SM035

Currying Favor and Flavor!

SM035   EP974 カレーなバトル！ラランテスの舞！！ A Beautiful Curry Battle! The Dance of Lalantes!!

First broadcast Japan July 27, 2017 United States October 14, 2017

English themes Opening Under The Alolan Sun Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター -20th Anniversary- Ending ポーズ

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 米村正二 Shōji Yonemura Storyboard 尼野浩正 Hiromasa Amano Assistant director 仲野良 Ryō Nakano Animation directors 伊藤典子 Noriko Itō 矢田木瀧 Taki Yatagi No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGf Closed Original review thread on BMGf Dub review thread on BMGf

Currying Favor and Flavor! (Japanese: カレーなバトル！ラランテスの舞！！ A Beautiful Curry Battle! The Dance of Lalantes!!) is the 35th episode of the Sun & Moon series, and the 974th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on July 27, 2017 and in the United States on October 14, 2017.

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

Blurb

Ash wants to get right to his grand trial with Kahuna Olivia, but she reminds him that he has to pass the preliminary trials first. Today, though, she has another plan in mind: sending the students out to gather ingredients for the famous Akala Curry!

Ash and Mallow team up to look for herbs and berries in the forest, and they run into an unexpected challenge: the Totem Pokémon Lurantis! Ash defeats it, earning a Grass-type Z-Crystal—and when he gets back to Olivia, she reveals that the day’s activities were his preliminary trials in disguise. He passed with flying colors, so the grand trial can proceed!

Plot

The episode begins with Ash, all geared up for a heated battle against Kahuna Olivia. But to his utmost astonishment, and chagrin, everytime he throws a Poké Ball, it fails to release the Pokémon residing inside, and drops down ineffectively. Suddenly, a Poké Ball gets enlarged dramatically, and turns into a Voltorb, moments before exploding violently.

Ash wakes up panting heavily, drenched in cold sweat; emitting such a loud scream of sheer terror, that it knocks his sleeping classmates off from their respective beds. Kiawe sarcastically thanks Ash for coincidentally helping him wake up, to which he smiles coyly.

In the breakfast table, Ash declares that, he just can't wait for his upcoming grand trial, up against Olivia. But both Professor Kukui and Olivia tell him to harness his enthusiasm for the time being, as he is yet to clear the island trial of the Lush Jungle, which is a mandatory requirement for being able to opt for the grand trial. Ash becomes a bit discouraged.

Kukui and Olivia inform the students that, as part of their daily curriculum, they will be divided into three teams, provided with maps with some basic information, and sent to a mission to fetch all the ingredients that are essential to prepare the island's years-old delicacy: the fabled Akala curry, which to be their dinner. Kiawe and Lillie are paired, followed by Lana and Sophocles, and lastly, Ash and Mallow. Before Ash and Mallow could have dashed out, the latter is held back by Olivia, who shares some secret with her, unbeknownst to both Ash, and the viewers, at this point.

First, they will have to collect a Mago berry. According to the map, the tree can be found at a nearby hilltop, which is correctly located by Ash. Mallow and he ventures for the uphill walk, which is cut short, thanks to an angry group of Fomantis' combined Leafage attack, that forces them to retreat. With the group of Fomantis standing guard between themselves and the Mago berries, and peacefully slumbering to replenish energy from the sunlight, Ash and Mallow are forced to send a half-sleepy Rowlet for the job, who can fly to the summit and collect the berry. But the plan is proved ineffectual, when it falls asleep midway.Seeing no other alternative, Ash and Mallow carefully tiptoe to the summit, but unfortunately, get struck by a Parasect's Stun Spore attack. By comically holding breath and inflating their cheeks to the size of a balloon, they manage to prevent an almost unavoidable sneeze. Upon reaching the summit, moments before grabbing their prized catch, Ash trips over, and falls face flat-to his consternation, the sound of the impact rouses all the Fomantis, who fire Leafage and Solar Beam collectively at them. Even Rowlet's own Leafage proves inadequate to successfully counter such a powerful barrage of attacks. Ash is sent flying, and crashing downhill, but fortunately, with the Mago berry clasped tightly in his hand.

The next ingredient is a Revival Herb, that is, according to the map, native to the crevices of a nearby rocky mound inside the jungle. This task is accomplished rather quickly and easily, thanks to Pikachu's acute sense of smelling, who successfully helps them locate the particular point of rupture. With a little effort, Mallow and Ash squeeze themselves inside the extremely narrow grotto, and collect the herbs.

The final ingredient being a very rare Miracle seed, the venture off into a caveway, as directed by the map, with multiple tunnels branching off at every juncture. By using Rockruff's sense of hearing, they manage to navigate the right way out, after some minor accidents like being hit by an Alolan Diglett's Mud-Bomb, or Ash accidentally falling into a small pit, due to being careless.

Amidst a paradise of colorful flowers, and lush foliage, Ash and Mallow find a hollow tree stump, inside which, a wide variety of berries are stacked. Digging into the pile, Ash finds the Miracle Seed. But their celebration is interrupted when a colossal Pokémon swats them away. Rotom identifies it as Lurantis, the Bloom Sickle Pokémon, but its size tells Ash that it's a Totem Pokémon, defending its territory from the human intruders.

