Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode 058:  "Get Fired Up! The Guren Gym!"
American Episode 056:  "Riddle Me This"
Pokémon Dare Da?  Eleboo (Japan), Magmar (US)
Japanese Air Date:  August 13th, 1998
American Air Date:  September 18th, 1998
Important Characters:  Katsura (Blaine)
Important Places:  Guren Island (Cinnabar Island),

After a long journey Satoshi and his friends have finally landed on Guren Island! However, it seems that the island, once known for its Pokémon Gym and state-of-the-art Pokémon Laboratory, has turned into nothing more than a gaudy tourist trap! Weary from a day filled with trying to find other Pokémon Trainers, Satoshi and his friends decide to stay at the the inn run by the man they bumped into earlier. Later that night, our heroes thwart an attempt by the Rocket trio to kidnap the pokemon inside the Pokémon Laboratory and are rewarded by being told about a secret, second Pokémon Gym hidden deep inside the island's volcano. When our heroes show up for their battle they're shocked to discover that their riddle-loving innkeeper is none other than Katsura, the Guren Island Gym Leader! Satoshi thinks his Zenigame being a Water-Type will give him the edge in their first match but Katsura's Kyukon proves that type match-ups don't matter at this Gym! Satoshi decides to send out his Lizardon to go up against Katsura's Saidon in the second match but his Fire-Type's inability to follow orders cost Satoshi the win. Luckily, Satoshi's Pikachu is able to turn things around and defeats Saidon with a well-targeted Thunderbolt attack. Katsura's third pokemon is Boober. It uses a barrage of Fire Punch attacks to back Pikachu to the edge of the ring before launching a Daimonji attack that threatens to burn Pikachu to a crisp! What will Satoshi do!? To be continued!

---

Thoughts
Imagine, if you will, what it would have been like if you were watching these Kanto episodes as they were debuting in Japan. You've played Red & Green over and over and are understandably excited when the TV adaptation finally arrives at this Guren Island. There's no way they could not feature Pokémon Mansion, right!? Which means, of course, that we're also going to get at least a hint of Mewtwo in the TV series! How will it tie into the new movie that just came out just last month?

Obviously none of that actually happened. Instead, we get "this island has been turned into a tourist trap because lolz." Which, I have to say, is a pretty ingenious way for the writers to say screw you, we'll do what we want! The Pokémon Mansion is completely ignored, the Pokémon Laboratory is briefly shown but is vastly different from the games (it's a place where Fighting-Type pokemon hang out, apparently?), and the Guren Gym is now an arena where pokemon can fall into a pool of lava and die a horrifying, agonizing death. Not terrible, by any means, but it is upsetting to see the TV series squander a perfectly good game location like this for seemingly no reason.

Even Katsura himself is this weird mixed bag of video game references and change just for the sake of change. The series brings in his quiz-loving ways from the video games but then drastically alters his character design for a lame katsura pun...? And then there's his pokemon team! Neither Boober nor Kyukon had been featured all that much at this point in the series so I'm absolutely OK with their inclusion here but then we also get Saidon, a non Fire-Type who's eventually defeated by a Thunderbolt attack of all things! I get that the TV series wants to do its own thing and not be too predictable but then why not use another Fire-Type like Gallop or Windie instead?

I know it probably sounds like I hate this episode when I'm actually just mildly annoyed by some of the decisions it makes. I actually don't think it's that bad a way to spend a half hour of your day! Katsura's riddles are pretty fun, Shigeru's regular reminder that he exists leads to that great scene in the ryokan, and it shows that this series is finally trying to turn the tide on the whole "pity badges" thing it's been doing for a while now.

The script for the English version is really, really unfaithful. Literally every one of Katsura's riddles get rewritten for reasons I don't quite understand and there are lots of other, non-riddle related rewrites as well. It's actually much worse than usual! Add to that the various digital paint and music edits throughout the episode and you've got an adaptation that's as unfaithful to its source material as the original Japanese episode is to the Red & Green games.

