DP037

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Diamond & Pearl series

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The Grass Menagerie!

DP037   EP503 ハクタイジム！VSナタネ！！ Hakutai Gym! VS Natane!!

First broadcast Japan June 7, 2007 United States November 17, 2007

English themes Opening Diamond and Pearl Ending

Japanese themes Opening Together Ending 君のそばで 〜ヒカリのテーマ〜 (PopUp.Version)

Credits Animation Team Iguchi Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 日高政光 Masamitsu Hidaka Assistant director 古賀一臣 Kazuomi Koga Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de Early reports credited 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada as storyboarder and assistant director and 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane as animation director.

The Grass Menagerie! (Japanese: ハクタイジム！VSナタネ！！ Hakutai Gym! VS Natane!!) is the 37th episode of the Diamond & Pearl series, and the 503rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on June 7, 2007 and in the United States on November 17, 2007.

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

Synopsis

Ash and his friends arrive at the Eterna Gym for Ash's second Sinnoh gym battle. Gardenia arrives and they prepare for their official battle. Outside the gym, Team Rocket plans to tunnel underneath to steal Pokémon, something they've done before and James is not enthusiastic about.

The gym battle begins, set for a three-on-three battle. Ash praises Pikachu for standing down on this one. Gardenia summons Cherubi as Ash sends out Turtwig. Ash goes first with Tackle, but Cherubi dodges easily. Turtwig follows up with Razor Leaf, but Cherubi dodges effortlessly and gets behind Turtwig. Brock notices the Intense sunlight enabling Cherubi’s ability Chlorophyll to double Cherubi’s speed. Cherubi fires an instant SolarBeam attack but Turtwig jumps up to dodge. Thinking it will take time to fire another, Ash commands Turtwig to use Razor Leaf, but Cherubi fires another quick SolarBeam, negating the Razor Leaf and hitting Turtwig. Cherubi uses Magical Leaf, but Ash quickly recalls Turtwig, Gardenia praising his decision to substitute. Underneath, Team Rocket continues digging as they emerge into a lit underground tunnel. A miner approaches and Team Rocket recites their motto. The miner reveals that there are treasures underneath, shards and spheres among them. He recruits Team Rocket to help find the treasure and split the profit.

Meanwhile, Ash sends out Staravia. Cherubi launches SolarBeam, but Staravia dodges and uses Wing Attack, but Cherubi dodges and fires SolarBeam. The quick charge fails as clouds now obscure the sun. Cherubi switches to Magical Leaf as Staravia bolts straight up, eventually getting out of range. Staravia turns around and descends slowly with Wing Attack, stunning everyone. Staravia lines up with the sunlight, which returns intensely and blinds Cherubi, rendering it vulnerable to the attack. Staravia follows up with Quick Attack and Aerial Ace to knock out Cherubi.

Gardenia calls Cherubi back, praising Ash's tactics before sending out her Turtwig. Ash notices Staravia's slight anger at losing to Turtwig before, wanting redemption. Staravia uses Wing Attack as Turtwig dodges quickly. Ash orders multiple Wing Attacks as Turtwig dodges them all. The tactic grows old and irritates Gardenia, but she realizes too late that Turtwig fell into a trap, backpedaling until it got wedged into a tree. Staravia hits the immobilized Pokémon with Aerial Ace, sending it flying back but not knocking it out. Staravia quickly follows with Wing Attack, but Turtwig’s Leech Seed connects and saps Staravia’s energy, exposing it to Turtwig’s Tackle and knocking it out. Ash recalls Staravia, praising the Pokémon as he brings his Turtwig back out for a rematch.

