Review AG102: Island of Dr. Moroboshi! Fossil Pokemon Appear!!

[Dogasu]

Hey, I’m only a day late this week:

-We see Satoshi and the others riding on a ferry to the next location. Masato exclaims that they’ve arrived at the next island, and Takeshi says that it’s Izabe Island, a crescent moon-shaped island. Satoshi’s excited to think about what kind of rare pokemon will be in this remote island.

-On the beach, Haruka is training her Fushigidane for the next contest, trying to teach it Petal Dance. Meanwhile, Satoshi is doing some training of his own, trying to make Pikachu stronger (dude, your Pikachu’s über-strong as it is…train your poor Kortoise or Heigani instead). He has Pikachu hit a log floating in the ocean with its Thunderbolt attack. The attack flips the log up into the air, where Pikachu is ordered to use Iron Tail to chop it in half. After Pikachu lands, Haruka happily exclaims that Fushigidane has learned Petal Dance! She decides to show Satoshi, so she has her grass pokemon use the attack on an incoming tidal wave. The Petal Dance tears right through the wave, cutting a giant circular hole out of the wall of water.

-Meanwhile, Masato is out by himself gathering firewood in the forest. Suddenly, he spots a Yureidoll! The pokemon runs off as Masato sits, flabbergasted. Satoshi and the others arrive on the scene, and Masato informs them of what he just saw. After Haruka looks it up on her Pokemon Zukan, Takeshi says that Yureidoll is supposed to be extinct. As Satoshi looks for the pokemon, Haruka suggests that maybe he mistook a different pokemon for Yureidoll. Suddenly, a Kinogassa appears, and everyone assumes that THAT’S what Masato saw. Masato insists that he really saw a Yureidoll and runs off, anxious to prove them wrong.

-Masato is searching in the forest when he comes across a huge mansion! He approaches the grounds and peeks through the window, discovering that the mansion has a laboratory inside! Through the window, he’s also able to see a bunch of Lilyla, the pre-evolved form of Yureidoll! Suddenly, a man in a lab coat appears behind Masato and angrily asks him what he’s doing there!

-Satoshi and the others are still out in the forest, looking for Masato. Suddenly, Yureidoll appears in front of our heroes! As Satoshi and the others realize that Masato wasn’t as crazy as they thought, a young female in a lab coat appears and happily hug the ancient pokemon, happy that it’s OK. As Takeshi does his usual “fall for a beautiful girl” routine, the girl introduces herself as Annu. Satoshi and the others ask if she’s seen Masato, and the woman responds that if he’s anywhere, he would have found his way to the lab where she works.

-Everyone is taken to the lab, where Masato is waiting. Haruka and Masato share a hug while the man in the lab coat from before appears. His name’s Dr. Moroboshi, and he’s studying at the lab with his wife, Annu. Takeshi cries about the fact that Annu’s already spoken for while Haruka looks Lilyla up on the Pokemon Zukan. She then tells Dr. Moroboshi that she thought that Lilyla and Yureidoll were supposed to be extinct, and Annu says that the pokemon came from fossils. The young trainers eagerly ask Dr. Moroboshi to explain how they made the fossil pokemon came to life.

-Meanwhile, Team Rocket is spying on the doctor from the top of a tree.

-Dr. Moroboshi starts his explanation. Many many years ago, when all these fossil pokemon were still alive, the Anopusu who lived on a remote peninsula used to eat a special fruit. Over time, however, the land changed, and the peninsula gradually broke off into its own island, the island that’s now known as Izabe Island. Dr. Moroboshi then explains that they were able to extract Lilyla from the Root Fossil, while Anopusu was extracted from a Claw Fossil. Dr. Moroboshi thinks that he’ll be famous for the work he’s done with the ancient pokemon, but Annu tells the kids that they haven’t made any official announcement to the scientific world at the moment.