Dialogue Edit
We're going to be bouncing back and forth between "Dialogue Edits" and "Paint Edits" a lot today. The first script change happens on the ferry to Cinnabar:

Japanese Version	English Version
Kasumi:  "Satoshi, the finish line to your journey to becoming a Pokémon Master feels like it's just up ahead, doesn't it?"	Misty:  "I can't wait til we get to Cinnabar. It's supposed to be beautiful."
Takeshi:  "Guren Island is a volcanic island that has a laboratory that researches the strong pokemon it raises there. It's a place where Trainers from all over the nation gather."	Brock:  "It's got an awesome volcano. Best of all, its Pokémon research laboratory is one of the best in the world. Trainers come from all over to learn the latest Pokémon techniques."

Pretty different! Kasumi's line about Satoshi becoming a Pokémon Master soon is pretty ridiculous, sure, but Brock's line about Trainers coming to a laboratory of all places to learn "the latest Pokémon techniques" is equally baffling.

Gary makes his (pointless) appearance:

Gary:  "Trainers? You don't have a clue, as usual."
Ash:  "Huh?"
Gary:  "Pokémon Trainers haven't gone to Cinnabar Island since my grandfather's days as a Trainer."

Originally Shigeru just mentions that it's been a long time since Guren Island has been a popular spot among Trainers. He doesn't mention his grandfather (Professor Oak? Or his other grandfather...?) the way the dub does.

A little late:

Gary:  "I've earned so many badges already I'm taking a break to work on my tan."
Girls:  "He's so cool!"
Ash:  "A real Trainer never takes a break! So while you're tanning, I'll be at the Gym winning a badge."

In the Japanese version Shigeru tells his rival that he's going to relax in the hot springs to melt away the fatigue he's built up from battling so much lately. Satoshi responds by asking if he really thinks he'll be able to win himself a Crimson Badge with an attitude like that.

Also, "a real Trainer never takes a break," says the kid who does nothing but that in the weeks leading up to the Pokémon League.

Music Edit
As our heroes get off the ferry, Pokémon Ondo can be heard playing in the background. 4Kids replaces this with some tropical island paradise-esque sounding music.

Paint Edit
And so we begin 4Kids' digital paint extravaganza.

Various food stands get their text erased throughout Guren Island. From left to right; okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), a type of savory Japanese pancake; manjuu (まんじゅう), a type of Japanese confectionary; and takoyaki (たこやき), or balls of octopus meat. A sign way in the background says umi no-- (海の〇〇) but has its text cut off so it's hard to tell what they were going for.
The 処 symbol gets erased from the wooden sign on the left there.
Komono (こもの), or "accessories" gets erased from the sign on the bottom left-hand side.
Wagashi (和菓子), or "Japanese sweets," gets erased from the blue sign. The text on the yellow sign behind Kasumi is removed as well.
As our heroes continue walking through the streets, the signs behind Takeshi get their text erased as well.

There are five shots during the part of the episode where our heroes walk around Cinnabar Island checking out how much of a tourist trap it's become that get their text erased.

Dialogue Edit
And now we get to the first of the rewritten riddles I was talking about earlier:

Japanese Version	English Version
Katsura:  "My head is cool but my body is hot. What am I?"	Blaine:  "What do tourists think is hot...and cool?"
(no dialogue)	Ash, Misty, Brock:  "Uh..."
Satoshi:  "It's obvious! You're someone who takes a nap after putting your head in front of an open refrigerator and wrapping yourself in an electric blanket...right?"	Ash:  "I know the answer to that one! If you lie down in front of an open refrigerator and you wrap yourself in an electric blanket, you'll be hot and cool at the same time. Right?"
Katsura:  "What are you talking about?"	Blaine:  "Totally...wrong."
Kasumi:  "Could this be some kind of riddle? Then that means the answer is a hot spring!"	Misty:  "Hot springs are really hot, and...and tourists think they're cool!"

