EP178
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The Grass Route
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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The Grass Route (Japanese: ポポッコ!くさポケモンバトル!! Popocco! Grass Pokémon Battle!!) is the 178th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 21, 2000 and in the United States on November 3, 2001.
Synopsis
Template:Incomplete synopsis On the route to Ecruteak City, Ash and his friends are caught by the sight of a Skiploom racing by. After following it, they encounter its Trainer, Ephraim. He and his Skiploom are training for the upcoming annual Grass-Type tournament, a tournament for Grass-types Pokémon only, with a large collection of Leaf Stones as the prize. Confident he can win any “local” tournament, Ash decides he and his Bulbasaur will enter as well. Ephraim and his Skiploom train very hard as the tournament quickly approaches. Soon it is revealed Team Rocket is entered in the tournament to win the Leaf Stones. But as they try to reach the Leaf Stones Ash blasts them off with Bulbasaur's Vine Whip Afterward Ash and Ephraim go through the tournament with relative ease. Until the final match. The final is Ephraim v.s. Ash. At first Ash and Bulbasaur dominate the match, but Skiploom holds its ground. Just as Ash says he doesn't want to harm the Skiploom any more, it unleashes a powerful SolarBeam attack! Everybody is shocked. This unexpected attack hits Bulbasaur straight on, making it fly into the air. Bulbasaur is soon finished with a Tackle attack. Later, as Ephraim is handed the trophy, Ash remembers pride and power aren't the only things a Trainer needs to win a battle. And the journey continues!
Major events
- Ash loses a grass tournament against Ephraim.
- Ash's Bulbasaur is revealed to know Take Down.
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
- Ash
- Misty
- Brock
- Jessie
- James
- Ephraim
- Ephraim's parents
- Competitors in the Grass-type tournament
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Girafarig (U.S. and international), Skiploom (Japan)
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Togepi (Misty's)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Bulbasaur (Ash's)
- Chikorita (Ash's)
- Victreebel (James's)
- Skiploom (Ephraim's, Skippy; debut)
- Oddish (×3; two wild and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
- Gloom (×2; one wild and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
- Vileplume (unnamed competitor's)
- Paras (unnamed competitor's)
- Bellsprout (×4; two wild and two belonging to two different unnamed competitors)
- Weepinbell (unnamed competitor's)
- Exeggutor (unnamed competitor's)
- Tangela (unnamed competitor's)
- Bellossom (×2; Ephraim's parents' and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
- Hoppip (×3; two belonging to Ephraim's parents' and one belonging to an unnamed competitor)
- Sunflora (×4; two wild and two belonging to Ephraim's parents)
Trivia
- This episode is listed on Pokémon.com and Viz's Pokémon Elements page as "The Grass Root".
- Skiploom's Leech Seed should not have affected Victreebel or Tangela, as they are Grass-type, and should therefore be immune to Leech Seed's effect.
- The names Jessie and James go by in the tournament are their own names spelled backwards; Eissej and Semaj.
- Mewtwo Returns aired in Japan between this episode and the next.
- This episode is featured on the Volume 1: Grass copy of Pokémon Elements.
- The trumpet fanfare James plays for Jessie's entrance is "Reveille".
- This is the second time when Meowth dresses up as a Sunflora. The first time was in Grin to Win!, and he would use the same costume five more times in the future.
- This is the last Japanese episode of the 20th century.
Errors
- When this episode's title is shown, the Pokémon logo is missing.
Dub edits
In other languages
Language | Title | |
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Mandarin Chinese | 毽子花,草神奇寶貝戰鬥 | |
Czech | Travnatá cesta | |
Dutch | De Gras Route | |
Finnish | Ylpeys vai lankeemus | |
European French | Dernière escale | |
German | Das Pflanzen-Pokémon Turnier | |
Hebrew | טורניר העשבturnir ha'esev | |
Italian | Un torneo speciale | |
Polish | Lekcja trawiastego Pokémona | |
Brazilian Portuguese | Onde a Grama é Mais Verde | |
Spanish | Latin America | ¡La ruta de hierba! |
Spain | Campeonato de Pokémon planta | |
Swedish | Högmod går före fall | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |