EP176

← EP175 : The Trouble with Snubbull

Original series

EP177 : Wings 'N' Things →

Ariados, Amigos

EP176   アリアドス！にんぽうバトル！！ Ariados! Battle of Ninja Arts!!

First broadcast Japan December 7, 2000 United States November 17, 2001

English themes Opening Born to Be a Winner Ending

Japanese themes Opening OK! Ending ぼくのベストフレンドへ

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita Storyboard 岩崎太郎 Tarō Iwasaki Assistant director 岩崎太郎 Tarō Iwasaki Animation director はしもとかつみ Katsumi Hashimoto Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Ariados, Amigos (Japanese: アリアドス！にんぽうバトル！！ Ariados! Battle of Ninja Arts!!) is the 176th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 7, 2000, and in the United States on November 17, 2001.

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

Blurb

Ash, Pikachu and Brock take a break by the lake while Misty heads deeper into the forest with Togepi. As Misty picks the local flora, Togepi wanders over to a very strange looking bush, it appears to have legs...spider legs! Summoned by Misty's shrieks, Ash and Brock discover an Ariados in the bush. Just then, a trainer from Fuschia City appears on the scene. She explains she's training with this Ariados to learn the special art of Pokémon Jujitsu. Accepting an invitation from the trainer, the gang joins her for a day at the Pokémon Jujitsu Academy. Find out what happens as Brock and Pineco blow the lid off a technical class, Ash is critiqued on battle techniques and Misty gets all wrapped up in Pokémon health, beauty and nutrition!

Plot

Ash, Pikachu, and Brock take a break by the lake while Misty heads deeper into the forest with Togepi. As Misty picks a flower, Togepi wanders over to a very strange-looking bush, which appears to have spider legs. Summoned by Misty's shrieks, Ash and Brock discover an Ariados in the bush. Just then, the Ariados's Trainer Aya, the sister of Fuchsia Gym Leader Koga, arrives. She explains that she's training with her Ariados to learn Pokémon Jujitsu. Under the guidance of Tōkichi, the sensei of the dojo, who is the true owner of Ariados, she is trying to perfect her skills in Pokémon Jujitsu alongside her Venonat. Accepting an invitation from Tōkichi, the group joins Aya for a day at the Pokémon Jujitsu Academy.

Donning special uniforms, red-colored for battle technique studies, which Ash chooses, yellow-colored for the technical class, which Brock chooses, and blue-colored for beauty-classes, which Misty is assigned. Initially reluctant to attend a beauty class, she swiftly changes her mind when told that the beauty treatments taught can make her look like a movie star. To her horror, the treatment involves Spinarak webbing being applied to the face as a moisturizer. Meanwhile, Brock and his Pineco impress the class and its teacher with their highly synchronized battle demonstration. In Ash's class, he and Aya have a rematch of their battle at the Fuchsia Gym. Ash uses his Bulbasaur against Aya's Venonat, and initially, the battle follows the same pattern as their previous match, with Bulbasaur using Leech Seed to simultaneously trap and drain Venonat's energy.

However, Venonat shrugs off the Leech Seed and nearly wins the battle with a Supersonic-Tackle combination. Demonstrating Ash and his Pokémon's ingenuity and understanding of each other, Bulbasaur uses its Vine Whip to push itself high into the air, and at Ash's prompting, uses Vine Whip to attack Venonat from the air, winning the match. Meanwhile, Team Rocket observes the battle and decide to steal the many rare Pokémon present at the school. Later, when everyone is going to sleep, Pikachu hears a noise from outside, so Ash goes to investigate and he finds Aya training. They contemplate their futures as Trainers until Venonat notices a strange occurrence. They find Poké Balls of most of the Trainers at the center to be stolen. Moments later, Team Rocket reveals themselves as the thieves. They grab Pikachu and trap him in a metal cage to prevent the effectiveness of his Electric attacks.

