Anime Hajime Impressions: Benkyou – Pokémon Indigo League – Episodes 36 to 40

Note: For the Pokémon series, Anime Hajime refers to both human characters and Pokémon by their English names.

Original Run: April 1, 1997 - January 21, 1999
Number of Episodes: 82
Based on the Video Game: Pokémon

As A Reminder:  Anime Hajime Impressions: Benkyou is not a review series. Anime Hajime’s Odyssey attempts to watch an anime in Japanese with no English subtitles. Therefore, misinterpretations and misunderstandings are possible.

Feel free to leave comments, clarifications, and thoughts in the comments section below.

---

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu continue on their journey.

Along the way, our heroes meet many different trainers and interact with a wide variety of Pokémon. There is never any downtime, be it helping a group of Digletts, saving a jungle boy and his adopted family, or reuniting an old man with a friend from his youth.

And amongst these many adventures, Ash even manages to earn his Soul Badge. Thus, he is one step closer to becoming a Pokémon Master.

---

Japanese Title: あらしのサイクリングロード
Romaji Title: Arashi no Saikuringu Rōdo
English Title: The Bridge Bike Gang

Episode Synopsis

Having left the Safari Zone, our heroes make it a new town. There they see the newest marvel of engineering, a massive winding bridge that serves as a shortcut to Sunnytown. However, the bridge is far too long to walk across. Therefore, the group will need to take bicycles along the famed Cycling Road.

Fearing they will need to go the long way around, Ash and his friends make a brief stop at the local Pokémon Center. There, the resident Nurse Joy asks a favor. In exchange for using the Center’s bikes, Ash, Misty, and Brock must deliver crucial medicine for an extremely ill Shellder. The group happily agrees, and they set off.

Partway through the ride, the friends run into the notorious bicycle gang of Cycling Road. The gang’s leaders, Chopper and Tyra, challenge Ash to a Pokémon battle. But before the match can conclude, Team Rocket appears.

To Ash, Misty, and Brock’s surprise, Chopper and Tyra explain how Jessie and James had once been the gang’s leaders before joining Team Rocket. Thus, Jessie and James easily recruit the gang to help them capture Ash and his group’s Pokémon. Fortunately for our heroes, the police come up the road and break up the gang.

As the group continues across the bridge, a powerful storm rolls in. Though the situation is dangerous, Ash and his friends push on to deliver the medicine before it is too late. 

Seeing this, the bicycle gang decides to escort our heroes to the Pokémon Center. Thankfully, they make it in time, and the little Shellder makes a full recovery. 

Featured Pokémon

English Name (Japanese Name) – Pokédex Number

Pokémon Images Taken From: The Offical Pokémon Website

Principle Charcters

---

Japanese Title: メタモンとものまねむすめ
Romaji Title: Metamon to Monomane Musume
English Title: Ditto's Mysterious Mansion

Episode Synopsis

While the group is out, it begins to storm. Desperate to get out of the rain, they come across a house. With no other choice, they enter the premises and look for the owner. 

Inside, to the group’s surprise, there is another Pikachu, except this Pikachu has an odd face. It turns out that this is the shapechanging Pokémon Ditto, and its trainer is a talented impressionist, Duplica.

Duplica and Ditto once had a fairly successful stage show, but Ditto’s inability to perfectly duplicate faces forced the pair to stop.

At that moment, Team Rocket arrives and captures Ditto. They hope to use the Pokémon’s abilities to impersonate other, more legendary Pokémon to fool their boss. Unfortunately, Ditto’s problem throws a wrench into this plan.

However, out of frustration, Team Rocket manages to scare Ditto sufficiently to the point where it successfully transforms its face. Now, Ditto can turn into a perfect recreation. But before Team Rocket can capitalize on this, Ash, Duplica, Misty, and Brock find their location and rescue Ditto.

Now with the ability to fully impersonate any Pokémon, Duplica and Ditto resolve to restart their show. With all that over, Ash and his friends say their goodbyes.

Featured Pokémon

English Name (Japanese Name) – Pokédex Number

Pokémon Images Taken From: The Offical Pokémon Website

Principle Charcters

---

Japanese Title: でんのうせんしポリゴン
Romaji Title: Dennō Senshi Porigon
English Title: Cyber Soldier Porygon

Episode Synopsis

Anime Hajime has elected to skip this episode.

Due to scenes of red and blue strobe lights, “Cyber Soldier Porygon” has caused seizures for some viewers. Following its initial release, this episode has been removed from worldwide circulation.

