A Cacturne For The Worse! (380)

[Serebii]

A Cacturne For The Worse!

Finally at the Izabe Island Pokémon Contest, May encounters a trainer who dislikes her. However when May has to battle the trainer, she finds the trainer is intent on beating May's Bulbasaur with her Cacturne. Can May win?

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[frednmethod]

Anyone seen this episode yet?

It sounds interesting.

[Dogasu]

I leave Japan to go back to America in exactly one month, so I’ll only be able to do these synopses for the next three episodes or so. Good to see that one of my last episodes here in Japan has turned out to be really good.

-The episode starts with the gang on the boat to Izabe Island (guess Murg was right…the last episode didn’t take place on Izabe Island after all). May is on the deck practicing with her Bulbasaur, trying to get its attacks finalized before the big Contest. Fushigdane uses Razor Leaf, and then follows it up with a Vine Whip. After the attack’s finished, May seems pleased with Fushidane’s performance.

-Elsewhere, on land (presumably Izabe Island), we see Team Rocket pulling a large cart full of Berries up a steep hill. Jessie plans to use the Berries to make Pokéblocks, enabling them to make lots of money at the upcoming Contest. However, Meowth has them stop the cart and says that they can’t make Pokéblocks out of those particular Berries (they look like green Tamato Berries…maybe they’re Durin Berries?). Jessie gets angry and tries to carry the cart up the hill by herself, but without the other two helping her, she’s dragged downhill as James and Meowth watch.

-Back on the boat, May is approached by a guy in a Cacturne-themed outfit. The purple-haired man, who introduces himself as Harley, is a Cacturne trainer who also competes in Pokemon Contests. May goes to look up the Cacturne on her Pokédex, and Harley seems offended that she had to look such a magnificent pokemon up. After hearing what the Pokédex has to say about Cacturne, May comments that the cactus pokemon looks scary, which upsets Harley even further. However, Harley turns the other cheek and simply smiles as he offers May some cookies that he had made. May eats them and says that they’re oishii kamo, and Harley seems upset at the kamo that she added at the end (I really don’t know what that means…May uses it all the time, but I’ve never taken the time to try to figure out what it means). May looks up to thank Harley, but Harley seems to have vanished from sight!

-The camera then pans over to a nearby wall, where Harley is seen hiding. He secretly takes a Polaroid picture of May and posts it in some sort of scrapbook. Then, he draws a skull and crossbones over her picture! Harley can’t believe the nerve of May, calling his precious Cacturne “scary” and whatnot. He decides to teach her a lesson.

-On the land, Team Rocket is trying to make some Pokéblocks. James has a Wobbuffet-shaped Berry Crusher, but the Pokéblocks aren’t coming out good at all (instead of being little cubes, they look more like misshapen lumps). Meowth and James give up, saying that what they’re doing is impossible, but Jessie yells at them and tells them that they don’t have much time before the Contest starts.

-Speaking of the Contest, the Izabe Island Pokemon Contest’s opening ceremony has begun! As Vivian makes the usual salutations, Ash, Brock, and May are backstage, wondering where Max is. As the group worries, Max and Harley come running down the hall. May gets ready to berate her little brother, but Harley tells her not to be angry—he had just wanted to hear some stories from the little kid. May decides not to yell at Max just as her turn comes up.

-Entry #17, May! May calls on her Bulbasaur, who starts things off by using Razor Leaf. As the leaves fly through the air, the pokemon slaps them with its Vine Whip attack, impressing the judges. We don’t get to see her actual score, but we assume that she gets high marks. The Contest continues, and we get to see different Coordinators (we see one with an Azurill, one with a Camerupt, one with a Tentacruel, and one with an Surskit) take the stage.

-The final Coordinator is contestant #30, Harley. Harley calls on his Cacturne, which surprises the audience. Max repeats May’s sentiments that the pokemon is scary, and it seems that the rest of the audience agrees as well. Harley ignores their stunned gasps and decides to show them how great his Cacturne is. He orders it to use Bullet Seed on the ground, and as the pokemon runs around the judges comment on its speed. After running around for a while, spitting seeds on the ground, Cacturne comes to a stop. From above, the audience can see that the pokemon was using its Bullet Seed attack to draw a giant skull and crossbones on the stage! The judges are impressed, but Ash and his friends worry about May’s competitor.

-Backstage, May nervously awaits the announcement of the Top Four. She doesn’t have to wait too long, as the Top Four are announced as being May, Harley, Kent (the Surskit trainer), and the trainer with an Azurill.

-In the auditorium, Brock seems worried, as he believes that Harley will be a difficult person to beat.

-Backstage (again), Harley seems upset that May could make it to the Top Four.

-The semi-finals are now underway! Harley and Cacturne are up against a trainer and his Azurill. The Azurill spits out a ballet of bubbles and then bounces from bubble to bubble, causing May to comment on how cute it is. Cacturne responds with a Pin Missile attack that pops all the bubbles. Cacturne then hits the water pokemon with its Bullet Seed attack, causing it to faint. It’s a Battle Off! for the Azurill trainer, meaning that Harley can procede to the next round!

-Backstage, May congratulates Harley on his win. Harley thanks her and tells her to be careful of her opponent, Kent. He says that his Surskit is very fast, but I wasn’t able to catch what advice he gave her to counter it. In any case, May thanks him as she steps on the stage.

-The next battle in the semi-finals has begun! Surskit uses Double Team and follows it up with a Quick Attack, hitting May’s Bulbasaur. It then uses Water Pulse followed by a Quick Attack, hitting Bulbasaur again. The water pokemon moves in for a third attack, but Bulbasaur is able to counter with a Razor Leaf. However, Surskit uses Double Team to dodge the attack, so Bulbasaur tries a Vine Whip attack this time.

---commercial break---

-Surskit thrusts forward with another Water Pulse/Quick Attack combination, but Bulbasaur is able to slap it away with a Vine Whip attack this time. The grass pokemon follows it with a Petal Dance attack, hitting Surskit while dazzling the judges. Surskit gets up from the attack and is about to counter, but the buzzer goes off! The time for this battle has run out, and May is declared the winner. Harley, who’s been watching this match, is upset at her win.

-Without wasting any time, May and Harley take the stage for the final round. May asks Harley why he gave her that bad advice, and Harley admits how much he doesn’t like her. He then tells her that Contests are serious, and May responds that she’ll show him how serious she can be. May calls Bulbasaur while Harley calls Cacturne as the battle goes underway.

-Cacturne starts off with a Pin Missile attack, but Bulbasaur is able to deflect them with its Vine Whip. Bulbasaur takes the offensive now as it uses Razor Leaf, but Cacturne is able to deflect those attacks with its Bullet Seed. May’s pokemon then uses Vine Whip, followed by a Tackle attack, to land a hit on Cacturne. The cactus pokemon is knocked down, and Harley screams out for his dear pokemon.

-The purple-haired Coordinator then reaches into his pocket and presses a button on what appears to be a small tape recorder. Suddenly, Max’s voice can be heard over the loudspeakers of the auditorium! As Max sits in the audience, wondering what’s going on, the voice over the loudspeakers tells an embarrassing story about May. Ash and the others ask what’s going on, and Max told them that Harley had asked him to tell him a story before the Contest. It seems that he was recording it with a hidden tape ecorder! As May blushes from embarrassment, the story continues as Max tells (through a flashback) how May was playing in the water one day when she was little. She’s approached by two Tentacool, so she swims over to pet them. Suddenly, she notices that she’s being surrounded by a whole sea full Tentacool! She yells for her mom and dad to help, and the flashback ends with Norman and Caroline getting ready to help. Everyone in the audience starts to laugh at May as the girl from Petalburg City angrily screams out her brother’s name. Harley then starts to laugh and calls her “Lil’ Tentacool”, causing the audience to laugh even more. As May boils in her own embarrassment, Harley’s Cacturne sneaks up behind Bulbasaur and hits it from behind!

