CotD(s): Timmy – A preschooler who was saved from a Beedrill by a wild Meowth, Timmy wants nothing more than to meet his hero, Meowth, and be with him forever.
Reappear? No.
Pokemon: Meowth…I guess? I think. This wild Meowth who is insanely strong and brave keeps saving Timmy. At the end of the episode, it’s implied that Timmy adopted/caught the Meowth.
Plot: It’s Kids’ Day, and wouldn’t ya know it, the group just happens upon a preschool today. The teacher at the school is upset because she hired some Pokemon Trainers to come to the school to allow the kids to play with their Pokemon for Kids’ Day, but they canceled at the last minute. Ash, Misty and Brock offer to have the kids play with their Pokemon for the day, and the teacher happily accepts.
The kids all have a great time tormentin—playing with the Pokemon, but Ash and the others notice a little boy named Timmy standing all alone. When they ask him what’s wrong Timmy replies that the only Pokemon he wants to play with is a Meowth.
A little while back, Timmy was playing in the woods when a Beedrill suddenly started chasing him. He looked like he was bound to be stung, but a Meowth suddenly leaped from the trees, attacked the Beedrill and sent it packing. Timmy tried to thank the Meowth, but it ran away before he could do anything.
To err on the side of caution, they make sure this Meowth isn’t the one from Team Rocket.
Suddenly, a strange traveling magic show appears offering a free show for Kids’ day. They ask for Pikachu to help with a disappearing trick. Presto! Pikachu is gone and is replaced with a Meowth.
Plot twist to end all plot twists, it was Team Rocket and they’re stealing Pikachu. They Smokescreen the place up and book it.
When the smoke clears, they find that Pikachu escaped the box, but Timmy was taken by mistake.
Later, Team Rocket discovers Timmy in the magic box. When he emerges, he explains that he thinks their Meowth is the Meowth that saved him. Taking this as an opportunity to get Pikachu, they convince Meowth to pretend to be this wild hero Meowth, further instilling the belief by pretending to attack Timmy and having Meowth save him.
Meowth follows Timmy back to the preschool, but slips up and talks in front of the kids, instantly causing Misty and everyone else to get suspicious.
Meowth runs away in a panic and Timmy follows. Ash, Misty, Brock and the whole class follow as well. They’re lead into a canyon where Team Rocket is waiting. When they hear Meowth blew his cover, they’re relieved and spring their trap on Ash and the others. They attack the group, but they successfully fight back. However, the shockwaves of their battle loosen a nearby boulder, causing it to careen down the canyon.
It’s about to hit Timmy and Ash, but they’re suddenly saved by the wild Meowth who kicks the boulder in half.
Team Rocket skitter away in fear of the boulder.
Later, Timmy has seemingly adopted the wild Meowth and proclaims that he wants to be a Pokemon Trainer when the grows up.
Ash and the others bid farewell to the kids as they head off once again to Cinnabar Island and Ash’s next Gym challenge.
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– Oh boy, an episode centered around small children. I…I can’t wait. My patience needs a good workout.
– Is there any particular reason why Ash is staring at Brock with his mouth wide open like this?
By the way, this is one of those ‘Togepi’s a noiseless doll in Misty’s arms’ episodes. Oh well, at least it’s here this time, as opposed to Princess vs. Princess where I guess it was taking a vacation day.
– It’s funny that Ash and Brock want Kids’ Day to be Boys’ Day since Misty and all femaledom just had Princess Day when, in actuality, Children’s Day did used to be Boys’ Day, but they changed it to Children’s Day in 1948 to celebrate family unity. However, unofficially, the day is still treated as Boys’ Day to parallel Girls’ Day.
While we’re on the topic of the history of the holiday, the banners/wind socks also have significance that isn’t explored in this episode. Here, they just seem to take banners as being a sign that it’s Kids’ Day.
Boys’ Day is also called the Feast of Banners. The Water Pokemon banners are meant to reflect koinobori (carp streamers) which are flown across Japan to represent families. The black carp represents the father, the red or pink one represents the mother, and blue, orange or green carp represent each child.
When it was called Boys’ Day, the arrangement was different. The red carp would represent the eldest son, and the blue and miscellaneous colors would represent the other younger sons.
– I can understand Jessie not getting a bunch of special stuff for Children’s Day when she was younger, but I’d think all the schools would offer the day off, not just James’ school.
– Oh boy, here come the cute little kids. I sure hope the very first thing they do isn’t irritating.
