EP037

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Ditto's Mysterious Mansion (Japanese: メタモンとものまねむすめ Metamon and The Mimic Girl) is episode 37 of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 9, 1997 and in the United States on October 26, 1998.

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

Synopsis

Ash and the group are continuing their journey when it begins to rain. Whilst looking for shelter, they stumble across an old house in the middle of nowhere. Believing it to be deserted, they go inside and are confronted by a Ditto that has taken the form of Ash's Pikachu. However, its face still looks like a Ditto's, which leads to Brock thinking it is a new kind of Pikachu. Ash tries to capture it, but a girl dressed as Ash appears and reveals that it is her Ditto. Ash is still unconvinced of it's usefulness in a battle, so the girl - who introduces herself as Duplica - challenges him to a battle. Ash chooses Bulbasaur and tries to attack using Razor Leaf, but Duplica's Ditto transforms and wins using Bulbasaur's Vine Whip attack.

Later, Duplica explains that she wants to be a Ditto Master and a star, but she cannot because her Ditto is unable to mirror the other Pokémon's faces. Whenever it transforms it still has the face a of a Ditto, much to the disappointment of her audiences. Then Team Rocket appear and try to steal Ditto, in the hope that they can get it to transform into Dratini and present it to Giovanni as a legendary Pokémon. Using Weezing's SmokeScreen, they are able to escape with Ditto.

Once they are away from the house, Jessie and James try to test Ditto's power by having it turn into a Meowth, and are angered when it is unable to change its face. Eventually they are able to threaten it into transforming correctly.

Then Ash, Brock, Misty and Duplica appear dressed in Team Rocket uniforms and say their motto, much to the irritation of the real Team Rocket. They demand Ditto back, and are surprised when they see two identical Meowths. Team Rocket try to trick them by giving them the real Meowth and escaping in their balloon with Ditto. But Duplica says she can tell that this isn't her Ditto, even though it looks identical to the other Meowth. She throws Meowth at the balloon, causing Team Rocket to drop Ditto. Duplica tells it to transform into a cannon and fire Pikachu at the balloon. After being hit by Pikachu's ThunderShock, the balloon bursts and Team Rocket are blasted off again.

Now that Ditto can transform perfectly, Duplica reopens her theater for performances. She thanks Ash and his friends and they leave, with Ash hoping to catch his own Ditto someday.

The episode ends with Team Rocket attempting to put a Dratini suit onto Meowth, who scratches them.

Major events

• Ash and co. meet Duplica.

Debuts

• Duplica
• Ditto

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Duplica

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Ditto

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Pidgeotto (Ash's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Zubat (Brock's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Ditto (Duplica's; debut)
• Machoke (flashback)
• Voltorb (flashback)
• Electrode (flashback)

Trivia

• This is the first time that Ash and his friends mock Team Rocket's motto. They manage to make a few errors, with Duplica saying "to ignite all peoples within our nation", instead of "unite".
• The Strategy that Duplica used to defeat Bulbasaur will later be repeated in the The First Movie when Mewtwo's Venusaur defeats Bruteroot. Ironically, both battles had to deal with a Pokémon that technically isn't real (Mewtwo's Venusaur was created through Cloning, whileas Duplica's Ditto transformed into Bulbasaur for the fight).
• Duplica claims that Ditto is the only Pokémon that can use Transform, but Mew shares this ability. However, since Mew was at this point a secret Pokémon, the writers probably made Duplica not know about Mew's existence.

Errors

• Ash's gloves disappear briefly at the beginning.

Dub edits

• Ditto keeps its Japanese voice when it's transformed into Pikachu in the English version.

In other languages

• Brazilian Portuguese: A mansão misteriosa do Ditto
• French: Le manoir mystérieux
• Dutch: Ditto's truc
• Italian: Un Pokémon dopo l'altro
• Latin American Spanish: ¡La misteriosa mansión de Ditto!
• Spanish: La misteriosa mansión de Ditto
• Swedish: Imitehuset

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