-Outside, Team Rocket is plotting to steal the fossil pokemon. They plot something about how the Boss will be in the jungle with the pokemon, and then for some reason he rips his clothes off to reveal a loincloth. As he swings on a vine Tarzan-style (Nyasu even does a Tarzan yell for the Boss), they imagine the Boss flipping through the air, diving toward a waterfall as Ptera fly beside him. I couldn’t make out why exactly they thought stealing the pokemon would make the Boss happy, but Team Rocket seems convinced that the Boss will love them for this and perform their promotion spiel.

-Back in the lab, it’s time for another experiment! A cylinder with an Anopusu in it rises from the ground and opens up. As either Haruka or Satoshi looks up the pokemon in the Pokemon Zukan, Annu says that the pokemon is ready to evolve! After it evolves into Armaldo, Satoshi looks it up in his Pokemon Zukan. Dr. Moroboshi and Annu seem happy, but their celebration ends soon when a net thrown by Team Rocket lands on the Armaldo! They start to pull the pokemon in, but Armaldo responds with an Iron Claw attack. It breaks free of the net and uses Water Gun on Team Rocket, breaking them through the wall of the lab and blasting them off again. Suddenly, Armaldo turns on Satoshi and aims a Water Gun at the young trainer! Satoshi dodges as the fossil pokemon starts going on a rampage, breaking every computer in the lab! The pokemon then runs out the hole made by Team Rocket and starts running.

---commercial break---

-In the forest, we see Satoshi and the others running after Armaldo in the forest. Far ahead, Armaldo is seen eating apples from a tree, looking disappointed, and spitting them out. Soon, Satoshi and the others catch up. They ask Armaldo to return to the lab, but the pokemon responds by firing a Water Gun at them. Everyone dodges the attack and runs behind a bush, where they wonder what to do.

-Suddenly, Pikachu jumps in front of the Armaldo and begins talking to it. The group is happy that Pikachu is trying to talk things out, so they decide to all send their Bug-Types out to talk to it (since Armaldo itself is part Bug-Type). Haruka releases her Agehanto while Takeshi releases his Forretress, and the two Bug-Types join Pikachu in trying to calm Armaldo down. The talks fail, however, when Armaldo uses some sort of Iron Claw attack on the pokemon. They’re all able to dodge, and as they assess the situation Armaldo takes another apple, bites into it, and spits it out. As Dr. Moroboshi takes notice of this behavior, Satoshi calls on his Heigani and orders it to use Crab Hammer on Armaldo. However, it’s ineffective as the fossil pokemon merely swats Heigani away like some sort of insect. Heigani recovers and uses Bubblebeam, but Armaldo counters it with a Water Gun attack. The two attacks collide and a battle of strength occurs, but Armaldo’s Water Gun proves to be more powerful. It blasts through Heigani’s Bubblebeam attack and hits Heigani, causing it to faint. The pokemon then uses its Iron Claw attack to burrow underground, disappearing from the battle site.

-As everyone recovers from their failed attempts, Dr. Moroboshi figures out why Armaldo is so upset—it’s looking for food. It wants the special berries that used to grow during the days when the island was a peninsula, but now those berries aren’t as plentiful anymore. However, they can still be found on the island, but now they’re restricted to the top point of the crescent-shaped island. So, everyone decides to head toward the berries.

-At the edge of the island, Armaldo arrives, as does Satoshi and the gang. However, it’s grabbed by a Team Rocket mecha before it gets a chance to eat! The mecha is a tank-type machine with arms, and it’s supposed to be super-strong. After Team Rocket says their motto, Nyasu says that they should go back to the lab to grab the Lilyla there, so the tank-mecha makes its way to the lab. Dr. Moroboshi doesn’t give up, though, and he chases the tank until he’s close enough to jump on the back. The Armaldo inside hears the thud created by Dr. Moroboshi’s landing and tries to scratch its way out of its container, but Kojirou (who’s with the others in a cockpit separated from the containment area) repeats that the mecha was built to be super strong. Outside, Dr. Moroboshi tries to talk to Armaldo. Unfortunately for him, Kojirou notices that they have a stowaway, so he drives erratically in order to shake the doctor off. Dr. Moroboshi still clings on, so Kojirou has the mecha’s arms grab him and toss him off the mecha. The doctor lands with a thud in front of Satoshi and the others, who are trying their best to keep up with the mecha.

