AG116 : Pacifidlog Jam
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
AG118 : Less is Morrison
Berry, Berry Interesting
AG117.png
AG117   EP391
ハルカデリシャスで、ゴンベGETかも!!
With Haruka Delicious, Catch Gonbe!!
First broadcast
Japan March 3, 2005
United States February 11, 2006
English themes
Opening Unbeatable
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening ポケモン シンフォニック メドレー
Ending GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 十川誠志 Masashi Sogo
Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane
No additional credits are available at this time.

Berry, Berry Interesting (Japanese: ハルカデリシャスで、ゴンベGETかも!! With Haruka Delicious, Catch Gonbe!!) is the 117th episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 391st episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on March 3, 2005, and in the United States on February 11, 2006.

201
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
201

Blurb

The kids are now headed to Slateport City. But while eating berries, Ash bites into a Tamato Berry and burns his mouth!

They reach a Pokémon Center and Ash goes off to practice Ice Beam with Snorunt, while May goes off to make PokéBlock. In the garden, Team Rocket is trimming hedges to earn money, but they're stepped on by an unrepentant Munchlax. They notice the Berry Blenders and get an idea.

Brock and Max watch people make PokéBlock. May comes in with her killer top-secret recipe for PokéBlock: May's Purple Surprise! But it tastes terrible to Brock and Max. The Pokémon also hate it. But Munchlax wanders in and loves it!

Team Rocket shows up dressed as professional PokéBlock tasters who claim to know all the secrets. Meowth and Wobbuffet then steal the PokéBlock while everyone's distracted. Oddly enough, Jessie also likes May's PokéBlock. But then the kids notice all of the PokéBlocks are missing and they blame it on Munchlax. It goes out into the garden and eats all the berries, but May stands up for it to the other kids.

She tries to capture Munchlax but nothing works. James bites into a Tamato Berry and runs away in pain; the kids see him and realize he must be a fake. Backed into a corner, Team Rocket grabs Pikachu. Munchlax jumps into the Team Rocket balloon to eat all the PokéBlock. With Snorunt's help, the kids defeat the thieves.

May tries to catch Munchlax; she throws the ball but Munchlax eats it. But it works, and she now has a new friend!

Plot

On their way to Slateport City, where the Hoenn Grand Festival will take place, Ash and his friends stop at an island and come across trees filled with a wide variety of Berries. Ash takes a bite out of a Tamato Berry and quickly discovers it to be extremely spicy. They stop by a Pokémon Center, where Nurse Joy is initially startled by Ash's swollen lips. While Nurse Joy checks out all of their Pokémon, Ash goes outside to continue working with Snorunt to improve its Ice Beam. Outside, Team Rocket is relaxing on the ground from their gardening job when a Munchlax steps on all of them. In anger, they give chase. Suddenly, Jessie stops at a nearby window when she sees a Berry Blender inside. Together they come up with a new plan. Meanwhile Snorunt continues launching its Ice Beam, but with extremely low accuracy. Ash accidentally gets hit by one of the rogue Ice Beams, but his wounds from the Tamato Berry are at least healed.

Ash's friends decide to make their own Pokéblocks after Nurse Joy gives them permission to use the Berries in the garden. May comes up with her own Berry recipe called "May's Purple Surprise" consisting of two Pecha Berries, one Oran Berry, one Bluk Berry, and a small bit of Tamato Berry. The result is something that everyone, Pokémon and human alike, agrees is disgusting. However, the Munchlax that bothered Team Rocket wanders into the Pokémon Center, and turns out to be the one exception and loves May's Pokéblocks. Team Rocket comes in disguised as professional Pokéblock tasters, scamming people by offering advice on creating the perfect Pokéblocks while Meowth and Wobbuffet steal all the Pokéblocks and blenders. To everyone's surprise, Jessie likes May's Pokéblock too. Soon everyone realizes that their Pokéblocks are gone, and blame Munchlax, claiming it ate them all. Team Rocket chimes in to make sure Munchlax takes all the blame for the theft.

