108
Main
Old Updates Archive
Links
 |
Lists |
List of Pokémon
Pokémon World Atlas
List of Techniques
List
of Items
List of TV Episodes
|
Guides |
Episode
Comparisons
Movies
& Specials Guide
CD Guide
DVD Guide
Voice
Actors Guide
Lyrics Archive
Manga Guide
Video Games
|
Miscellaneous |
Humor
Pokémon Bashing
Features
Rants
Dogasu's
Backpack
| Episode Comparisons | Orange Islands
Episode
Stats:
Japanese Episode 108: "Tag Battle! The Final Gym!"
American Episode 303: "Pokémon Double Trouble"
Pokémon Dare Da? Houdin (Japanese), Dodrio (English)
Dr. Ookido's Pokémon Course: Purin
Japanese Air Date: August 12th, 1999
American Air Date: September 9th, 2000
Important Characters: Ruriko (Luana), Kouji (Travis), manager (Chilton)
Important Places: Ryuchin Island (Kumquat Island), Kankitsu Island (Pumello Island)
Thoughts
The main feature of the Orange Islands arc, the thing that sets it apart from nearly every other region in the Pokémon World, is its unique approach to earning badges. The Pokémon gyms in the region generally require competitors to complete a number of non-battle related activities, meaning Satoshi has to do things such ride his Pokémon like a surfboard, climb a snow covered mountain, and shoot targets set up along a river in order to earn his next badge. And so it's a little disappointing when we get to this, the fourth and final gym of the region, and see the show go "Actually you know what? Forget it, let's just have Satoshi battle his way to a badge and call it a day."
Hideki Sonoda, the man who wrote "Tag Battle! The Final Gym!," could have very easily devoted the first half of this episode to showing us another one of those signature Orange Island gym challenges, but he decided to go with yet another Rocket trio attack instead. And look, I think it's pretty well established by now how much I love the trio and its shenanigans. I like their Mecha Saidon and its unique gimmick, actually! But also, it would have been really nice to get at least one more unconventional challenge in before we jump right back into the gyms being centered entirely around Pokémon battles for the next decade and a half or so. I dunno, let's see Satoshi and his friends have to do part time jobs at the hotel for a bit so that he can earn the battle he has in the second half? Something like that? Because ending the Orange Islands with a regular old Pokémon battle, and nothing else, just seems a bit anticlimactic to me.
Oh, and apparently Pikachu and Lizardon have trouble working together now! I guess so, even though the show's done absolutely nothing to foreshadow this being a problem for them at literally any point in the series up until now. It also seems extremely out-of-character for Pikachu to randomly start ignoring its Trainer (???) and just stand around and watch as the Pokémon who saved its life literally just a few episodes ago gets viciously attacked. I get that you need something to make the final gym battle of the region see more exciting than the others but, I dunno, maybe just use that energy to write a better battle instead...? Giving Garagara more than two moves, for example, would have been a great start!
Sitting down to document the changes made between the Japanese version and the English version of this episode gave me flashbacks to doing those Pokémon Chronicles comparisons because holy crap is "Pokémon Double Trouble" a complete train wreck of an adaptation. The episode's script is just rewrite after rewrite after rewrite, and on top of that every type of edit you can think of (scene cuts, digital ink and pain, sound effects shenanigans) make an appearance here as well. It's honestly one of the worst dubbed episodes in recent memory!
Dialogue Edit
The script for this episode is "Mewtwo Strikes Back!" levels of bad and so I thought I'd do what I did for that movie and make a very quick cheat sheet of what I consider the "highlights" of the adaptation. Here are, let's say, the five biggest changes made to the script of this episode:
In the original, the narrator ends his speech by wondering what kind of Gym Leader awaits Satoshi while the English dub talks about how defeating the fourth Gym Leader is needed for Ash to "qualify for the Orange League competition." The change isn't that big a deal, in and of itself, but it does start to show how the dub has assumed the Orange League is going to be a big tournament not unlike the Indigo League when we of course know that's not the case.
Ash and his friends approach the island:
I don't get why 4Kids is having Misty be so nasty to her friend here? Kasumi and Kenji are not trash talking their traveling companion in the original, and yet in the dub it's "Ash acts like a baby" this and "we do not think you're going to win" that. Misty was unnecessarily mean in the English dub of the previous episode as well, so is this going to be a thing from now on? Is Misty just going to flat out insult her friend every chance she gets?
Our heroes hear Luana advertising her hotel:
Let's see, we've got Misty warning her friends they'd better hurry up if they wanna get a room, all while making a face animated for a completely different line of dialogue, we've got Tracey callously telling Ash to eff off while he and Misty enjoy their time on the island, and we've got Tracey ignoring his friend's obvious discomfort to suggest they go swimming instead.
Luana chases after her "son":
To fit the mouth flaps, I guess, 4Kids decides to have Travis' mom call herself his "mama wamma," something that is absolutely not in the Japanese version at all.
Cut -- 3 seconds
Right after the dialogue exchange above there's a three second shot of Ruriko hugging Satoshi close to her chest that gets cut from the English dub.
I guess 4Kids thought this looked vaguely sexual, which, I mean...it kind of does, so I'm not shocked to see this get edited out. The dialogue rewrites in this episode are wild but this edit here, at least, makes sense to me.
Dialogue Edit
4Kids' refusal to translate a single line of dialogue accurately continues:
The dub replaces Ruriko telling her son about how she's been waiting up for him for a full year with...well, whatever the hell that dialogue's supposed to be.
The case of mistaken identity continues:
I feel like 4Kids is really dumbing down this Gym Leader here, because at least in the Japanese version Ruriko acknowledges the fact that Satoshi has a different face from her son. Luana, meanwhile, continues to say absolutely nothing of substance while engaging in obnoxious baby talk.
We finally get a few lines of dialogue that aren't complete rewrites, but that comes to an end fairly quickly once everyone starts talking about Pokémon Masters:
"You know, I think you and Travis are...(the longest, most stilted, most unnatural pause imaginable)...so much alike the writers just plopped this line of dialogue into this scene without considering where the breaks in the mouth flap animation are until it's too late."
Also, "Your son must love Pokémon almost as much as I do" is kind of wild. Why is Ash low-key insulting a kid he's never even met?
The Rocket trio introduce its robot of the week:
The Japanese Rocket trio talks about the budget for the robot while the English dub Rocket trio talks about the environmental merits of a robot that constantly spews toxic smog.
Sound Effects Edit
The footage of the wall mounted whips hitting Musashi's Pokémon gets their sound effects muted for the English dub.
I guess these sound effects edits are going to be a regular thing now, huh?
Dialogue Edit
Jessie orders Weezing to use "Hyper Beam":
I actually wasn't inclined to bring this up -- I think it's close enough, all things considered -- but then when I saw online how many viewers took the dub dialogue here as a sign that James "wanted" to teach his Pokémon Hyper Beam but just "never gets around to it" that I felt compelled to bring it up. Originally Nyarth states that Hyper Beam's impossible because Kojirou's training has been lacking, but there isn't any subtext here of "well, he actually planned to teach it Hyper Beam, he's just been too busy lately" like there is in the dub.
Robo-Rhydon starts attacking the people with its Smog attack:
I guess "destroy the town" was changed to "cause a panic" because 4Kids was worried they might get a note back from the censors telling them the former's too violent, maybe...?
Ash tries to stop Team Rocket:
Musashi brings up how she was going to deal with Pikachu after they destroy the city, but since the dub wrote that part out earlier I guess they felt like writing out this callback as well.
Sound Effects Edit
The sound of Arbok's Poison Sting bouncing off Yungeller's Reflect attack in the shot below gets muted from the dub.
The whip edit is...whatever, that's not so surprising considering the way 4Kids has been adapting its episodes lately. But this one? Really?!
Dialogue Edit
Luana addresses the Rocket trio directly:
Ruriko focuses on how the trio's attacks are wrecking her business (as well as all the others on the beach) while Luana just tells the Rocket trio to get out of town.
The trio responds:
The spirit of the two are the same, at least, though the actual dialogue (especially the removal of Nyarth's "half a year" line) is quite different.
Luana reveals her identity:
The English dub removed the "I'm the (cardinal direction) star of the Southern Cross" introductions from all the other Orange Island Gym Leaders and so it's not really surprising to see them do it a fourth time here.
Jessie responds:
The English dub shoehorning in an unnecessary American sports reference into the dub? Wow, this really is just like the "Mewtwo Strikes Back!" dub!