Ash’s Turtwig uses Tackle, but Gardenia’s Turtwig dodges and fires Leaf Storm. Ash’s climbs into a tree, dodges and starts circling Gardenia’s. Ash’s tries to attack from behind with Bite, but Gardenia’s fires Leech Seed to drain Ash’s Turtwig of energy, much like before. Turtwig struggles to rise as Ash quickly orders Synthesis. Gardenia’s Turtwig fires Leaf Storm, but Ash's Turtwig quickly dodges and leaps into the sunlight, fully healing. Ash's fires Razor Leaf and hits Gardenia's. Both Turtwig rush each other with Tackle, both hitting and both Pokémon withstanding the attack. Both are exhausted and Ash's almost falters, but Gardenia's Turtwig crumples first. Gardenia praises Ash’s bond with his Pokémon as she prepares her last. Still, Brock notices that Leech Seed may be a long-term problem.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket continues digging while the miner stands back. Eventually, they unearth a Red Sphere. The discovery gives Team Rocket renewed digging as they dig out many spheres, the miner scooping the up. After digging the miner gives Team Rocket lunch. While they eat, the miner slips out with the spheres. Team Rocket finishes and notices that he has the treasure, but they don’t care, wanting to eat more.

Gardenia summons Roserade as her final. Turtwig uses Tackle, but Roserade suavely uses Grass Knot to trip Turtwig before using Weather Ball, turned to a Template:Type2 move with the sunlight, to torch Turtwig and knock it out. Ash pulls out Aipom as his finale, the Pokémon making a Contest-like appearance. Aipom uses Double Team and charges, but Grass Knot eliminates all the duplicates. However, they allow Aipom to jump over the knot and hit with Focus Punch. Roserade fires Magical Leaf, but Aipom easily dodges through the trees.

Roserade grabs Aipom with vines from its bouquets and throws it down before using Flash to blind the Pokémon. Aipom uses Focus Punch, but being blind, it simply thrashes about while Roserade steps aside, hitting with Magical Leaf. Aipom gets back up, still blind and thrashing about. Ash tells Aipom to calm down and use its ears instead. Roserade uses another fiery Weather Ball, but Aipom's hearing allows it to use Focus Punch to send the attack right back at Roserade. Roserade uses Magical Leaf, but Aipom regains its sight and uses Swift to block the attack before creating a Swift ring around Roserade. Aipom uses Focus Punch to catalyze the attack to converge, hammering Roserade relentlessly as a Contest combination. Aipom quickly follows up with Focus Punch, tossing Roserade into a tree, breaking it down as it eventually crashes into a wall, knocking it out and giving Ash the win. Ash hugs Aipom at triumphing on the opponent's home field. At sunset, Gardenia gives Ash the Forest Badge. Ash holds the badge high as he celebrates with his Pokémon.

Major events

• Ash has a formal battle with Eterna Gym Leader Gardenia and wins the Forest Badge.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Gardenia
• Yōko
• The Underground Man

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Mime Jr. (James's)
• Aipom (Ash's)
• Turtwig (Ash's)
• Staravia (Ash's)
• Turtwig (Gardenia's)
• Cherubi (Gardenia's)
• Roserade (Gardenia's)
• Nuzleaf (Yōko's)

Trivia

• This episode introduces The Underground of Sinnoh, but only to Jessie, James and Meowth.
• Yōko strongly resembles Kumiko Yamaguchi from Gokusen, who is also voiced by 早水リサ Risa Hayamizu.
• Music from Jirachi: Wish Maker is used as background music.
• Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture: Drapion
  • Pokémon senryū: ドラピオン　バトルでめざせ　チャンピオン Dorapion, batoru de mezase, chanpion "Drapion aims to be the battle champion".
• Brock narrates the next episode preview.
• Assistant executive animation director Yamashita Megumi is dropped from the ending credits.
• The English title of this episode is a reference to Tennessee Williams's play The Glass Menagerie.
• This is one of the few episodes of the Diamond & Pearl series where Dawn's Piplup does not appear.

Errors

• In the European Portuguese dub the episode title card was in English.
• Because Turtwig is a Grass-type, it wouldn't be affected by Leech Seed in the games.

Dub edits

• This aired with the title "A Grass Menagerie!". This was fixed in later airings.

In other languages

• Finnish: Merkkiä metsästämässä
• German: Die unschlagbaren Drei
• Italian: L'esperta di Pokémon d'Erba
• Iberian Spanish: ¡Conexión de Pokémon Planta!
• Latin American Spanish: ¡Reserva de Pokémon de Hierba!
• Dutch: Een grasmenagerie
• Brazilian Portuguese: O Doce Perfume de Gardenia!
• Czech: Travní zvěřinec
• Polish: Trawiasta menażeria

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Diamond & Pearl series

DP038 : One Big Happiny Family! →

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