The Japanese riddle doesn't contain any untranslatable puns or confusing cultural references and could have been brought over as-is with no problem whatsoever. So why not just do that...?

Paint Edit
The shot of Blaine screaming gets its Japanese text erased:

Most of the text in this shot is either just random scribbles or are actual words but are too small to make out. However, the sign behind Kasumi's head says kurage-dou (海 月堂), or "jellyfish hall," which I guess means they sell jellyfish or something...?

Dialogue Edit
Here's another rewritten riddle:

Japanese Version	English Version
Katsura:  "I'm right in front of your eyes but you can't see me. What am I?"	Blaine:  "His Gym is right where you put yo glasses."
Satoshi:  "Uh...that's, um..."	Ash:  "Uh...glasses..."
Takeshi:  "An invisible man?"	Brock:  "That's a tricky one."
Kasumi:  "It's your eyelids!"	Misty:  "In front of your eyes?"
Katsura:  "You're right again!"	Blaine:  "You're right again!"

Again, perfectly translatable riddle gets rewritten for basically no reason!

Paint Edit
And back to the digital paint!

The 寿 text on the wooden sign as well as the text on the green banners underneath get erased.

Dialogue Edit / Paint Edit
Blaine introduces himself:

Blaine:  "Here's my card. If you need anything..."

There's also some digital paint applied to Blaine's "card" to localize the name of his inn.

In the original version, the rectangle shaped object Katsura hands our heroes is a tissue pack, not a business card.

In Japan, a common sight when walking around a big city like Tokyo is people standing outside stores passing out tissue packs to whomever happens to walk by. These tissue packs will often have an ad for whatever store they work for, information about its location, and maybe even a coupon for whatever item they happen to sell. The idea is that if you pass out a bunch of flyers then people will just end up throwing them away without bothering to look at them but that if you include your ad in a pack of tissues (which are not all that expensive to produce) then people will be more likely to be exposed to your ad thanks to the tissues' functionality. The phenomenon is known as tisshu kubari (ティッシュ配り), or "tissue-pack marketing.

So OK, tissue pack to business card. That's an understandable enough of a localization change. But then shouldn't 4Kids have also edited out the little white bit on the left there that shows that whatever he's handing our heroes is part of a stack of something? Because right now it looks like Blaine just gave Ash a big stack of business cards for no real reason.

Dialogue Edit
Our heroes visit Mew's lab:

Ash:  "Oh, it's just a bunch of souvenir stands!"
Brock:  "Looks like the Pokémon Lab's just another tourist attraction!"

Satoshi doesn't call them souvenir stands, especially since they're clearly food stands, but instead just says that this area's also just another tourist area.

Paint Edit
Signs on the food stands all around the lab get their text erased as well.

From the top working counter-clockwise: Resutoran 5 (レストラン5), or "Restaurant 5"; SHKttu (I have no idea actually...); and man (まん), which is most likely the first part of manjuu (まんじゅう).
The stands on the left both have signs that say takoyaki (たこ焼き). On the right, going from the back forward, we have udon (うどん), yaako (ヤーコ), which may come from yakon-imo (ヤーコン芋), a type of potato; and what looks like the first part of okonomiyaki (お好み焼き).
The little bits of text we can see peeking out from behind Kasumi's bangs and Satoshi's left shoulder get erased.
Same with the text on the blue behind Kasumi here.
The text that says takoyaki (たこ焼き) in the background and the kanji on the back of the Rocket duo's jackets get erased.
The okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) text on the red banner in the back gets removed.

Dialogue Edit
The dub refers to the Nyarth-shaped taiyaki the Rocket trio's frying up as "cookies," because apparently 4Kids thinks that we think frying up dough on a skillet is how cookies are made...?

Paint Edit
As our heroes try to find a place to stay, signs at the various inns they try to get into get their text replaced with the word "hotel."