After Luana's Alakazam shuts the Robo-Rhydon's mouth:
The dub wanted to add in a coughing pun, but in doing so they also introduce the idea that Giovanni 1) is fully aware of the existence of this giant robot and 2) oversaw its budget, neither of which is even implied in the original.
Ash commands Charizard in battle:
Tracey acts surprised to see Charizard obey Ash even though he was absolutely there in the episode where the Fire-Type starts to obey its Trainer. That's kind of weird, right? Originally Kenji simply comments how far Satoshi's come as its Trainer.
Sound Effects Edit
The sounds of the whips hitting Beroringa and Arbok after Kojirou activates the Acid button are, once again, muted from the dub.
The footage gets to remain intact, which is nice I guess, though I still question how necessary edits like these really are in the first place.
Eyecatch
Luana's Pokémon gets replaced by...bird.
Dodrio here's never been used as an eyecatch Pokémon before, and it typically always keeps its Japanese voice, so in order to get the cry they use for the eyecatch here 4Kids would have had to use stock audio from the Japanese version. Most likely from episodes like "Pokémon - I Choose You!" or "The Flame Pokémon-athon!" So then, does this mean 4Kids decided to use Dodrio for the eyecatch Pokémon, and then had to dig through the archives to find a voice clip they could use for its cry? Doesn't that seem like a lot of unnecessary work when you could have just, I dunno, use Alakazam instead?
Paint Edit
The text "Hotel Ryuchin" gets removed from dub in the shot below:
The proper thing to do here would have been to replace "Hotel Ryuchin" with "Hotel Kumquat" but I guess the team tasked with doing the visual edits in this show were too busy erasing the non-text from both the previous episode and the next one to have the time to do this one correctly.
Later in the episode, an establishing shot of the hotel shown after the scene in the hot springs leaves the word "HOTEL" part of this intact.
Dialogue Edit
Our heroes learn about the Kumquat Gym:
Tracey talks about "having a good time" in this hotel, without actually specifying what it is about this establishment that makes it seem so appealing. He also implies that he and Misty aren't going to even bother watching Ash's gym match.
As you can see, none of this is in the original.
Once inside:
Let us count the ways in which this has been changed:
Cut -- 6 seconds
Immediately after the exchange above, there's a six second panning shot of a bunch of the Pokémon working out in the gym that gets removed from the dub. Among the Pokémon in the shot is a Rougela in its original blackface design.
This is the first of what will become a series of Rougela related edits with the English dub. Every time a blackface Rougela appears in the show, from this episode onwards, 4Kids will either cut the footage out entirely (like in this episode) or use digital paint to erase her from the dub. It's not until Rougela gets her updated purple design in 2006 (!!!) that the dub will finally allow the character to appear on American TV again.
To be honest, I don't really mind any of these Rougela edits. Yes, I do think this show should be uncut and presented as-is, warts and all, but changes like these also show that 4Kids actually cared enough about its black audience to not want to alienate them any more than they already had. Japan will unfortunately continue to use this problematic character design for another half a decade or so, but at the very least they're mostly small nothingburger scenes like this one that can be easily removed without any real issue.
In 2023 a purple edit of the episode started appearing on streaming sites like Amazon Prime Japan.
The Japanese Amazon Prime site got rid of the Pocket Monsters TV series in 2024, and the streaming sites that currently have the rights to the series still use the blackface version, so there's that.
One more thing; 4Kids actually kept the Japanese music in this scene intact, even going to the effort of re-editing it so that the six second chunk that's now missing isn't quite as obvious. The music still has a noticeable skip if you're listening for it, but I do want to commend 4Kids here for actually making the effort to make the cut as seemless as they could.
Dialogue Edit
Our heroes get (an abbreviated) tour of the Gym:
Tracey implies the Pokémon we see on their tour belong to random Trainers who sent their Pokémon to this Gym for training (and not, say, Pokémon who belong to the Gym Leader herself), while no such implication's made in the Japanese original.
Luana explains the rules of the match:
The special type of Pokémon battles introduced in this episode are called "Tag Battles" (タッグバトル). In Tag Battles, you're only allowed to go into a match with two Pokémon each, and then have to face your opponent in a single two-on-two match. You only need to defeat one of your opponent's Pokémon to claim victory; as we'll see in (the Japanese version of) this episode, it's not necessary to KO both your opponents in order to be declared the winner.
About three years after this episode aired, however, the Pocket Monsters Ruby & Sapphire video games introduced the "Double Battles" (ダブルバトル) game mechanic. In this other special type of battle, Trainers can have up to the usual six Pokémon in their party, but instead of having a series of six one-on-one battles you have a series of multiple two-on-two battles instead. Unlike with Tag Battles, Double Battles require you to defeat every single Pokémon on your opponent's team before you can claim victory.
"Tag Battles" and "Double Battles" have some similarities, but they are not the same thing.
The English dub, however, decided to rename "Tag Battles" to "double battles" (lowercase), and in doing so they inadvertently caused confusion among fans regarding when the "first" official Double Battle in the series actually took place. The first real Double Battle doesn't actually occur until Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Episode 014 "Double Battle and Double Kemusso!," but because of 4Kids' little change here many fans falsely believe that honor belongs to this episode instead. And while it's true 4Kids wouldn't have had any reason to know that the term "Double Battle" would become an actual proper noun that'd get used in this franchise several years from now, this is also very much another one of those cases where they could have very easily avoided making such a misleading adaptation choice if they had simply translated the dialogue as-is.
The English dub also makes it sound like Luana's suggestion of a double battle is just "to make things interesting" when the Japanese version makes it quite clear that Tag Battles are very much the default rule of the Ryuchin Gym.
The dialogue in the scene in the hot springs is surprisingly fine, especially considering how janky the rest of this episode's localization's been so far. There is a part where Tracey weirdly refers to the hot spring as a "hot tub" but other than that the dialogue's mostly kept intact.
The day of the battle, Chilton announces the rules:
Again, the Japanese version makes it clear that Tag Battles are the norm at the Ryuchin Gym while the English dub makes it sound like they're doing this as a special exception or something.
Pikachu and Charizard get off to a rocky start:
Originally Satoshi specifically tells his Pikachu to target Houdin, making its attack on Lizardon instead that much more aggravating for the young Trainer. In the dub, meanwhile, Ash never specifies which Pokémon he wants Pikachu to attack, making it so Pikachu didn't technically disobey its Trainer in that version.
Sound Effects Edit
The sound of Garagara's Bone Boomerang hitting Lizardon in the face is, you guessed it, muted from the dub...but for some reason only for certain instances!? The very first time Garagara uses the attack the sound effects are actually left in (though the volume's been reduced somewhat), but then the second time it's used the sound effect's removed altogether.
I'm not super sure why one shot would be OK but not the other -- it's the exact same animation both times -- but honestly with every other change going on in this episode this is pretty low on the list of things worth caring about.
Dialogue Edit
Ash tries to talk some sense into his Pikachu:
In the original Satoshi attempts to appeal to Pikachu's sense of loyalty to its friends while the dub has Ash attempt to appeal to its desire to win instead.
Sound Effects Edit
The longest episode comparison in recent memory continues with another sound effects edit. This time the sound removed from the dub is from this shot of Lizardon landing gently on the ground.
In the very next shot, that sound effect Japanese cartoons often use during split screens -- the one that sounds like two metal blades colliding -- gets altered as well. The sound that plays when Lizardon shows up has its volume greatly reduced, and the one that plays when Pikachu appears is removed altogether.
At this point they've gotta be trolling us, right? Neither of these are even the slightest bit violent and yet the THUD sound that's made when this dragon lands on the floor or the sound of a split screen happening gets removed anyway. Make it make sense!
Dialogue Edit
Luana continues the battle:
This here's supposed to be Double-Edge, not Body Slam.
Sound Effects Edit
Here's a few more sound effects edits, because why the hell not.
The spring-like sound of Pikachu softly hitting Lizardon's wing is replaced with a similar, but different, spring-like sound effect.
The sound of Pikachu softly landing on the floor is also replaced with a different sound of Pikachu softly landing on the floor.
In the very next shot, Lizardon's grunt is muted from the dub, though the animation of it moving its mouth is left intact.
And the sound of the background swooshing behind Satoshi is removed from the English version.
This shot of Pikachu jumping onto Lizardon's back gets its jumping sound effect muted.