-So the battle continues! After Bulbasaur recovers, it uses Razor Leaf, so Cacturne responds with the Pin Missile. It hits the starter pokemon, but Bulbasaur quickly retaliates with a Vine Whip attack, followed by Petal Dance. Cacturne is able to dodge all of it.

-Bulbasaur is visibly worn out as it struggles to keep up. Harley simply laughs, calling May “Lil’ Tenta.” Ash shouts at May not to give up as Cacturne begins to charge toward May’s pokemon. Fushgidane responds by using Vine Whip to wrap around Cacturne’ leg! Bulbasaur tosses Cacturne into the air, and as it falls Bulbasaur uses a Razor Leaf/Petal Dance combination to knock Cacturne out. May wins the Contest! As Ash and the others cheer, May proudly holds up her new Ribbon. Harley quietly recalls his Cacturne and leaves the stage with only a “hmmpf.” He ends by saying that he wants to face his “Lil' Tenta” again someday.

-Later that night, Max apologizes for telling Harley that embarrassing story. May decides that she isn’t angry, and she wonders what they should do next. The others say that Izabe Island is a big place, so everyone agrees that they should do some sightseeing for a bit. So, Ash and the others make their way through a forest to their next destination.

-Elsewhere, Team Rocket is seen manning a giant Pokéblock shop, serving dozens and dozens of customers. Jessie laughs as she imagines all the money they’ll make, but it’s soon revealed to be only a dream as we see that Team Rocket has fallen asleep beside their Pokéblock-making equipment. Better luck next time!

Before anyone says “Oh, this episode is going to be banned because Harley is so effeminate he must be gay!!!1!!1!”, remember that it never seems to be a problem with 4Kids. Out of all the things they censor, effeminate men/crossdressing/ambiguously gay men have never been an issue for 4Kids’ censors. This episode will make it on the air with no problem whatsoever.

[Shigeru-kun]

Thanks a lot for the guide Dogasu! ^^ I really wish you could do a lot more than three others though. Your really good at describing things without having to read so much. *heh*

Anyways, this episode sounds great! In a way, I'm actually quite happy the Roketto Dan doesn't make a long appearence. I like episodes they appear in, but the ones that focus on the main cast always seem much more interesting in my opinion. Probably because they aren't worrying about stealing a pokemon for a really pointless reason...*coughTarzanSakakicough*

On another note, I really like how Harry used bullet seed to make a skull and cross bones. Usually the contests don't have things like that in them. They're always so...well much happier I guess you want to say XD Finally something that creeped the auidence out.

[Gravy]

As May blushes from embarrassment, the story continues as Max tells (through a flashback) how May was playing in the water one day when she was little. She’s approached by two Tentacool, so she swims over to pet them. Suddenly, she notices that she’s being surrounded by a whole sea full Tentacool! She yells for her mom and dad to help, and the flashback ends with Norman and Caroline getting ready to help.

Ahhh, so THATS why she wasn't too fond of travelling around with pokémon at first. I always thought that there would be some sort of story behind it and that she didn't dislike the creatures for the sake of it~
The story does sound somewhat similar to how that one Joy was afraid of water pokémon because of the Remoraid that scared her as a child. But, none the less, I'm eager to see the screenshots for this, it sounds rather cute and amusing ^.^

Harry sounds like an awesome character judging by your synopsis, so I hope he makes another appearence in the Grand Festival. It would provide a good opportunity to see him battling again~
“Meno-chan”? Any particualr reason he calls Haruka that? 0.o

[Thriller]

Nice ep

[sarcasm]I was hoping Bulbasaur would evolve[sarcasm]

Now was that little tape recording session necesary? I don't see how climatic it was, it was just some silly little thing that made no sense to me.

