Episode Stats:

Weekly Pokemon Broadcasting Station #088: "Nanako and Lizardon!  The Special Training of Fire!"
Pokémon Chronicles Episode 17:  "Those Darn Electabuzz!"
Japanese Air Date:  September 21st, 2004
American Air Date:  September 23rd, 2006
Important Characters:  Tsuyoshi (Corey Damario), Don (Don), Kanta (Benny)
Important Places:  Unnamed mountain (Gloom Canyon)

The Elebuus are on a losing streak!  A disheartened Nanako watches as her favorite baseball team loses yet another game and thinks about how much better it would be if Tsuyoshi, the team's star player, would return to the game.  Just then, Tsuyoshi runs by Nanako, chasing after a Lizardon!  Nanako learns that Tsuyoshi is taking care of the pokemon for a young boy named Kanta because the fire-type pokemon is unable to fly or use Flamethrower.  Nanako decides to help out, so she leads the three in a series of high-spirited cheers.  Now that everyone is pumped up, Nanako challenges Kanta's Lizardon to a pokemon battle.  Nanako has Kanta's father, Shigeo, battle Lizardon with his Denryuu.  The fire-type pokemon loses easily, so the young trainer begins to taunt the pokemon.  Tsuyoshi becomes angry and runs off with Lizardon, promising to make it stronger.  The baseball player leads Lizardon to a nearby canyon where he attempts to get the pokemon to fly.  The fire-type pokemon is able to go a short distance, but before long it starts to plummet toward the river below!  As Tsuyoshi jumps in after the pokemon, Lizardon snags itself on a nearby branch while Tsuyoshi lands on a cliff below.  After hearing Lizardon's cries, Nanako and Kanta rush to the canyon to help the two.  As Nanako helps Tsuyoshi scale the canyon walls, the two slip and are tossed into the raging river!  Lizardon gathers all the courage it has and plunges in after them, rescuing them from being smashed against the rocks!  As the fire-type pokemon flies through the sky, Tsuyoshi and Nanako cheer at how the pokemon's overcome its fears.  Impressed with Lizardon's process, Tsuyoshi decides to return to baseball and lead the Elebuus to victory as Nanako cheers on.

---

Thoughts
As much as I friggin' hate Nanako with a passion...this episode wasn't that bad.  It was really nice to see a Lizardon that wasn't über-powerful, and the lack of any real villains also made this one stand out. 

The dubbed version is alright, but 4Kids still has that problem about giving characters pokemon that they don't really have.  That, and Casey's voice is still annoying as hell.

For your reference, this episode was released between episodes AG 094, "Jiiransu and the Deep Sea Treasure!" ("The Relicanth Really Can") and AG 095, "Huntail and Sakurabyss!  The Evolution Riddle!" ("The Evolutionary War!").  In the Japanese version, Marching March is used as the episode's ending theme.

Music Edit
For some reason, Nanako episodes are special because 4Kids keeps the Japanese music for her cheer in addition to the usual title screen music.  Every other piece of Japanese music, though, is scrapped.

Video Edit
Good old title screen edit:


Also, 4Kids had the narrator, of all people, read the episode's title.  Originally, Nanako read it.

Cut--1 second
A second is trimmed from the shot of Lizardon running during its entrance into the episode.

Added Footage--2 seconds
4Kids repeats the footage of Tsuyoshi and Lizardon running toward the canyon after they lose to Shigeo's Denryuu.  Originally, this footage only played once. 

Dialogue Edit
After Corey and Don get to the top of the canyon:


Originally, Tsuyoshi doesn't say a word...all we hear is the sound of the waterfall and the background music (which happens to be the happy music used at the beginning of "Destiny Deoxys").  In fact, the Japanese version doesn't even suggest that Tsuyoshi and Don had been there before.

Later, Benny's dad says that Corey was only supposed to be gone for one hour, but he's been gone for three.  In the Japanese version, no mention of how much time has passed is made. 

In the very next line, Benny says that Corey went to Gloom Canyon.  This place isn't given a name in the Japanese version.

Once the gang gets to the mountain, Casey gives us this line:


*Sigh*

Casey does not have a Magmar or a Rapidash!  Originally, she just commented on how fire-type pokemon hate water without naming two pokemon that would be out-of-character for her to own. 

Added footage--5 seconds
The shot of Corey climbing up the cliff with Casey on his back while Charizard watches them is played twice in the dub.  In the Japanese version, it's only played once.

Cut--7 seconds
Right after the above edit, there's another shot of Lizardon looking at our heroes before it yells and breathes a powerful Flamethrower.  Tsuyoshi and Nanako begin to cheer since Lizardon has finally learned the attack.


This is all cut out of the dub, and because of this, Charizard doesn't learn to use Flamethrower until the English version of the episode's almost over.

Music Edit
From the point where Lizardon saves Nanako and Tsuyoshi until the end of the episode, the fifth opening theme to the original Pocket Monsters series, Ready Go!, is played in the background.  Now if you've read some of my other comparisons, you'll know how much I despise how this song is overused as an insert song.  However, in this case, the song actually works, and it doesn't really sound half bad.

The dub, of course, replaces the song with a bunch of instrumental background music.  No surprise there.

Cut--16 seconds
The last 16 seconds of the episode are removed to get rid of that evil, evil TO BE CONTINUED text.  Also, right after the text, there's a bit with Nanako cheering on her team that's also removed from the dub.

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