Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode AG 078: "Pokémon Kontesuto!  Ruibosu Taikai!!"

("The Pokémon Contest!  The Ruibosu Convention!!")

American Episode 350: "Cruisin' for a Losin' "
Orchid-Hakase Pokémon Lecture:  Bakuphoon
Japanese Air Date: May 27th, 2004
American Air Date:  May 14th, 2005
Important Characters:  Sonota (Sonny)

The time has come for the Ruibosu Convention!  Haruka is confident that she can win, as she effortlessly makes her way through the first round with her Agehanto.  Tsukiko steps up and , after a rough starts, wows the crowd with her Booster's combination of Swift and Ember.  Afterward, Shuu wows the judges with his Roselia.  The three Coordinators, along with an unknown Kirinriki trainer named Sonata, advance into the finals, and the first match pits Shuu against Sonota.  Shuu easily wins with his Anemoth, so it's now time for the match between Haruka and Tsukiko.  Haruka, using her Fushigidane, becomes frustrated when her pokemon shows symptoms of stage fright.  The pokemon is pummeled by Tsukiko's Kodora, but Haruka wants her pokemon to continue fighting.  The judges call the match off and then berate Haruka for being too overconfident and not thinking of her pokemon's well-being.  A now humbled Haruka sits quietly outside until Satoshi approaches her and cheers her up by telling her that her loss can be used to make herself better.  Haruka thanks her friend and becomes determined not to fall prey to the same obsession with winning that caused her downfall in the Ruibosu Convention.

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Thoughts
I really liked this Contest episode.  Sure, Haruka was acting like a stuck-up bitch for the majority of the episode, yelling at people she shouldn't have been yelling at, but it was a good character developing episode for the young Coordinator. 

Another thing I liked about this episode was the fact that we got to see the other, non-Haruka centered battles.  I really appreciated seeing the Shuu vs. Sonota battle and the Shuu vs. Tsukiko battle because it gives the Contest a sense of completeness that other events in the anime are lacking (like the Silver Convention). 

The dub isn't too exciting, though I did laugh at one of the Cheermom's (as they're called in the closed captioning) lines before Savannah's appeal stage.  The MFP member's "This calls for the perfect cheer" line reminded me of those Saturday Night Live skits with Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri.  I don't know if that was the effect they were going for with that line or not, but it did get a laugh out of me.

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

Dialogue Edit
This occurs during the explanation of why Lairon's Shock Wave attack paralyzing May's Bulbasaur:


Ash's and Max's lines are more or less the same in the Japanese version, but Brock's line is different.  Originally, Takeshi guessed that Haruka's Fushigidane is being affected by the characteristic Seidenki (Static).  Hoshika then confirms Takeshi's guess, saying that since the two pokemon were connected by Fushigidane's Vine Whip, Kodora's Shock Wave attack had the same effect as a pokemon with the Static characteristic would.

I don't know why the dub has been avoiding all mention of pokemon characteristics (they did the same thing in "Balance of Power").  I'm going to guess that 4Kids doesn't really understand the whole concept of pokemon characteristics (I mean, this is the same company that thought Arbok evolved into Seviper), and so when it comes to translating lines like these, they don't know what to do with them. 

Cut--2 seconds
And two seconds are cut from the TO BE CONTINUED... screen.

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