– Oh look, they’re grabbing and tugging at Pikachu like he’s the last pretty dress in the sale bin on Princess Day. Wonderful.
– Seriously, though, they’re tugging on his ears, pinching his chest and yanking on his face. Why weren’t these kids taught how to safely approach and handle Pokemon before they were allowed to do this?
After all, Pikachu’s an Electric Pokemon who can freak out and shock people when he gets upset.
Like that.
– Ah, and the first outburst from their two-faced bitch of a teacher. Because no one can just be pleasant.
– Can I also note that it’s a really weird message you’re giving off to your audience when the kids only respond and obey the teacher when she yells at them and calls them brats? You’re kinda normalizing abusive behavior.
– Kid #1: “Hey we wanna see more Pokemon!”
Kid #2: “SHOW US MORE!!”
So this holiday is to celebrate kids, huh?
– Oh look, poor Psyduck’s being physically abused now. Can’t you writers lay off that little guy?
– Misty: “Yeah, and even the Pokemon seem to be having a great time.” You might want to check on your Psyduck because he has one kid on its shoulders and another pulling its tail.
– Brock: “It seems like playing with children helps the Pokemon relax.” He says literally as Psyduck runs by in terror as the kids chase after it.
– Ash: “Meowth!?”
Brock: “Why a Meowth!?”
Misty: “Timmy, why is the only Pokemon you want to meet a Meowth?” Maybe if you all stop asking the same question for five seconds he’ll tell you.
– Oh good, let’s have the little kids fight amongst themselves now. That’s not annoying.
– Is there any particular reason why everyone is intently focused on Pikachu before they even hint at suggesting Pikachu for the trick?
– Okay, I can understand them harassing the Pokemon, but why are they climbing all over Jessie and James? And why, pray tell, is that one kid hugging James’ face?
– Yet they leave Meowth entirely alone and play with Weezing? When they were just chanting Meowth’s name a second ago? I don’t get these kids.
– Annoying outburst by teacher #2….
– Timmy just tackles Meowth…..
– Why did he stare at Meowth for 3+ minutes before deciding to go to him?
– I don’t get it. If Timmy already believes Meowth is the wild Meowth who saved him, why is there a need to pretend to attack him so Meowth can save him?
– James: “Team Rocket may be rotten cheaters, but we’re not in the business of destroying children’s dreams! At least not yet.”
Uhhh, you guys steal Pokemon every single week, or at least attempt to do so. Nearly everyone you steal from is a ten-year-old or at least younger than 18, and stealing their Pokemon might as well be destroying their dreams.
– Holy shit, those scratches look brutal. Dear god, Meowth got Jessie on the boob! Sympathy pain….Oh the sympathy pain.
– Annoying outburst by teacher #3…..
– Brock: “This wild Meowth looks just like the Meowth from Team Rocket.”
Not to be…Pokemon-ist?….but how would you tell them apart? Team Rocket’s Meowth looks no different than any normal Meowth – He just talks and walks on his hind legs. Brock SHOULD have said, “Huh, this Meowth walks on its hind legs just like Team Rocket’s Meowth.”
– Timmy bringing back some random wild Meowth proves he wasn’t lying about a Meowth saving him from a Beedrill? Okay.
– How did no one else but Misty hear Meowth say ‘That’s right!’?
– I really don’t understand Team Rocket’s plan. Tell Timmy their Meowth is the hero Meowth…..?????….Profit?
It’s like they were planning on luring Ash and the others into this canyon, but they didn’t count on Meowth slipping up and running away and they didn’t know Ash and the others would follow Timmy. They didn’t even know Timmy would follow Meowth, because if the teacher was actually doing her JOB she’d stop him from leaving school grounds again.
– They know Meowth slipped up and talked in front of the kids and they said they were happy the hero jig was up, so why did they slap Meowth right as he was about to do his part of the motto?
– Jessie: “Hehehe, go back from where you came from little brats.” Again, this is a Children’s Day episode, right?
– Oh my god, Arbok’s mouth in this shot. What the hell?
– Ya know, Ash, maybe you could’ve saved Timmy on your own if you actually, ya know, moved out of the way or ran or done something outside of standing there like an idiot for ten seconds waiting for the boulder to crush you.
– Uhmmmm….
Bull…..
Shit.
They seriously weren’t even trying with this episode, were they?
– So Timmy just owns this Meowth now?
– Ash: “The Pokemon League, huh?”
Misty: “That means, some day, you’ll be competing against Ash.”
