Hello, people! Today we’re going to go back to Battle Tendency, while waiting for some new Diamond is Unbreakable episodes to analyze. They shouldn’t be too far away, though! But now it’s time for BT #14! In today’s episode we’ll take a trip to my home country (small patriotic tear), some pasta will get tossed around and three aztec deities will be woken from their slumber.

Let’s get right to it!

• In this scene, right before tasting the supreme goodness that is Spaghetti al Nero di seppia, Joseph threatens the waiter. The glasses and the wine bottle on the table have all been retouched:

• Said waiter also turns earlier in the “conversation”:

• This lady who’s about to get a mouthful of Little Caesars’ italian sausage pizza has had her cheekbone line removed in the BDs:

• Space Ripper Spaghetti Eyes!! (hint: the background is brighter and sharper):

• Speedwagon’s eyebrow has been coloured in this shot:

• “I remember my grandfather’s death… He was ripped apart… There was blood everywhere… I even bought the Blu-ray to watch it again uncensored…”:

• In my notes for this episode, this one is called “Redrawn joseph but he looks wonkier”, and I don’t think there’s much I can add to that. The second shot looks somewhat better, but part of his sleeve has been recoloured pink; I think they were trying to hide the extra bit of sleeve they had drawn in the TV version, but it doesn’t really look any better to me:

• This redrawn Joseph looks fiercer and more determined. And he’s not slouching anymore:

• This transition to a running Joseph has been changed and he’s way closer to the camera in the BDs:

• Joseph has been moved slightly higher here (the background, however, is the same):

• Caesar’s nose, mouth and cheekbone line have all been retouched in this shot:

• And he’s been moved further away from the camera here:

• Both the coffee cup and the poker chips have been retouched in this shot; Caesar’s eyes are also definitely looking better:

• This might fall in the “Oh, who cares?” territory, but in this bunch of frames, Joseph’s arm (top left corner) is missing one tiny little bit on the bottom; this has been fixed in the BDs:

• In this shot, Speedwagon’s nose highlight didn’t fall very naturally on his scar; blah blah blah BD fixed:

• In this shot, both Caesar and Joseph have been retouched and they have a more natural shading. The speed lines are also absent:

• “What do we have here?” “Looks like a clear-cut case of Brighter & Sharper to me, detective”:

• “It’s lit, mein Führer” (sorry, I couldn’t resist. His pupils are slightly rounder by the way):

• I don’t remember why he’s crossing his fingers that way, but anyhow in this shot we have a redrawn and re-shaded Caesar:

• This car transition is different:

• Here, Caesar is a bunch of pixels higher, the lines are thicker, the background is blurrier and there are probably a few more adjectives I could throw in here to make this sentence even more repetitive:

• This next shot has been zoomed closer, perhaps to differentiate it from the previous one; the background is also blurrier, as before:

• This first shot of Wham’s drill has thicker lines:

• As does the following scene; additionally, the cracks in the stone in which he was encased and the rocks that fly around have all been coloured brown, to stand out more against the background:

• Wham has a different lighting and scratch pattern overlay in this scene:

• Same as before here, plus thicker lines:

• A smattering of thicker lines in this scene too:

• The Nazi soldiers have been redrawn here, although I’m not sure it’s much of an improvement:

• Wham has the usual scratch texture overlay in this shot:

• Glorious German technology has fixed Mark’s missing fingers:

• Every lines is slightly thicker in this incredible shot; there’s also an extra line on AC/DC’s left shoulder (it’s not very easy to spot):

• Mark has been redrawn in this scene, and there’s a more dramatic shading on his forehead:

• Wham’s eyes are completely in shadow in the BDs. A simple step that makes him go from “awkward teenager passing through a crowd” to “buff stoic deity”. Bodybuilders hate him:

• Mark’s eye is more detailed in the BDs:

• “It’s not lit anymore… Mein Führer…”:

• This next comparison is the sum of the two previous ones:

• “How’s my boyfriend, doctor?” “Oh, he’s all right” (shit wait a second, that’s the left part of his body, nevermind):

• Lookin’… Lookin’ real good there, bud:

• Both Caesar and Joseph’s eyes have been retouched in this shot; Mark is, as usual, uncensored:

• This is a first for this blog, I think! This scene has not only been completely redrawn, but it’s been shot from a different angle altogether! Needless to say, I think it looks way better in the BD version:

• Now for a bunch of uncensored Marks:

• This very brief animation is brighter:

• Damn, I’m getting sadder by re-watching these frames than I originally did when I read the manga or watched the anime:

• *inhales* Ｂ Ｏ Ｉ :

• And let’s close this episode up with a couple of credits changes! Here’s the first: animator 五十嵐俊介 (Igarashi Shunsuke) was moved from the “Secondary Key Animation” column on the right to the “Key Animation” colum on the right:

• Here, they removed the double credit to Nguyen Anh:

• And here, photography assistant 脇顯太朗 (Waki Kentarō)’s name has been spaced more evenly (his is the last name on the left column’s top part):

And that’s it for this episode! With all the DiU comparisons I’ve been doing lately I had almost forgotten how long the PB/BT comparisons could get. I hope y’all had fun! I’m away from home next week, but hopefully when I come back I’ll have the next DiU BD; if so, you’ll get another (small) batch of DiU episodes, if not we’ll keep going with the other parts.

Take care and I’ll see you next time!