Mewtwo Returns

Mewtwo Returns (Japanese: ミュウツー！我ハココニ在リ) is the first feature-length special of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 30, 2000. It was then released on DVD in the US on December 5, 2001.

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

Synopsis

Mewtwo, his heart having been softened by the selfless example of the human named Ash Ketchum back in his birthland in the eastern Kanto region, has now traveled to the western region of Johto in search of a locale that is unreachable by the prying eyes and harsh judgments of humans for the sake of his band of cloned Pokémon, whose welfare Mewtwo is entirely concerned about. He eventually finds the perfect hideaway: a huge mountain named Mt. Quena, surrounded by steep cliffs that are practically impossible to scale, but in its top is a forest and a freshwater lake that makes for a near-utopia for all the Bug Pokémon living there. This is a perfect fit for Mewtwo’s band, so thus they settle in the top of Mt. Quena and begin a new, safe life, with Mewtwo watching over as their guardian, as he feels they cannot belong in the world as they were not born in it (Interestingly enough, he seems particularly close to the Pikachu and Meowth clones, spending most of his private time with them, possibly reflecting how important their templates were in his change of heart).

But Giovanni has never forgotten about Mewtwo’s betrayal, and has been concocting a military plan of assault upon wherever Mewtwo has settled to take the Pokémon back for himself. He at last locates Mewtwo in his new mountain retreat and begins his operation to assault and capture Mewtwo and bend his will to Giovanni’s. The Team Rocket combat unit heads towards Mt. Quena.

Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu and Togepi, on their Pokémon journey as always, are now passing through the area around Mt. Quena, but complications with the weather and the bus service force them to stay at a cabin at the foot of the mountain, where they would meet the Pokémon naturalists Luna Carson and Cullen Calix and the spunky girl Domino from a Pokémon institute. But then a break-in and attempted thievery of Pikachu by the classic antics of the Team Rocket trio Jessie, James, and Meowth, and soon a series of turbulent events involving a scuffle on a hot air balloon, leads everyone into the airspace of Mt. Quena.

There everyone sees the approaching Combat Unit, and Domino, revealing herself in league with Team Rocket Organization as elite Agent 009 (or, as she calls herself, The Black Tulip due to her use of explosive black tulips as weapons), pops their balloon and sends everyone else plummeting onto the mountain while she returns to Giovanni to report on Mewtwo’s status. While Ash and the other humans make a canoe to travel to the island at the centre of Mt. Quena's lake, Pikachu and Team Rocket end up confronting the clones, Pikachu's clone rallying the other clones to fight back. While Jessie and James are locked away in a cave, Pikachu and Meowth fight alongside the clones as Giovanni’s operation to capture Mewtwo begins in earnest, with Ash and his friends and enemies caught up in the core of it. Although Mewtwo manages to free the clones that the initial attack manages to capture in Poké Balls, Giovanni eventually succeeds in capturing Mewtwo with the threat that the other Pokémon clones would be his to capture and flog if Mewtwo didn’t comply, attacking and injuring Pikachu and its clone to prove his willingness to got through with his threat. With Ash and the Pokémon Clones in custody, Giovanni’s operation is successful, and he immediately capitalizes by ordering the construction of a new Team Rocket base on the mountain, while Mewtwo is attacked by two machines designed to drain his power and will and leave him nothing more than Giovanni's puppet.

The characters and all other cloned Pokémon that attempted to protect Mewtwo are then locked away in a prison cell- during which Ash is reunited with Pikachu- along with the cloned Rhyhorn and Nidoqueen, who were attempting to protect their offspring. However, Giovanni’s greed for new Team Rocket bases becomes his worst mistake; without warning, a swarm of furious Bug Pokémon (which Meowth realized were coming thanks to the words of the other Pokémon) from the mountain sabotages the Team Rocket base that is polluting the freshwater lake, and the ensuing chaos allows Ash and everyone with him to escape and scatter.