-Now it’s Satoshi’s turn to try getting Armaldo back. He has Pikachu use Thunderbolt, but the attack is useless on the super-fortified mecha. Haruka then calls on her Fushigidane, who uses Petal Dance on some rocks on the cliff above the mecha. The attack causes an avalanche of rocks to fall down, blocking the road. Team Rocket’s mecha is unable to stop in time and flips over as it crashes in to the rocks. Just then, Masato notices some different-colored patches on the bottom of the mecha, and guesses that Team Rocket was unable to afford to cover the entire mecha in the super-strong material. Dr. Moroboshi tells Armaldo to aim at the weak spot, and the pokemon obeys. It’s able to Iron Claw its way out of the mecha! In addition, Armaldo seems a lot friendlier now!

-But it’s not over yet! Team Rocket has emerged from the mecha and is ready to attack, so Nyasu jumps forward and tries to use Fury Swipes on the fossil pokemon. However, the fossil pokemon uses Rock Blaster to bend the cat pokemon’s claws! Fushigidane then steps in and uses Petal Dance, followed by Pikachu with a Thunder attack. With all these attacks combined, Team Rocket is sent blasting off again.

-Now that Armaldo has been recovered, everyone is happy. The pokemon has found its favorite berries and eats happily. Haruka comments about how well Fushigidane did in battle, and how she’ll use Petal Dance in the next contest.

It was a decent episode. If I heard correctly and the group is indeed on Izabe Island, then at least it sets up the Contest episode coming up. Even though Haruka teaching Fushigidane to use Petal Dance seems completely out of left field to me, I do appreciate that the anime writers are trying to introduce things slowly instead of pulling things out of their butts again.

Characters (in order of appearance)
Satoshi=Ash
Masato=Max
Haruka=May
Fushigidane=Bulbasaur
Kortoise=Torkoal
Heigani=Corphish
Yureidoll=Cradily
Pokemon Zukan=Pokédex
Kinogassa=Breloom
Lilyla=Lileep
Anopusu=Anorith
Nyasu=Meowth
Ptera=Aerodactyl
Agehanto=Beautifly
Takeshi=Brock
Kojirou=James

 

[Murgatroyd]

-We see Satoshi and the others riding on a ferry to the next location. Masato exclaims that they’ve arrived at the next island, and Takeshi says that it’s Izabe Island, a crescent moon-shaped island.

Izabe? Masato and the narrator were the only ones who mentioned it by name, and it sounded to me like they both called it ウエルズ島 (Wells Island?).

 

[Dogasu]

Izabe? Masato and the narrator were the only ones who mentioned it by name, and it sounded to me like they both called it ウエルズ島 (Wells Island?).

Coulda sworn they said Izabe...

But, like always, you're probably right, especially since you have a copy of the episode while I don't.

 

[Murgatroyd]

The narrator did mention Izabe, as the place where Haruka's next contest would be.

 

[Kinglerlord2]

I haven't seen a lot of AG so I may have missed a lot of Giovanni fantasy scenes but of the ones I've seen that has got to be the funniest yet. Nyasu's tarzan cry was icing on the cake.

 

[Geodude]

My synopsis:

As the episode begins, we see the group on a boat, headed towards a crescent-moon shaped island that Max identifies from the Pokenav as Wells Island. May and Ash are both excited to do some training there; May for her upcoming Izabe Island contest, and Ash for his upcoming Gym battle in Sootopolis City. Later, on the beach, Ash has Pikachu use a Thunderbolt to flip a floating log up in the air, and then follow up with Iron Tail to split it in half. May and Bulbasaur then excitedly run up to them, and May proudly exclaims that Bulbasaur has learned Petal Dance. Ash and Brock congratulate them, and May demonstrates by having Bulbasaur use Petal Dance to make a big hole in an oncoming wave.

