Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode 274: "Parting Ways with Pikachu...!"
English Episode 612:  "Hoenn Alone"
Pokemon Dare Da?   Pikachu (Japanese), Forretress (English)
Orchid-Hakase Pokemon Lecture:  None
Japanese Air Date:  November 14th, 2002
American Air Date:  October 25th, 2003
Important Places:  Mishiro Town (Littleroot Town)

Satoshi has gotten on the ferry to the Houen Region and is enjoying the cruise until his Pikachu is stolen one night.  Satoshi, with the help of a sailor, finds the thieves, and they're non other than the Rocket-Dan.  A wild chase ensues, during which a Phantom Liquid (Acid) attack from Arbok on the ship's hull caused it to have to unexpectantly dock.  The chase continues on land, where Musashi and Kojirou are separated from Pikachu and Nyasu.  The two pokemon wander around until they encounter a group of Koratta (among other pokemon) who had been threatened by a group of Ghosto, preventing them from playing in the area.  After warding off the ghost-type pokemon, Pikachu and Nyasu are asked to stay with the group forever, but Musashi and Kojirou appear before an answer can be given.  The Rocket-Dan places a metal clamp around Pikachu and unleashes a giant magnet to capture the mouse pokemon.  As Satoshi, with the help of Junsa, arrives on the scene, the Koratta bites the metal clamp, freeing Pikachu.  The Ghosto then uses its Shadow Ball technique to send the Rocket-Dan blasting off.  The Koratta and Ghosto make friends as Satoshi returns to the ship.  It sets sail that night, and Satoshi arrives in Houen soon after.  Just as Satoshi is admiring the new pokemon, he notices that his Pikachu is deathly ill!  To be continued!

---

Thoughts
God, I hate this episode.

This doesn't feel like the end of an epic three-year saga--it feels more like a regular Jouto League filler episode.  The entire subplot with the Normal-Type who can't beat the Ghost-Type completely unnecessary, yet for some reason that took the center stage of this episode.  There are many people who will defend this episode because it's the episode in which Pikachu gets sick, and that will carry over into the next episode, but even that doesn't save the episode.  While it is true that it sort of sets up the next episode, the entire plotline about Pikachu being sick is just more filler.  If Pikachu hadn't fallen ill, Satoshi would still have gone to Houen, met Odamaki-Hakase, and joined up with Haruka.  Nothing would have been different--it's just more filler.

Now my big complaint about the Silver Conference is that it's been so rushed and that the anime producers have tried to cram too much into just a few episodes.  So that's why I'm so upset when I see such a poorly-done filler episode as the series finale.  The time spent dealing with a bunch of Koratta and yet another attempt to capture Pikachu would have better been spent fleshing out the parts of the Silver Conference that only had a chance to flash by.  I would have much rather had the events of this episode condensed to a few minutes in lieu of giving Takeshi a decent farewell, seeing Shigeru some more before he leaves the show forever, seeing some Jouto League battles that weren't so rushed, or seeing a proper end to the Silver Conference (and not just the ten seconds or so we saw of Toshiya receiving the trophy).  I just hope the Houen League isn't as horribly paced as this league's been. 

I also don't like the dub merely because it was the most annoying episode to record edits for, period.  The Japanese episode runs about a minute longer than any other episode (all because of that epilogue), so 4Kids had to cut about a  mintue's worth of footage from the episode. 

The Whaleko keep their Japanese voices and, from what I can tell, so do the Kyamome and the Pelipper.  What's odd is that the Whaleko in this episode have a different voice from the Whaleko in the forth mini-movie.  I think I like this episode's "Weh Weh" better ^^;;

Cut--3 seconds
Right after the title screen, an establishing shot of the boat is cut.

Side Note
In the Japanese version, the guy with the Gorikii is only a sailor, but in the dub he's the captain.  Guess 4Kids just felt like promoting the guy for some reason.

Cut--3 seconds
Right after the first Rocket-Dan scene (where they're looking under the tarp thing), another establishing shot of the boat is shortened by three seconds.

