Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode AG 021: "Kemusso VS Kemusso!  Dotchi ga Dotchi!?"

("Kemusso VS Kemusso!  Which is Which!?")

American Episode 293: "Which Wurmple's Which?"
Ookido-Hakase Pokémon Lecture:  Bangirasu
Pokémon Dare Da?  None (Japanese), Espeon (American)
Japanese Air Date: April 17th, 2003
American Air Date:  February 14th, 2004
Important Characters:  Touki (Brawly), Tsuwabuki (Mr. Stone), Daigo (Steven)
Important Places:  Muro Town (Dewford Town), Cave of Stone (Granite Cave)

In the Muro Town Pokémon Center, Satoshi eagerly awaits word of his pokemon's condition after his defeat at the Muro Town Gym.  Joi happily announces that the pokemon are fine, so Satoshi decides to begin his training immediately.  As they walk along a path in search of Daigo, the son of the president of the Devon Corporation with whom they wish to train, the group is approached by an old man.  The man, who is really Kojirou in disguise, tells the group that they should go fishing, so they all agree.  The Rocket-Dan's plan is to have them grab onto their Koiking mecha and get pulled into the water as they try to reel it in, giving Musashi-tachi the perfect chance to snatch their Monster Balls.  The plan fails when the sub is brought to the surface instead, so a battle begins.  Before the end of the battle, Musashi's Kemusso accidentally gets switched with Haruka's Kemusso, so Satoshi-tachi track down the Rocket-Dan in order to trade back.  Musashi ends up taking both pokemon, so Satoshi's pokemon help Haruka get her bug-type pokemon back.  Reunited with her Kemusso, Haruka lovingly cares for it while Satoshi comments on how she's grown as a trainer.  Now it's off to find Daigo!

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Thoughts
Haruka has a Kemusso.  Musashi has a Kemusso.  So it's only natural that the anime producers have an episode where the two get switched.  Yeah, it was a little predictable, but I thought that it was a perfectly enjoyable episode.  We get to see just how much Haruka has grown as a trainer, and it's hard to imagine that the girl who could almost instantly tell that Musashi's Kemusso wasn't hers is the same person who, at the start of the series, couldn't get her Achamo to do anything she told it to do.  It's a nice character development episode, which is exactly the sort of thing that Jouto lacked. 

The dub of this episode is special for several reasons.  First of all, the narrator has been replaced by Mike Pollock, aka Meat from Ultimate Muscle and Dr. Eggman from Sonic X, among others.  It's a little odd to hear someone other than the guy who's been narrating the show since episode one tell us about Ash's journey, but once you get past the newness of the voice it really isn't as bad as everyone wants to say it is.  This is also the first episode in the new series that the music in the final act (y'know, the part after the final commercial break) has been kept.  Usually the final act uses some random 4Kids music because of the way the commercial break falls, but this time Deai to Wakareta is played as if this was a Kanto episode or something.  Let's hope they do this some more as the series progresses.

Cut--7 seconds altogether
Just like in the last episode, the very first second of the episode (where the camera shows the door to the Pokémon Center shut for a second) is cut.  Guess 4Kids really doesn't want you to see that door closed or something.

The opening panning shot showing the top of the Pokémon Center after the episode's title screen has three seconds cut from the beginning of it.

Right after the final commercial break, a second is cut from the opening scene.

And finally, two seconds are cut from the TO BE CONTINUED... screen.

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