Pikachu using Thunderbolt gets its sound effect altered:
Next, the sound of the background swooshing behind Ruriko gets removed from the English version.
And the shot of Garagara's Bone Boomerang hitting Houdin gets muted.
I think this is all of them, maybe...? It's entirely possible I may have missed a few, but I also think the point's been made by now that the sound editing in this episode is a bit out of control.
Dialogue Edit
Chilton calls the match:
Did you know that 4Kids changed the outcome of the gym battle in this episode? Originally only Garagara is declared unable to battle, but the dub changes this so that both Marowak and Alakazam are knocked out!
Now, to be perfectly fair, Houdin does have the exact same knocked out expression on its face that Garagara does, and on top of that it's also completely immobile. And if you had seen the episode in Japanese first, without any subtitles, I'll bet a lot of people would have probably made the same assumption about how many Pokémon get knocked out here! Regardless, the dialogue here is clear; the referee only declares Garagara unable to battle, meaning Satoshi did not beat Ruriko's Houdin.
After the battle Ash gets the "Jade Star Badge." The only thing worth mentioning about this part of the episode is that in the Japanese version this badge is called the Ruri Badge (ルリバッジ), presumably after the ruri-gai (瑠璃貝), or "violet snail." The name "Ruri Badge" also sounds very similar to the name of the Gym Leader who hands it out, Ruriko, so there's that.
After Ash wins his fourth badge:
The English dub once again implies that the Orange League is some kind of Indigo League type tournament and that Ash will have to battle with other Trainers in order to progress, an idea it also kind of introduced during the episode's opening narration. But, of course, we all know this is bull.
So in the English dub canon, Luana is either lying to Ash and his friends, or she's so absolutely incompetent as a member of the Orange Crew that she's giving out bad information.
The Japanese version never does any of this; Ruriko simply tells Satoshi that he'll have to beat the Head Trainer.
Wrapping up the conversation at the Gym:
OK, so this change is actually really terrible. In the Japanese version Kasumi asks where this final battle takes place, Ruriko tells her, and so based on that our heroes decide where to go next. But in the English dub? That all gets done away with, and so Ash never actually finds out where in the world his final challenge is supposed to take place. He just kind of...knows.
Then again, with the previous rewrite 4Kids established that their version of Luana is a liar and/or incompetent and so maybe it's actually a good thing she isn't trying to tell these kids where to go next...?
Our heroes leave the island, I guess to aim around aimlessly for a bit:
Kasumi tells Ruriko they'll come back to visit again sometime, something the hotel manager picks up on as he says goodbye as well. None of this makes it to the English dub.
Also -- and this actually came up a few rewrites ago as well -- the English dub has this thing where it focuses a lot more on the Orange League trophy than anything else. The Japanese version, on the other hand, doesn't even bring it up once this episode.
The Rocket trio get the last rewrites of the episode:
What in the world kind of bizarro world rewrite is this? The Japanese version hand delivers what is possibly THE MOST 4Kids-type fourth wall break in recorded history and the English dub...decides to just toss it all out? So that they can have James recite poetry, and Jessie emasculate James, and the trio worry about their Boss getting mad at them?
Ah well, I suppose having the episode end with such a baffling set of rewrites is actually the perfect way to wrap up this absolute dumpster fire of an adaptation.
This page was last updated on January 28th, 2025
Japanese Episode 108: "Tag Battle! The Final Gym!"
American Episode 303: "Pokémon Double Trouble"
Pokémon Dare Da? Houdin (Japanese), Dodrio (English)
Dr. Ookido's Pokémon Course: Purin
Japanese Air Date: August 12th, 1999
American Air Date: September 9th, 2000
Important Characters: Ruriko (Luana), Kouji (Travis), manager (Chilton)
Important Places: Ryuchin Island (Kumquat Island), Kankitsu Island (Pumello Island)
The quest for
Satoshi's fourth Orange Islands badge has brought him and his friends
to Ryuchin Island. Upon arrival, they meet an older woman named Ruriko
who mistakes Satoshi for her son Kouji. After Satoshi sets the record
straight, the beach area of the island comes under attack by the Rocket
trio and its giant robot, Mecha Saidon! During the battle to stop them
from destroying the area Ruriko reveals that she’s the Northern Star of
the Southern Cross and the Ryuchin Island Gym Leader! After seeing
Satoshi skillfully defeat the Rocket trio in battle, Ruriko invites the
young Trainer to her gym where she reveals he will have to defeat her
in a two-on-two Pokémon match known as a Tag Battle. The next
day, Ruriko sends out her Houdin and Garagara while Satoshi goes with
Pikachu and Lizardon. At first Satoshi's Pokémon's teamwork
leaves a lot to be desired -- the two accidentally attack each other,
they're too slow to react, they're unable to pull off any combination
attacks -- but after a while Satoshi's Pokémon snap out of it
and start helping one another. Some well timed aerial maneuvers allow
Lizardon to use Garagara's Bonemerang against itself, and that combined
with a poorly aimed Hyper Beam helps Satoshi claim victory. Satoshi
wins the Ruri Badge, making him now eligible to compete in the Winner's
Cup on Kankitsu Island! With all four of the Southern Cross badges now
in hand, Satoshi leaves Ryuchin Island behind for his next adventure.
Thoughts
The main feature of the Orange Islands arc, the thing that sets it apart from nearly every other region in the Pokémon World, is its unique approach to earning badges. The Pokémon gyms in the region generally require competitors to complete a number of non-battle related activities, meaning Satoshi has to do things such ride his Pokémon like a surfboard, climb a snow covered mountain, and shoot targets set up along a river in order to earn his next badge. And so it's a little disappointing when we get to this, the fourth and final gym of the region, and see the show go "Actually you know what? Forget it, let's just have Satoshi battle his way to a badge and call it a day."
Hideki Sonoda, the man who wrote "Tag Battle! The Final Gym!," could have very easily devoted the first half of this episode to showing us another one of those signature Orange Island gym challenges, but he decided to go with yet another Rocket trio attack instead. And look, I think it's pretty well established by now how much I love the trio and its shenanigans. I like their Mecha Saidon and its unique gimmick, actually! But also, it would have been really nice to get at least one more unconventional challenge in before we jump right back into the gyms being centered entirely around Pokémon battles for the next decade and a half or so. I dunno, let's see Satoshi and his friends have to do part time jobs at the hotel for a bit so that he can earn the battle he has in the second half? Something like that? Because ending the Orange Islands with a regular old Pokémon battle, and nothing else, just seems a bit anticlimactic to me.
Oh, and apparently Pikachu and Lizardon have trouble working together now! I guess so, even though the show's done absolutely nothing to foreshadow this being a problem for them at literally any point in the series up until now. It also seems extremely out-of-character for Pikachu to randomly start ignoring its Trainer (???) and just stand around and watch as the Pokémon who saved its life literally just a few episodes ago gets viciously attacked. I get that you need something to make the final gym battle of the region see more exciting than the others but, I dunno, maybe just use that energy to write a better battle instead...? Giving Garagara more than two moves, for example, would have been a great start!
Sitting down to document the changes made between the Japanese version and the English version of this episode gave me flashbacks to doing those Pokémon Chronicles comparisons because holy crap is "Pokémon Double Trouble" a complete train wreck of an adaptation. The episode's script is just rewrite after rewrite after rewrite, and on top of that every type of edit you can think of (scene cuts, digital ink and pain, sound effects shenanigans) make an appearance here as well. It's honestly one of the worst dubbed episodes in recent memory!
Dialogue Edit
The script for this episode is "Mewtwo Strikes Back!" levels of bad and so I thought I'd do what I did for that movie and make a very quick cheat sheet of what I consider the "highlights" of the adaptation. Here are, let's say, the five biggest changes made to the script of this episode:
- 4Kids
rewrites the "Tag
Battle" to be a "double battle," duping fans into thinking this
episode is
the first appearance of a Ruby &
Sapphire game mechanic when that
is absolutely not the case. The dub also makes it sound like having a
"double battle" is a unique idea made to help liven things up when in
the original "Tag Battles" are actually the default
rules of the gym.
- Certain details about the Gym Leader, such as how long it's been since her son left on his journey and her role at the hotel, are get omitted from the English dub.
- 4Kids changes the outcome of the battle so that both the Gym Leader's Pokémon are knocked out instead of just the one.