Some time later, Max is in the forest gathering firewood for their camp when he hears a rustling in the bushes, and out pops a Cradily! The Cradily is just as startled by Max as he is by it, and it promptly flees. Max drops his firewood in shock and screams. The others come running, asking what’s wrong, and Max says he just saw a Cradily. May checks it in the Pokedex, and Brock says that Cradily are supposed to be extinct. Max insists he saw one, and points in the direction in which it fled. Nothing can be seen, so May suggests that maybe Max mistook another Pokemon for Cradily. As if on cue, a Breloom pops out of the bushes nearby, so everyone thinks THAT’S what Max saw. Max freaks out, still insisting it was a Cradily, and runs off, anxious to prove them wrong. As he tries to find the Cradily, he suddenly comes across a huge mansion! Approaching and looking in a window, he discovers a laboratory. He can also see a bunch of Lileep in an enclosure. Suddenly, a man in a lab coat appears behind Max and angrily asks him why he’s there!

By now, Ash and the others are trying to find Max, when they meet up with that same Cradily! As they realize Max was telling the truth, a young woman in a lab coat catches up and happily hugs Cradily, relieved that it’s okay. Brock flips out over her as usual while Ash, Pikachu, and May admire the Cradily. The woman introduces herself as Annu, and the group asks if she’s seen Max. Annu responds that he’s probably found his way to her lab by now, so they head over there. At the lab, May and Max happily reunite, while Annu introduces the group to the man who confronted Max. Turns out he’s Annu’s husband, Dr. Moroboshi. Brock reacts with the expected dismay upon learning that Annu is “taken”. Max happily shows the others the group of Lileep, to their amazement, and Ash checks them in the Pokedex. Max explains that Lileep evolve into Cradily. May says she thought Lileep and Cradily were supposed to be extinct, and Annu responds that they came from fossils. Ash & friends eagerly ask Dr. Moroboshi to explain how they resurrected the fossil Pokemon. A cutscene shows that Team Rocket, of course, is watching this whole exchange from a tree next to the mansion, with a view through a window. Dr. Moroboshi starts his explanation by saying that many years ago, when all the fossil Pokemon were still alive, the Anorith who lived on a remote peninsula used to eat a particular type of berry as their main diet. However, the land changed over time, and the peninsula gradually broke off to form the island that’s now known as Wells Island, the one they’re standing on. He goes on to explain that they were able to extract Lileep and Anorith from the island’s Root and Claw Fossils respectively. He thinks that this work will make him famous, but Annu points out that they haven’t gone public about it yet, so they ask the group to keep things secret.

Outside, Team Rocket begins plotting to steal the ancient Pokemon. Meowth does one of his most hilarious fantasies yet…he dreams about creating a jungle paradise with the resurrected fossil Pokemon for the Boss. In the dream, we see Giovanni surrounded by ancient Pokemon as he rips off his regular suit to reveal a Tarzan-style loincloth! He swings on a vine, with Meowth even providing a Tarzan yell, then dives off a cliff towards a lake as a pair of Aerodactyl accompany him. JJ&M think the Boss will love this, so they do their usual cheer.

Back in the lab, some indicators start to go off on Annu’s computer, so she alerts her husband as she uses the computer to bring up a cylinder containing an Anorith into another enclosure. The Anorith crawls out, May checks it in the Pokedex, and Dr. Moroboshi says it’s ready to evolve into Armaldo! Anorith promptly starts to glow, and evolves, so Ash checks out Armaldo in the Pokedex. The Moroboshis rejoice, but suddenly a net envelops Armaldo! As May and the others protest, TR pulls Anorith towards them, but Anorith uses Metal Claw to break free. TR’s momentum sends them flying into a wall, and Armaldo sends them right through the wall with Water Gun, blasting them off. Ash congratulates Armaldo, but it fires a Water Gun at him! Armaldo goes on a rampage, breaking things left and right, before finally running out the hole it made when it blasted TR off.

