EP075

Round One - Begin! File:EP075shot.jpg.png

EP075   ポケモンリーグかいまく！みずのフィールド！ Pokémon League Opens! Water Battlefield!

First broadcast Japan December 17, 1998 United States October 30, 1999

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending タイプ・ワイルド

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 横田和 Kazu Yokota Assistant director 大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi Animation director たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda No additional credits are available at this time.

Round One - Begin! (Japanese: ポケモンリーグかいまく！みずのフィールド！ Pokémon League Opens! Water Battlefield!) is episode 75 of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 17, 1998 and in the United States on October 30, 1999.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Synopsis

Ash is preparing to battle in the Indigo League. He learns that he must first pass through 4 preliminary battles on four unique battlefields (Grass, Water, Ice and Rock) to qualify for battling inside Indigo Stadium. He meets with Nurse Joy at the local convention Center, and finds that he is assigned to battle on the Water field later that day against a trainer named Mandi, who refers to himself as "Mandi the Astounding."

Since he is assigned to the Water field, Ash plans to rely on Squirtle for the battle. When Misty and Brock suggest that Squirtle might not be enough, Ash decides to claim Krabby from Professor Oak's lab to boost his team. Misty is worried because Ash has never used Krabby before, but Ash is confident.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is posing as a news crew to try and find rare Pokémon to steal. They are not having much luck.

Ash's battle on the Water field is about to begin! Misty and Brock take special seats behind Ash's podium on the battlefield to act as his "coaches" during the fights. Ash sends out Krabby right away, and Mandi uses Exeggutor. Krabby jumps into the pool but Exeggutor uses its Psychic ability to create a whirlpool, revealing Krabby's hiding space. Mandi then orders an Egg Bomb, knocking Krabby into the whirlpool and preventing it from using any attacks. Ash tries to recall Krabby, but the whirlpool prevents him from doing so. Suddenly, Krabby escapes from the vortex! Ash orders Krabby to use Vicegrip on Exeggutor's leaves, stopping its attacks. One Stomp later and Krabby is the winner!

Krabby stands triumphant over Exeggutor and.... evolves! Ash excitedly checks Dexter for information on his new Kingler. Mandi, still confident, sends out a Seadra. Seadra uses Agility to dodge Kingler's Water Gun, but Kingler manages to slow it down with a Bubble attack and then knocks Seadra out of the fight with Crabhammer.

Mandi, undaunted, sends out his last Pokémon- Golbat! Brock worries that this could be bad for Ash; Kingler is weak against air attacks. Golbat manages to evade Kingler's attacks, dealing a great amount of damage in the process. But Ash remains firm and orders Kingler to use Hyper Beam. Kingler's shot hits Golbat dead-on, knocking it out!!

Ash has won his first Indigo League victory!

Major events

• Ash wins his first round match.
• Ash's Krabby evolves into Kingler.

Characters

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Nidoran♂

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Krabby (Ash's; evolves)
• Kingler (Ash's; newly evolved)
• Mr. Mime (Mimey)
• Exeggutor (Mandi's)
• Seadra (Mandi's)
• Golbat (Mandi's)
• Pidgeotto (unnamed trainer's)
• Raticate (unnamed trainer's)
• Sandslash (unnamed trainer's)
• Gloom (unnamed trainer's)
• Venomoth (unnamed trainer's)
• Tentacruel (unnamed trainer's)
• Seaking (unnamed trainer's)
• Pidgey
• Moltres (flashback)

Trivia

Errors

• In the dub, after Mandi summoned a flock of Pidgey during his magic trick, Meowth referred to the Pidgey as Pidgeotto.
• When a random trainer is showing off his Pokémon to Team Rocket, he holds up a Poké Ball containing a Raticate, yet a picture of a Venomoth appears. When he holds up the Poké Ball containing Venomoth, the next scene shows him staring at Team Rocket's camera, with his mouth not moving when he says "And a Venomoth!" in the dub. In the Japanese version he only showed off one Pokémon and a Venomoth.

In other languages

• French: Ligue Pokémon, 1er tour
• Spanish: ¡Comienza la primera ronda!

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.