JN130

This article is about an episode of the Pokémon animated series that has not been dubbed into English. As such, its coverage may contain romanized Japanese names, rather than dub names.

← JN129 : A Flood of Torrential Gains!

Pokémon Journeys: The Series

JN131 : Paring Pokémon While Parrying! →

Toying With Your Motions!

JN130   EP1215 ファイナルⅡ　「翻弄」 The Finals II: "Toy Around"

First broadcast Japan October 28, 2022 United States

English themes Opening Ending

Japanese themes Opening １・２・３ Ending バツグンタイプ

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 尼野浩正 Hiromasa Amano Assistant director ウヱノ史博 Fumihiro Ueno Animation director 篠原隆 Takashi Shinohara Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGf Closed Original review thread on BMGf

Toying With Your Motions! (Japanese: ファイナルⅡ　「翻弄」 The Finals II: "Toy Around") is the 130th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,215th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 28, 2022, and is scheduled to air in Canada on March 25, 2023.

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

Plot

The finals of the Pokémon World Coronation Series Masters Eight Tournament are in full swing. Both participating Trainers, Ash and Leon, are down one Pokémon each, with Leon's current Pokémon, Mr. Rime, having set up an icy battlefield infused with Psychic Terrain to give it the advantage. For his third Pokémon, Ash calls out Sirfetch'd, confusing Leon as to why Ash would choose a Pokémon with a type disadvantage. Ash calls for Fury Cutter, and while Mr. Rime initially succeeds in defending itself with its icy cane, Sirfetch'd eventually finds an opening and manages to land a super effective blow on the Comedian Pokémon. Sirfetch'd attempts to follow up with Brutal Swing, only to have its leek sword grabbed by Mr. Rime, allowing the Psychic type to easily land a super effective Expanding Force, made even stronger thanks to the Psychic Terrain. The blow causes Sirfetch'd lose hold of its shield, leaving it wide open for a Triple Axel. Mr. Rime continues the offensive with another Expanding Force, but Sirfetch'd succeeds in dodging it thanks to Detect, before using its leek sword to pole vault over its opponent and retrieve its shield just in time to defend itself from another Triple Axel. Ash orders another Fury Cutter, but instead of Mr. Rime, he surprises everyone by ordering Sirfetch'd to attack the battlefield. Ash's intention becomes apparent seconds later, when the Bug-type move succeeds in destroying the Psychic Terrain, negating one of Mr. Rime's advantages.

Having achieved what he set out to do with Sirfetch'd, Ash recalls it in favor of Lucario, with the two Pokémon sharing a figurative high five as they switch places. Ash wastes no time in Mega Evolving his partner, who expresses its determination by releasing a wind-like burst of Aura that is felt by everyone across Wyndon Stadium. Lucario charges in for a Bullet Punch, but Mr. Rime still has the ice battlefield in its favor, dodging Lucario's attack and hitting it with two consecutive series of Triple Axel. Following Ash's instructions, Lucario closes its eyes and uses its Aura sense to sense Mr. Rime's movements while readying an Aura Sphere. Mr. Rime goes for another Triple Axel, but Lucario senses the incoming attack and avoids it before loosing the Aura Sphere, defeating the Comedian Pokémon and restoring the battlefield to normal in the process.

Leon's next Pokémon of choice is Dragapult. Ash has Lucario use Double Team, followed by Bullet Punch. While Lucario manages to score a direct hit, Dragapult's counterattack comes in the form of a Flamethrower, which Ash immediately recalls Lucario out of, replacing the Aura Pokémon with Dracovish. Ash's Dragon type charges in with Dragon Rush, but the attack is disrupted by a hit from Dragapult's Dragon Darts. When the second Dragon Darts Dreepy is about to hit, Ash has Dracovish stop it by biting down on it. Doing this causes Dracovish to start shivering unexpectedly, though it is cut short by another hit from Dragon Darts, allowing both Dreepy to return to Dragapult. As Dracovish stands back up, the spikes along its body start glowing red and become covered in red energy, much to general confusion. In her and Diantha's skybox, Cynthia theorizes that the clash of Dragon moves may have awakened a long-dormant power within Dracovish. Ignoring this unusual occurrence, Leon tells Dragapult to use Thunderbolt, scoring a direct hit, before having Dragapult charge in for the finishing blow. This proves to be a mistake, however, as it allows Dracovish's energy-covered spikes to clamp down on Dragapult, pinning it down and allowing Dracovish to land an easy Fishious Rend on it. Dragapult is still far from immobilized, though, as Leon demonstrates by ordering a Dragon Tail. Dracovish attempts to stop this by freezing Dragapult with Ice Fang, but is unable to freeze it completely, allowing Dragon Tail to make contact and simultaneously free Dragapult from the ice.

Due to Dragon Tail's effect, Dracovish is sent back into its Poké Ball and Dragonite is forcibly sent out. Dragapult attacks its opponent with Dragon Darts, while Dragonite uses Dragon Dance, using the Dragon Darts to speed up its spinning. Instead of the intense spinning repelling the Dragon Darts, however, they resiliently stick on Dragonite's tail. The Dragon Pokémon attempts to attack the two Dreepy with Dragon Claw, but they prove too fast for it to hit, much to its irritation. When the Dreepy return to Dragapult, Dragonite attempts to attack it instead, only to be hit by Dragon Tail and be forcibly replaced by Lucario as a result. After calming himself down with a deep breath, Ash orders a Bullet Punch, which makes contact. After blocking a Thunderbolt with Reversal, Lucario tries to use Bullet Punch again, but ends up freezing in place; it turns out Thunderbolt succeeded in paralyzing it. With Lucario immobilized, Dragapult lands another Flamethrower on it, causing Lucario to revert to its usual form and collapse, being ruled unable to battle.

