AG119

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Advanced Generation series

AG120 →

The Ribbon Cup Caper

AG119   EP393 怪盗バンナイとリボンカップ！！ Mysterious Thief Bannai & The Ribbon Cup!!

First broadcast Japan March 17, 2005 United States February 18, 2006

English themes Opening Unbeatable Ending

Japanese themes Opening ポケモン シンフォニック メドレー Ending GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜 ②

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi Storyboard 秦義人 Yoshito Hata Assistant director 秦義人 Yoshito Hata Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de

The Ribbon Cup Caper (Japanese: 怪盗バンナイとリボンカップ！！ Mysterious Thief Bannai & The Ribbon Cup!!) is the 119th episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 393rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on March 17, 2005 and in the United States on February 18, 2006.

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

Blurb

May is traveling to Slateport City in style: onboard a giant cruise ship that has the Grand Festival's prize Ribbon Cup on display! Officer Jenny reveals that even though Team Magma and Team Aqua have disbanded, a former Team Magma member—Brodie the Phantom Thief—is onboard and intent on stealing valuables.

When May goes to see the Ribbon Cup, Munchlax bumps the display case, breaking the Cup and revealing that it's a fake. And without the Cup, the Grand Festival will be called off! Brodie must have stolen it, so a "Golden Poké Ball" is put on display as a lure. Disguised as the Captain, Brodie distracts May and her friends and steals the Poké Ball, but Officer Jenny had a tracking device installed in it and they set off in hot pursuit.

They chase Brodie through the ship, finally cornering him on deck. Brodie has now disguised himself as Officer Jenny and the only way to distinguish between the two is with Brock's keen eye for lovely ladies. Once his ruse is rumbled, he escapes and Team Rocket tries for the Ribbon Cup instead. But Officer Jenny and Ash are up to the job, and Team Rocket's plans are thwarted.

Plot

Ash and his friends are aboard the S.S. St. Flower, a luxury cruise liner, on their way to Slateport City after May has won her fifth Contest Ribbon. The cruise liner even has its own Pokémon Center, where May is able to get her Pokémon some rest and exercise. They soon run into Officer Jenny, who is hot on the trail of a thief named Brodie. This is the same Brodie that they encountered from Team Magma in Unfair Weather Friends, although Team Magma and Team Aqua have both been dissolved since the events of The Scuffle of Legends. Both teams have realized that controlling the super-ancient Pokémon is impossible, so without a team, Brodie has decided to become a master thief on his own.

Nearby, Team Rocket is listening to Officer Jenny's explanation and, upon hearing that Team Magma and Aqua are no more, they decide to take credit for it. Their hope is that their boss, Giovanni, will be extremely pleased by the news and Team Rocket will be able to fill the void in power left in the Hoenn region.

May decides to lead the gang to a room where the Ribbon Cup, one of the awards given to the Coordinator who wins the Grand Festival, is being displayed. As the team admires the Ribbon Cup, Munchlax comes running into the room being chased by a guard. With Max's help, May manages to get Munchlax under control after getting it to eat a "May's Pink Surprise" Pokéblock. However, Ash discovers that the Ribbon Cup has been broken, possibly caused by Munchlax when it ran into the case.

The head judge of Pokémon Contests and Chief of the Pokémon Activities Committee, Raoul Contesta, comes by to inspect the damage, and May takes full responsibility for what happened. Mr. Contesta is happy to accept that it was simply an accident. However, he notes that something is wrong because the Ribbon Cup should have never been able to break so easily, then realizes that the Ribbon Cup is a fake! A card falls from the bottom of the cup, which turns out to be the signature of Brodie the Phantom Thief.

As the gang talk about it with Officer Jenny in another room, Team Rocket listens in from an air duct, and realize that their plans for stealing the cup are foiled. Instead, they decide to steal it from Brodie himself.

Mr. Contesta very begrudgingly decides that the Hoenn Grand Festival must be canceled because there's no Ribbon Cup to be awarded to the winning Coordinator. May pleads for another option, but Mr. Contesta sadly points out that there is no time to make another Cup, so canceling the Grand Festival is his only option. However, Officer Jenny points out that Brodie must still be on board, so hopefully they can recover the Cup before they get to Slateport City. With this hope in mind, everyone gets ready to find Brodie.

The gang realizes that they will need to find some way to force Brodie out from hiding after even a guard was tricked by his disguise. Officer Jenny has an idea and paints a normal Poké Ball gold. The plan is to put it on display as the extremely valuable second place prize in the Grand Festival. Ash and his friends then begin spreading the word everywhere they can, hoping that Brodie will hear at least one of them and decide to steal the Poké Ball.

The group reconvenes back at the same place where the Cup was stolen. They then hear someone coming and hide. Team Rocket, disguised as bell hops, try to steal the ball, but are caught in the act. They then reveal themselves only for Pikachu to send them blasting off again. Ash and the rest of the group are shocked and dismayed that the thieves were not Brodie.

Suddenly, the captain appears and tells Officer Jenny that Brodie is attacking the Pokémon Center and stealing all of the Pokémon there. May realizes that all her Pokémon are at the center and everyone rushes away. However, in another corridor, the captain encounters them and is very confused, saying that he just came from the Pokémon Center and that all is well. Realizing that the first captain was actually Brodie in disguise, the group immediately turns around and races back to the room with the golden Poké Ball.