- In the Japanese version our heroes actually ask, and are then told, which island to go to next. The dub removes all this, making it so everyone just sort of knows where the final challenge of the Orange Islands is located, somehow. Implications that the final challenge is an Indigo League type tournament are also added to the dub that weren't there originally.
- The Rocket trio's whole entire final scene
is completely rewritten.
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ナレーション 「ここはリュウチン島オレンジリーグ
サザンクロス最後のリュウチンジムがある所。果たして どんなジムリーダーがサトシを待っているのだろうか？」 |
Narrator: "This is Ryuchin
Island, home of the final gym of the Orange League Southern Cross,
the Ryuchin Gym. What kind of Gym Leader awaits Satoshi?" |
Narrator: "Our heroes have
reached Kumquat Island, a well known luxury resort that's also home of
the fourth and final member of the Orange Crew whom Ash must defeat to
qualify for the Orange League competition." |
In the original, the narrator ends his speech by wondering what kind of Gym Leader awaits Satoshi while the English dub talks about how defeating the fourth Gym Leader is needed for Ash to "qualify for the Orange League competition." The change isn't that big a deal, in and of itself, but it does start to show how the dub has assumed the Orange League is going to be a big tournament not unlike the Indigo League when we of course know that's not the case.
Ash and his friends approach the island:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「なんかワクワクしてくるな」 |
Satoshi: "I'm so pumped up you
guys!" |
Ash: "One more badge to win,
Pikachu." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカピカ～」 |
Pikachu: "Pika Pika~!" | Pikachu: "Pika Pika~!" |
| ケンジ 「この島の名物はシーフード料理とお肌にいい温泉だよ」 |
Kenji: "Me too! This island's
supposed to be
famous for its seafood and hot springs that're good for your skin." |
Tracey: "This place is
supposed to have great hotels, a beautiful beach, and natural hot
springs." |
| カスミ 「いいわね～あたし温泉だ～い好き」 |
Kasumi: "Ooh, I love hot
springs!" |
Misty: "Yeah, so even if Ash
loses and acts like a baby..." |
| ケンジとカスミ 「ワクワクしてくるわね」 |
Kenji and Kasumi: "We're so
pumped up you guys!" |
Tracey and Misty: "...at least
we'll be in a nice place!" |
| サトシ 「オレは“リュウチンジムのリーダーとジム戦やるのがワクワクする”っ て言ったの！」 | Satoshi: "Hey waitaminute! I
was
saying 'I'm so pumped up' to be having a gym battle with the
Ryuchin Gym Leader!" |
Ash: "What do you mean "If Ash
loses?" Just once, can't you guys have a little confidence in me?" |
| ケンジ 「ああ ごめん ごめん」 | Kenji: "Ah, sorry. My mistake." |
Tracey: "Uh, sure Ash." |
| カスミ 「まあいいじゃないの。どっちも楽しみってことで」 | Kasumi: "Don't worry about it,
Kenji. Let's just say there's something for everyone to enjoy." |
Misty: "In fact, we have as
little confidence in you as possible." |
| トゲピー 「チョゲピ～」 |
Togepy: "Chogepi~" |
Togepi: "Togepi!" |
| サトシ 「…ったく もう。とにかく最後のジムだ。頑張ろうぜピカチュウ」 | Satoshi: "You guys are just
so...anyway, this is gonna be the last gym. Let's do our best,
Pikachu." |
Ash: "Thanks, Misty. Well
Pikachu, we'll just have to prove we're winners then, won't we?" |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカチュウ！」 | Pikachu: "Pikachu!" | Pikachu: "Pikachu!" |
I don't get why 4Kids is having Misty be so nasty to her friend here? Kasumi and Kenji are not trash talking their traveling companion in the original, and yet in the dub it's "Ash acts like a baby" this and "we do not think you're going to win" that. Misty was unnecessarily mean in the English dub of the previous episode as well, so is this going to be a thing from now on? Is Misty just going to flat out insult her friend every chance she gets?
Our heroes hear Luana advertising her hotel:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| カスミ 「うわ～にぎやかね。ねえねえ、どのホテルにしようか？」 |
Kasumi: "Wow it's so lively
here! Hey hey, which hotel should we stay at?" |
Misty: "Let's go! We'd better
hurry, guys or else there won't be any more rooms left." |
| サトシ 「泊まるとこなんてどこでもいいじゃないか」 |
Satoshi: "Who cares? A bed's a
bed, right?" |
Ash: "Hey, I'm here for a big
match, not a vacation." |
| ケンジ 「遊びにきたわけじゃないしね。でも
せっかくだから料理のおいしい所がいいな～」 |
Kenji: "Yeah, I guess we
didn't come here for vacation. But since we're here we might as well
find a
nice place nice to eat..." |
Tracey: "Then you don't have to take one, Ash. I bet Misty
and I can have enough vacation for the three of us." |
| サトシ 「ハア…」 | Satoshi: (sighs) |
Ash: (sighs) |
| ケンジ 「ハハハ… まだ日も高いし、とりあえず砂浜でかき氷でも食べながら考えよう」 | Kenji: "(laughs
nervously)...well the
day's still young so why don't we head down to the beach and think
about it
over
some shaved ice." |
Tracey: "I was only kidding.
Come on, Ash. Let's go down to the beach and get a hot dog and maybe go
for a swim." |
Let's see, we've got Misty warning her friends they'd better hurry up if they wanna get a room, all while making a face animated for a completely different line of dialogue, we've got Tracey callously telling Ash to eff off while he and Misty enjoy their time on the island, and we've got Tracey ignoring his friend's obvious discomfort to suggest they go swimming instead.
Luana chases after her "son":
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ルリコ 「コウジ～！コウジ～！」 |
Ruriko: "Kouji~! Kouji~!" |
Luana: "Sonny boy! Sonny boy,
it's mama wamma!" |
| サトシ 「ん？」 |
Satoshi: "Hm?" |
Ash: "Uh..." |
| ルリコ 「コウジ～！」 |
Ruriko: "Kouji~!" |
Luana: "Come to mama wamma!" |
| サトシ 「うあああ…」 | Satoshi: "Uwaa!" |
Ash: "Uh..." |
| ルリコ 「コウジ！帰ってきてくれたんだね コウジ」 |
Ruriko: "Kouji! You came back
to me Kouji!" |
Luana: "My son is back with
his mama." |
To fit the mouth flaps, I guess, 4Kids decides to have Travis' mom call herself his "mama wamma," something that is absolutely not in the Japanese version at all.
Cut -- 3 seconds
Right after the dialogue exchange above there's a three second shot of Ruriko hugging Satoshi close to her chest that gets cut from the English dub.
 |
 |
I guess 4Kids thought this looked vaguely sexual, which, I mean...it kind of does, so I'm not shocked to see this get edited out. The dialogue rewrites in this episode are wild but this edit here, at least, makes sense to me.
Dialogue Edit
4Kids' refusal to translate a single line of dialogue accurately continues:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ルリコ 「母さんはね、お前が帰ってきてくれるのをホテルの呼び込みやりながら
ずっと待ってたんだよ。１年ぶりだね、コウジ、よく顔を見せておくれ」 |
Ruriko: "Your mama's
been out here promoting the hotel, waiting for you to come home
this whole time. It's been what, a whole year since I last saw you?
Oh Kouji, let me get a good look at you." |
Luana: "My son, my pride, my
joy, my heart, my soul, my light, my star, my world. My love, you're
home." |
The dub replaces Ruriko telling her son about how she's been waiting up for him for a full year with...well, whatever the hell that dialogue's supposed to be.
The case of mistaken identity continues:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「ハアッ な… なんだよ いったい！」 |
Satoshi: "(gasps) Wh...What're
you doing!?" |
Ash: "Excuse me, who are you?" |
| ルリコ 「コウジ
どうしたの？こんなに顔が変わっちゃって。そんなに苦労したのかいかわいそうに」 |
Ruriko: "Kouji, what's wrong?
Your face looks so different now! Have you been working yourself that hard? Oh
you poor thing..." |
Luana: "Travis, you don't even
remember your own mommy wommy? Oh my little pumpkin. Mama's here now." |
| サトシ 「タンマ
タンマ！ちゃんと顔見てくれよ！人違いだよ！オレはコウジじゃなくて サトシ」 |
Satoshi: "Time out! Time out!
