EP178

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 No additional credits are available at this time.

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 route to Ecruteak City, Ash and company are caught by the sight of a Skiploom racing by. Following after it, they encounter its trainer, Ephraim. He and his Skiploom are training for the upcoming annual Grass-Type tournament, a contest for Template:Type2 Pokémon only. Confident he can win any “local” tournament, Ash decides he and Bulbasaur will enter as well. Ephraim and his Skiploom train hard as the tournament quickly approaches. Find out who triumphs as young Ephraim and Ash face-off in the final round of the tournament!..

Major events

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Skiploom

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Ephraim
• Ephraim's parents
• Competitors in the Template:Type2 tournament

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Girafarig

• 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
• Gloom
• Vileplume
• Paras
• Bellsprout
• Weepinbell
• Exeggutor
• Tangela
• Bellossom
• Hoppip
• Sunflora

Trivia

• This episode is listed on Pokémon.com and Viz's Pokémon Elements page as as "The Grass Root". [1]
• Skiploom's Leech Seed should not have affected Victreebel or Tangela, as they are Template:Type2, and are therefore immune.
• The names Jessie and James go by in the tournament are 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.

Errors

When they give the title name of this episode, the Pokémon logo is gone.

Dub edits

In other languages

• Finnish: Ylpeys vai lankeemus
• French: Dernière escale
• German. Das Pflanzen-Pokémon Turnier
• Hebrew: טורניר העשב turnir ha'esev
• Italian: Un torneo speciale
• Mandarin: 毽子花，草神奇寶貝戰鬥
• Portuguese (Brazilian): Onde a Grama é Mais Verde
• Spanish:
  • Iberian Spanish: Campeonato de Pokémon planta
  • Latin American Spanish: ¡La ruta de hierba!

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