Uhh, he’s like, what, four or five? I know I rag on this show for taking forever to make progress sometimes, but it’s not going to take Ash another five+ years to get to the Indigo Plateau.
– Narrator: “And as they head towards their next Pokemon adventure, our heroes know this is a Kids’ Day they and their new friends will never forget.” Why? I constantly forget this episode exists. Nothing happens. Some little kid wants to meet a hero Meowth, Team Rocket tries to trick him with their Meowth, the hero Meowth shows up. End.
Well, I guess a ten pound cat KICKING A 50 TON BOULDER CLEAN IN HALF is pretty memorable.
– Did someone forget to draw Brock’s arm waving? Because he kinda looks like an idiot walking backwards and smiling like that.
– Jessie: “Too bad, Meowth. If you had kept your mouth shut, you could’ve made everyone think you were the hero.” Make up your damned mind. Are you happy he dropped the act or not?! Also, he didn’t say an (audible to the others) word after the incident at the school, so what are you even on about?
– Nice obvious walk cycle, by the way.
– Meowth: “Nah, that helpless little sticky bunch of brats would’ve driven me nuts.” Again with the ‘brats.’
Meowth: “Besides, you two need me more than they do.”
James: “Dream on Meowth—By the way, what do we do now?”
Jessie: “Meowth, we’ve got to get that Pikachu!”
James: “Don’t worry, Jessie. Meowth always has a plan. Don’t you, Meowth?” This dialogue and line delivery is so awkward, fast and stilted. Not even the voice actors are trying today.
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Sloppy. Lazy. Boring.
That’s this episode in a nutshell.
What a disappointing follow-up to the Girls’ Day/Hinamatsuri/Princess Day episode. Sorry, boys. We’re more than glad to dedicate an entire episode to the ins and outs of Princess Day, but we’ll just sneeze out something for you guys.
Not only that, but with how irritating the kids are, and the several instances of the word ‘brat’ this isn’t a very nice episode for little kids to watch on Children’s Day either.
Granted, I thought it would be much more irritating than this because, well, shows and movies just have a habit of making little kids out to be as annoying as possible. However, even though they were grating my nerves sometimes, I really just tuned out these kids most often than not. Don’t worry, though. Their shrieking harpy of a teacher made up for that.
This entire plot is just lazy and makes zero sense. Ash and the others visit a preschool on Kids’ Day and let the kids play with their Pokemon….I think that’s as far as the idea train went before they just started throwing in the regular conflict of ‘Team Rocket tries to capture Pikachu’ The details were an afterthought, and they were probably written during a writer’s lunch break.
I still can’t make heads or tails of Team Rocket’s plan. They could’ve brainwashed Timmy into thinking Ash and the others were evil Pokemon Trainers that Hero!Meowth has been trying to thwart in an effort to save the captive Pikachu or something. But no, it’s ‘Convince Timmy our Meowth is a hero….lure them into a canyon…I guess?…Take Pikachu—Whatever. Just get the episode animated! We’re on a time crunch!’
I can imagine that scene with Meowth and the boulder was originally it kicking away a rock the size of a basketball or something, but then they were like ‘Eh, make it the size of a house. Who cares if it makes sense? These are little kids. They’re stupid. Happy Children’s Day, by the way. Tell your little brats I said ‘Hi!’’ Even when I was a kid, that boulder thing was too much for me to swallow.
Not to mention that the art and animation for this episode are some of the worst I’ve seen in Pokemon.
Proportions are all over the place. For example, Arbok’s about ten sizes too big when he’s thrown by Onix, Brock seems like he’s shorter than Ash with Misty being the tallest half the time, and all of them are about as tall as this adult teacher.
The mouth movements are so oversized and awkward that their mouths are going into their noses half the time, Togepi looks like a bootleg Togepi plushy, and there are several instances of characters sliding along when they walk.
There was zero effort put into this episode, which is a damn shame for their Children’s Day special. A day dedicated to kids, their target demographic, and they just didn’t care enough to make anything worth a damn. Like I said, I usually forget this episode even exists.
And, like the Hinamatsuri special, this episode was meant to air on Children’s Day in early May, but it got bumped back to early July due to the Pokemon Shock incident screwing up the lineup.
So, kids got no Pokemon on actual Children’s Day, and when they finally got their Children’s Day special, it was this….thing. Good job.
Next episode, Jenny and Growlithe fight crime! Kinda.
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The Anime Madhouse 