Pokemon S01E02 Review: Prepare For Trouble; And Make It Double

Pokemon, Episode 2: Showdown! Pokemon Center!

We're still in the 'introductory' phase of the Pokemon anime, so before we settle into a glut of formulaic, repetitive episodes, we're actually still building up the world and introducing characters. Looking back at these earlier episodes, it's actually quite interesting which parts are clearly meant to be filler episodes, and which parts are the ones that the writers actually cared about.

In a bit of buildup, we get Ash and the wounded Pikachu arriving in Viridian (Tokiwa) City, where apparently the resident police officer, Jenny, is warning people of Pokemon abductors. This is the first appearance of Team Rocket, and I do like how they're initially build up to be oh-so-threatening and malevolent. From the foreshadowings of them via wanted posters, to their first scene of ominously looming over the city on their little Meowth hot-air-balloon and being shadowed while talking ominously, this is actually a pretty fun introduction to this trio of villains, including their talking Meowth. (Who, by the way, everyone straight-up brushes off as normal in this episode). Of course, they'll be infamous for being the most un-threatening villains in the world of anime, but hey, there's a bit of unintentional comedy in seeing how serious they were treated in their first appearance.

The original Japanese voice actors for Jessie, James and Meowth (or Musashi, Kojiro and Nyarth, going by their original names) are pretty fun, and clearly able to ham it up, but in one thing that the dub does best is casting James as a campy, hammy man, and giving Meowth a Brooklyn accent. Credit where credit's due, the dub Team Rocket's voice is a lot more memorable and fun compared to their Japanese ones.

I also like the bit where Jenny quickly thinks that Ash, carrying a Pokemon outside of a Pokeball, looks suspicious, and only calms down when she sees the Pokedex -- which confirms Ash's ID. It's a brief bit that's mostly played up as awkward comedy, but also as a nice little world-building thing. Also a fun little world-building thing is when Pikachu is brought to the Pokemon Center. The games mostly play it as "put the Pokemon in a ball, place it in a machine, and all wounds are healed", but at least in the first couple of episodes of the anime, we actually get Nurse Joy bringing the wounded Pikachu into an operating room with her Chansey nurses, and tells Ash to 'reflect on your actions' for being so reckless.

This actually leads to one of my favourite scenes in the early anime, where Ash just sits outside of the operation room, all sullen, with his thoughts eating him... and ends up calling his mom and later on Professor Oak, and I do love the subtle animation choices where Ash couldn't bring it to tell either his mother or his mentor that he royally fucked up. Ash's mom is so cheerful and supportive, while Oak's... Oak's a bit more aloof in the Japanese version, but he clearly expects more of Ash, especially when he realizes Ash hasn't even caught a single Pokemon yet.

We do get briefly distracted when Ash brings up a tablet of legendary Pokemon, and says that he sees one that looks like one of them (which certainly confused little old me into thinking that Ash saw a weird-looking Articuno as a kid), and this is where we first get the first hint of legendary Pokemon existing. I also like the brief gag that isn't present in the dub where Oak is cooking instant ramen on a beaker. Oh, Oak.

We then get Misty barging into the hospital, ranting about how Ash should pay him back for his mangled bicycle (those things are expensive in the Pokemon world!), but Misty quickly calms down when she sees that Ash is clearly hurting over Pikachu's wounds. That's nice. Misty's characterization kind of fluctuates wildly in later episodes depending on what the plot of the week needs, but early on she's still consistently portrayed as a hot-blooded tomboy with a softer streak.

Of course, we suddenly get fucking air raid horns because Team Rocket arrives in their damn hot air balloon, drop their Pokemon like bombs through an overhead window, and then bombastically announce their little introductory motto. And... I think it's a lot sillier in the Japanese version, particularly with the random English words stuck in there (lovely-charmy and white hole), but it's still an important part of what makes Team Rocket so ridiculously fun. Also, probably something that helps to save the animation budget, what with how this sort of takes up like nearly a minute to play out.

(Again, I really love the dub version. Versions.)

They claim that they want to steal rare Pokemon, and they bet that among the wounded Pokemon in the Pokemon Center, there will be a couple that suits their criteria... and make it clear that, no, Pikachu is not one of them. Oh, early Team Rocket. I do love the fun little animation of Ekans and Koffing just bursting through the Pokemon Center computers and just fucking shit up, even if it did rely in some obvious reused animation. Also, special note for Koffing, who, I think, is the first Pokemon with a major role that isn't immediately based on a stylized animal. I thought it was pretty bizarre and pretty cool.

