Japanese Episode 13

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Japanese Episode 13

Japanese Episode 13: "Masaki no Toudai"

(“Masaki's Lighthouse“)

Satoshi is sad that he hasn’t caught any pokemon in a while, and so he wanders around on his own until he encounters a Krab. He captures the pokemon, but is surprised when Krab’s Monster Ball vanishes! Kasumi and Takeshi explain to Satoshi that it was just transported to Ookido-Hakase’s lab. Satoshi wants to check up on his pokemon, so he seeks a phone at the nearest building--a huge lighthouse. The keeper of the lighthouse is none other than the pokemon expert Masaki, and he teaches Satoshi-tachi quite a bit about pokemon. He tells them of a mysterious pokemon who he has been tracking, and that pokemon pays the lighthouse a visit. However, the Rocket-Dan scare it off, leaving Masaki unable to study it. Satoshi-tachi part ways with Masaki, enriched with the knowledge they’ve gained.

Thoughts
This is one of those standard “introduce something from the game into the anime” episodes. Namely, Masaki, the pokemon storage system, and the fact that (at the time of this episode) there are 150 pokemon in the world. It’s a pretty good episode until the end, when the whole thing seems kinda rushed, but otherwise it’s fine.

Both Krab and the Mystery Pokemon (who looks a lot like a Kairyuu) retain their Japanese voices.

Side Note
I don't remember who e-mailed me and brought this to my attention, so if you're reading this then please e-mail me. Notice the pokemon displayed on the door to Masaki's lighthouse--when the door opens up, you can see a panel with Myuutsu on it (you'll have to look really really closely). But think about it--Myuutsu was in development at this point in the anime. Only members of the Rocket-Dan (and elite members at that--low-ranking goons like Musashi and Kojirou wouldn't have any knowledge of its existence) should know anything about it. Yet Masaki has an image of the pokemon, fully-developed, decorating his front door. Doesn't make a lot of sense, now does it?

So either the anime producers hadn't thought about the movie at the time (I mean, they were only thirteen episodes into the series--a movie seemed so far off, I'm sure) or they're trying to tell us a secret about Masaki. Hmm...wonder what he'd look like in the black Rocket-Dan uniform?

Dialogue Edit
Time for more food changes!

Brock: “And I wonder if I could use your kitchen to make some bacon double-cheeseburgers for our group.”

Originally, Takeshi’s asking the same question (if he can use Masaki’s kitchen), but instead of American food he tells Masaki that he makes delicious eggs. A small difference that really wasn’t needed, but I felt like mentioning anyway.

Dialogue Edit
We get this lovely gem from Team Rocket:

Jessie: “That’s a big pokemon.”
James: “So size does matter.”

OK, they did NOT just make a Godzilla reference (“Size does matter” was the catch phrase for the super-crappy 1998 American-made Godzilla movie, which was a disaster at the box office). Make it stop...

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