Take a closer look! You've got the wrong kid! I'm Satoshi, not whoever
this Kouji guy is!" |
Ash: "Wait a second! I'm
sorry, lady, but my name's Ash, and I already have a mother, OK?" |
I feel like 4Kids is really dumbing down this Gym Leader here, because at least in the Japanese version Ruriko acknowledges the fact that Satoshi has a different face from her son. Luana, meanwhile, continues to say absolutely nothing of substance while engaging in obnoxious baby talk.
We finally get a few lines of dialogue that aren't complete rewrites, but that comes to an end fairly quickly once everyone starts talking about Pokémon Masters:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「じゃあ オレと同じだ」 |
Satoshi: "So the same as me." |
Ash: "That's just what I did." |
| ルリコ 「あなたも？」 |
Ruriko: "You too?" |
Luana: "I thought so." |
| サトシ 「うん、ポケモンマスターになるのがオレの夢なんだ」 |
Satoshi: "Yup. My dream is to
become a Pokémon Master." |
Ash: "Yeah, your son must love
Pokémon almost as much as I do." |
| ルリコ 「まあ、うちのコウジと同じだわ。頑張ってるんだね」 |
Ruriko: "Ah, so just like my
Kouji. You two are really putting in the work, huh?" |
Luana: "You know, I think you
and Travis are...so much alike that I..." |
"You know, I think you and Travis are...(the longest, most stilted, most unnatural pause imaginable)...so much alike the writers just plopped this line of dialogue into this scene without considering where the breaks in the mouth flap animation are until it's too late."
Also, "Your son must love Pokémon almost as much as I do" is kind of wild. Why is Ash low-key insulting a kid he's never even met?
The Rocket trio introduce its robot of the week:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「どこにあったか特別予算を使ってついに完成した巨大ロボ！」 |
Musashi: "Behold! The giant
robot we finally completed by using a special budget we found from
somewhere!" |
Jessie: "Our Robo-Rhydon is
extremely dangerous, but it's environmentally safe." |
| ニャース 「無敵のメカサイドンニャ！」 |
Nyarth: "It's the invincible
Mecha Saidon!" |
Meowth: "It's Pokémon
powered." |
| コジロウ 「いけメカサイドン！ ゴー！」 |
Kojirou: "Alright Mecha
Saidon! Let's go!" |
James: "Robo-Rhydon, power on!" |
The Japanese Rocket trio talks about the budget for the robot while the English dub Rocket trio talks about the environmental merits of a robot that constantly spews toxic smog.
Sound Effects Edit
The footage of the wall mounted whips hitting Musashi's Pokémon gets their sound effects muted for the English dub.
I guess these sound effects edits are going to be a regular thing now, huh?
Dialogue Edit
Jessie orders Weezing to use "Hyper Beam":
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「何やってんのよ！ マタドガス」 |
Musashi: "What're you doing,
Matadogas?" |
Jessie: "What happened to the
Hyper Beam?" |
| ニャース 「コジロウの育てが足りないからはかいこうせんは無理ニャ」 |
Nyarth: "Kojirou's training
hasn't been good enough and so something like Hyper Beam's gonna be
outta the
question Nya." |
Meowth: "I guess James never got around to teaching
it that attack yet." |
| コジロウ 「申し訳ない」 |
Kojirou: "Sorry." |
James: "Sorry." |
| ムサシ 「しょうがないわね～。スモッグでも何でもいいから、吐きまくりなさ
い！」 |
Musashi: "Oh well. I don't
care if it's Smog or whatever, just keep firing away!" |
Jessie: "I should have known.
We'll just have to make the best of it. Full smog ahead!" |
I actually wasn't inclined to bring this up -- I think it's close enough, all things considered -- but then when I saw online how many viewers took the dub dialogue here as a sign that James "wanted" to teach his Pokémon Hyper Beam but just "never gets around to it" that I felt compelled to bring it up. Originally Nyarth states that Hyper Beam's impossible because Kojirou's training has been lacking, but there isn't any subtext here of "well, he actually planned to teach it Hyper Beam, he's just been too busy lately" like there is in the dub.
Robo-Rhydon starts attacking the people with its Smog attack:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「結構イケるじゃない。この調子で町をぶっ壊してみよう！」 |
Musashi: "This is going great.
Let's keep this up and destroy that town!" |
Jessie: "I just love this! The
smog is causing an absolute panic." |
| コジロウ 「あの… ピカチュウを捕まえるのが目的だったんじゃ？」 |
Kojirou: "Um...aren't we
actually here to get that Pikachu?" |
James: "Yes, but...didn't we
come here to steal the Pikachu from that kid?" |
| ムサシ 「町を破壊してあたしたちの強さを見せつけるのが先よ！ピカチュウは後
回し」 |
Musashi: "Sure, but first
we'll destroy that town to show everybody how strong we are! We can
deal with Pikachu later." |
Jessie: "Yes. That's true,
James. But I've found something I'm actually good at and I'm having a
wonderful time." |
| ニャース 「すぐ調子に乗るんニャから…」 |
Nyarth: "She gets carried away
so easily Nya..." |
Meowth: "I think you could use a hobby." |
| ムサシ 「町に向かって進撃～！」 |
Musashi: "Head for the town
and attack~!" |
Jessie: "Hail the conquering
Rhydon!" |
I guess "destroy the town" was changed to "cause a panic" because 4Kids was worried they might get a note back from the censors telling them the former's too violent, maybe...?
Ash tries to stop Team Rocket:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「関係のない人たちに迷惑をかけるな！」 |
Satoshi:
"Stop causing trouble for all the innocent people here!" |
Ash: "Attacking innocent
people like this just isn't fair!" |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカピカ！」 |
Pikachu: "Pika Pika!" | Pikachu: "Pika Pika!" |
| ムサシ 「な～によ
カッコつけちゃってさ。後回しにしてあげようと思ったけどやっぱりや～めた！ターゲット：ジャリボーイ！アーボック どくばり発射！」 |
Musashi: "What, are you trying
to act the hero? I was going to be nice and deal with your Pikachu
later but so much for that I guess. Target: twerp boy. Arbok,
fire your Poison Sting!" |
Jessie: "Well of course it
isn't fair. If attacking innocent people were fair it wouldn't be any
fun at all, now would it? You're getting in my way. Arbok, use your
Poison Sting." |
Musashi brings up how she was going to deal with Pikachu after they destroy the city, but since the dub wrote that part out earlier I guess they felt like writing out this callback as well.
Sound Effects Edit
The sound of Arbok's Poison Sting bouncing off Yungeller's Reflect attack in the shot below gets muted from the dub.
The whip edit is...whatever, that's not so surprising considering the way 4Kids has been adapting its episodes lately. But this one? Really?!
Dialogue Edit
Luana addresses the Rocket trio directly:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ルリコ 「あんたたち！営業妨害はやめとくれ！このリュウチン島の浜を荒らすや
つはあたしが許さないよ！」 |
Ruriko: "You there! Stop
interfering with our business! I won't forgive you for destroying the
Ryuchin Island beach!" |
Luana: "Listen up! I'm only
going to say this one time. Get out and never come back or believe me,
you'll regret it!" |
| ムサシ 「何あれ？」 |
Musashi: "What's she talking
about?" |
Jessie: "She's got a..." |
| コジロウ 「さあ…」 |
Kojirou: "Beats me." |
James: "Big mouth." |
Ruriko focuses on how the trio's attacks are wrecking her business (as well as all the others on the beach) while Luana just tells the Rocket trio to get out of town.
The trio responds:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「オバサンは引っ込んでなさいよ！」 |
Musashi: "Outta the way you
old lady!" |
Jessie: "Just get out of my
way, grandma!" |
| カスミ 「あんただってもうすぐおばさんの仲間入りでしょ？」 |
Kasumi: "You're one to talk!
Aren't you almost an old lady yourself!" |
Misty: "I wouldn't call her
'grandma' if I were you, you old witch!" |
| ムサシ 「な… 何と？今 何と？ 何と？」 |
Musashi: "What...what? What
did she just...what...? Huh?" |
Jessie: "Did she...call
me...old?" |
| コジロウ 「あっ いや その…まっ まあ…まだ まだだよな？ ムサシは」 |
Kojirou: "Ah, um, I
mean...well, um...you've still got some time, right? Musashi." |
James: "Don't listen to her,
Jessie. Eh, what does she know about aging?" |
| ニャース 「そうそう。あとね半年ぐらいは大丈夫だニャ」 |
Nyarth: "That's right! You've
got a good half a year or so before you're considered old Nya." |
Meowth: "Yeah. That's right,
Jess. She ain't an expert like you." |
| ムサシ 「半年じゃないもの！ 永遠だもの～！」 |
Musashi: "Half a year!? I plan
to be young forever~!!" |
Jessie: "I'm not old. How dare
you!" |
The spirit of the two are the same, at least, though the actual dialogue (especially the removal of Nyarth's "half a year" line) is quite different.
