DP056

The Keystone Pops! File:Spiritomb.jpg.png

DP056   ミカルゲの要石！ Mikaruge's Keystone!

First broadcast Japan November 29, 2007 United States May 10, 2008

English themes Opening We Will Be Heroes Ending

Japanese themes Opening Together Ending 君のそばで 〜ヒカリのテーマ〜(Winter Version)

Credits Animation Team Iguchi Screenplay 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi Storyboard 山田浩之 Hiroyuki Yamada Assistant director 山田浩之 Hiroyuki Yamada Animation directors 新城真 Makoto Shinjō 夏目久仁彦 Kunihiko Natsume Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

The Keystone Pops! (Japanese: ミカルゲの要石！ Mikaruge's Keystone!) is the 56th episode of the Diamond & Pearl series, and the 522nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on November 29, 2007 and in the United States on May 10, 2008.

During a training session, Buizel's SonicBoom accidentally destroys a stone tower. A Spiritomb appears from the debris and begins to attack the group, so they must begin the trial of re-sealing it.

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

Synopsis

After having traded, Ash and Dawn decide to get used to their new Pokémon. After a few minutes of battling Ash's Buizel uses SonicBoom which is then deflected by Dawn's Aipom's tail and sent into a Hallowed Stone Tower. The tower immediately crumbles into bricks. The sky turns black and clouds roll in. The bricks of the Hallowed Stone Tower then begin to glow. In the rubble lies an Odd Keystone. From this keystone emerges Spiritomb who then proceeds to attack the group with Shadow Ball and Ominous Wind. The group try to counter with Pikachu's Thunderbolt however the attack goes straight through Spiritomb. Spiritomb then flies away, it encounters Jessie, James and Meowth and attacks them with Hyper Beam. It then proceeds to attack a nearby village.

The next day Ash and friends arrive in the village to find it derelict. They hear stories about a strange Template:Type2 Pokémon that attacked the village in the night. They immediately connect this with Spiritomb. They meet an Old woman who tells them the story of Spiritomb and how an Aura Guardian with a Pikachu sealed away Spiritomb in the Hallowed Stone Tower 500 years ago.

Major events

Debuts

• Spiritomb

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Brock
• Dawn
• Jessie
• James
• Old woman
• Villagers
  • Seiyū: 川上とも子 Tomoko Kawakami*, 佐藤智恵 Chie Satō*, 伊東みやこ Miyako Itō*
• Aura guardian (flashback)

* No official credit was given for this character.

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Staravia (Ash's)
• Buizel (Ash's)
• Aipom (Dawn's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Spiritomb (Seiyū: 小西克幸 Katsuyuki Konishi)
• Pikachu (aura guardian's; flashback)
• Pidgeot
• Raticate
• Arbok
• Parasect
• Chikorita
• Phanpy
• Torkoal
• Bagon
• Bidoof

Trivia

File:DP056myth.jpg

The myth

• Team Rocket's final pose for their motto in this episode refers to Hindi/Chinese myth of world creation: the world is held by four elephants (Phanpy), which stand on a turtle (Torkoal), which stands on a snake that bites its own tail (Arbok).

• Each of these Pokémon were on a main character's team at some point in the anime. Arbok belonged to Jessie, while Phanpy and Torkoal belonged to Ash.

• This is the first episode of the anime to mention Aura (and Ash's proficiency in it), which was a major plot point in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and as a result the movie is made canon by this episode.
• Buizel and Aipom switched places in Ash's and Dawn's teams in the opening and ending, respectively, corresponding with their trade that happened in the previous episode.
• Music from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was used as background music during the old woman's story and the ending scene.
• Professor Oak's lecture: Mismagius
  • Pokémon senryū: ムウマージ　じゅもんとなえて　やみにきえ Muumāji, jumon to naete, yami ni kie
• Ash, Dawn and Brock imitate Team Rocket in one scene. First, they do a trap using Pikachu as a bait, and then Team Rocket falls in a hole. Ash, as Jessie, Dawn, as James, and Brock, as Meowth, start their motto, but they are interrupted by Jessie.
• This is the first Pokémon USA/DuArt Film & Video episode to feature Dan Green, who had previously worked on the Template:4Kids dub.
• The episode was originally scheduled to first air in the United States on May 3, 2008, but was pulled due to unknown reasons. Due to this, some fans were initially led to believe this episode was being skipped in the dub.
• This is one of the few episodes in which Dawn's Piplup did not appear.
• The title for this episode comes from the movie series Keystone Cops.

Dub edits

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