Everyone pursues Armaldo through the forest. Ahead, we see it trying to eat apples from a tree, but spitting each one out after taking a bite. The humans try to convince Armaldo to come back with them, only to end up dodging another Water Gun and taking cover behind some rocks. Pikachu suddenly runs out to Armaldo and begins to talk to it. The humans think Pikachu has the right idea, and decide that since Armaldo is a part-Bug type, it may listen to their own Bug Pokemon. So Brock and May send out Forretress and Beautifly to join Pikachu in trying to calm Armaldo down. The talks quickly fail though, when Armaldo uses another Metal Claw, forcing the three Pokemon to dodge. Armaldo spits out another apple as the humans decide what to do now. Ash decides to try battling it, so he sends out Corphish. Anorith easily dodges Corphish’s Crabhammer and sends the little crab reeling with a Scratch. Corphish bounces back up, though, and Ash calls for a Bubblebeam. Armaldo counters with Water Gun, and it easily overpowers Corphish again, sending it flipping end over end. Corphish is now knocked out, so Ash checks on it. Armaldo then suddenly uses Dig to escape. As everyone recovers, Dr. Moroboshi figures out why it’s so upset—it’s looking for food. He then leads the group to the island’s northern peninsula, and as they run he explains that the favorite berry of fossil Pokemon (the one he explained about earlier) still exist, but only in that area, so that must be where Armaldo is headed.

Ahead, Armaldo bursts up through the ground at the same time as the others catch up. But before anyone can do anything, a Team Rocket mecha tank shows up and grabs Armaldo, depositing it inside! The tank’s cockpit opens, and Team Rocket says their motto, then boasts about how strong their tank is. Meowth says they should go back to the lab to grab the Lileep there, so they take off in their tank, but not before charging at Ash & co, forcing them to dive out of the way. Dr. Moroboshi runs after the tank, managing to jump onto the back of it. Armaldo tries to scratch its way out, but TR boasts that their tank is impenetrable. Outside, Dr. Moroboshi bangs on the tank, trying to talk to Armaldo. It hears him, but so does James, so TR begins to swerve wildly to try and shake off the good doctor. Finally, they use one of the tank’s metal arms to pick him off and throw him away. Annu checks on him as Ash calls for Pikachu to Thunderbolt the tank, but the attack does nothing. May tries this time, sending out Bulbasaur to do a Petal Dance. The attack strikes the tank but does nothing. TR boasts again, but what they don’t see is that the Petal Dance deflects off the tank and strikes a cliff, causing a rock slide in front of them! TR slams on the brakes, but are unable to avoid rolling over the tank. Anorith rolls over too, still trapped in the back of the tank. Max notices the haphazard steel patchwork job on the bottom of the tank, and the others guess that that must be the tank’s weak spot. Apparently, TR couldn’t afford to cover the whole thing with the same invincible material. Dr. Moroboshi climbs on the tank and yells for Armaldo to aim straight up, since the floor isn’t as strong. Armaldo punches straight up with Metal Claw, and finally breaks free, as everyone rejoices. But TR isn’t through yet! They pop out of the machine, and surprisingly, Meowth attacks Armaldo with Fury Swipes! But Meowth only ends up bending its claws on the Rock-type, as it counters with an attack that Annu identifies as Rock Blast. May has Bulbasaur attack Meowth with Petal Dance, which sends Meowth flying back to J&J. Pikachu then sends them blasting off with Thunder.

Later, Armaldo contentedly eats its favorite berries, and the Moroboshis are happy it has calmed down. Max compliments May on how well Bulbasaur did in battle with its Petal Dance, and May asks if it’s ready to do some more training for the contest.