Japanese Episode 2

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Japanese Episode 2

Japanese Episode 2: "Taiketsu! Pokemon SENTAA"

("Showdown! Pokemon Center")

After being attacked by the flock of Onisuzume the previous night, Satoshi takes his injured Pikachu to the nearest Pokemon Center in Tokiwa City. There, he waits patiently as his Pikachu is being taken care of. While he's waiting, he talks to his mother and to Ookido-Hakase, who tell him that Shigeru has already passed through the city. An angry Kasumi, the girl whose bike Satoshi borrowed in the previous episode, bursts into the center, demanding her bike back. But they are interrupted when Musashi, Kojirou, and Nyasu of the Rocket-Dan attack, intending to steal all the pokemon. However, with Pikachu's help, the trio is quickly beaten. Pikachu makes a full recovery, and Satoshi goes out into the Forest of Tokiwa to reach the next city. There, he sees a Kyatapii, and decides to catch it. Tsuzuku!

Thoughts
This episode introduces the villains of the series, the Rocket-Dan, but it isn't until a few episodes from now that they show their true colors. They're a bit too serious in these first episodes for my taste, but I guess the animators were still trying to figure out what direction to take with these characters. I also liked how the animators tried to give them some pizzazz...every time the Rocket-Dan peform their motto, the animators tried to spice it up a bit so that it's not the same old same old every time. Nowadays, the trio says it with no enthusiasm, no special effects, nothing. So I'm enjoying it while it's still there to enjoy.

Also in this episode, Satoshi visits an important aspect to the show--the Pokemon Center. Satoshi-tachi will visit them a lot in this series, just like you did in the game. Though I have to wonder where the other trainers are at...there's obviously room for more, but no other trainer is in sight. And it isn't that late when Junsa and Satoshi arrive, so there should have been *somebody* there.

There are no paint edits this episode, which lets me pick on the other stuff in this episode *heh*

Dialogue Edit
You know, when you show scenes from the previous episode in a recap, the dialogue usually remains the same...

Episode 1: "And I hereby declare to the pokemon of the world...I will be a pokemon master...Pokemon Master! That is what I'll..."

Recap in Episode 2: "That's right. I declare to the pokemon of the world...I will be the greatest pokemon trainer...the greatest pokemon master...of all time!"

In the Japanese version, the dialogue's the same. They just re-used the Episode 1 dialogue. Duh.

Dialogue Edit
You think humans and pokemon are the only things in this series to have their names changed!? Noooo...the Pokedex says this:

"I'm Dexter, a Pokedex programmed by Professor Oak for Pokemon Trainer Ash Ketchium of the town of Pallet."

Yes. "Dexter." You know, every time the people in the show refer to the Zukan as "Dexter," I always look around to see if Dee Dee's around to smash up his lab. "Dexter!?" Blech. Plus, that music playing in the background--that "Dexter theme music"--is made up by the dubbers. They play it every time Satoshi uses his Zukan, and it really tears on my nerves sometimes.

Side Note
This is weird...in the Japanese version, when Hanako answers the phone, she answers it as "Satoshi no haha," or "Satoshi's mom!" Who answers their phone like that!? From the first episode, Hanako's voice actress is listed in the credits as doing the voice of Hanako, not "Satoshi no haha." So they had the name "Hanako" from the beginning. Wonder why they didn't use it?

Dialogue Edit
In the first episode comparison, the sound on the Japanese tape I had wasn't good enough for me to pick up dialogue, but it was fine for this episode. What am I talking about? Satoshi's mom.

When Ash's mom is about to hang up on Ash, she makes sure to ask him if he's been changing his underwear every night. In the Japanese version, she just reminds him to brush his teeth in the morning.

So now it's official--the dubbed Hanako is obsessed with Satoshi's underwear-changing habits. Why? Was some staff member tramautized as a kid by their parents harrassing them about their underwear? Is Ash's mom's underwear fetish a sign of some deep-seeded psychological trauma she suffered as a child??? I don't know, but 4Kids decides to keep this a running gag throughout the series, and it's really idiotic.

Dialogue Edit
Gasp! It's the first cultural cover-up of the series!

This occurs when Ookido-Hakase calls up the Pokemon Center, asking to speak to Satoshi. And when the video comes on the monitor, all Satoshi can see is the back of Ookido's head. Well, in the dub, Ash says something like "I didn't recognize the back of your head." Makes sense, doesn't it?

But in the Japanese version, Satoshi says "Ramen desu ka, Ookido-Hakase," which means "Isn't that ramen, Ookido-Hakase?" That's because all Satoshi can see is the ramen, that stuff boiling in the beaker (the only thing animated in that particular scene). But "ramen" was too much for 4Kids, despite the fact that millions Americans use the word on a regular basis. So they rewrote it to remove the "Japanese-ness."

Sheesh...not even the most well-known and widely-eaten Asian food is allowed into this dub. They really are going out of their way to keep kids from finding out that this show came from Japan.

Music Edit
During Satoshi's conversation with Kasumi about Pikachu, starting from when the camera pans over to the doors of the ER and ending when the siren goes off announcing the arrival of the Rocket-Dan, the background song Namida no Chihare is heard (it's the music that plays at the end of the first episode before Pikachu shocks all those Onisuzume). In the dub, they have a bunch of different, much less serious music playing. It really ruins the tension of the scene, especially when they have that "goofy" music playing when Kasumi starts yelling.

Rocket-Dan
And we get the Rocket-Dan/Team Rocket Motto:

Nanda kanda to kikare tara
Kotaete ageru ga yo no nasake
Sekai no hakai o fusegu tame
Sekai no heiwa o mamoru tame
Ai to shinjitsu no aku o tsuranuku
RABURII CHAAMII* na kataki yaku
Musashi!
Kojirou!
Ginga o kakeru Roketto-Dan no futari niwa!
HOWAITO HOORU**! Shiroi ashita ga matteruze
Nya, Nyaante na

*RABURII CHAAMII=Lovely Charmy
**HOWAITO HOORU=White Hole

I also wanted to talk about the Rocket-Dan names. Sure, we know that Jessie and James are named after the Wild West people. That's obvious. Though it does look pretty stupid--I mean, James' mouth moves three times (Ko-ji-rou), but his name is only one syllable! I'm sure a lot of people wondered about that.

But I also wanted to talk about the name "Team Rocket"--Rocket-Dan translates to Rocket-Gang. So why didn't the dubbing people use Rocket Gang? I have a theory about that--this episode aired a few months after the Columbine school shootings. It was still fresh in Americans' minds, and the mere mention of the word "gang" brought bad memories, paranoia, and other feelings of suspicion and worry. And to have that word in a kids' show, describing the favorite characters of many fans, repeated serveral times a day will get Nintendo nothing but angry letter after angry letter. So I think that 4Kids and Nintendo just wanted to play it safe. No loss, I just wanted to say my two yen.

Side Note
We have more flashing, and the standard edit is done--slowing down the scenes that are flashing and dimming them--but this time, the people in Japan got a little creative. Originally, before the big incident occurred with Episode 38, all the flashing scenes were shown full-screen. After the big Episode 38 incident, they divided the screen in four, having each person who's being shocked occupy their own fourth of a screen. Rather tricky, huh? TV-Tokyo did the same thing with the opening theme...originally, pictures of pokemon flashed on the screen one at a time, but now the screen's divided in four.

And does anyone else wonder why there are so many Pikachu behind that desk when all the Pikachu gather to create the final attack against the Rocket-Dan? I mean, were they just sitting there waiting behind the desk, for some reason? Or is this just one of many "plot conveniences" present throughout the series?

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