Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode AG 141: "Koduck's Depression!"
American Episode 411: "Sitting Psyduck"
Japanese Air Date:  August 25th, 2005
American Air Date:  May 27th, 2006
Important Characters:  Azumi (Emily)

While on their way to Yamabuki City, our heroes come across a Koduck.  The duck pokemon, who our heroes determine is not a wild pokemon, is being chased by a trio of fighting-type pokemon; Wanriki, Gohriki, and Kairiki!  Believing a three-on-one fight is unfair, Satoshi and his friends step in and defend the water-type.  As the battle commences, the Rocket-Dan appear and attempt to steal the duck pokemon so they can give it to their boss.  Much to our heroes' surprise, the fighting-type pokemon work together to rescue Koduck by sending them blasting off.  After the battle, a rich girl named Azumi appears in her horse-drawn carriage and reveals that she's the Koduck's trainer.  The water-type pokemon had run away from her mansion several times before, so she sent the three fighting-types after it to retrieve it.  When Azumi's pokemon returns to the mansion, our heroes notice that it's not as happy or energetic as it once was.  Takeshi determines that the pokemon envies the freedom shared by other pokemon, preferring a life outside filled with adventure to a pampered life spent indoors.  The Rocket-Dan appear a second time, so Azumi steps up to fend them off.  With Masato's help, Azumi is able to command her Koduck to defeat the Rocket-Dan's pokemon and send them blasting off.  Now that Azumi has figured out how to keep her pokemon happy, our heroes leave the young trainer to head toward Yamabuki City.

---

Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about this episode.  Yeah, the plot's basically a rehash of that Snubble episode from early Johto, but at the same time it does a lot of things right.  We finally get an episode that showcases the Kairiki family as actual good guys instead of the villains they're always portrayed as, and seeing a Koduck actually capable of doing something without being inflicted with a headache is nice.   Just like the Purin two episodes ago, this episode made a pokemon who usually isn't portrayed as being particularly powerful into this ass-kicking maniac, and I have to applaud that. 

4Kids continues their work in protecting American kids from the evils that are unintelligible scribbles.  Yeah, they've done this sort of edit before, and it isn't any less absurd now than it was then.  I mean, what's the point?  I had a theory that the paint editors may have seen these scribbles and mistaken them for real Japanese letters, but then I quickly dismissed it.  I mean, how unbelievably stupid can you be to work on hundreds of Japanese anime episodes a year and not know the difference between kanji and nonsensical scribbles?  I mean, if these scribbles are seen as Japanese in 4Kids' eyes, does that mean that they think that every four-year old in the world is fluent in written Japanese?

Cut--5 seconds altogether
The first three seconds of the episode are removed.  No surprise there.

Two seconds are also trimmed from the episode's title screen.  Again, no surprise.

Finally, a second is trimmed from the shot immediately following the title screen.  

Side Note
The voice acting for the new characters were pretty bad.  Machop sounded absolutely godawful, and Emily's voice had this annoying Queen Ayeka (from Tenchi Muyo!) quality to it.  I know that PUSA's going to be taking over soon, but that doesn't mean that 4Kids should just stop trying.

Paint Edit
Now here's what I call money well-spent.


Click on each image for a larger version.

The funny thing is that in the very next shot, 4Kids neglects to edit the wall scroll things.  Way to not be consistent, 4Kids.

Later, the banners behind the Rocket-Dan get altered in a bunch of scenes.


Click on each image to view a larger version.

Dialogue Edit
After Team Rocket reveals their pinball scheme:


Originally, Kojirou is saying that their Big Pokemon Pinball Plan is a success.  I guess 4Kids didn't want to/couldn't use the term Pokemon Pinball here (since it's the name of a product), so they had to rewrite this line. 

Cut--1 second
A second is trimmed from the shot of Koduck and Pikachu coming out of the net after the Trainer's Choice commercial break.

Music Edit
A nice, slow version of Smile plays in the background of the Japanese version when Koduck is playing with Pikachu and Gomazou.  It's a really nice arrangement, and I'll have to search to see if it's available on any of the CD's that have been released so far.

In the dub, this song is replaced by instrumental music. 

Cut--4 seconds altogether
Three seconds are trimmed from the pan shot after Kids' WB!'s final commercial break.

Finally, a second is trimmed from the TO BE CONTINUED... screen.

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