Say goodbye to the text on the red banners behind Kasumi and Takeshi!
The Japanese text on the sign in front there, which is too small for me to make out, gets changed to HOTEL.
Guren Ryo (紅蓮旅), which is probably short for Guren Ryokan (紅蓮旅館), or "Guren Inn," also gets changed to HOTEL.
When 4Kids edited the text on this tissue pack the second time around they also moved the clouds over from the right side of the image to the left. This is inconsistent with their previous edit of the tissue pack in which the clouds had been erased altogether.

Dialogue Edit
As our heroes' search continues:

Ash:  "Oh, I'm so hungry I could eat a Horsea."
Misty:  "I'm too tired to eat. I just want a nice, soft bed."

In the original Satoshi doesn't mention wanting to eat any pokemon in a clever turn of phrase; he just says he's hungry.

Our heroes run into Gary:

Japanese Version	English Version
Takeshi:  "Can you believe this? People having such a rowdy party?"	Brock:  "I've had it. Let's just find a spot to camp out."
Satoshi:  "Ah...that smells good..."	Ash:  "Hey...that smells good."
Takeshi:  "Hey, Satoshi! Where are you going?"	Brock:  "Wait Ash, where you goin'?"
Pikachu:  "Pika-pi!"	Pikachu:  "Pika-pi!"
Kasumi:  "Hey! Wait a minute, Satoshi!"	Misty:  "We already tried this hotel. It's full."

If Misty and the others had "already tried this hotel" then wouldn't you think they would have run into Gary and his cheerleaders at some point? I mean look at that party; there's no way they haven't been there a few hours already.

Also, I kind of think Takeshi's first line here is hilarious because it totally makes him sound like an old man complaining about the neighbors being too loud and not at all like a 15-year old traveling around the country with his friends.

Ash and his friends meet Gary in his super American hotel:

Japanese Version	English Version
Shigeru:  "It's amazing, isn't it? It's a delicacy known as sankai."	Gary:  "See all the food they give ya? And that's just the appetizers."
Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi:  (gulp)	Ash, Misty, and Brock:  (gulp)
Shigeru:  "Well...since it's called sankai, if you spin around three times and cry out "Pikachu!" then I'll let you come eat with us."	Gary:  "Say, I've got an idea. I'll give you my leftovers in a doggy bag if you spin around three times and say "Pikachu"."
Satoshi:  "Get real! There's no way we can do that!"	Ash:  "Not on your life! I'd die of hunger first!"

A play on words is what prompts Shigeru to make such a strange request. The delicacy he's referring to, sankai, is written as 山海 and is used to refer to food that comes from either the mountains or the sea.

However, if you write sankai as 三回, then the meaning changes to "three times." In other words, Shigeru hearing himself say sankai (山海) gives him the idea to tease Satoshi by asking his Pikachu to spin around san kai (三回), or "three times." A sorta-kinda similar but not all that great way to convey this in English would be to have the dialogue be something like "This food all comes from the sea. Well, I'd like to see you spin around three times..."

Also, 4Kids lets Ash say "die" here, which is kind of amazing.

Jigglypuff enters the room:


Originally Shigeru wonders if Purin is a new geisha.

Music Edit
So in the first half of the Purin performance in the original there's no background music whatsoever; instead, all we hear is the sound of Purin's voice singing over the strings of the shamisen. As the performance continues, the regular Purin theme music starts to creep in, starting right around the time we reach that stylized shot of everyone asleep on clouds and slowly building up louder and louder until the song is over. It's weird, but it works.


So how did 4Kids handle this? They decided to just take whatever version of the Purin theme they happened to have on file and slap it over the raw footage. That probably doesn't sound so bad until you see it in action because the singing and the music are way out of sync. The animation was never intended to go along with that song but 4Kids tried to shoehorn it in anyway because reasons. The whole thing is honestly kind of a hot mess.

