Need to keep myself from having a terribly-timed nap, so here's another #PetShopOfHorrors reread thread.

This is the first point where Tokyopop and Seven Seas have different chapter orders. SS volume 5 started with all the chapters from TP volume 7, but now we're jumping back to the bonus story that was at the end of TP volume 6: Flowers and the Detective 3.

Opens with D getting an airmail package from Japan, sent by Grandpa D. (...Considering this opening splash page, I'm still convinced Akino hadn't decided on a certain little mascot critter's Secret Backstory yet.)

The side comment from D, "Aren't you tired of this already?" in the Ruthless Night scan, is officially translated as:

TP: Is it illegal to get mail?
SS: Are you doing an Inspector Zenigata impression?

BRB, constructing an elaborate headcanon about how/why D got to be a fan of Lupin III. (I don't think he was watching this pre-canon, I think he started checking out "shows with over-enthusiastic detective characters" more recently. It was supposed to be a joke, but then, for Some Strange Reason, he couldn't bring himself to stop watching.)

D says Grandpa is in Japan searching for yamato nadeshiko flowers: "rare" in TP, "nearly extinct" in SS.

Okay, I knew from other anime that that's a "model of a traditionally-feminine Japanese woman" trope, but I think I missed that it's also a flower? Wikipedia doesn't say anything about the species being rare, though:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianthus_superbus

Maybe it's supposed to be a pun, and the idea is that Grandpa D is looking for a Japanese anime waifu.

Dianthus superbus - Wikipedia

D unwraps a fancy sakura-patterned kimono, Leon reacts:

TP: Just what you need...another dress.
SS: Ooh!! One of those costumes the geisha girls wear, right?!

Our politically-incorrect king.

Later, D invites Leon in for a "flower viewing", and it's the kimono. They have drinks. A mysterious band appears, playing traditional Japanese instruments. (Reportedly the kimono is dyed with mosquito blood, so...they might be mosquitos?)

Leon's reaction:

TP: When did I step into a Zeppelin album?!
SS: When'd *they* get here?

TP's pop-culture references are hit-or-miss for me. This one's a miss. I believe Leon's a Led Zeppelin fan, but no way does the Japanese mosquito band sound anything like "Stairway to Heaven" or "Whole Lotta Love" or "Immigrant Song".

I wonder if this chapter was written even earlier than it appeared in the original collected editions. There's no mention of Chris, not even an excuse of "it's late, he's already asleep, that's why he's not joining us for the flower viewing."

Anyway, Leon has some weird trippy flower visions, then wakes up. D says he must've had too much sake. That's right, this was the "Leon gets drunk and sleeps with D" bonus.

...From this point on, the actual chapters start getting re-ordered.

In TP, volume 8 plus most of volume 9 includes:
(8.1) Deep
(8.2) Dummy
(8.3) Deja Vu
(8.4) Flowers, the Detective, and the Detective's Little Brother
(9.1) Duel
(9.2) Durableness
(9.3) Desperation

In SS, the end of volume 5 plus all of volume 6 includes:
(5.30) Dummy
(6.31) Deep
(6.32) Deja Vu
(6.33) Flowers, a Detective, and a Brother
(6.34) Duel
(6.35) Desperation

So the order of "Deep" and "Dummy" got swapped. Possibly just for page-count reasons? "Deep" is somewhat longer than "Dummy"...but no, I'm looking at the page counts on the SS website. V5 and V6 are tied for shortest, at 280 pages each. V3 is currently the longest at 312, and the upcoming V7 will be 336. There was room for the rest of "Deep" at the end of V5.

And then "Durableness" is missing. If it's at the start of V7 (which isn't out until August), that would mean "Durableness" and "Desperation" also got swapped. ("Desperation" is *slightly* longer, but not by much at all.)

Weird choices.

(Complicating things even more, the chapter list TP V9 has on the back cover is just flat-out wrong. I'll double-check when I get there if the summaries still match, but the titles don't, at all.)

Just to keep things simple, I'm sticking to the SS reprint order, so...

#PetShopOfHorrors chapter 30: Dummy

A big family has just moved to a new house, and they're looking for a pet to fill it out. Chris is wearing a little Chinese shirt! Adorable.

They end up with a nine-tailed fox, Ten-chan, who looks different to each family member...and they all give him different names...which are rendered differently in both translations. TP/SS versions:

Dad wants a guard dog, Ripper/Shawn
Mom wants a nice manageable hamster, Fluffy-or-Cuddles/Alexandrite
Grandma wants a traditional cat, Marigold/Tama-or-Mii-chan
Sister wants a sassy bird, Gavin/Pippi
Brother wants a cool lizard, Galaxian (in both versions!)
Overlooked littlest sister can see his real form, so she calls him Ten

The dad introduces himself as "Wallace" in TP, but "Wolfe" in SS, and both translations later have the family as "the Wallaces." Brother is "Tommy" in both versions, littlest sister is "Jasmine". Sister is "Tricia" in TP, haven't seen a name in SS.

Previous owners of the house, a family that mysteriously disappeared: "the Lassers" in TP, "the Russells" in SS.

Names aside, the family's actual problems are pretty similar across translations. (Except that the TP translators go a little overboard adding silly backstory to Grandma.) Ten's reassurances are basically the same, too.

D shows up to the precinct looking for info about the Wallace's house. Jill pulls some records:

TP: We do have a report about a murder investigation that took place there around ten years ago.
SS: Public records don't show any incidents or homicides in the last decade.

Looks like TP's was just a mistranslation. Our heroes dig up the Lasser/Russell incident later, and it's *fifteen* years ago.

D + Leon + Chris work out that Jasmine is a ghost. Leon drives them to the house -- it's on fire. The Wallaces have made it safely out, learning a valuable lesson about What Really Matters (Family).

Ten-chan is earnest and reassuring with the humans, but sassy and irreverent with D. Slightly more so in TP, but not that much -- he says "Yo, Count!" a lot in both versions. His reaction when D runs into the burning building to find him:

TP: C'mon, Count! It'll take a lot more than a little barbecue to get rid of *me!*
SS: Pshh! This is nothing. A little fire can't hurt me.

D urges Ten to do [some kind of spiritual magic?] to reunite Jasmine with the ghosts of the rest of her family. Ten agrees:

TP: It's not my usual thing, but I'll manage.
SS: Religion's probably different, but we'll make it work.

Icon-worthy moment: Chris trying to non-verbally indicate that D ran into the house for the pet

Extremely Heterosexual(TM) moment: Leon running into the house for D

(If D wasn't so busy being grumpy, he could be doing the She-Ra "Did you just jump into fire for me?" gif right now)