Ash summons Litten, and orders a Fire Fang. The move strikes Lurantis, but it charges up a Solar Blade, and viciously retaliates, sending Litten reeling. After a brief skirmish, Lurantis calls for an ally, and it turns out to be a Castform, that transforms into its Sunny form, to the amazement of Mallow, who mistakenly thought that it was evolving, but is corrected by Rotom about the transformation being just a form change. The Castform powers up Lurantis' Solar Blade with Sunny Day, and at the same time, keeps incapacitating Litten with a super-effective Water Gun. Being outmatched and outnumbered, Ash releases Rowlet, who combines its powerful Peck with Litten's Scratch, to damage and eliminate Castform from the battle.

With Castform's defeat, the effects of Sunny Day also shut off, and Lurantis' Solar Blade becomes a two-turn attack as normally what it should have been. Taking advantage of the time it takes to unleash the move, Ash has Litten use Breakneck Blitz, which finally knocks out Lurantis. Mallow revives Castform and Lurantis with some extra leaves of the Revival Herbs, and Ash is awarded a Grassium Z by the Totem Pokémon.

Suddenly, Olivia pops out of nowhere, and starts congratulating them by warm embraces, which both startles Ash, and makes him feel awkward. It is revealed that, it was Olivia's plan all along, to bring Ash at the sight of the island trial, gathering ingredients for the Akala curry being merely a part of her grand scheme. Ash suspects Mallow's involvement in Olivia's plan, to which she sheepishly gives a nod. They celebrate Ash's victory, nevertheless.

While relishing the palatable dishes of the Akala curry at the dinner table, Ash is informed by Olivia, that he has now become eligible for the grand trial, in which she will be his opponent. Olivia also adds that, she is going to be a formidable challenge. Ash excitingly and enthusiastically contemplates his upcoming hurdle, as the sun sinks below the horizon.

Major events

Ash holding the Grassium Z

• Ash's Litten performs Breakneck Blitz for the first time.
• Ash clears the trial in Lush Jungle, earning a Grassium Z from the Totem Lurantis as a reward.
• Ash becomes qualified to challenge Olivia's grand trial.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Fomantis
• Lurantis

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Lana
• Kiawe
• Lillie
• Sophocles
• Mallow
• Nurse Joy
• Professor Kukui
• Olivia

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Fomantis (US and international), Lurantis (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Rotom (Rotom Pokédex)
• Rowlet (Ash's)
• Rockruff (Ash's)
• Litten (Ash's)
• Popplio (Lana's)
• Turtonator (Kiawe's)
• Marowak (Kiawe's; Alola Form)
• Vulpix (Lillie's; Alola Form; Snowy)
• Togedemaru (Sophocles's)
• Charjabug (Sophocles's)
• Steenee (Mallow's)
• Blissey (Nurse Joy's)
• Comfey (Nurse Joy's)
• Fomantis (multiple; debut)
• Diglett (Alola Form; ×3)
• Lurantis (Totem; debut)
• Castform (Normal and Sunny Form)
• Parasect
• Voltorb (dream)

Trivia

• Poké Problem: What is the Totem Pokémon that appears in today's episode?
  • Host: Mallow
  • Choices: Wishiwashi, Tapu Lele, Lurantis, Gumshoos
  • Answer: Lurantis
• Ash, Mallow, and Lana narrate the preview for the next episode.
• The scene Ash battles Olivia in his dream is recycled of when he faces Hala in Trial and Tribulation!, including the background, Ash's position, and Professor Kukui's movements.
• In the scene where Ash wakes up, he is seen wearing the same white t-shirt with a Pikachu head resembling the Pokémon 20th Anniversary logo on it, that was previously seen in So Long, Sophocles!.
• Ash, Mallow, and Rotom read out the Who's That Pokémon? segment in the English dub.

Errors

• When Ash performs his Z-Move pose, he isn't shown wearing his backpack like in the previous shot. This is likely because the animation was taken from previous episodes where Ash does this pose.
  • Additionally, Ash's Z-Ring is shown equipped with the Electrium Z throughout the battle, but it changes into the Normalium Z when Litten uses Breakneck Blitz.

Dub edits

• The Japanese text depicting Breakneck Blitz's names are edited out in the dub.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		瑰麗的咖哩對戰！蘭螳花之舞！！
Danish		En stærkt krydret mission!
Dutch		In de smaak vallen!
Finnish		Mausteita hankkimassa!
European French		Le curry des saveurs...et des faveurs !
German		Eine geschmackvolle Aufgabe!
Italian		Una missione dal sapore speziato!
Norwegian		Et smakfullt oppdrag!
Brazilian Portuguese		Desafios e sabores!
Latin American Spanish		¡Un favor con sabor a curry!
Swedish		Ingredienser För En Totem Pokémon-Strid
Thai		ตามหาเครื่องแกง! ระบำของรารันเทส!!

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