Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode AG 049: "Masato to Masato!  Ametama o Mamore!"

("Masato and Masato!  Protect the Ametama!")

American Episode 321: "Maxxed Out!"
Orchid-Hakase Pokémon Lecture:  Miltank
Japanese Air Date:  October 30th, 2003
American Air Date:  October 30th, 2004
Important Characters:  Masato-kun (Max)

Satoshi and his friends stop at a Pokémon Center on the way to Hajitsuge Town.  While there, Haruka's Eneko starts to run amuck, annoying a young trainer named Masato.  The little boy, who looks almost exactly like Haruka's little brother, instantly begins a rivalry with Satoshi's traveling companion.  The Pokémon Center's Joi breaks up the fight, prompting Masato-kun to leave.  Afterwards, our heroes are walking around outside when Masato and Haruka come across Masato-kun and his pokemon, Ametama.  Masato goes up to the pokemon to get a closer look, but Masato-kun starts to argue with him again.  Takeshi suggests that everyone let out their pokemon to play, so Satoshi, Haruka, and Takeshi release all their pokemon.  When Haruka releases her Eneko, Masato-kun is surprised to learn that the unruly pokemon didn't belong to Masato.  Suddenly, the Rocket-Dan attack, trying to steal Masato-kun's Eneko!  The Rocket-Dan retreats when Eneko ruins Musashi's hair, but Masato-kun's Ametama is nowhere to be found!  Everyone guesses that the pokemon must have run off scared after the Rocket-Dan's attack, so everyone begins to search for the little water pokemon.  During the search, Masato and Masato-kun settle their differences and become friends.  Eventually, the pokemon is found, but the Rocket-Dan make one more attempt to snag the pokemon, but Masato and Masato-kun work together with Ametama to send the Rocket trio packing.  As Masato and his friends get ready to return to the road to Hajitsuge Town, they bid farewell to Masato-kun.

---

Thoughts
So out of nowhere, we get this Masato lookalike (called Masato-kun in the Japanese version).  It's an interesting enough idea, but the anime doesn't really do anything with it.  I mean, this boy looks almost exactly like Masato, yet everybody is hung up on the fact that the two young boys have the same name!?  What's up with that?

Oh well, we do get Ametama's debut, and it was great to see Musashi freak out over her hair again.  This episode has some funny bits that keep it from being completely forgettable, so it didn't feel like a huge waste of my time.

The dub is its boring usual self.  I really shouldn't complain about a lack of edits (I'm sure the One Piece Uncensored guy would love to be working on a series with a little edits as Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation), but they just make these comparisons so boring, both for me and for you guys.

Cut--2 seconds
Two seconds are cut from the beginning of the episode.

Music Edit
When the gang lets out their pokemon, the fifth opening theme to the original TV series, Ready Go!, plays in the background.  In the dub, it's replaced by regular dub background music.

Dialogue Edit
4Kids alters a piece of dialogue that sort of changes the reason Masato-kun doesn't like Masato:

Surskit Trainer Max:  "Whoa, I've never seen so many pokemon in one place before."
Petalburg City Max:  "Mmm.  You know, one of these days I'm gonna catch my own pokémon and then become the leader of a gym."

Originally, Masato-kun tells Masato that he's surprised to learn that the Eneko from before doesn't belong to him.  When he learns that the pokemon belongs to Haruka instead, he sort of backs down a bit, admitting that the pokemon was one reason he didn't care for Haruka's little brother.

It's a minor change, but it's an odd and pointless change nonetheless.

Music Edit
You know how, when Team Rocket is reciting their motto in the dub, we hear the usual Houen version of the Rocket-Dan theme?

In the Japanese version, that's not the music playing at all.  Instead, we hear that Rocket-Dan theme that was introduced in the Jouto episodes that is also used whenever you're about to battle a Rocket-Dan member in the Gold / Silver games.

So why am I bringing this up?  Because I think this may be the first time when 4Kids has replaced one piece of Japanese music with another piece of Japanese music.  Up until now, all the Japanese music you hear in the dub plays at the same point in the episodes as they did in Japanese, but here that's not the case at all. 

Cut--4 seconds altogether
The rest are time cuts.

Two seconds are cut right after Kids' WB!'s final commercial break.

Also, two seconds are cut from the TO BE CONTINUED... screen.

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