At Ash's call, Dragonite returns to the battlefield to resume the clash between Dragon types. Dragonite whips up a powerful Hurricane, which tosses Dragapult around and even affects the audience. Unconcerned, Leon has Dragapult unleash a Thunderbolt in every direction, not only dissipating the Hurricane but also striking Dragonite. Ash's Dragon type flies high into the air and uses Draco Meteor, successfully shooting down another attempt at Dragon Darts while the two Dragon types charge at each other. Following Ash's orders, Dragonite grabs Dragapult and plummets to the ground along with its own Draco Meteor, enduring a Thunderbolt while repeating the "Dragonite Meteor" strategy from Ash's visit to Professor Oak's Laboratory. When the cloud of dust clears, Dragonite is still standing, while Dragapult has finally been defeated, resulting in loud cheers from those watching the battle. Leon recalls Dragapult and compliments Ash's skills, but also points out that all of Ash's remaining Pokémon are worn out as he sends out Rillaboom as his fifth Pokémon.

Major events

• Ash and Leon continue their Full Battle in the finals.
• Ash's Dracovish awakens an unknown power.

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

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Tracey
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Oak
• Delia
• Cynthia
• Diantha
• Korrina
• Gurkinn
• Wikstrom
• Chloe
• Leon
• Dan
• Sonia
• Bea
• Hop
• Announcer
• Crowd

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Charizard (Ash's)
• Muk (Ash's)
• Snorlax (Ash's)
• Heracross (Ash's)
• Bayleef (Ash's)
• Quilava (Ash's)
• Totodile (Ash's)
• Donphan (Ash's)
• Corphish (Ash's)
• Torkoal (Ash's)
• Infernape (Ash's)
• Buizel (Ash's)
• Gliscor (Ash's)
• Gible (Ash's)
• Oshawott (Ash's)
• Pignite (Ash's)
• Snivy (Ash's)
• Krookodile (Ash's)
• Hawlucha (Ash's)
• Noivern (Ash's)
• Dragonite (Ash's)
• Lucario (Ash's; Mega Lucario)
• Sirfetch'd (Ash's)
• Dracovish (Ash's)
• Morpeko (James's; Hangry Mode)
• Lucario (Korrina's)
• Eevee (Chloe's)
• Grapploct (Bea's)
• Dragapult (Leon's)
• Rillaboom (Leon's)
• Mr. Rime (Leon's)
• Aegislash (Dan's)
• Dreepy (Dragon Darts; ×2)
• Meowstic (Trainer's; male)
• Dottler (Trainer's)
• Pincurchin (Trainer's)
• Spinda (Trainer's)
• Psyduck (Trainer's)
• Xatu (Trainer's)
• Swirlix (Trainer's)

Trivia

The "After the story" artwork for this episode

• Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!!: Mr. Rime
• Ash and Leon read the title card for this episode.
• The Dare da? segment is replaced with eyecatches of Ash, Goh, and Pikachu for this episode.
• This is the first episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series in which Goh does not make an appearance in any capacity.
• Shinji Miyazaki's music from Pokémon the Series: Black & White and Pokémon the Series: XY is reused as background music in this episode.
• According to a CoroCoro article about Masters Eight Tournament participants, this is the first time Leon has lost more than two Pokémon in a single battle.
• Despite having first appeared in Search for the Clubultimate!, 487 episodes earlier, this is the first time Dragon Tail’s secondary effect of switching out the opposing Pokémon is seen in the anime.
• Ash's strategy of having Sirfetch'd attack the Psychic Terrain with a flurry of Fury Cutters to make it disappear is similar to the one displayed in Fairy-Type Trickery!, in which his Hawlucha broke Trick Room by striking its walls with a spinning X-Scissor.
• The scene of Lucario sensing Mr. Rime is similar to the one shown in The Green, Green Grass Types of Home!, in which his Frogadier stood still to hear Gogoat's movements in order to hit it.
• This episode marks the first time Lucario is defeated after Mega Evolving.
• Dracovish developing spikes of energy on its body after biting down on Dragon Darts is similar to the strategy used by Ash's Grotle and Dawn's Mamoswine during Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, where they were shown swallowing a move of their own type to power up their moves.
• Dragonite's use of Draco Meteor in this episode is similar to Ash's Charizard's use of Seismic Toss.
• As of this episode, Kommo-o is the only pseudo-legendary Pokémon introduced as of this point that Ash hasn’t battled yet.
• As of this episode, all non-volatile status conditions have appeared at some point during the Masters Eight Tournament.
• James, Meowth, Jessie, and Wobbuffet narrate the preview for the next episode.
• The English dub title is a reference to the phrase "toying with your emotions".

Errors

• After Sirfetch'd undoes the Psychic Terrain, Diantha's voice is heard, but Cynthia is the one seen talking. This is corrected on the Japanese Prime Video release.
• The skybox where Cynthia and Diantha reside in has changed somewhat compared to the previous episode, including having different posters.

References

← JN129 : A Flood of Torrential Gains!

Pokémon Journeys: The Series

JN131 : Paring Pokémon While Parrying! →

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