Rice ball

Revision as of 12:50, 22 July 2010 by Moltres93 (talk | contribs) (I'm quite sure non-american English-speaking kids also watch the dub ;D)

A rice ball (Japanese: 御握り, おにぎり onigiri) is a common Asian snack that appears in the Pokémon anime many times and, in the dub, under a variety of different names. Brock makes them fairly often and they are frequently used in gags.

File:RiceBalls.jpg
A plate of rice balls being scoped by Team Rocket
File:4Kids sandwich.jpg
Comparison of Japanese and American dub

To give the snack a name which western children would be more familiar with, the dub has referred to them as sandwiches, cookies, jelly donuts and popcorn balls. In a couple of Hoenn League episodes, the 4Kids dub replaced giant rice balls with large sandwiches, which was not received well by the fanbase. However, a few times in the anime, most notably in A Tail with a Twist, 4Kids referred to rice balls by their proper name, instead of something adjusted for western audiences. Oddly enough, 4Kids had begun to refer to them as sandwiches or cookies even after this episode aired, such as in Less is Morrison.

Since The Pokémon Company International started dubbing the series, they have been consistently referred to as rice balls.

Glalie bears a resemblance to these snacks, and its Japanese name (オニゴーリ Onigohri) sounds similar to the word onigiri.

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