Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode AG 083: "Otenki Kenkyuujo no Powarun!"

("The Weather Research Center's Powarun!!")

American Episode 355: "Unfair-Weather Friends"
Orchid-Hakase Pokémon Lecture:  Ledyba
Japanese Air Date: July 1st, 2004
American Air Date:  June 18th, 2005
Important Characters:  Milli (Milli), Bar (Bart), Ban'nai (Brody)
Important Places:  Weather Research Center (Weather Institute)

Satoshi and his friends are on the way to Hiwamaki City when the weather starts to change, from sunny to rainy to snowy!  Suddenly, a Powarun appears to lead our heroes out of the area where the weather is so fickle.  They soon meet two scientists, Milli and Bar, who guide the gang to the Weather Research Center where they work.  There, a giant antenna is used to control the weather, explaining the conditions Satoshi and his friends experienced.  As Milli shows Satoshi and his friends around the center, a helicopter belonging to the Aqua-Dan appears!  Izumi appears from the aircraft and tries to access the center's computer, but she is informed by one of the Aqua-Dan grunts that she'll need a pass card before they can continue.  Bar gives his pass card to Powarun and has it deliver the card to Milli.  Though it is pursued by the Aqua-Dan, Powarun makes it to Milli and our heroes.  The young trainers wonder what to do, and Milli suggests that they put all the data onto a disc and then delete the data on the hard drive, keeping the Aqua-Dan from stealing it for themselves.  Satoshi-tachi agree, so they work out a way to distract the Aqua-Dan (involving Milli's Metamon) in order to allow Milli access into the main computer room.  Once the data is transferred and deleted, Milli and the gang step outside.  The Aqua-Dan notice our heroes and tells Milli that if she doesn't give them the data, they'll hurt her co-workers.  After a brief struggle, Milli throws the Aqua-Dan the disc she just made.  The Aqua-Dan seem to have gotten their way until it's revealed that the disc Milli gave them was fake!  Suddenly, Milli jumps to the top of the antenna and reveals herself to be Ban'nai, a secret agent of the Magma-Dan!  Ban'nai, who has the real data disc, battles our heroes briefly before escaping on his rocket pack.  Our heroes mourn the loss of the center's data, but Bar reveals that they can just enter it into the computer all over again.  Soon after, a woman who claims to be Milli arrives at the Weather Research Center, quickly arousing everyone's suspicions.  However, after Takeshi confirms that she's the real deal, the gang returns on their road to Satoshi's next Gym Badge.

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Thoughts
I really really liked this episode.  I mean, it was good enough with the Weather Research Center and the Aqua-Dan and all, but Ban'nai made the episode stand out.  He's an interesting character (he's the best cross-dresser since Kojirou!), but unfortunately we don't get to learn too much more about him in the future.

By the way, here's an interesting fact:  the names of the two main scientists, Milli and Bar, come from millibar (mb), a unit of atmospheric pressure.

The dubbed version is pretty standard, except for "Brody's" terrible voice.  I don't know what sort of effect they were going for when they cast the character (I'm thinking "gay surfer") but it doesn't work at all for the character.  Other than that, though, the dub turned out good.  Shelly kept her "Fight for the Meteorite" name, so it's nice to see 4Kids be consistent with something.

Ippai Summer! replaces Smile as the ending theme in this episode.  The song will only stick around for a handful of episodes before we go right back to Smile, so it's not that big a deal.

Cut--7 seconds altogether
All the edits in this episode involve time cuts.  Whoo.

Three seconds are shaved off the opening scene of the episodes.

A second is cut right after the episode's title screen.

Another second is cut right after the Trainer's Choice commercial break.

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

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