EP151

← EP150 : Hour of the Houndour

Original series

EP152 : Hot Matches! →

The Totodile Duel

EP151   ワニノコはだれのもの！？サトシＶＳカスミ！ Who Gets to Keep Waninoko!? Satoshi VS Kasumi!

First broadcast Japan June 8, 2000 United States May 5, 2001

English themes Opening Pokémon Johto Ending

Japanese themes Opening OK! Ending ポケモンはらはらリレー

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

The Totodile Duel (Japanese: ワニノコはだれのもの！？サトシＶＳカスミ！ Who Gets to Keep Waninoko!? Satoshi VS Kasumi!) is the 151st episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 8, 2000 and in the United States on May 5, 2001.

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

Blurb

Ash and Misty's friendly rivalry is tested when they both try to capture a Totodile at the same time. Unable to determine whose Pokéball had captured the wild Pokémon, the two must battle it out to determine the Totodile's new master.

Plot

The episode begins with Ash, Misty, and Brock sitting by a calm river in Johto, fishing in the hopes of finding some Pokémon. Ash, however, is bored at this, and thus gets into an argument with Misty. Suddenly, Misty gets something on her line, and begins to reel it in. It fights hard, but she finally whips... a tea kettle from the water. Angered at this, Misty decides to use her secret weapon: her special lure. Misty tells of the reason she trains Water-types, that she grew up around them and so wants to train as many as she can. Suddenly a Totodile reveals itself to them, dancing on a rock in the stream. Ash scans it with his Pokédex.

After learning about the species, Misty declares that she intends to catch it, while Ash does the same. Before Ash can throw his Poké Ball, however, Misty tosses her lure at Totodile, who chomps down on it. Ash complains that it's not fair, and Totodile spits the lure out. Ash uses this as an opportunity to have Pikachu attack it, using Thunder Shock. Now stunned, Ash throws a Poké Ball. Misty and Ash begin to argue again, but the Poké Ball does not hold, and Totodile pops out of it on their side of the riverbank. Ash complains and tells Pikachu to use Thunder Shock again, but Misty interrupts, throwing her own Poké Ball. This time, Totodile dodges it completely and uses Water Gun to blast the Poké Ball and the three Trainers into the grass. The three climb out, and Totodile is gone. Ash and Misty decide to both go looking for it. Misty tells Brock to watch Togepi, but Brock insists that he should come along since they'll need a referee.

Meanwhile, Totodile is hungry, and notices Jessie, James, and Meowth having a snack of rice balls. Meowth, however, complains that the Boss will still be mad at them about their constant failures, and the other two attempt to cheer him up. Jessie offers a rice ball, but Totodile chomps on her hand. Meowth and James express that Giovanni would enjoy it, and Jessie manages to get Totodile off her arm. Totodile then goes on to eat the rest of Team Rocket's rice balls, and when they attempt to stop it, blasts them off with Water Gun.

Ash and Misty then finally locate Totodile, and both prepare to catch it, Misty deciding to use her Lure Ball because of its better chance of catching Water-types, and Ash agreeing that it'd be a good idea to use his as well. The two throw the balls at the same time, and Totodile jumps into them, being hit by both at the same time. It and the two balls fall behind a bush and it is caught, unseen by anyone, this time successfully. Due to the fact that both of them used a Lure Ball, no one can tell who threw it.

Ash and Misty begin arguing again, and Brock stops them, saying there's only one way to decide whose Totodile it is: a Pokémon battle. The match is decided as being three vs three, and deciding he'll prove that he would have won their last battle had Team Rocket not interfered, decides to use Pikachu against Misty's Water-type team. Pikachu is ready to battle, however Misty has a secret weapon up her sleeve: her only non-Water-type Pokémon: Togepi!

Pikachu is suddenly very worried as he doesn't wish to battle his friend. Ash asks Pikachu to use Thunder Shock, but Pikachu refuses to do so. Misty tells Togepi to give Pikachu a big hug, and it does so, making Pikachu even more worried. She then tells Togepi to use Charm, making it look even more adorable to the point where it is too much for the Mouse Pokémon and he runs from battle. Brock rules this to be a win for Misty, giving her an early upper hand. Ash decided to use a Grass-type next, as they also have an advantage, and sends out his Chikorita. Misty chooses her Staryu. Ash opens the fight with a Razor Leaf, but Staryu avoids it and uses Swift. Chikorita responds with a Tackle. Misty commands a Water Gun, and nearly defeats Chikorita, but she digs in her heels. Ash tells Chikorita to use Vine Whip, but it misses as Staryu jumps again to use Tackle. With a quick move, however, Chikorita evades the Tackle and grabs and defeats Staryu with Vine Whip. The match is now at one apiece, and it comes down to the last battle, both determined to win.

Ash sends out Bulbasaur, while Misty sends out Poliwag. The battle begins, and we cut to Team Rocket, who is now drifting downstream. After a brief conversation about Totodile and the boss, and ending up in front of the battle between Ash and Misty, they plan to wait until the end of the battle to take the tired Pokémon away.