Luana reveals her identity:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「あいつら、どんな卑怯な手を使ってくるか分かりませんよ」 |
Satoshi: "Be careful. There's
no telling what kind of underhanded tricks they'll use next." |
Ash: "They're probably
planning something really rotten so we better handle this." |
| ルリコ 「大丈夫。こう見えても
あたしはサザンクロス北の星・リュウチンジムのジムリーダーなんだから」 |
Ruriko: "Not to worry. Despite
the way I look I'm actually the northern star of the Southern Cross,
the Ryuchin
Gym Gym Leader." |
Luana: "That's very nice of
you to offer, Ash, but I think an Orange Crew Gym Leader should be able
to take care of this herself, don't you?" |
| サトシ 「ええっ！ おばさんが？」 |
Satoshi: "Eh! You are ma'am?" |
Ash: "You're the...Gym
Leader!?" |
The English dub removed the "I'm the (cardinal direction) star of the Southern Cross" introductions from all the other Orange Island Gym Leaders and so it's not really surprising to see them do it a fourth time here.
Jessie responds:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「だから“オバサン
オバサン”言うんじゃないわよ～！コジロウ、マタドガスでスモッグ攻撃！」 |
Musashi: "I'm sick of you
using words like "ma'am" and "old lady" around me! Kojirou, have
Matadogas use
its Smog attack!" |
Jessie: "I don't care if
you're in the Orange Crew or the Grapefruit League! James, launch an
all-out Smog attack immediately!" |
The English dub shoehorning in an unnecessary American sports reference into the dub? Wow, this really is just like the "Mewtwo Strikes Back!" dub!
After Luana's Alakazam shuts the Robo-Rhydon's mouth:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ムサシ 「ゴホゴホッ やめて！」 |
Musashi: "(coughs) Stop!" |
Jessie: "(coughs) I can't
breathe!" |
| コジロウ 「スモッグが逆流してるぞ」 |
Kojirou: "The smog's flowing
back in!" |
James: "Meowth, turn on the
exhaust fans (coughs)" |
| ニャース 「こりゃたまらんニャ ゴホッ…」 |
Nyarth: "This is unbearable
Nya...(coughs)" |
Meowth: "We...don't have any." |
| コジロウ 「ニャース早く換気扇を回せ」 | Kojirou: "Nyarth, hurry up and
turn on the exhaust fans." |
James: "Why not?" |
| ニャース 「ニャー そんなもん 付いてないニャ」 | Nyarth: "Nya~ We don't have
anything like that Nya." |
Meowth: "The boss wouldn't
cough up the money." |
The dub wanted to add in a coughing pun, but in doing so they also introduce the idea that Giovanni 1) is fully aware of the existence of this giant robot and 2) oversaw its budget, neither of which is even implied in the original.
Ash commands Charizard in battle:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ケンジ 「リザードンの扱いにかなり慣れてきたみたいだな」 |
Kenji: "He's really gotten
used to handling his Lizardon, huh?" |
Tracey: "Wow! Look, Misty!
Charizard's listening to Ash!" |
| トゲピー 「チョゲピ～」 |
Togepy: "Chogepi~!" | Togepi: "Chogepi~!" |
Tracey acts surprised to see Charizard obey Ash even though he was absolutely there in the episode where the Fire-Type starts to obey its Trainer. That's kind of weird, right? Originally Kenji simply comments how far Satoshi's come as its Trainer.
Sound Effects Edit
The sounds of the whips hitting Beroringa and Arbok after Kojirou activates the Acid button are, once again, muted from the dub.
 |
 |
The footage gets to remain intact, which is nice I guess, though I still question how necessary edits like these really are in the first place.
Eyecatch
Luana's Pokémon gets replaced by...bird.
 |
 |
Dodrio here's never been used as an eyecatch Pokémon before, and it typically always keeps its Japanese voice, so in order to get the cry they use for the eyecatch here 4Kids would have had to use stock audio from the Japanese version. Most likely from episodes like "Pokémon - I Choose You!" or "The Flame Pokémon-athon!" So then, does this mean 4Kids decided to use Dodrio for the eyecatch Pokémon, and then had to dig through the archives to find a voice clip they could use for its cry? Doesn't that seem like a lot of unnecessary work when you could have just, I dunno, use Alakazam instead?
Paint Edit
The text "Hotel Ryuchin" gets removed from dub in the shot below:
 |
 |
The proper thing to do here would have been to replace "Hotel Ryuchin" with "Hotel Kumquat" but I guess the team tasked with doing the visual edits in this show were too busy erasing the non-text from both the previous episode and the next one to have the time to do this one correctly.
Later in the episode, an establishing shot of the hotel shown after the scene in the hot springs leaves the word "HOTEL" part of this intact.
Dialogue Edit
Our heroes learn about the Kumquat Gym:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| カスミ 「でもここホテルですよね？」 |
Kasumi: "But this is a hotel,
right?" |
Misty: "It looks like a hotel
to me." |
| ルリコ 「リュウチンジムはこの中にあるのよ」 |
Ruriko: "Yup. And the Ryuchin
Gym's also inside." |
Luana: "It is a hotel, Misty,
and the gym is inside." |
| ケンジ 「宿泊施設においしい料理、それに温泉か。理想的なジムだな」 |
Kenji: "Places to sleep,
delicious food, hot springs...this gym has everything." |
Tracey: "Hey, that sounds like
the perfect combination. Ash can have his match, and we can have a good
time." |
Tracey talks about "having a good time" in this hotel, without actually specifying what it is about this establishment that makes it seem so appealing. He also implies that he and Misty aren't going to even bother watching Ash's gym match.
As you can see, none of this is in the original.
Once inside:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| 従業員たち 「いらっしゃいませ」 |
Staff: "Welcome to our hotel!" |
Staff: "Good afternoon." |
| ルリコ 「マネージャー、この子たちに部屋を用意してあげてください」 |
Ruriko: "Manager, please
prepare a room for these three children here." |
Luana: "Chilton, would you
kindly prepare a deluxe suite for my guests, please?" |
| マネージャー 「はい 社長」 |
Manager: "Right away, Madame
President." |
Chilton: "Right away, ma'am." |
| カスミ 「社長だったんだ。 カッコいい～」 |
Kasumi: "She's the president
of this hotel? That's so cool~!" |
Misty: "Our own deluxe suite.
Now that's sweet!" |
| トゲピー 「チョゲピ～」 |
Togepy: "Chogepi~!" | Togepi: "Chogepi~!" |
Let us count the ways in which this has been changed:
- In the English dub, the staff of the hotel tell us it's the afternoon when the Japanese version doesn't specify what time of day it is.
- The dub gives the hotel manager a name (also, Chilton!?).
- The manager, in
turn, refers to Ruriko as the president of the hotel, something Kasumi
then repeats back. The dub never gives us this information.
Cut -- 6 seconds
Immediately after the exchange above, there's a six second panning shot of a bunch of the Pokémon working out in the gym that gets removed from the dub. Among the Pokémon in the shot is a Rougela in its original blackface design.
 |
This is the first of what will become a series of Rougela related edits with the English dub. Every time a blackface Rougela appears in the show, from this episode onwards, 4Kids will either cut the footage out entirely (like in this episode) or use digital paint to erase her from the dub. It's not until Rougela gets her updated purple design in 2006 (!!!) that the dub will finally allow the character to appear on American TV again.
To be honest, I don't really mind any of these Rougela edits. Yes, I do think this show should be uncut and presented as-is, warts and all, but changes like these also show that 4Kids actually cared enough about its black audience to not want to alienate them any more than they already had. Japan will unfortunately continue to use this problematic character design for another half a decade or so, but at the very least they're mostly small nothingburger scenes like this one that can be easily removed without any real issue.
In 2023 a purple edit of the episode started appearing on streaming sites like Amazon Prime Japan.
 |
 |
The Japanese Amazon Prime site got rid of the Pocket Monsters TV series in 2024, and the streaming sites that currently have the rights to the series still use the blackface version, so there's that.
