I Laugh at your Misfortune!
Normal is a synonym for boring
- 2,626
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- YOUR MOTHER! (aka: England)
- Seen Aug 1, 2016
Ok, first things first here - some facts we need to get straight. The infamous version of this episode is indeed the Japanese version. Since we all know that I'm too stupid to learn Japanese and too lazy to read subtitles, I've rewatched the dubbed version and that's the one I'm talking about here. That said, in an episode like this, we do need to at least consider both versions. To those of you who have little experience of the earlier anime episodes, here's the quick rundown: this episode was originally not aired outside of Japan because of overly sexual content. Mainly, James wears inflatable breasts and a bikini. No, really. And then Jessie teases Misty for being more flat-chested then James is now. No, REALLY. It's times like this that remind you how different a culture can be even if it seems superficially similar. Now I'm not saying that this episode went down perfectly fine in Japan, but it aired happily and without any of the heavy editing which took place when we were finally allowed to see it.
Anyway, was the episode much good? Well, it's...ok. Even after the edits, it certainly seems a lot more risqué than other episodes and Misty finds herself the object of rather a lot of unwanted attention, first from Ash and Brock and then...Moe. Yeah, that's not weird at all.
Gary's appearance was also a little random. I get that it's still early in the series and the writers want to establish him as the main rival, but it would have been nice if he'd done a bit more than turn up, insult Ash and then leave. This would've been a great oppurtunity to demonstrate his (current) superiority to Ash - Ash tries and fails to chase off Team Rocket with their Gyarados sub, so Gary steps in and beats them with ease. That way we could get some real rivalry going on. Still, it works pretty well both as a self-contained episode and within the greater continuity. So, I'll leave this here and I'll leave you with my ELoT:
Spoiler:
- GRATUITOUS BIKINI SHOTS WOOOO
- Why does Misty have a giant Masterball?
- Ash is so damn suave.
- So Ash and crew thought they could borrow the boat...because Pikachu was on it? WHY?
- "You remind me of my grand-daughter." That line is so weird when you see the look on Moe's face while he says it.
- And here's the first instance of the weird eye thing which everybody does when they stick their tongue out. Why? Is this an anime thing which I just don't get?
- So nobody else ever considered using their Pokémon to help at their restaurants? How unimaginative are they?
- Heheheh...flyers...Meowth cracks me up.
- So now we're bringing in issues of debt and loan sharks as well as the bikinis? The old serieseseseses were a lot more grown up :P
- Yeah Moe, Ash is never gonna give up on his dream of becoming a Pokémon master, even though it's never going to happen because he's a complete and utter idiot.
- How did Brock get the job doing the voice-over at the contest?
- Ash DOES look a bit like a pumpkin, actually.
- What on earth is that THING Ekans and Koffing are being?
- Gary doesn't look too great in pink :P
- MORE GRATUITOUS BIKINI SHOTS WOOOO
- So Gary challenged Ash from the stage even though he can't battle right now? Why did he bother ruining the contest like that then?
- It's heat seeking, so heat makes it turn around? THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.
- Interesting fact: this was the first use of the 'ting' with the little sparkle after TR gets blasted off.
- GRATUITOUS BIKINI ASS SHOT WOOOO
- If you look at the footprints in the sand at the end, Ash has the smallest feet of the three. Isn't that worth knowing?
Next time: Tentacool and Tentacruel!