I like how Harry was "secretly" hating May behind her back

1 more Ribbon to go, I'm actually hoping she's gonna lose her next one unless the writers don't rush Ash to get his final badge.

Hmmm I guess the next Claydol ep and the Mawile and Lombre ep will take place on Izabe Island, cool stuff.

[Dogasu]

“Meno-chan”? Any particualr reason he calls Haruka that? 0.o

Whoops...I forgot to change that for the synopsis here *edits post*

Basically, he calls her "Meno-chan" (or, in the translation I did, "Lil' Tenta") because he's alluding to Max's Tentacool story. He's basically rubbing the fact that she was scared by a bunch of jellyfish in her face.

Now was that little tape recording session necesary? I don't see how climatic it was, it was just some silly little thing that made no sense to me.

The scene was to show how underhanded Harry was, and how he wasn't above using such a dirty tactic. It also distracted both May and Bulbasaur, allowing his Cacturne to take a cheap shot at Bulbasaur.

[Alfonso]

Ahhh, so THATS why she wasn't too fond of travelling around with pokémon at first. I always thought that there would be some sort of story behind it and that she didn't dislike the creatures for the sake of it~
The story does sound somewhat similar to how that one Joy was afraid of water pokémon because of the Remoraid that scared her as a child. But, none the less, I'm eager to see the screenshots for this, it sounds rather cute and amusing ^.^

Harry sounds like an awesome character judging by your synopsis, so I hope he makes another appearence in the Grand Festival. It would provide a good opportunity to see him battling again~
“Meno-chan”? Any particualr reason he calls Haruka that? 0.o

Meno is the first half of 'Menokurage', the Japanese name of Tentacool, the Pokemon that scared her as a kid. Obviously, he was calling her that to mock her. ^_^

An, I agree. Haarii does sound like an awesome character. A REFRESHING character, in fact. I'll just copy and paste what I said at Bulbagarden...

"I love Haarii's attitude, and it's nice to see one of May's opponents NOT wave goodbye to her in the sunset after having a nice friendly chat about their defeat."

I mean, I'm right, aren't I? I can't be the only one who is fed up of characters just conceding defeat at the end, after losing and shaking hands with May. (Gotta love his underhand tactic of embarrassing her and giving her bad advice. What a b*tch. But in a good way. ;D *huggles Haarii*)

I also love his appearence. :3

Oh, and you just know that I'll be making a wallpaper of him as soon as I... get... hold of some pictures. *whistles innocently*

Edit: Ah, Dogasu has already explained the Meno-chan thing. He posted while I was writing my posts. ^_^o

[Murgatroyd]

-Back on the boat, May is approached by a guy in a Cacturne-themed outfit. The purple-haired man, who introduces himself as Harry, is a Cacturne trainer who also competes in Pokemon Contests. May goes to look up the Cacturne on her Pokédex, and Harry seems offended that she had to look such a magnificent pokemon up. After hearing what the Pokédex has to say about Cacturne, May comments that the cactus pokemon looks scary, which upsets Harry even further. However, Harry turns the other cheek and simply smiles as he offers May some cookies that he had made. May eats them and says that they’re oishii kamo, and Harry seems upset at the kamo that she added at the end (I really don’t know what that means…May uses it all the time, but I’ve never taken the time to try to figure out what it means). May looks up to thank Harry, but Harry seems to have vanished from sight!

I think the kamo is essentially meaningless when Haruka uses it, but it can also be interpreted as a shortened form of kamoshirenai ("maybe"). I predict that the dub line will be something along the lines of "these cookies are pretty good", and since Harley (my preferred rendition of ハーリー) can't stand the idea of being less than great...

-Backstage, May congratulates Harry on his win. Harry thanks her and tells her to be careful of her opponent, Kent. He says that his Surskit is very fast, but I wasn’t able to catch what advice he gave her to counter it. In any case, May thanks him as she steps on the stage.

