EP007

← EP006 : Clefairy and the Moon Stone

Original series

EP008 : The Path to the Pokémon League →

The Water Flowers of Cerulean City

EP007   ハナダシティのすいちゅうか The Suichūka of Hanada City

First broadcast Japan May 13, 1997 United States September 16, 1998

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ひゃくごじゅういち

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi Storyboard 井上修 Osamu Inoue Assistant director 井上修 Osamu Inoue Animation director 藤田宗克 Munekatsu Fujita Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de 水中花 suichūka are a type of artificial flower which "blossoms" when placed in water.

The Water Flowers of Cerulean City (Japanese: ハナダシティのすいちゅうか The Suichūka of Hanada City) is the seventh episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on May 13, 1997 and in United States on September 16, 1998.

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

Blurb

Ash seeks the Cascade badge in Cerulean City—but for some reason, Misty doesn't want to join them. When Ash and Brock show up, the city is buzzing about a break-in that just took place—and are initially accused of the crime! (We see Team Rocket commit the robbery, but no one else knows about their involvement yet.)

Ash and Pikachu arrive at the Cerulean City gym, which resembles an aquarium with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. They see a water show performed by the Sensational Cerulean City Synchronized Swimming Sisters. Later on, Ash learns that the sisters are actually the Gym Leaders. He challenges them, but they don't feel like battling and instead offer him the Cascade Badge without a fight.

It looks like Ash will have his Cascade Badge without breaking a sweat...but then a fourth Gym Leader step up! Who is this mysterious Gym Leader? What does Team Rocket plan to do with the stuff they stole? And where's Misty?

Plot

Excited about winning his Boulder Badge, Ash travels quickly to Cerulean City to battle for his Cascade Badge. For some reason, however, Misty is hesitant and unsuccessfully tries to convince the others to go to Vermilion City instead. She leaves Ash and Brock as they enter the city.

When Ash and Brock enter Cerulean City, they see a big crowd of people surrounding a building. Unbeknownst to them, Team Rocket had stolen a vacuum machine from the store overnight. Ash and Brock push through to the front, they see Officer Jenny and she accuses them of being criminals. When they prove their innocence, she lets them go, and ushers the crowd away. After that, they sit on a bench and Ash asks Brock for inside information on the Gym Leader. Brock tells him that as a Gym Leader, he cannot give out that information. Then Brock decides to check something out that he has been meaning to look at. They split up, and Ash heads to the Cerulean Gym alone.

When Ash reaches the Gym, he finds three sisters performing a synchronized swimming show for a lively crowd. Ash meets the girls backstage, finds out that they are the Gym Leaders, and challenges them to a battle. The girls, Lily, Daisy, and Violet, explain that their Pokémon are too tired to battle from matches against three Trainers from Pallet Town. Lily shows Ash the trio's final Pokémon, a Goldeen. Daisy claps her hands and a Seel with the badge in its mouth appears, whereupon she offers Ash the Cascade Badge without a proper match. Misty, who had been spying on the entire scene, intervenes and challenges Ash to a battle. As it turns out, Misty is herself a Cerulean Gym Leader as well, and also the youngest of The Sensational Sisters, but because she is so much younger than her three sisters, they call her a runt.

After Misty argues with her sisters, she challenges Ash to an official Cerulean Gym battle, two Pokémon per side. Ash tries to send out Pikachu, but Pikachu refuses to go into battle because he considers Misty a friend. Instead, Ash sends out Butterfree to battle Misty's Staryu. Ash hits Staryu with a Tackle, and Staryu replies with several Water Guns. Butterfree's Stun Spore paralyzes Staryu temporarily, though it dives and washes the powder off. Ash tries Sleep Powder, though Staryu dives once again. Staryu performs several Tackles and eventually knocks Butterfree into the pool, causing him to lose the battle. After that, Misty sends out Starmie and Ash sends out Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto uses Whirlwind on Starmie, but it jumps into the water and attacks Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto uses Gust, causing Starmie to hit the wall and its red core to flash. Just as Ash is about to press the attack, Team Rocket interrupts and tries to steal all of the Water-type Pokémon and the water from the Gym using a giant vacuum machine – the one stolen the previous night.