The fake captain is about to steal the Poké Ball when Jenny orders him to stop and reveal himself. Brodie notes that they are persistent and throws away his disguise. Officer Jenny states he is under arrest, but Brodie immediately calls out his Golbat and it uses Haze, temporarily blinding the group with the smoke and allowing Brodie to get away with the golden Poké Ball.

The group knows that they cannot fool Brodie the same way again, but Officer Jenny points out that it is not a problem as she placed a tracker inside the ball, so they can track Brodie down as long as he has the ball with him. They follow the tracker to the dining room and it leads them to a woman eating alone at a table. She asks if there is something wrong as the tracker is pointed at her. Officer Jenny then states that she is really Brodie in disguise. The woman backs off. Jenny is proven correct as Brodie says that he is impressed that they were able to see through his disguise. He flees into a hallway that leads to the kitchen with Jenny, Ash, and company running after him. As the group turns a corner, Officer Jenny finds the disguise Brodie used on the ground and guesses that he must have changed again. They all follow the tracker into the kitchen.

Brodie's disguise works at first, but the truth is revealed when the "master chef" leaves the room and then immediately enters in again through another door. Deducing that the first master chef was Brodie, Jenny and the others give chase again. Unfortunately, Brodie figures out how they are tracking him and abandons the Golden Poké Ball. Max then remembers that Brodie has a jet pack, so everyone goes up to the deck to find him.

When Ash and his friends are at the deck, two women approach them, each looking exactly like Officer Jenny. Both claim that they are the real Jenny and that the other one is an impostor. Everyone is confused, except for Brock, who uses his exceedingly amorous behavior around beautiful women to determine which Jenny is real and which one is Brodie in disguise.

On closer examination, Brodie decides that the Ribbon Cup isn't quite as valuable as he thought, so he tosses it back to Officer Jenny. Unfortunately, the Cup is snagged in midair by Team Rocket. Brodie just laughs and takes off in his jet pack before anybody can stop him.

However, Officer Jenny does not plan on letting all of the thieves get away and has her Growlithe use Flamethrower on Team Rocket. Jessie sends out Seviper, which dodges the attack and uses Poison Tail. Ash retaliates by having Pikachu use Thunderbolt on Seviper, at which point James joins the fray and sends out his Cacnea. Cacnea uses Needle Arm while Seviper uses Poison Tail again. Growlithe and Pikachu successfully counter with Flamethrower and Thunderbolt, respectively, and Pikachu finishes the battle with Thunder.

With the Ribbon Cup safe again, the Grand Festival is no longer canceled and everybody relaxes as the ship begins to pull into Slateport City.

Major events

• Ash and his friends encounter Brodie again.
• Ash and his friends reach Slateport City.

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

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Nurse Joy
• Officer Jenny
• Giovanni (fantasy)
• Brodie
• Raoul Contesta
• Vivian Meridian (fantasy)
• Mr. Sukizo (fantasy)

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Walrein

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Chimecho (James's)
• Combusken (May's)
• Beautifly (May's)
• Skitty (May's)
• Bulbasaur (May's)
• Munchlax (May's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Cacnea (James's)
• Growlithe (Officer Jenny's)
• Ditto (Brodie's; flashback)
• Golbat (Brodie's)
• Wingull (multiple)
• Pidgey
• Oddish (×2)
• Dugtrio (×2)
• Bellsprout
• Marill
• Treecko
• Mudkip
• Wurmple
• Lotad (×2)
• Nuzleaf
• Taillow
• Shroomish (×3)
• Slakoth (×2)
• Whismur
• Skitty
• Shelgon

Trivia

• This is the first episode which Jamie Davyous Owens takes over the role of Officer Jenny, who had been previously voiced by Lee Quick.
• This is the first non-Contest episode in which Raoul Contesta makes a physical appearance.
• When Officer Jenny sprays the Poké Ball with golden color, she says that she presents the world's first golden Poké Ball. This is not completely true: another fake golden Poké Ball was sold to James by the Magikarp salesman in Battle Aboard the St. Anne. Also, the GS Ball is half-golden. However, Officer Jenny may not have known about them.

Errors

• After Team Rocket gets blasted off by Pikachu's Thunder, Wobbuffet is nowhere to be seen, even though he was in the balloon with them.

Dub edits

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

• Question: Trainers, which Pokémon is your best choice to battle Flygon?
• Choices: Espeon, Walrein, Blaziken
• Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Walrein, you were right!

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		怪盜班納伊與緞帶獎盃！！
Danish		Fantomtyven slår til!
Dutch		De lintjescupkaper!
Finnish		Nauhat rusetilla
French		La croisière du bonheur
German		Phantom Dieb Alarm!
Hebrew		תעלול גביע הסרט taalul gvi'a haseret
Hindi		नकाबपोश चोर Nakaabposh Chor*
Italian		Il trasformista
Korean		괴도 반다인과 리본컵!
Norwegian		Vinnerpokal-kuppet!
Portuguese	Brazil	O Sumiço da Taça
	Portugal	Onde Está a Taça-Fita?
Russian		Кубок Лент украден
Spanish	Latin America	El ladrón de la Copa de Listón
	Spain	El robo de La Copa Cinta
Swedish		Vem stal guldpokalen?

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Advanced Generation series

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