SM035

←	SM034 : A Crowning Moment of Truth!

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

Additional 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
Animation directors	矢田木瀧 Taki Yatagi

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 Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, and the 974th episode of the Pokémon animated series. 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

Ash is ready for his battle against Olivia, but to his astonishment, every time he throws a Poké Ball, it fails to release the Pokémon inside and drops down ineffectively. Wondering what's wrong, Ash picks up one of the Poké Balls, just as it grows and turns into a Voltorb, which then electrocutes Ash. Ash wakes up panting heavily, drenched in cold sweat, and screams so loudly that it wakes his sleeping classmates. Later, at the breakfast table, Ash declares that he can't wait for his upcoming grand trial against Olivia. However, both Professor Kukui and Olivia remind him that he has to clear the island trial first.

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, to fetch all the ingredients that are essential to prepare the island's years-old delicacy: the Akala curry. Kiawe and Lillie are paired, followed by Lana and Sophocles, and lastly, Ash and Mallow. The three items Ash and Mallow are to collect are Mago Berry, Revival Herb and Miracle Seed. Mallow is excited and states that Miracle Seeds are exceedingly rare. As Ash and Mallow begin to leave, Olivia calls Mallow back and shares some secret with her, unbeknownst to Ash.

First, they decide to collect a Mago Berry. According to the map, the tree can be found at a nearby hilltop, which Ash quickly locates. Mallow and Ash venture up the hill, but when Ash wakes the sleeping group of Fomantis, the angry Fomantis attack with a combined Leafage attack, forcing them to retreat. With the group of Fomantis standing guard between themselves and the Mago Berries, Ash decides to send a half-sleepy Rowlet for the job, who can fly silently to the summit and collect the berry. But the plan proves to be 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 on the way. Ash and Pikachu nearly sneeze, but they manage to hold their breath, comically inflating their cheeks. Mallow and Steenee see this and try to hold in their laughter, also getting comically inflated cheeks. The sound starts to anger the Fomantis and seeing this, the group quickly get on their way to the Mago Berry. Just as they reach the summit, Ash trips over and falls flat on his face. As everyone laughs, all the Fomantis become enraged and fire Leafage and Solar Beam collectively at them. 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 can be found at a nearby rocky mound. Although this task initially appears difficult, Pikachu quickly locates the Revival Herbs using his acute sense of smell. With a little effort, Mallow and Ash squeeze themselves inside the narrow grotto and collect the herbs.

The final ingredient is the rare Miracle seed. The group venture off into a cave with multiple tunnels branching off at every juncture. At one point, Ash falls into a pit made by Alolan Diglett, who quickly attacks and forces the group out of the tunnel. Ash then finds a whisker of an Alolan Diglett which allows Rockruff to navigate the right way out while avoiding the Alolan Diglett living in the cave.

Once they leave the cave, the group find themselves 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 with Petal Blizzard. Rotom identifies it as Lurantis, the Bloom Sickle Pokémon, but its size tells Ash that it is a Totem Pokémon.

Ash summons Litten, and orders an Ember. The move strikes Lurantis, but it charges up a Solar Blade, and viciously retaliates, sending Litten reeling. When Lurantis charges another Solar Blade, Litten interrupts it with Fire Fang. After another Solar Blade misses, Lurantis calls for an ally, and it turns out to be a Castform, that transforms into its Sunny form after using Sunny Day. The bright sunlight allows Lurantis to use Solar Blade without building up power. Castform further helps by incapacitating Litten with a super-effective Water Gun. Being outmatched and outnumbered, Ash sends out Rowlet. After a heated skirmish, Rowlet's Tackle eventually eliminates Castform from the battle.

With Castform's defeat, the effects of Sunny Day also disappear. Taking advantage of the time taken to unleash Solar Blade, 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 and congratulates all of them with warm embraces. She reveals that, gathering ingredients for the Akala curry was part of the island trial. 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 is now eligible for the grand trial. Olivia 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 Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

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

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.
This episode marks the first appearance of a Castform in the animated series since its cameo in Spontaneous Combusken!, 538 episodes earlier.

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 name is edited out in the English 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!* Mausteita etsimässä!*
European French		Le curry des saveurs...et des faveurs !
German		Eine geschmackvolle Aufgabe!
Hebrew		!משימה טעימה
Hindi		हर्ब्स की तलाश! Herbs ki Talaash!
Italian		Una missione dal sapore speziato!
Korean		화려한 배틀! 라란티스의 춤!!
Norwegian		Et smakfullt oppdrag!
Polish		Test o smaku curry!
Portuguese	Brazil	Desafios e sabores!
Portuguese	Portugal	Um combate com condimentos extra!
Russian		Пикантное испытание!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Un favor con sabor a curry!
Spanish	Spain	¡Curriándose el favor y el sabor!
Swedish		Ingredienser För En Totem Pokémon-Strid
Thai		ตามหาเครื่องแกง! ระบำของรารันเทส!!
Turkish		Birine Yaranmak ve Köri Yapmak