Japanese Episode 10

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Japanese Episode 10

Japanese Episode 10: "Kakure Zato no Fushigidane"

("Fushigidane's Hidden Village")

Satoshi-tachi get lost and are forced to cross a delapidated bridge to proceed. Unfortunately, the bridge breaks and Takeshi is hurled into the nearby river. He eventually finds his way back to Satoshi and Kasumi, telling them that he was saved by a young girl named Midori. Midori runs a secret village that takes care of sick and abandoned pokemon, and the village's chief defender is a Fushigidane. The Rocket-Dan appear in a giant stadium to steal all the pokemon, and Satoshi, working with the stubborn Fushigidane, make quick work of the trio. Midori decides that Fushigidane needs to leave the village so that it can grow, and everyone decides that it's best for it to travel with Satoshi. Satoshi graciously accepts, and now has one of the starter pokemon!

Thoughts
This episode's OK...I mean, the whole idea that a village (which consists of only one house, mind you) being protected by one Fushigidane is a bit far-fetched. But I suppose they wanted to introduce Fushigidane as a tough pokemon, and this was the best they could come up with. This episode starts a trio of episodes where Satoshi gets the three Red/Green/Blue starter pokemon, but I think this episode is the worst of the three--I mean, the Rocket-Dan are even using a scheme they've used before, using the giant hose they used three episodes before to suck up all the pokemon. And then there's that really fake scene with Kasumi crying to the Nazonokusa...OK, I take it all back...this episode's really bad.

However, I think this is the episode that Eric Stuart takes over as James' voice actor. Apparently, 4Kids didn't like the way Ted Lewis had been doing it, so Eric Stuart took over as the voice of James, presumably until the end of the series. Ted Lewis still does voices in the show, so I don't think there was any type of animosity between 4Kids and Mr. Lewis. Anyway, most people tend to like Eric Stuart's James better because he's goofier and is able to do the character better. I'll have to agree...Ted Lewis was waaaaaaaaaaaay too serious for the role.

The dub has a very small amount of edits...in fact, there's only one that I saw. Then again, there wasn't as much to paint out as there was in the last episode...

Paint Edit
The flying stadium the Rocket-Dan are floating on has banners with all sorts of kanji on it. Of course, all the kanji was eliminated. I'd tell you what they said, but you'll have to wait for a few more semesters of Japanese class before I can attempt it.

Side Note
The narrator says, at the end of the episode:

Narrator: "Let's just hope our heroes don't take any more shortcuts, or we may never get there!"

Oh Mr. Narrator...just wait until Jouto starts...just you wait...

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