No. He doesn't say it's very fast. He deliberately gives bad advice, saying that it's very slow, and speed is its weakness, thereby causing Haruka to use what could be the worst possible strategy.

-Without wasting any time, May and Harry take the stage for the final round. May asks Harry why he gave her that bad advice, and Harry admits how much he doesn’t like her. He then tells her that Contests are serious, and May responds that she’ll show him how serious she can be. May calls Bulbasaur while Harry calls Cacturne as the battle goes underway.

I'm not absolutely certain of this, as I've only watched it once so far, but I don't think Harley said outright that he didn't like her. He did tell her that if she had studied her opponent instead of relying on advice, she would have known better. He also mocked her use of kamo while telling her that.

She yells for her mom and dad to help, and the flashback ends with Norman and Caroline getting ready to help.

It gets worse than that. The visual flashback ends, but the recording continues, with Masato telling about how their mother mistook Haruka for a Tentacool and tried to capture her.

Ash shouts at May not to give up as Cacturne begins to charge toward May’s pokemon.

He repeats, almost word for word, Genji's advice to him from a few episodes earlier.

Before anyone says “Oh, this episode is going to be banned because Harry is so effeminate he must be gay!!!1!!1!”, remember that it never seems to be a problem with 4Kids. Out of all the things they censor, effeminate men/crossdressing/ambiguously gay men have never been an issue for 4Kids’ censors. This episode will make it on the air with no problem whatsoever.

Even after watching the entire episode, I'm only about 95% sure that Harley is male. The absence of certain physical attributes makes it unlikely that he's female, but his speech patterns were very feminine.

[PDL]

He repeats, almost word for word, Genji's advice to him from a few episodes earlier.

sorry for asking, but who was Genji? I can't seem to remember -_-;

[Murgatroyd]

sorry for asking, but who was Genji? I can't seem to remember -_-;

Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four.

[Gravy]

Basically, he calls her "Meno-chan" (or, in the translation I did, "Lil' Tenta") because he's alluding to Max's Tentacool story.

Ahh, I see. Thanks for clearing that up. Heh, and thank you too Alfonso ^^;

I love Haarii's attitude, and it's nice to see one of May's opponents NOT wave goodbye to her in the sunset after having a nice friendly chat about their defeat.

Yes, I very much agree with you. It is nice to see a character that isn't just happy-happy-smile-smile after being defeated in a battle. And the fact that he went to such measures as to publically humilliate Haruka in front of that huge audience to un-nerve her/get revenge for the cookie comment was rather sneaky and underhanded....not that its a bad thing of course ^.^
And judging by his exit near the end of the episode, I think that leaves the door wide open for him to make a reappearence later on in the series. *crosses fingers*

Edit: ...I never noticed I was on your respect list until now *slaps head* ^.^;;

It gets worse than that. The visual flashback ends, but the recording continues, with Masato telling about how their mother mistook Haruka for a Tentacool and tried to capture her.

...that is just plain hillarious.

[Dogasu]

Hey, only one big mistranslation on my part this week! Much better than the times when Murg would have to pretty much rewrite my synopses to correct my errors ^_^

I think the kamo is essentially meaningless when Haruka uses it, but it can also be interpreted as a shortened form of kamoshirenai ("maybe").

I was thinking the same thing, but it doesn't make sense that she would use it at the end of almost all of her sentences. *shrugs*

I predict that the dub line will be something along the lines of "these cookies are pretty good", and since Harley (my preferred rendition of ハーリー ) can't stand the idea of being less than great...

Going back, I guess his name should be Harley. I mean, I should know after seeing all the Harry Potter merchandise in Japan that they would have written it as ハリー if they wanted his name to be Harry.

Anyone else noticing how more and more of the characters-of-the-day seem to be getting American names?

It gets worse than that. The visual flashback ends, but the recording continues, with Masato telling about how their mother mistook Haruka for a Tentacool and tried to capture her.