While Team Rocket's vacuum is sucking up the Water Pokémon, Pikachu releases a Thunderbolt attack, which causes Team Rocket to fall into their machine and be blasted off. Ash rushes over to the machine and reverses the vacuum, just as Pikachu is sucked in. After Team Rocket is gone, Daisy gives Ash the Cascade Badge in recognition of Pikachu's efforts. Misty tries to argue, but her sisters convince her that if Ash had used Pikachu he would have easily beaten her Water-type Pokémon. Misty agrees with her sisters and claims that when she comes back from her journey with Ash, she will be a great Trainer. Brock then meets Ash outside of the Gym. Ash and Misty continue to argue about who would have won the match, as the trio heads for Vermilion City.

Major events

Ash holding the Cascade Badge

• Ash and his friends arrive in Cerulean City.
• Ash meets Daisy, Violet, and Lily, the Cerulean Gym Leaders, for the first time.
• Gary and the other two Pallet Town Trainers are revealed to have already defeated the Cerulean Gym.
• Ash learns that Misty is also one of Cerulean City's Gym Leaders and that Daisy, Violet, and Lily are her sisters.
• Ash and Misty battle each other for the first time.
• Misty's Staryu is revealed to know Tackle.
• Ash's Butterfree is revealed to know Stun Spore.
• Misty is revealed to own a Starmie.
• Ash's Pidgeotto is revealed to know Wing Attack.
• Ash and Misty's Gym battle ends in a no-contest, due to the interruption by Team Rocket.
• Ash gets the Cascade Badge from Misty's sisters for protecting the Gym from Team Rocket.

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

Debuts

Humans

• The Sensational Sisters:
  • Daisy
  • Violet
  • Lily

Pokémon debuts

• Starmie (Misty's)
• Seel (Cerulean Gym's)

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Officer Jenny
• The Sensational Sisters
  • Daisy
  • Violet
  • Lily
• Gary (flashback in the Japanese version; voice only in the dub)

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Seel

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Butterfree (Ash's)
• Pidgeotto (Ash's)
• Staryu (Misty's)
• Starmie (Misty's; debut)
• Seel (Cerulean Gym's; debut)
• Goldeen (Lily's)

Trivia

Real world fish

• This is Ted Lewis's last full episode voicing James. He will be replaced by Eric Stuart towards the end of the next episode.
• This episode has led many fans to believe that Misty's last name is Waterflower. In actuality, the words "water flowers" used in the title are merely a metaphor used to describe the three sisters' grace and beauty, and their own names come from flower species.
• It is implied in this episode that a Gym Badge serves as a secondary ID for a Trainer, or a primary ID for a Gym Leader, as Brock used his Boulder Badge to clear his name in regards to accusations of being a criminal, whereas Ash used his Pokédex as his method of clearing his name.
• This episode begins the gag where Brock becomes immediately infatuated by almost every girl he sees, as he asks Officer Jenny out.
  • This episode is also the first episode where Brock is turned down by a girl.
• Brock's absence during the episode is never explained.
• This is the second time real animals are shown. Fish are seen behind the glass when Ash walks into the aquarium.
• During this episode, the Cerulean Gym initially offers Ash a Cascade Badge without a fight. This is the first time the Cerulean Gym was shown surrendering a Badge without a fight, the second being when Jimmy challenges the Cerulean Gym in Judgment Day!. Instead of a battle, his Badge was awarded by Daisy for cleaning the pool. The sisters imply situations like these were very common when the Gym was under their leadership in Gotta Catch Ya Later!.
  • This was the only Gym which had ever offered Ash a Badge without a fight until Flint Sparks the Fire!, 624 episodes later.
• This episode was partially adapted into the book Splashdown in Cerulean City.
• This episode is tied for the shortest gap between episodes where Ash has obtained a Badge, having earned his previous Badge only two episodes earlier. The next gap occurs from Haunter versus Kadabra to Pokémon Scent-sation!
• This is the first Gym where Ash doesn't use a starter Pokémon. It wouldn't happen again until Fairy-Type Trickery!, 866 episodes later.
• What Violet sings to Ash after he asks them to battle him is a parody of a Japanese folk song, "Agarime Sagarime".
• The Turkish title of this episode is misleading for the literal translation, as "water flower" literally means chicken pox.
• The sound effect that Team Rocket's Vacuum machine is similar to Madame Medusa's Swamp mobile in 1977 Disney film "The Rescuers".