Dialogue Edit
Riddle number three:

Japanese Version	English Version
Takeshi:  "Satoshi, earlier you received some tissues from that old man, didn't you?"	Brock:  "Ash, what about that card that old guy gave you?"
Satoshi:  "Ah. Huh? There's something written here."	Ash:  "Uh...hmm, must be directions to his hotel."
Takeshi:  "Hmm? "Below is a swing. Above an older brother is chasing his younger brother. That's where the Riddle Bed & Breakfast is."	Brock:  "Huh? That's strange. "If you look near the swing, you'll see my hands...or at least my face.""
Satoshi:  "Aw! Not another riddle!"	Ash:  "Aw! Not another riddle!"
Takeshi:  "So this swing he's talking about...is it the one in this park?"	Brock:  "There's a swing over there, but I don't see anybody's hands or face."
Satoshi:  "Huh?"	Ash:  "Me neither."
Kasumi:  ""Above an older brother is chasing his younger brother"...? (close up of a clock) That's it! It's a clock!"	Misty:  "Hmm..."You'll see my hands or at least my face." (close up of a clock) I've got it! He means a clock!"
Satoshi:  "A clock?"	Ash:  "A clock?"
Pikachu:  "Pika?"	Pikachu:  "Pika?"
Kasumi:  "That's right. Above the swing is a building with a clock tower on it. That's the Riddle Bed & Breakfast!"	Misty:  "Look up there. You can see the hands and face of a clock. That must be the Big Riddle Inn."
Katsura:  "You did well to crack that tough riddle!"	Blaine:  "Once again, Misty came up with the correct solution."

I just don't understand why 4Kids would expend the energy needed to think up all these new riddles when the original ones can be translated without any problems whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, the ones 4Kids comes up with are fine; it's just such an unnecessary use of their time and energy.

Also, Blaine knows Misty's name now all of a sudden?

Eyecatch
Guys, we're only at the halfway point here!


Anyway, Eleboo in the original, Magmar in the dub.

Dialogue Edit
Thankfully there are no paint edits in the second half of the episode but that doesn't mean we don't have plenty of script rewrites!

Here's riddle number four:

Japanese Version	English Version
Katsura:  "As someone who lives here on Guren Island, I'd like to thank you for saving the laboratory pokemon. As a reward I'll tell you where Katsura's Gym is currently located."	Blaine:  "Thanks for saving the Pokémon, Ash. You deserve a big reward. So I'll let you in on a little secret. Blaine built a Gym that tourists never see. "
Satoshi:  "Eh?! Really!?"	Ash:  "He did!?"
Katsura:  "Mmm. Above is a lot of water, below is a lot of fire. Where am I?"	Blaine:  "Mmm-hmm. It's in the place where firefighters could never win."
Satoshi:  "Another riddle? Really?"	Ash:  "Another riddle? What kind of reward's that?"
(later that night)	(later that night)
Satoshi:  (sighs) "...that's what he said."	Ash:  "Oh, I can't figure it out."
Takeshi:  ""Above is a lot of water, below is a lot of fire"...what could it be?"	Brock:  "It's where a firefighter could never win. Where could that be?"
Kasumi:  "Well, the answer is obviously a bath...but what does he mean the gym's currently open there?"	Misty:  "Where could a firefighter never win? Hmm. Maybe someplace that doesn't have enough water."

The riddle in the Japanese version is that fire (or, in the case of this episode, a volcano) is used to heat up the water of the hot springs. The dub changes it completely for, again, no reason whatsoever.