Ash rushes over to Mewtwo, believing that this is the first time he’s seen Mewtwo, and he, Brock and the Pikachu try to free Mewtwo from the machines that are suppressing his mind and body, partly as thanks for Mewtwo protecting Pikachu earlier. However, Mewtwo is weak from using what was left of his power and strength to destroy the machines that held him, putting his life force in jeopardy, but Ash carries Mewtwo away from Giovanni’s battle while Brock, Misty and the other clones, along with the Bug-type Pokémon keep Team Rocket occupied.

As Ash, Bulbasaur and Chikorita help Mewtwo towards safety, Mewtwo asks Ash why he's helping him, to which Ash replies that, while Mewtwo protecting Pikachu is one possible explanation, you don't need a reason to help someone in trouble. Mewtwo reflects that Ash may be one-of-a-kind, but Ash says that everyone is. As they reach the heart of the mountain, despite protests that Mewtwo's presence may contaminate the spring, Ash throws Mewtwo into a healing spring that restores his power, prompting Mewtwo to finally accept that he is a real Pokémon, as the water affects him just as it affected others. Restored to full power, the Pokémon clone rises and uses all his psychic powers to move the lake and the spring underground.

Although Mewtwo initially contemplates erasing the memories of everyone involved, Ash, Meowth, and their friends object, Meowth pointing out that the Pokémon clones need to remember their past if they're to have any kind of future, Ash assures Mewtwo that he would keep the sanctuary's existence secret at any rate, and Brock points out that erasing memories doesn't change the fact that the events happened, Acknowledging their wisdom, Mewtwo only uses his mind-erasing powers to make Giovanni and the rest of the Team Rocket operatives forget about Mewtwo and the clones, subsequently departs on his own as all the Clone Pokémon leave to lead life as natural Pokémon in the wild, sending Ash and co. in a Pikachu balloon and Jessie, James and Meowth in their normal balloon. As Ash, Misty and Brock were walking through a city, Ash hears Mewtwo's voice, but is uncertain whether it was real or just a memory. The Narrator concludes the movie with the rumours of a Pokémon who traversed the city at night.

Major events

• Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie, and James meet Mewtwo again after the events of Mewtwo Strikes Back, and this time are allowed to remember the encounter (although it is never revealed whether they remember their original meeting with him)
• Ash, Misty, and Brock meet Giovanni.

Debuts

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Giovanni
• Luna Carson
• Cullen Calix
• Domino
• Luka Carson

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Chikorita (Ash's)
• Goldeen (Misty's)
• Staryu (Misty's)
• Poliwhirl (Misty's)
• Onix (Brock's)
• Geodude (Brock's)
• Golbat (Brock's)
• Pineco (Brock's)
• Persian (Giovanni's)
• Mewtwo (anime)
• Pikachu (clone)
• Meowth (clone)
• Charizard (clone)
• Bulbasaur (clone)
• Squirtle (clone)
• Psyduck (clone)
• Vulpix (clone)
• Nidoqueen (clone)
• Gyarados (clone)
• Golduck (clone)
• Tentacruel (clone)
• Seadra (clone)
• Vaporeon (clone)
• Venusaur (clone)
• Sandslash (clone)
• Pidgeot (clone)
• Hitmonlee (clone)
• Rhyhorn (clone)
• Scyther (clone and wild)
• Blastoise (clone)
• Wigglytuff (clone)
• Ninetales (clone)
• Vileplume (clone)
• Ninetales (clone)
• Rapidash (clone)
• Butterfree (wild)
• Ledyba (wild)
• Beedrill (wild)

Trivia

• This special has never been aired in Britain, even though a dub exists, and it's been released on VHS and DVD there.
• Meowth's clone was never dubbed, saying its Japanese name of Nyarth. It is unknown why this happened.
• The clone Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn are shown to have had babies, however, the babies appear as baby Rhyhorn and baby Nidoqueen, when in the games, not only can Nidoqueen not breed with anything but Ditto, but the babies would all be Nidoran♀.

Errors

Dub edits

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