Errors

• In the Spanish dub, when Misty's sister calls for Seel, she said "See-al".
• In one scene, a part of Pikachu's right ear is missing, making his left ear look longer than his right.
• When Team Rocket is coming out of their tank, the brim on Ash's hat is miscolored white.
• When Pikachu electrocutes Team Rocket, the edge of Meowth's ears are cream colored instead of black.
• When the recap of the previous episode is shown, in the English dub, the sign is shown to be written in Japanese.
• When Team Rocket begins reciting their motto, James is holding a light blue rose instead of red.

Dub edits

• Kanto Pokérap: Day 2
• The outside of the store Team Rocket looted says "マシーンD" (Machine D) in the Japanese version, while it says "MACHINE SHOP / Industrial supplies / All makes and models" in the dub. The next shot replaces "ルーム" (room) with "LS".
• Like the Pewter Gym, the "Hanada Gym" sign is changed to "Cerulean Gym".
• When Ash's Pokédex reads Staryu, it classifies the Pokémon as a hermaphrodite. Ash calls this strange, and Misty tells him it shouldn't matter who someone falls in love with. In the English dub, the Pokédex makes no mention of Staryu's gender and instead highlights its shining core, which is sold as a type of jewelry. Ash now remarks that it is typical of a girl to "show off her jewelry", and Misty responds by telling him to "quit stalling".

• 

  The store (original)

• 

  The store (dub)

• 

  The Cerulean Gym (original)

• 

  The Cerulean Gym (dub)

In other languages

Language		Title
Arabic		وسام في مدينة سيروليان
Valencian		Les flors aquàtiques de ciutat Celest
Chinese	Cantonese	美女四人組 * 華藍市的水中花 *
	Mandarin	華藍市的水中花 * 花蓝市的水中花 *
Czech		Vodní krásky z Blankytného města
Danish		Vandblomsterne i Cerulean City
Dutch		De Waterbloemen van Cerulean City
Finnish		Cerulean Cityn lumpeenkukat
French	Canada	Les nymphes de Céruléan
	Europe	Les fleurs d'eau d'Azuria
German		Bezaubernde Schwestern
Greek		Τα Λουλούδια του Βυθού της Σερούλιαν
Hebrew		השחייניות מהעיר סרולין Ha'sakhyaniyot me'ha'Eer Cerulean
Hindi		Cerulean City के वॉटरफ्लावर्स Cerulean city ke Waterflowers * Cerulean शहर के वॉटरफ्लावर्स Cerulean sheher ke Waterflowers *
Hungarian		Azúrkékváros vízivirágai
Italian		Il segreto di Misty * I fiori di Celestopoli *
Korean		결전! 지우 VS 이슬 Gyeoljeon! jiu VS iseul
Norwegian		Vannliljene i Cerulean by!
Polish		Wodne Kwiaty Azurii
Portuguese	Brazil	As Flores Aquáticas da Cidade de Cerulean
	Portugal	As Nadadoras da Cidade de Cerulean
Romanian		Florile Apei din Orașul Cerulean
Russian		Водные цветы Церулина
Serbian		Водени цветови града Церулијан
Spanish	Latin America	¡Las Flores Acuáticas de Ciudad Celeste!
	Spain	Las flores acuáticas de Ciudad Celeste
Swedish		Vattenkrig i Cerulean staden * Cerulean Citys vattenblomma *
Turkish		Cerulean Şehri'nin Su Çiçekleri
Ukrainian		Водяні Квіти Лазурного Міста
Vietnamese		Bông hoa trong nước của thành phố Hanada

← EP006 : Clefairy and the Moon Stone

Original series

EP008 : The Path to the Pokémon League →

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