Ah, so that's why we see Mitsuko with a Monster Ball in her hand right at the end of the flashback.

Even after watching the entire episode, I'm only about 95% sure that Harley is male. The absence of certain physical attributes makes it unlikely that he's female, but his speech patterns were very feminine.

Yeah, he does use a lot of atashi's throughout, but then again, if I recall correctly, so does Kaba-chan (from Shuukan Pokemon Housoukyoku, among other things). And we're certain that HE'S male, right?

[Alfonso]

I think the kamo is essentially meaningless when Haruka uses it, but it can also be interpreted as a shortened form of kamoshirenai ("maybe"). I predict that the dub line will be something along the lines of "these cookies are pretty good", and since Harley (my preferred rendition of ハーリー) can't stand the idea of being less than great...


No. He doesn't say it's very fast. He deliberately gives bad advice, saying that it's very slow, and speed is its weakness, thereby causing Haruka to use what could be the worst possible strategy.



I'm not absolutely certain of this, as I've only watched it once so far, but I don't think Harley said outright that he didn't like her. He did tell her that if she had studied her opponent instead of relying on advice, she would have known better. He also mocked her use of kamo while telling her that.


It gets worse than that. The visual flashback ends, but the recording continues, with Masato telling about how their mother mistook Haruka for a Tentacool and tried to capture her.


He repeats, almost word for word, Genji's advice to him from a few episodes earlier.


Even after watching the entire episode, I'm only about 95% sure that Harley is male. The absence of certain physical attributes makes it unlikely that he's female, but his speech patterns were very feminine.

And the fact that his name, Haarii or Harley (Which is possible... 'L' is always changed to 'R' in Japanese, isn't it? Like with Remon Tii.) are male names makes it pretty certain he's a guy.

And in my studying of Japanese, I've noticed that many English words (Or rather, American.) that end in 'Y' are usually changed to 'I'. (Or Double I.) That would mean that his name *could* be either Haarii or Harley.

Anyway, I'm pretty certain he's a guy. He has a guy's face, and guy's eyes. Girl's eyes usually have lashes.

Question- What exactly do you mean by 'feminine speech patterns', Murgatroyd? I've heard the term used before, when someone (I *think* it was Ketsuban at Bulbagarden.) was talking about Yuuji/Drake of the Orange Islands. Was he using terms that are mostly used by girls, or something. An explanation would be greatly appreciated, seeing as how I'm attempting to learn Japanese and need all the help I can get. XD

Edit: Oh, and about the Trainer of the Day comment... I was pondering this the other day. I thought it was just the Coordinators. (Robaato, Grace, etc. Or was that Gracu? n.n

[frednmethod]

Okay, so NO ONE can say that May 's a rookie now.
No rookie can obtain 4 badges out of 6 contests, and which means either May is a fast learner or she just has a talent for contests, like Ash has for pokemon battles.

I hope now the people will think twice before posting 'May shouldn't be getting so many ribbons because she's only a rookie.'

But I DO hope that she'll lose the next one though, like Ash, she needs to be deflated a little bit after so many continuous victories.

[Gaiash]

BOO-YA!!!
I knew Bulbasaur would win! Celebrate!! And what a win, I can't wait for the pics!

[Space Skitty]

Thanks for the great synopsis, Dogasu! This episode sounds great! Harry is a VERY interesting character & I like how he's so sneaky. May's past was also interesting. So THAT's why she never was too fond of Pokemon! I always wondered why. I can't wait for the pictures! ^_^

[V Faction]

Good for May, bad for James.

[Hales]

Does May do the ribbon pose like Ash does his badge pose?

Not that it's a problem or anything but that's one of the reasons why I love Ash

Another question is are May and Max closer than they were compared to the beginning of Pokemon Advanced? because it seems that way to me.

[Space Skitty]

May does do a little pose, but I don't think it looked like Ash's; if I remember right.

I think May & Max do seem closer then they were in the beginning. But they have been through more together since then.