Bulbasaur uses Razor Leaf, which Poliwag counters with Water Gun. Bulbasaur avoids it and uses another Razor Leaf, knocking Poliwag down and seemingly defeating it... however, Poliwag begins to glow, and starts to evolve, becoming Poliwhirl. Ash scans it in his Pokédex, and then commands a Tackle from Bulbasaur. Poliwhirl uses Body Slam, and hurts Bulbasaur badly. Using Razor Leaf to get away, Ash asks if it can continue, which it can. He commands a Solar Beam, which Bulbasaur begins to charge. Poliwhirl uses Bubble while the Solar Beam charges, battering Bulbasaur. Eventually it's fully charged, and Bulbasaur blasts Poliwhirl, making it unable to battle. Brock declares Ash the winner, and hands him Totodile's Poké Ball.

Before he can celebrate, the Pokémon Battler's Ladies Auxiliary shows up to congratulate them. A Wobbuffet's appearance, however, gives them away as no one other than Team Rocket, who soon reveals themselves after their motto. Meowth declares their intentions, but Ash reveals that he has Totodile, which bites Jessie's hair. She sends out Arbok in anger, and tells James to send out Weezing. Arbok goes after Totodile, but Totodile uses Bite and whips Arbok around to knock both it and Meowth out. Weezing uses Sludge, but Totodile avoids the move and uses Scratch, which sends it back into the rest of Team Rocket. Using Water Gun, Totodile sends Team Rocket blasting off again.

Happy with winning, Totodile begins dancing with Pikachu, and Misty admits that she's not jealous that Ash beat her, but mostly because she has her Poliwhirl which listens to her rather than doing whatever it wants. The group then continues its journey towards Goldenrod City.

Major events

Ash after receiving Totodile

• Both Ash and Misty throw their Lure Balls simultaneously at a wild Totodile, but only one catches it. Brock referees a match to determine who will get the Pokémon.
• Misty uses her Togepi in a battle for the first time.
• Misty's Togepi is revealed to know Charm.
• Misty's Poliwag evolves into Poliwhirl and learns Body Slam.
• Ash wins the match and receives Totodile.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Ash's Totodile
• Misty's Poliwhirl

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Pichu (US and international), Totodile (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Chikorita (Ash's)
• Totodile (Ash's; new)
• Staryu (Misty's)
• Poliwag (Misty's; evolves)
• Poliwhirl (Misty's; newly evolved)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Psyduck (fantasy)
• Goldeen (fantasy)
• Seel (fantasy)
• Shellder (fantasy)
• Slowpoke (fantasy)
• Magikarp (fantasy)
• Tentacool (fantasy)
• Marill (fantasy)
• Horsea (fantasy)
• Seaking (fantasy)
• Dewgong (fantasy)
• Quagsire (fantasy)
• Poliwag (fantasy)

Trivia

• When Ash and Misty are about the throw their Lure Balls to catch Totodile, they both break the fourth wall by pushing the split screen that's between them when telling each other to back off.
• Pikachu's refusal to fight Togepi in this episode marks the second time that he has refused to battle Misty for one reason or another.
• This is one of the few episodes where a main character catches a Pokémon and a main character's Pokémon evolves. The first time was in Ash Catches a Pokémon, where Ash caught Caterpie and Pidgeotto, and Caterpie evolved into Metapod.
• This episode is featured on Volume 16: Totodile from Viz Media's Pokémon All-Stars series.
• This episode is featured on Pokémon All-Stars: Totodile from Magna Pacific's Pokémon All-Stars series.
• The book Teaming Up With Totodile is based on this episode.
• If the scene where the Lure Balls fly towards Totodile is watched in slow motion, it can be seen that Ash's Lure Ball was the one that hit it.

Errors

• When Ash commands his Chikorita to use Razor Leaf on Misty's Staryu, she commands it to "use its Jump" as if it was an attack.

Dub edits

• Pokémon Karaokémon: Two Perfect Girls
• Misty goes on about her ambitions to learn everything about Water Pokémon for much longer in the dub. In the original, the scene with Water Pokémon scrolling past shows Misty praying to "The God of Water Pokémon" to help her achieve her goal.
• Rather than make up a food item, Jessie refers to the rice balls as a "delicious but non-nutritious snack treat".
• In Castilian Spanish dub, later when Totodile dodges Weezing's Sludge, James establishes Totodile dances like Michael Jackson.

In other languages

Language		Title
Bulgarian		Тотодайл двубой
Mandarin Chinese		小鋸鱷是誰的？小智對抗小霞
Czech		Zápas o Totodila
Dutch		Het Totodile Duel
European French		Duel pour un Pokémon
German		Streit um Karnimani
Hebrew		הקרב על הטוטודיילhakrav al Totodile
Hindi		कौन जीतेगा Totodile? Kaun jeetega Totodile? *
Hungarian		Totodile párbaj
Italian		Duello fra amici* La battaglia per il Totodile*
Polish		Pojedynek o Totodile'a!
Portuguese	Brazil	Duelando pelo Totodile
	Portugal	O Duelo dos Totodiles
Romanian		Duelul Totodile
Spanish	Latin America	¡El duelo de Totodile!
	Spain	Totodile, el bailón

← EP150 : Hour of the Houndour

Original series

EP152 : Hot Matches! →

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