Riddle number five:

Japanese Version	English Version
Katsura:  "People say it's fine if you don't this but not OK if you do find out about it. What am I?"	Blaine:  "It's not a hat, but it keeps your head dry. If you wear it, it's only because you already lost it."
Satoshi:  "Eh...a test answer?"	Ash:  "Uh...an umbrella?"
Takeshi:  "A test answer's something you can say if you know it but not something you can say if you don't know."	Brock:  "An umbrella keeps your head dry, but you don't wear it because ya lost it."
Satoshi:  "Ah, I guess you're right."	Ash:  "Yeah, I guess not."
Kasumi:  "A wig!"	Misty:  "It's a wig!"
Satoshi:  "What are you talking about?"	Ash:  "What do you mean?"
Kasumi:  "It's OK if you don't know it's there but if you do find out someone's wearing a wig then it's not OK to tell them you know."	Misty:  "A wig isn't a hat, but it keeps your head dry in the rain. And the only reason you wear a wig is if you already lost your hair."
Katsura:  "Ding ding ding ding! You're right!!!"	Blaine:  "And Misty's done it again!"

Both versions act like wigs are only worn by people who have embarrassingly lost their hair (there are lots of other, non-medical reasons a person may choose to wear one!) and I'm not really sure where the dub gets the idea that wigs somehow keep your head dry.

This wig talk leads right into this next exchange:


I don't get it, Blaine, but it's not your fault at all.

In Japan the Guren Island Gym Leader's name is Katsura (カツラ). Like all the other Gym Leaders in Red & Green, Katsura's name comes from a type of plant, in this case the Japanese Judas tree. However, the word katsura can also mean, oddly enough, "wig."

So in the Japanese version, Katsura wears a katsura because, well, his name is Katsura. It's a dumb joke and Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi's reactions indicate that the writer of this episode is very well aware of this.

Unfortunately for 4Kids there's nothing about the name "Blaine" that also has anything to do with wigs or disguises or anything like that so the reason Blaine wears a wig just kind of goes unexplained.

4Kids also decides to have Blaine change his voice when he takes off his disguise for some reason. His voice both in and out of disguise is the same in the Japanese version.

Side Note
Let's talk about one of the most infamous parts of this episode:

Ash says this right before Pikachu looks up, notices Rhydon's horn, and decides to zap it with electricity to take it down.

This line has been misquoted as "Pikachu! Aim for the horn!" or simply "Aim for the horn!" for years and is basically the "Luke, I am your father" of the Pokémon franchise.

Regardless of whether you're looking at the actual line or the misquote, however, this simple line in the English version changes a major part of the battle from the Japanese version.

Originally, Satoshi simply says Pikachuu, ganbare! (ピカチュ ウ、がんばれ！) or "Pikachu! Hang in there!" That seems like a fairly harmless rewrite but it actually changes who comes up with the strategy that takes down Pikachu's opponent. In the original Pikachu hears "Pikachu! Hang in there!", looks up at Saidon, and comes up with the lightning rod idea all by itself. In the English dub, meanwhile, the yellow mouse hears "Pikachu, the horn!", looks up at Rhydon, and zaps its opponent because that's how it decides to interpret its Trainer's order. It seems like a small change but it actually makes Pikachu a little less clever than it is in Japanese.

Right before the Gym Leader calls on his Magmar:

Japanese Version	English Version
Katsura:  "I am the hottest fire in this world and I stir within the magma inside the magma. What am I?"	Blaine:  "This Pokémon is too hot to handle. And it has a power that should interest you because it turns all its opponents into ash."
Satoshi:  "I told you I'm no good at riddles!"	Ash:  "No fair! It's too hot to solve riddles!"

4Kids took a perfectly translatable (if not dumb) riddle from the Japanese version and turned it into a forced play on words that probably caused a lot of headaches for the poor translators in other countries. How did, say, the French dub handle this line? Or the German dub? Or literally any other dub in the world?

I always hear people explain away 4Kids' tendency to erase Japanese writing in this show and not bother to put anything in its place as it being merely an attempt to make the dub easier for international localizers but I don't buy that for a second when I see the dub pull shit like this on a fairly regular basis.

(Also, did Blaine just admit to Ash that his Pokémon's killed every opponent it's come across so far? Pretty dark!)

Finally:


That's...that's not how lava lamps work.

Originally the narrator says that Pikachu is in its greatest pinch thanks to Boober's Daimonji attack.

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This page was last updated on July 8th, 2017