As such, Anime Hajime strongly suggests that you SHOULD NOT seek out this episode. But if you do, please exercise extreme caution.

Featured Pokémon

English Name (Japanese Name) – Pokédex Number

Principle Charcters

---

Japanese Title: ピカチュウのもり
Romaji Title: Pikachū no Mori
English Title: Pikachu's Goodbye

Episode Synopsis

Our heroes come across a peaceful forest and decide to take a break. To their amazement, they discover a large family of wild Pikachu. Delighted, Ash’s Pikachu goes in to make an introduction. 

At first, the Pikachu are warry of this newcomer, but they soon realize he means no harm. Then, they hear a splash. A young Pikachu (which probably should have been a Pichu, but they didn’t come until Gen 2) had fallen into the river. Without any hesitation, Ash’s Pikachu jumps in the water to rescue the tiny Pokémon.

Due to this action, the wild Pikachu fully welcomes Ash’s Pikachu. 

To Misty and Brock, the scene is sweet. Ash, on the other hand, thinks he sees something else. Noticing how happy his Pikachu is, he thinks that, in the long run, it would be better for Pikachu to be with his kind. With a heavy heart, Ash says farewell to Pikachu.

However, Pikachu has no intention of staying. No matter what, these two best friends will stay by each other’s side.

Featured Pokémon

English Name (Japanese Name) – Pokédex Number

Pokémon Images Taken From: The Offical Pokémon Website

Principle Charcters

---

Japanese Title: イーブイ4きょうだい
Romaji Title: Ībui Yon Kyōdai
English Title: The Battling Eevee Brothers

Episode Synopsis

While walking through a forest, our heroes come across a seemingly abandoned Eevee. Amongst the Pokémon’s things, they find an address and decide to bring the Eevee back home. This detour brings them to Stone Town, a city famed for its abundance of Evolution Stones.

Upon finding the address, the group sees a huge party where many trainers are evolving their Pokémon. The hosts are the Eevee brothers, Pokémon Trainers who specialize in the three evolved Eevee forms: Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon.

(HA; only three Eeveelutions. That’s cute.)

Also at the party is the fourth and youngest Eevee brother, Mikey, who is the one who left the Eevee in the woods. Misty befriends the young boy, and she learns that Mikey loves Eevee dearly and doesn’t want to evolve his friends. However, Mikey’s brothers make a big deal about how important it is to train the strongest Pokémon possible.

Suddenly, there is a commotion. Team Rocket appears and successfully captures both the Evolution Stones and the partygoers’ Pokémon. Unfortunately, for Team Rocket, the captured Pokémon work together to leave a trail to allow their trainers to find them.

Cornered, Team Rocket challenges the Eevee Brother. Somehow, Jessie and James manage to best the brothers but falter when Mikey and Eevee fight.

Finding the courage to speak his mind, Mikey tells his brothers that he will train Eevee as is. The brothers respect Mikey’s resolve and have no objections. 

With everything having a happy ending, Ash and his friends continue onward.

Featured Pokémon

English Name (Japanese Name) – Pokédex Number

Pokémon Images Taken From: The Offical Pokémon Website

Principle Charcters

---

Final Thoughts

I debated if I would seek out the Porygon episode for a long time. I knew it was coming, and I won’t lie, the temptation was strong. However, if the episode can cause seizures, I don’t think I could forgive myself if one of my readers got hurt because of my encouragement. 

Therefore, I must insist that you not go looking for the episode. Granted, me telling you not to do something will most likely lead many to go out of their way to do it. If that is the case, please use extreme caution.

As for the rest of the episodes in this batch, they are products of their time. Since this series’s airing, the Pokémon roster has grown significantly. Thus, it is funny to see the limitations that were once the plain and simple reality.

Thanks for following along with me. If you’ve seen this series and feel I am wrong in my descriptions, please let me know in the comments below. I wouldn’t want to put this show in an inaccurate light.

If you’ve liked what you have read, be sure to follow Anime Hajime on our social media sites so that you never miss a post or update. Also, please share this post across the internet to help add to the discussion.

Additionally, if you wish to add your voice to Anime Hajime, why not consider writing for us? If you would like to contribute, check out our Write For Anime Hajime page. We welcome your style.

For Anime Hajime, I’m Odyssey, and I’ll see you in two weeks for more of Pokémon Indigo League with episodes 41 to 45.