As they take flight in their balloon, Tōkichi utilizes his glider to intercept Team Rocket and sabotage their balloon. He drops the Poké Balls to Ash and his friends below and then falls from the balloon. Exhausted by the pursuit, and Ash's Pikachu still trapped in a metal cage, Tōkichi and Ariados cannot battle Team Rocket, leaving it up to Aya. She worries that she is not prepared to battle Team Rocket, but Tōkichi assures her by saying that no one is ever fully ready for battle. Ordering her Pokémon to use Rest, she makes a gamble that her Venonat will be able to endure. The ploy works, and upon waking up, Venonat uses Tackle and Stun Spore, stunning Arbok. Ash finally succeeds in removing Pikachu from the cage, and returns to beat Jessie and James's final attack.

Aya reflects upon her choice to take a chance, and is praised by Tōkichi for her turning "weakness into strength". When Ash and his friends prepare to leave, Tōkichi thanks them for their help, and promises them a place in his academy should they ever return.

Major events

• Ash and his friends meet up with Aya again.
• Brock's Pineco is revealed to know Spikes.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Ariados

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Aya
• Tōkichi
• Students
  • Ralph
  • Mickey

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Jigglypuff (US and international), Ariados (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Pineco (Brock's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Venonat (Aya's)
• Ariados (Tōkichi's; debut)
• Hypno (Mickey's)
• Houndour (Ralph's)
• Gloom (Trainer's)
• Hitmonlee (Trainer's)
• Starmie (Trainers'; ×4)
• Scyther (Trainer's)
• Pidgey (multiple)
• Spinarak (×5)

Trivia

• The English title of this episode is a play on the Spanish phrase "adiós amigos".
• This is the last episode to air in Japan before the earliest release of Pokémon Crystal.
• This episode was banned in South Korea, likely due to the overt focus on Japanese culture.
• What Tōkichi says in this episode in regards to beauty ("Beautiful people are more beautiful...more so than people who are as they are") is similar to a line from Beauty and the Breeder, in which Jessie and James say, "Beautiful Pokémon are more beautiful...more so than people who are as they are".
• Jessie's dance after the motto, when she mentions a list of Pokémon, could be a reference to the anime series Magical Princess Minky Momo.

Errors

• When the episode title is read, the usual Pokémon logo isn't in the top left-hand corner.
• The flower in Misty hair disappears after her and her friends' flashback of meeting Aya.
• When Aya tells Venonat to use Tackle at the beginning of the episode, the black stripe on her jumpsuit is colored red. This also occurs when she kneels over Venonat when caught by Ariados's web.
• In the scene where Ash and his friends are seen in ninja jumpsuits, Misty is drawn with brown eyes when talking, instead of her usual blue ones.
• When Misty is trying to stay calm while being next to Spinarak, its body is colored yellow instead of green while one of its legs has its colors reversed.
• Aya's Venonat uses Poison Sting in this episode, despite being unable to learn Poison Sting normally.
• Pokémon TV displays Ditto during the Who's That Pokémon? segment instead of Jigglypuff.

• 

  The missing logo

• 

  Aya's miscolored jumpsuit

• 

  Spinarak's miscolored body

Dub edits

• The original airing of this episode on Hungama TV in India started the episode directly from the title card, skipping the part of the episode that comes before it.

In other languages

Language		Title
Bulgarian		Ариадос, Амигос
Mandarin Chinese		阿利多斯，忍術戰鬥
Czech		Ariados, amigos
Dutch		Ariados, Amigos
Finnish		Pokémon-Jujitsua
European French		L'école
German		Pokémon Jujitsu
Hebrew		פוקימון ג'וג'יטסו Pokémon Jujitsu
Hindi		Ariados - एक बग पोकेमोन Ariados - Ek Bug Pokemon *
Italian		Accademia dei ninja
Polish		Mocna pajęczyna
Brazilian Portuguese		Ariados, Amigos
Spanish	Latin America	¡Ariados, amigo!
	Spain	Amigos de Ariados
Swedish		Ariados amigos

← EP175 : The Trouble with Snubbull

Original series

EP177 : Wings 'N' Things →

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