EP121: Difference between revisions

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Illusion Confusion! (Japanese: ホーホーとあやしいもり！ Hoho and the Mysterious Forest!) is the 121st episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on November 11, 1999 and in the United States on November 4, 2000.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Synopsis

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Ash and co. are lost in the middle of a spooky forest. All of a sudden, eerie sounds come from no where. Misty thinks it's Ash joking around. As the sounds continue to creep them out, they begin to slowly creep away from were they seem to be coming from from. Stumbling into a tree, the turn around quickly to find a Halloween style face upon the trunk of the tree. Scared beyond belief, they run quickly to another part of the forest. As they are running away, an owl like Pokémon shoots a red blaze out of its two huge eyes, quickly destroying all the things that spooked our friends.

A little bewildered, our friends stop to catch their breath. Gary Oak then walks into view, congratulates Hoothoot on a job well done, and tells Ash that everything they saw and heard was an illusion. Ash consults his Pokédex to find out more about this new Pokémon. “Hoothoot. The owl Pokémon. Hoothoot stands on one leg but uses both its powerful eyes to see clearly, even through the darkest night.” Gary, in a superior fashion, then mocks Ash about being unprepared and advises him to get a Hoothoot if he wishes to make his way out of this forest. Misty, a little confused, asks Gary why he is still in the forest if he has a Hoothoot. Gary, a little stunned by Misty’s observation, says that he has been busy catching Pokémon and lost track of time. Upon Gary’s departure, Ash, Misty and Brock begin to search for a Hoothoot but their efforts seem to be in vain.

Suddenly, a Hoothoot appears at Misty’s feet. A little frightened she gracefully sidesteps away from Hoothoot but it keeps following her. Ash tries to say hello but instead, Hoothoot attacks him and then runs off. Our friends give chase and Ash instructs Pikachu to use his thunderbolt attack. But before Pikachu has a chance to do anything, Hoothoot turns around and attacks Ash by again. Hoothoot then stops and runs to stand by its master. Brock, convinced it is an illusion, walks up to it and says, “Have you ever seen anything this scary in your dreams”. Ash, standing on the other side of this so-called illusion responds, “Guess not, something like that ugly only shows up in my nightmares.”

Of course, to the amazement of our friends the illusion is real and her name is Hagatha. Leading our friends back to her house, she advises them that they will need her help if they wish to safely get out of the forest. Apparently, Hagatha rents out her Hoothoot to travelers through the forest as they have the ability to help you pass mischievous Pokémon and those ghostly things they make you see. Unfortunately, she has only one left and it has never guided a single traveler safe through the forest. Having to wait until tomorrow for a Hoothoot to become available, Ash becomes a little impatient and picks up Hoothoot and advises all our friends that all it needs is a good trainer like himself. Hoothoot attacks Ash again and jumps onto Misty’s lap. Hagatha then explains that since she trained it, it only gets along with pretty girls!!! As Ash, Misty and Brock continue their journey, they return to the place where the illusions first began. Hoothoot begins trembling and out of nowhere, little blue, fiery balls float around their heads. They react by waving their hands violently about to try and get rid off them but to no avail. Hoothoot, still scared, attempts to fight the illusions but is unsuccessful and is scared off. Upon reaching safety, Ash gives Hoothoot a serious talk about being a Pokémon and not giving up.

Misty, feeling sorry for Hoothoot pleads with him to at least try next time, not only for them but also for himself. A rope then gradually makes its way around Pikachu, grabbing him and lifting him up into the tree above. Ash jumps ands grabs hold of Pikachu and is also pulled up into the tree. Team Rocket, after announcing their arrival, slams Ash into a tree and he falls to the ground. Team Rocket then escape via a boat tied to a rope between two trees, but the rope snaps and Pikachu falls into Ash’s awaiting arms. Arbok and Victreebel are instructed to attack, but again Victreebel attacks James instead. Ash calls upon Bulbasaur but before he could do anything, Hoothoot begins to go crazy as he did before. Out of the blue, a Dragonite appears and Team Rocket gives chase. Of course, Ash, Misty and Brock couldn’t see anything and are a little stunned by Team Rocket’s behaviour. Before our friends have a chance to figure out what is going on, Ash begins appearing everywhere. Wondering which one is the real one, they all being arguing among themselves. Pikachu, very confused responds by shocking them all and eventually the real Ash falls to the ground.

A number of different bug Pokémon then begin attacking Misty. Hoothoot runs away but Ash stops him and gives him a good talking too. Hoothoot turns around and sees Misty in a great deal of distress and fires a huge red blaze right around the forest and destroys all of the illusions. As Hoothoot continues to use his powerful eyes, a number of Haunter and Gengar emerge. Bulbasaur uses vine whip and then Pikachu uses his thunderbolt to frighten off all the ghost Pokémon. Ash, Brock and Misty eventually make their way to the edge of the forest but it appears as though Hagatha is walking towards them and they wonder if they are still lost. But as it turns out, the figure walking towards them was not Hagatha, but rather her twin sister Agatha. Meanwhile. Team Rocket appears to be lying on a beach soaking up the sun’s rays. What they do not realize is that it is all an illusion and they are really lying in the middle of the forest.

Major events

• Ash & co. meet up with Gary.

Debuts

• Hoothoot

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Gary
• Hagatha
• Nagatha

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Bellossom

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Victreebel (James's)
• Hoothoot (Hagatha's; multiple)
• Haunter
• Gengar

Trivia

• Ash would later go on to catch a Noctowl which served for similar purposes as the Hoothoot in this episode.

Errors

• When Brock recoils from Hagatha's angry exclamations, he has six fingers on his left hand.

Dub edits

In other languages

• French: Des illusions et des confusions
• Italian: La foresta delle illusioni
• Latin American Spanish: ¡Ilusión y confusión!
• Spanish: Ilusión, confusión

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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.