Ekans and Koffing cut off the power, and Nurse Joy activates the backup generator ran by a swarm of Pikachus making their cute, adorable pika pika chu chu sounds. She also quickly sets up this transfer system to send all the wounded, stored Pokemon to Pewter City via a teleportation machine, which is... it's, again, some neat world-building. Koffing and Ekans arrive in the room they're hiding out in, and Ash tries to fight by throwing random pokeballs that contain Pidgey and Rattata, both of which just get scared off by the big scary snake, Ekans. Misty introduces herself, throws out her Goldeen... which can't fight where there isn't water.

It's... it's admirable, but what was the point of this? Are any of those Pokemon, presumably belonging to other trainers we never see, going to obey Ash? Also, as we later learn, Misty has Pokemon of her own that isn't Goldeen, so this whole sequence feels kind of bizarre.

Ash and Pikachu escape while Misty 'holds them off' with Goldeen, but then Pikachu summons the Pikachu army on the generator, and they all zap Team Rocket. We then get a bizarre sequence where Ash pedals the broken bicycle to... generate electricity on a piddly little bicycle light, which somehow powers up the Pikachu cluster to unleash an even bigger blast of electricity that blows up Koffing's gas and creates a titanic explosion that blows up the entire Pokemon Center. Jenny shows up, looks at the ruins of the Center, and cracks a joke. What the hell, Jenny, you irresponsible civil worker.

Yeah, as a kid, I found it weird that Ash pedaling on a bike somehow generates more electricity than like two dozen Pikachus, and I guess they needed Ash to feel like a hero or something? I dunno. That's silly.

Team Rocket gets thrown into the air as they are sent blasting off again (or, as in the original Japanese, yelling that 'this feels bad'). The episode ends with the Nurse Joy of Viridian calling her identically-looking sister from Pewter, establishing that everything's all nice and good, while Ash, Misty and Pikachu head off to Viridian forest, where Ash encounters a little caterpillar Pokemon, Caterpie, and gets ready to capture it, leaving us at a cliffhanger.

Ultimately, this episode tries to introduce many things. Team Rocket and Misty are two mainstay features of the show, but this episode also tries to do a decent amount of world-building with pokemon centers, the Jennys and Joys of the Pokemon world, and even tries to give Ash some characterization as he reflects on his mistakes. The climax of the episode is utterly weird, though, even if Team Rocket's attack is pretty cool even with the somewhat primitive animation. Like, the Pokemon anime has never been the biggest on following real physics, and loves to use slapstick comedy, but even then the weird finale with the bicycle and Misty not doing a goddamn thing honestly feels weird.

Pokemon Index:

• Pokemon: Pikachu, Meowth, Chansey, Koffing, Ekans, Pidgey, Rattata, Goldeen, Caterpie
• Humans: Officer Jenny, Ash, Misty, Jessie, James, Nurse Joy, Delia, Professor Oak

Assorted Notes:  

• I didn't talk about ending themes in the previous episode, because that review was long enough as it is. The original Japanese, at least for the first 20 episodes or so, has "Hyakugojuichi" (One Hundred and Fifty-One), which is... it's not terrible, but I don't like it that much.  The dub has the utterly batshit crazy Poke Rap, which is equal parts hilarious and cringe-worthy. Oh, 90's cartoons, never change. 
• Among the tablet of random legendary Pokemon, three of them are obviously meant to be stylized versions of Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos... but the fourth is Arcanine, for some reason. I mean, I guess Arcanine's pokedex does list it as "Arcanine, the legend Pokemon", but that's kind of a silly inclusion. 
• A bizarre rule of the anime that the games never actually follow is that apparently, fishy Pokemon like Goldeen can't fight outside the water and just splash around helplessly. In the games (and some seasons of the anime, depending on the creative team) they just sort of float above the ground. 
• So, uh... what happened to the Pidgey and Rattata that ran away from the battle? Did their owners ever receive them?
• Dub Changes:
• More of a naming thing, but Kojiro and Musashi (named after Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi) get the dub names of Jessie and James, a reference to the outlaw Jesse James. It's a nice little continuation of a culture-relevant thematic naming. I like it. 
• The reference to Professor Oak cooking instant ramen is cut out from the English version, probably because it's not that easy to see that he's actually boiling the ramen in his beaker. We get some dialogue changes to why Oak cuts off the call -- his ramen is done in the original Japanese, while in the English dub, his pizza dinner has arrived. 
• Oak is also a lot more supportive and kind in the English dub (apparently making a bet with Gary that Ash would've caught a Pokemon by the time he arrives in Viridian City), while he's a lot more aloof and dry in the original.
• Misty's name was randomly given to us by Nurse Joy at the end of the episode in the dub, whereas in the original Japanese, she introduces herself in a bombastic manner during the Team Rocket fight.
• (Prepare for trouble! And make it double! To protect the world from devastation! To unite all peoples within our nation! To denounce the evils of truth and love! To extend our reach to the skies above! Jessie! James! Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light! Surrender now, or prepare to fight! Meowth, that's right!)