Edits of The Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 15

In today's episode, Joe and Junior help a team of rebels take back their kingdom, now named Black Jadowland, from Jadow themselves.  Jadow, meanwhile, pose a wedding for Silvia and Alastor to lure Joe out.

The name of the episode is To Have and Hold Captive, which is likely a play on the movie To Have and Have Not, but if this episode is supposed to be based on that, it's very loose.  To Have and Have Not involves France during World War 2, but this one seems to be based more on Joan of Arc, whom the resistance leader bears a resemblance to many modern depictions.  I could be wrong though.

As usual, one of Sprocket's panning up speaking scenes is replaced with an edited one from the first episode.

When Sprocket is talking to Fire Leo and Alastor as they walk down the hall, Sprocket stops for a moment to chastise Alastor for his insubordination that's cut from the English version.  Probably cut for time and flow.

In the Japanese version there's a scene of Joe and Junior in a small room at night where Junior is unsure and Joe isn't worried.  It's cut from the English version and for good reason.  Of all the unneeded scenes that the English version cut out for time, it's the most superfluous and I'd swear the Japanese version added it for time.  Since that scene is cut from the English version, the scene before it is edited to take place on the same day so it moves the story along.

The burger bag the bianky hands Joe in the Japanese version has a W on it that's edited out of the English version.  Why?  Copyright?  I don't think Wario owns a fast food joint yet.

A shot of the camera zooming out from Joe and Junior is cut because editing out the middle finger would be too hard.

The battle with the biankies should be named the battle of hitflash in the English version because it's easier to count how many times there isn't a hit flash with every hit.

When Joe and Silvia are talking, a paestant starts beating on a Bianky in the background of their conversation.  That is edited out in the English version, perhaps because it was either too violent or too distracting.

A shot of Junior attacking a bianky during the conversation is also cut.

After Joe uses mach speed on the giant golden bianky, the English version does some extra editing.  In the Japanese version, after turning the thing's head around, he jumps in the air and performs a dive bomb attack in which he goes through the giant bianky and comes out of its butt with a fart sound. The implication in the Japanese version is that the loose part Joe pulls on to tear it apart came from the flap he made, but neither version explicitly shows where the rip started, though it's obviously from the butt area.

The English version edits Joe still using mach speed in the distance shot and shows him being tossed off.  Someone had to edit Joe's actions into the shot and it doesn't look out of place.

In the Japanese version, Joe and Junior both tickle one of the bottom biankies to send the big collective of them toppling down.  In the English version that's cut so it looks like the outer covering held them together and they can't keep their balance without it. I don't know why the tickling was cut, but the idea that a giant intimidating kaiju had a shaky foundation that toppled over by simply pulling off a cover is pretty funny too.

Finally, a brief bit at the end in which Sprocket bites her thumb and then pulls out her cell phone is cut so they wouldn't have to edit her shirt for the animation.

Most of the edits in this one, while not always clear as to their reason, didn't detract from the episode and even improved it in some ways.