EP178: Difference between revisions

The Grass Route

EP178   ポポッコ！くさポケモンバトル！！ Popocco! Grass Pokémon Battle!!

First broadcast Japan December 21, 2000 United States November 3, 2001

English themes Opening Born to Be a Winner Ending

Japanese themes Opening OK! Ending ぼくのベストフレンドへ

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita Storyboard 井上修 Osamu Inoue Assistant director 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

The Grass Route (Japanese: ポポッコ！くさポケモンバトル！！ Popocco! Grass Pokémon Battle!!) is the 178th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 21, 2000 and in the United States on November 3, 2001.

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

Synopsis

Template:Incomplete synopsis On the route to Ecruteak City, Ash and his friends are caught by the sight of a Skiploom racing by. After following it, they encounter its Trainer, Ephraim. He and his Skiploom are training for the upcoming annual Grass-Type tournament, a tournament for Grass-types Pokémon only, with a large collection of Leaf Stones as the prize. Confident he can win any “local” tournament, Ash decides he and his Bulbasaur will enter as well. Ephraim and his Skiploom train very hard as the tournament quickly approaches. Soon it is revealed Team Rocket is entered in the tournament to win the Leaf Stones. But as they try to reach the Leaf Stones Ash blasts them off with Bulbasaur's Vine Whip Afterward Ash and Ephraim go through the tournament with relative ease. Until the final match. The final is Ephraim v.s. Ash. At first Ash and Bulbasaur dominate the match, but Skiploom holds its ground. Just as Ash says he doesn't want to harm the Skiploom any more, it unleashes a powerful SolarBeam attack! Everybody is shocked. This unexpected attack hits Bulbasaur straight on, making it fly into the air. Bulbasaur is soon finished with a Tackle attack. Later, as Ephraim is handed the trophy, Ash remembers pride and power aren't the only things a Trainer needs to win a battle. And the journey continues!

Major events

• Ash loses a grass tournament against Ephraim.
• Ash's Bulbasaur is revealed to know Take Down.

For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Skiploom

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Ephraim
• Ephraim's parents
• Competitors in the Grass-type tournament

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Girafarig (U.S. and international), Skiploom (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Chikorita (Ash's)
• Victreebel (James's)
• Skiploom (Ephraim's, Skippy; debut)
• Oddish (×3; two wild and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
• Gloom (×2; one wild and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
• Vileplume (unnamed competitor's)
• Paras (unnamed competitor's)
• Bellsprout (×4; two wild and two belonging to two different unnamed competitors)
• Weepinbell (unnamed competitor's)
• Exeggutor (unnamed competitor's)
• Tangela (unnamed competitor's)
• Bellossom (×2; Ephraim's parents' and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
• Hoppip (×3; two belonging to Ephraim's parents' and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
• Sunflora (×4; two wild and two belonging to Ephraim's parents)

Trivia

• This episode is listed on Pokémon.com and Viz's Pokémon Elements page as "The Grass Root".
• Skiploom's Leech Seed should not have affected Victreebel or Tangela, as they are Grass-type, and are therefore immune.

     * Marking this the first time Leech Seed affects a Grass-type

• The names Jessie and James go by in the tournament are their own names spelled backwards; Eissej and Semaj.
• Mewtwo Returns aired in Japan between this episode and the next.
• This episode is featured on the Volume 1: Grass copy of Pokémon Elements.
• The trumpet fanfare James plays for Jessie's entrance is "Reveille".
• Meowth wears the same costume as in EP179.
• This is the last Japanese episode of the 20th century.

Errors

• When this episode's title is shown, the Pokémon logo is missing.

Dub edits

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		毽子花，草神奇寶貝戰鬥
Czech		Travnatá cesta
Dutch		De Gras Route
Finnish		Ylpeys vai lankeemus
European French		Dernière escale
German		Das Pflanzen-Pokémon Turnier
Hebrew		טורניר העשבturnir ha'esev
Italian		Un torneo speciale
Polish		Lekcja trawiastego Pokémona
Brazilian Portuguese		Onde a Grama é Mais Verde
Spanish	Latin America	¡La ruta de hierba!
	Spain	Campeonato de Pokémon planta
Swedish		Högmod går före fall

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