Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode 23:  "Pokemon TAWAA de GETTO da ze!"

("I Got One at the Pokemon Tower!")

American Episode 23:  "The Tower of Terror"
Pokemon Dare Da?  Gengar
Japanese Air Date:  September 2nd, 1997
American Air Date:  October 7th, 1998
Important Places:  Shion Town (Lavender Town), Pokemon Tower (Pokemon Tower)

Satoshi-tachi go to Shion Town's Pokemon Tower to capture a ghost-type pokemon to beat Natsume.  The tower creeps Takeshi and Kasumi out a bit, so Satoshi goes into the tower by himself.  Inside, he greets a Ghosu, Ghosto, and Gengar, three ghost-type pokemon who just want to play.  While fooling around, they inadvertently cause a chandelier to fall on Satoshi and Pikachu, and the two become ghosts for a short while.  After returning to his body, Satoshi leaves the tower, proclaiming that those ghost-type pokemon are impossible to capture.  Just then, the Ghosto from inside appears and is so amused by Satoshi's antics that it decides to tag along.

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Thoughts
This is one of those episodes that really doesn't depend on little things like "plot."  Much like the Masaki episode, this episode is just a bunch of random events that exists to introduce an aspect of the video games--this time, the Pokemon Tower.  I really wish the animators had done more with Shion Town, because the Pokemon Tower is the only glimpse of the town we get in the anime.  They could have done sooo much more, but I guess even the Japanese censors weren't comfortable with showing a town full of possessed people running about and crying over pokemon killed by the Rocket-Dan.  I don't like the ending of the episode either--the whole "Gengar just wants to tag along" thing just seems like a big cop-out by the Japanese producers just to make the episode advance the show's plot.  Oh well...if this had occurred in the Jouto League, the whole Natsume battle would have been dragged out to about 20 episodes, not three, so I won't complain too much.

Gengar, despite the fact that it has the same name in both Japanese and English, has a different voice in the dub.  This is probably because Ghosu and Ghosto talk over it so much that picking just Gengar's voice from each scene was impossible, so instead of trying to recreate it they simply redubbed it. 

Side Note
Did you notice Takeshi's skeleton when he gets shocked by Pikachu at the beginning of the episode?  His skull has the same spikey pattern as his hair! 

Paint Edit
The two paint edits of this episode involve the party room.  The first one happens on the sign on the rope that says PULL THIS in the dub.  It said Hiite Cho!! in the Japanese version, which is basically the same thing.  Then a few seconds later, the banner that comes from the ball said Irasshai ("Welcome") in the Japanese version.  It was painted over with WELCOME in the dub.  4Kids did a good job with that one, because the font used in the English version is almost identical to the font used in the Japanese version. 

Side Note
Does anyone else wonder how the ghost-type pokemon can just bring Satoshi and Pikachu back from near-death.  I mean, they were hit with a CHANDELIER for Pete's sake, and if that didn't kill them then it should have at least broken something.  But no--Satoshi and Pikachu wake up, minutes later, as if nothing's happened.  Does anyone else wonder how they survived that unscathed?

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