As they argue, Munchlax wanders off. Outside it finds more Berries, but gets cornered by the theft victims. Despite the lack of evidence, they still believe Munchlax is the thief. May and the group, including Nurse Joy, defend Munchlax since no one actually saw the Pokémon eat the blocks. May decides to catch it, and says that as its Trainer, she will take responsibility for disciplining it. She calls on Combusken to battle it. Combusken tries to use Fire Spin and Sky Uppercut, but Munchlax ends up dodging the moves. After Munchlax takes a short nap, it's finally ready to battle. It dodges another attack after getting distracted by a nearby Berry. Back inside, Team Rocket continue making Pokéblocks to sell. James samples a Tamato Berry and runs outside screaming from the spice. He ends up running right next to where Ash and the others are. The bag he's carrying has a hole in it, and when Pokéblocks fall out, everyone realizes who the real thieves are. Just then, Jessie sneaks up from behind and grabs Pikachu in a net.

Team Rocket takes off with Pikachu in their hot-air balloon, but with one Fire Spin from Combusken, Pikachu is set free and Ash has Snorunt use Ice Beam, but its accuracy is still poor and it hits a nearby tree, freezing it solid. Just when Team Rocket thinks they're going to make a clean getaway, one of the frozen tips of the tree slices through their balloon and it explodes, sending them blasting off. All of the stolen Pokéblocks begin falling through the sky, and Munchlax quickly runs around eating them all. May takes the opportunity to try to catch it, but Munchlax also swallows the Poké Ball. To everyone's surprise, the Poké Ball is activated inside Munchlax's mouth, and it is caught. With that, the group's journey to the Grand Festival in Slateport City continues.

Major events

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

TV episode debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

 
Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Bagon

Trivia

 
Ashita no Joe reference
  • Before the context of Haruka Delicious was known, the Japanese title of this episode was incorrectly translated as "May Deliciously Captures Munchlax".
  • The English dub title is a pun on the phrase "very, very interesting".
  • Brock mentions Natalie from The Lotad Lowdown, who gave him the recipe book in that episode.
  • In Whiscash and Ash, when Sullivan attempted to catch Nero with a Master Ball, it ate the ball whole and got away without being caught. However, in this episode, Munchlax swallowed the Poké Ball May used and was caught from the inside-out, which contradicts the failed catch in Whiscash and Ash.
  • This is the first appearance of a Generation IV Pokémon in the main series, the Pokémon in question being a Munchlax. However, one did appear previously in Destiny Deoxys.
  • Ash's Grovyle's reaction to May's Purple Surprise is a reference to the ending of the boxing anime Ashita no Joe.
  • This episode marks one of the rare occasions in which a member of Team Rocket refers to one of the main protagonists by name. Once again, James calls May by her name.
  • This is one of the few episodes where Wobbuffet doesn't pop out after Team Rocket finishes their motto.

Errors

  • The blurb for this episode incorrectly formats Pokéblock as PokéBlock. It also uses the incorrect plural "Pokéblock" instead of the usual "Pokéblocks".
  • In one scene, Munchlax's underbelly is colored cream instead of teal.
  • In the scene where James dropped the bag with Pokéblocks from Team Rocket's balloon, his swollen lips were colored yellow instead of red.
  • When Fire Spin rips a hole in Jessie's bag, she isn't wearing gloves.
  • After James runs out of the Pokémon Center, his and Jessie's bags turn purple.
  • When May starts making "May's Purple Surprise", the Poké Ball shape on her bandanna is on the left side of her head.
  • In the Hindi Hungama TV/Marvel HQ dub, James refers to Ash and his friends as "five twerps and their Pikachu".

Dub edits

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

  • Question: Trainers, Which of these Pokémon is not an evolution of Eevee?
  • Choices: Espeon, Bagon, Vaporeon
  • Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Bagon, you were right!

In other languages



AG116 : Pacifidlog Jam
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
AG118 : Less is Morrison
  This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.