Japanese Episode 21

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Japanese Episode 21

Japanese Episode 21: “BAI BAI Butterfurii”

(“Bye Bye Butterfrii”)

On the road to Yamabuki City, Satoshi-tachi spot a huge crowd of Butterfrii. Takeshi explains that it’s time for the Butterfrii’s egg-laying season, so Satoshi sends out his Butterfrii to let it find a mate. Unfortunately for Satoshi’s Butterfrii, the Pink Butterfrii it’s interested in doesn’t want anything to do with it. The Rocket-Dan appear to kidnap the huge swarm of Butterfrii, and only Satoshi’s Butterfrii is spared. Satoshi-tachi follow the Rocket-Dan’s helicopter to their hideout where Satoshi’s Butterfrii gets to be heroic for its prospective mate. All of the Butterfrii are freed and Musashi-tachi are eventually defeated. The Pink Butterfrii now wants to hook up with Satoshi’s Butterfrii, so Satoshi, with a tear in his eye, lets his Butterfrii go back to the wild to be with its mate.

Thoughts
I kinda like this episode. It’s the first time Satoshi lets go of one of his pokemon, and it’s also the first time we see the Rocket-Dan’s helicopter. Plus, the animation in this episode is better than usual. The only thing that bothers me is that they’re still calling Ash’s Pokedex “Dexter.” That just really bothers me for some reason.

The Pink Butterfrii keeps its Japanese voice (Nishimura Chinami).

Music Edit
The background music that plays at the beginning of the Japanese episode (before the title screen) continues playing as the title screen appears and then a little bit afterwards. They don’t break it in the middle and use the usual “title screen” music. In the dub, they replaced that one song with three different songs--one for before the title screen, then the title screen music, and then music for after the title screen. It’s actually pretty neat in the Japanese version--wonder why the dubbers changed it?

Side Note
I had a question all throughout this episode--there’s a huge swarm of bug-type pokemon (Butterfrii) around almost all throughout the episode, and Kasumi doesn’t even flinch! I mean, isn’t she supposed to be afraid of bugs? Yet for this episode, she seems to be cured of her fear. She’s even giving advice to Butterfrii who, as a Kyatapii, couldn’t so much as look at her without her running away. I guess the animators forgot about this aspect of Kasumi’s personality.

Paint Edit
The banner trailing behind the Rocket-Dan’s chopper originally had their motto written in Japanese. It said “Nanda kanda to kikare tara,” then had a picture of a SD Musashi, and then “Kotaete ageru ga yo no nasake” followed by a picture of a SD Kojirou. Musashi said her part of the motto when her part appeared on the banner on-screen, and the same goes for Kojirou. In the dub, they erased all the text and added a Team Rocket R at the front of the banner (they’ve used that R a lot lately…). It’s kind of funny, because in the dub the camera’s doing a pan shot of a blank banner.

Music Edit
The song at the end of the Japanese episode was Mezase Pokemon MASUTAA--in the dub, they use Pokemon Theme (great title, huh?). It’s pretty obvious why they replaced the music, and at least they replaced the Japanese song with the English equivalent instead of just making up a new song. It’s really hard to feel sad that Butterfrii’s leaving when all you hear is “Pokemon…Gotta Catch ‘em All” chanted over and over, but the Japanese song wasn’t any more “sad,” so the scene really wasn’t hindered by the music.

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