Cut--1 second
Right after Satoshi says goodnight to Pikachu (before it's kidnapped), there's a second snipped from the panning shot of the room.

Rocket-Dan
Here's the Rocket-Dan motto, or at least what I could understand of it:

Itai nani mono nanda kanda to kikare tara
Kotaete ageru ga yo no nasake
Ryouko o Pikachuu GETTO shite!
Atsui deni shokuryou itadatte
Ai to shinjitsu no aku o tsuranuku
RABURII CHAAMII na kataki yaku
Musashi!
Kojirou!
Oo na Bara Roketto-Dan no futari niwa!
BIGGU WEEBU! Aoi ashita ga matteruze
Nya, Nyaante na
SoooooooooNANsu!

The American version is a little like this:

Prepare for trouble, on land, air, and sea
And make it double, the trouble's on me
To protect the world from devastation
To unite all peoples within the nation
To denounce the evils of truth and love
To extend our reach to the stars above
Jessie!
James!
Team Rocket, ride the waves at the speed of light!
Shoot the curl, hanging ten, and preparing to fight!
Meowth!  That's right!
Wobbuffet!

Side Note
Is it me, or does Matadogasu look really really pissed in this episode?

Also, I'm sure that a number of you were questioning the sailor's various lines regarding the water storage tank.  "Oh no!  The water storage tank!" and "Mayday!  Mayday!  Come in please!  The water storage tank has ruptured!  Requesting repairs!" sounds a lot like dub censoring going on, but believe it or not, that's pretty much what they say in the Japanese version as well.  Bizarre, isn't it? 

Cut--2 seconds
The shot of the ship docking is shortened by two seconds.

Cut--1 second
The first panning shot of Nyasu, Pikachu, and all the pokemon in the warehouse area gets a second cut off.

Cut--3 seconds
After the scene with Satoshi telling Junsa about starting his journey over with just his Pikachu, there's a pan of all the Ghosto that acts as a transition from the Satoshi scene to the scene with Pikachu and Nyasu.  This panning shot is cut.

Commercial Cut--9 seconds
The Japanese commercial break occurs right after the Koratta ask Pikachu and Nyasu to stay with them forever.  When the show comes back from break, the last nine seconds from before the commercial break is repeated.  Since the dub commercial break occurred earlier in the episode, this "recap" footage is cut.

Speaking of commercial breaks, the "Who's That Pokemon?" for the Japanese version is Pikachu, just like it was in the very first episode.  Meanwhile, the dub has Forretress, a pokemon that doesn't even appear in this episode, as the "Who's That Pokemon?"  Kinda tactless if you ask me.

Cut--4 seconds
Four seconds is cut from the shots of Satoshi inside the ship after he arrives on Junsa's Pijotto. 

Cut--1 second
When Team Rocket is "floating off again," it's shortened by a second.

Cut--12 second
Right after the above cut, there's yet another cut.  Originally, we saw the Rocket-Dan, and then we got an exterior shot of the ship moving closer toward Houen.  We see a bunch of the passengers out on the deck, looking at the new land, and there's a Tohru-lookalike who announces that it's Mishiro Town.  All of this ship footage is cut from the dub.

Scene Shift
In the American version, the narrator makes comments about Ash finally arriving in Hoenn, the show goes to its final commercial break, and then the show comes back and there's the final part with the Hoenn pokemon and the revelation that Pikachu is really sick.  In the Japanese version, we had the narrator talk about Houen, and then they showed the end credits, and THEN they showed the Houen scenes as a sort of epilogue.  But since Kids' WB! broadcast format is so rigid, there's now way they'd let 4Kids show something after the end credits.  So it was just bumped up to before the credits.

Cut--5 seconds
The epilogue's first shot of the boat getting closer is shortened by five seconds.

Cut--2 seconds
The pan of the Kyamome and Pelipper was two seconds longer in the Japanese version.

Cut--4 seconds
The veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery last scene of entire series is shortened by four seconds.

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