One more thing; 4Kids actually kept the Japanese music in this scene intact, even going to the effort of re-editing it so that the six second chunk that's now missing isn't quite as obvious. The music still has a noticeable skip if you're listening for it, but I do want to commend 4Kids here for actually making the effort to make the cut as seemless as they could.
Dialogue Edit
Our heroes get (an abbreviated) tour of the Gym:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ケンジ 「すごいな～。みんな 最新の設備ばかりだ」 |
Kenji: "Wow, this is amazing.
Everyone's using state-of-the-art equipment." |
Tracey: "The Trainers must
come here so their Pokémon can get into shape." |
| カスミ 「立派なジムね」 |
Kasumi: "What a nice Gym." |
Misty: "A gym at the Gym." |
Tracey implies the Pokémon we see on their tour belong to random Trainers who sent their Pokémon to this Gym for training (and not, say, Pokémon who belong to the Gym Leader herself), while no such implication's made in the Japanese original.
Luana explains the rules of the match:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ルリコ 「試合形式はお互いが２匹のポケモンを同時に使ってのタッグバトル１本
勝負よ」 |
Ruriko: "The format of the
matches here are that we have a single tag battle where each Trainer
uses two Pokémon apiece." |
Luana: "To make things
interesting, why don't we make this a double Pokémon battle, and
we'll each use two Pokémon at the same time." |
| サトシ 「“タッグバトル”？」 |
Satoshi: "Tag battle?" |
Ash: "A double battle?" |
| カスミ 「２匹同時なんてそんなの初めて」 |
Kasumi: "Two Pokémon at
the same time? That's a first." |
Misty: "So, what do you have
to do to win a double battle?" |
| ルリコ 「２匹のうちどちらかが戦闘不能になったらその時点で負け。それがここ のルールなの」 | Ruriko: "The moment either of
our two Pokémon becomes unable to battle, that Trainer loses.
Those are the rules of this Gym." |
Luana: "It's simple. If one of
a Trainer's Pokémon team can't go on battling anymore, the other
Trainer wins the match." |
The special type of Pokémon battles introduced in this episode are called "Tag Battles" (タッグバトル). In Tag Battles, you're only allowed to go into a match with two Pokémon each, and then have to face your opponent in a single two-on-two match. You only need to defeat one of your opponent's Pokémon to claim victory; as we'll see in (the Japanese version of) this episode, it's not necessary to KO both your opponents in order to be declared the winner.
About three years after this episode aired, however, the Pocket Monsters Ruby & Sapphire video games introduced the "Double Battles" (ダブルバトル) game mechanic. In this other special type of battle, Trainers can have up to the usual six Pokémon in their party, but instead of having a series of six one-on-one battles you have a series of multiple two-on-two battles instead. Unlike with Tag Battles, Double Battles require you to defeat every single Pokémon on your opponent's team before you can claim victory.
"Tag Battles" and "Double Battles" have some similarities, but they are not the same thing.
The English dub, however, decided to rename "Tag Battles" to "double battles" (lowercase), and in doing so they inadvertently caused confusion among fans regarding when the "first" official Double Battle in the series actually took place. The first real Double Battle doesn't actually occur until Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Episode 014 "Double Battle and Double Kemusso!," but because of 4Kids' little change here many fans falsely believe that honor belongs to this episode instead. And while it's true 4Kids wouldn't have had any reason to know that the term "Double Battle" would become an actual proper noun that'd get used in this franchise several years from now, this is also very much another one of those cases where they could have very easily avoided making such a misleading adaptation choice if they had simply translated the dialogue as-is.
The English dub also makes it sound like Luana's suggestion of a double battle is just "to make things interesting" when the Japanese version makes it quite clear that Tag Battles are very much the default rule of the Ryuchin Gym.
The dialogue in the scene in the hot springs is surprisingly fine, especially considering how janky the rest of this episode's localization's been so far. There is a part where Tracey weirdly refers to the hot spring as a "hot tub" but other than that the dialogue's mostly kept intact.
The day of the battle, Chilton announces the rules:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| マネージャー 「この試合は
リュウチンジムルール、ポケモンのタッグバトル１本勝負です」 |
Manager: "This match will
follow the Ryuchin Gym rule of a single Pokémon Tag Battle." |
Chilton: "The Trainers have
agreed in advance that this match will be conducted as a double
Pokémon battle." |
Again, the Japanese version makes it clear that Tag Battles are the norm at the Ryuchin Gym while the English dub makes it sound like they're doing this as a special exception or something.
Pikachu and Charizard get off to a rocky start:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「ピカチュウ！リザードンを助けるんだ！フーディンに
でんきショック！」 |
Satoshi: "Pikachu! You've
gotta help Lizardon! Use Thundershock on Houdin!" |
Ash: "Pikachu, you have to
help Charizard! Use Thundershock now." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピ～カ チュウウウ！」 |
Pikachu: "Pi~kachuuu!" |
Pikachu: "Pi~kachuuu!" |
| (Pikachu
attacks its teammate) |
||
| サトシ 「コラ！ 相手が違うだろ！」 |
Satoshi: "Hey! Ya got the
wrong target!" |
Ash: "Pikachu, help Charizard!" |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカピカ？」 |
Pikachu: "Pika Pika?" | Pikachu: "Pika Pika?" |
| サトシ 「ピカチュウ！」 |
Satoshi: "Pikachu!" |
Ash: "Do something!" |
Originally Satoshi specifically tells his Pikachu to target Houdin, making its attack on Lizardon instead that much more aggravating for the young Trainer. In the dub, meanwhile, Ash never specifies which Pokémon he wants Pikachu to attack, making it so Pikachu didn't technically disobey its Trainer in that version.
Sound Effects Edit
The sound of Garagara's Bone Boomerang hitting Lizardon in the face is, you guessed it, muted from the dub...but for some reason only for certain instances!? The very first time Garagara uses the attack the sound effects are actually left in (though the volume's been reduced somewhat), but then the second time it's used the sound effect's removed altogether.
I'm not super sure why one shot would be OK but not the other -- it's the exact same animation both times -- but honestly with every other change going on in this episode this is pretty low on the list of things worth caring about.
Dialogue Edit
Ash tries to talk some sense into his Pikachu:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| サトシ 「ピカチュウ！お前は仲間を見捨てるようなやつじゃないだろ！」 |
Satoshi: "Pikachu! You're not
someone who'd just abandon its friends, right!?" |
Ash: "Pikachu, if Charizard
can't battle we're gonna lose this match!" |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカ…」 |
Pikachu: "Pika..." |
Pikachu: "Pika..." |
| サトシ 「ピカチュウ！リザードンを助けるんだ」 |
Satoshi: "So get in there and
help Lizardon out!" |
Ash: "Then you've gotta do
something to help Charizard." |
In the original Satoshi attempts to appeal to Pikachu's sense of loyalty to its friends while the dub has Ash attempt to appeal to its desire to win instead.
Sound Effects Edit
The longest episode comparison in recent memory continues with another sound effects edit. This time the sound removed from the dub is from this shot of Lizardon landing gently on the ground.
In the very next shot, that sound effect Japanese cartoons often use during split screens -- the one that sounds like two metal blades colliding -- gets altered as well. The sound that plays when Lizardon shows up has its volume greatly reduced, and the one that plays when Pikachu appears is removed altogether.
At this point they've gotta be trolling us, right? Neither of these are even the slightest bit violent and yet the THUD sound that's made when this dragon lands on the floor or the sound of a split screen happening gets removed anyway. Make it make sense!
Dialogue Edit
Luana continues the battle:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ルリコ 「ガラガラ、ピカチュウにすてみタックル！」 |
Ruriko: "Garagara, use
Double-Edge on Pikachu!" |
Luana: "Go Marowak! Give
Pikachu a Body Slam!" |
This here's supposed to be Double-Edge, not Body Slam.
Sound Effects Edit
Here's a few more sound effects edits, because why the hell not.
The spring-like sound of Pikachu softly hitting Lizardon's wing is replaced with a similar, but different, spring-like sound effect.
The sound of Pikachu softly landing on the floor is also replaced with a different sound of Pikachu softly landing on the floor.
In the very next shot, Lizardon's grunt is muted from the dub, though the animation of it moving its mouth is left intact.
And the sound of the background swooshing behind Satoshi is removed from the English version.
This shot of Pikachu jumping onto Lizardon's back gets its jumping sound effect muted.
Pikachu using Thunderbolt gets its sound effect altered:
Next, the sound of the background swooshing behind Ruriko gets removed from the English version.
And the shot of Garagara's Bone Boomerang hitting Houdin gets muted.
I think this is all of them, maybe...? It's entirely possible I may have missed a few, but I also think the point's been made by now that the sound editing in this episode is a bit out of control.
Dialogue Edit
Chilton calls the match:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| マネージャー 「ガラガラ
戦闘不能！よってピカチュウ・リザードン組の勝ちです。ウイナー サトシ！」 |
Manager: "Garagara is unable
to battle! Which means the team of Pikachu and Lizardon are victorious.
The winner of the match is Satoshi!" |
Chilton: "The Gym Leader's
Pokémon Marowak and Alakazam are unable to continue the battle.
Victory goes to the challenger." |
Did you know that 4Kids changed the outcome of the gym battle in this episode? Originally only Garagara is declared unable to battle, but the dub changes this so that both Marowak and Alakazam are knocked out!
Now, to be perfectly fair, Houdin does have the exact same knocked out expression on its face that Garagara does, and on top of that it's also completely immobile. And if you had seen the episode in Japanese first, without any subtitles, I'll bet a lot of people would have probably made the same assumption about how many Pokémon get knocked out here! Regardless, the dialogue here is clear; the referee only declares Garagara unable to battle, meaning Satoshi did not beat Ruriko's Houdin.
After the battle Ash gets the "Jade Star Badge." The only thing worth mentioning about this part of the episode is that in the Japanese version this badge is called the Ruri Badge (ルリバッジ), presumably after the ruri-gai (瑠璃貝), or "violet snail." The name "Ruri Badge" also sounds very similar to the name of the Gym Leader who hands it out, Ruriko, so there's that.
After Ash wins his fourth badge:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| ケンジ 「とうとうサザンクロスの４つのバッジが集まったな」 |
Kenji: "You've finally
collected the four badges of the Southern Cross." |
Tracey: "Wow! A badge from all
four members of the Orange Crew!" |
| ルリコ 「これでオレンジリーグ・ウイナーズカップの出場資格ができたわけね」 |
Ruriko: "With this, you're now
qualified to compete in the Orange League Winners Cup." |
Luana: "And that means you can
compete with other qualified Trainers in the Orange League competition." |
| カスミ 「“オレンジリーグ・ウイナーズカップ”？」 |
Kasumi: "The Orange League
Winners Cup?" |
Misty: "That's to win the
Orange League trophy, right?" |
| ルリコ 「ええ。サザンクロスのヘッドリーダーと戦うことになるのよ」 | Ruriko: "Yep. You'll have to
battle against the Head Trainer of the Southern Cross." |
Luana: "That's right. But to
get it Ash will have to beat the leader of the Orange Crew." |
The English dub once again implies that the Orange League is some kind of Indigo League type tournament and that Ash will have to battle with other Trainers in order to progress, an idea it also kind of introduced during the episode's opening narration. But, of course, we all know this is bull.
So in the English dub canon, Luana is either lying to Ash and his friends, or she's so absolutely incompetent as a member of the Orange Crew that she's giving out bad information.
The Japanese version never does any of this; Ruriko simply tells Satoshi that he'll have to beat the Head Trainer.
Wrapping up the conversation at the Gym:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| カスミ 「ウイナーズカップは どこで？」 | Kasumi: "Where does this
Winners Cup take place?" |
Misty: "Do you think Ash has a
chance?" |
| ルリコ 「カンキツ島とうのカンキツスタジアム」 | Ruriko: "At the Kankitsu
Stadium on Kankitsu Island." |
Luana: "Only if you work
together." |
| サトシたち 「うん！」 |
Satoshi, Kasumi, and Kenji:
"Yeah!" |
Ash, Misty, and Tracey: "Yeah!" |
| サトシ 「よーし！カンキツ島に出発だ！」 | Satoshi: "Alright then! Let's
set out for Kankitsu Island!" |
Ash: "No sweat! We're a team,
aren't we?" |
| ピカチュウ 「ピカピカ」 |
Pikachu: "Pika Pika." |
Pikachu: "Pika Pika" |
OK, so this change is actually really terrible. In the Japanese version Kasumi asks where this final battle takes place, Ruriko tells her, and so based on that our heroes decide where to go next. But in the English dub? That all gets done away with, and so Ash never actually finds out where in the world his final challenge is supposed to take place. He just kind of...knows.
Then again, with the previous rewrite 4Kids established that their version of Luana is a liar and/or incompetent and so maybe it's actually a good thing she isn't trying to tell these kids where to go next...?
Our heroes leave the island, I guess to aim around aimlessly for a bit:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| カスミ 「また来ますね」 |
Kasumi: "We'll come back
sometime!" |
Misty: "Great to meet you." |
| ケンジ 「お世話になりました」 |
Kenji: "Thanks for everything!" |
Tracey: "And thanks for
everything." |
| ピカチュウ 「ピッカ～」 |
Pikachu: "Pikka~!" |
Pikachu: "Pikka~!" |
| ルリコ 「ヘッドリーダーは手ごわいけどウイナーズカップ頑張るんだよ」 |
Ruriko: "The Head
Leader's really strong but do your best at the Winners Cup anyway!" |
Luana: "Have a safe trip and
battle as hard as you can for that Orange League trophy!" |
| マネージャー 「またのお越しをお待ちしております」 |
Manager: "We eagerly await
your return!" |
Chilton: "We hope you've all
enjoyed your stay here." |
Kasumi tells Ruriko they'll come back to visit again sometime, something the hotel manager picks up on as he says goodbye as well. None of this makes it to the English dub.
Also -- and this actually came up a few rewrites ago as well -- the English dub has this thing where it focuses a lot more on the Orange League trophy than anything else. The Japanese version, on the other hand, doesn't even bring it up once this episode.
The Rocket trio get the last rewrites of the episode:
| Japanese
(original) |
Japanese
(translated) |
English
Dub |
| コジロウ 「今日は、出番が少なかったね」 |
Kojirou: "We didn't get that
much screentime today, did we?" |
James: "A poet once said 'No
man is an island.'" |
| ムサシ 「そういえばそうだね」 |
Musashi: "Now that you mention
it, we sure didn't." |
Jessie: "Well you're no man,
James." |
| ニャース 「ニャんかだんだん出番が少なくなってないかニャ？」 |
Nyarth: "Does anyone else feel
like we've been getting less and less of it Nya?" |
Meowth: "You think maybe the
Boss'll send somebody out to look for us?" |
| コジロウ・ムサシ 「ぎくっ！」 |
Kojirou & Musashi: "Gulp!" |
Jessie & James: "Eeee!" |
| ニャース 「そしてだんだん忘れられていくニャ～」 | Nyarth: "And that we're slowly
being forgotten about Nya?" |
Meowth: "What's the matter?" |
| コジロウ・ムサシ 「ぎくぎくっ！」 | Kojirou & Musashi: "Double
gulp!" |
Jessie: "If the Boss finds out
we wrecked the robot..." |
| ニャース 「そしてボスにも忘れられるニャ～」 | Nyarth: "And, that the Boss'll
forget about us as well Nya?" |
James: "He'll wreck us!" |
| コジロウ・ムサシ 「イヤな感じ～」 | Kojirou & Musashi: "This
feels bad~" |
Meowth: "I never thought of
that." |
| コジロウ 「あっ 船だ」 | Kojirou: "Oh hey, there's a
boat." |
James: "Hey look! A boat!" |
| ムサシ 「ウソッ。あっ ここです～！」 | Musashi: "You're kidding. Over
here! Help!" |
Meowth: "Help!" |
ロケット団の騒ぎ声 |
(Overlapping
pleas for help) |
Jessie: "Sssh!" |
| James: "What if it's the Boss'
boat?" |
||
| Meowth: "All right. (timidly)
...help." |
What in the world kind of bizarro world rewrite is this? The Japanese version hand delivers what is possibly THE MOST 4Kids-type fourth wall break in recorded history and the English dub...decides to just toss it all out? So that they can have James recite poetry, and Jessie emasculate James, and the trio worry about their Boss getting mad at them?
Ah well, I suppose having the episode end with such a baffling set of rewrites is actually the perfect way to wrap up this absolute dumpster fire of an adaptation.
| Previous Episode |
This page was last updated on January 28th, 2025
Found an error or omission? Please help me keep this page current and error-free by e-mailing me with a description of the issue.
