EP037

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Original series

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Ditto's Mysterious Mansion

EP037   メタモンとものまねむすめ Metamon and The Mimic Girl

First broadcast Japan December 9, 1997 United States October 26, 1998

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ニャースのうた

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto Assistant director 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Animation director 酒井啓史 Keishi Sakai Additional credits

Ditto's Mysterious Mansion (Japanese: メタモンとものまねむすめ Metamon and The Mimic Girl) is the 37th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 9, 1997 and in the United States on October 26, 1998.

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

Synopsis

Ash and the group are continuing their journey when it begins to rain. While looking for shelter, they stumble across an old house in the middle of nowhere. Believing it to be deserted, they go inside and are confronted by a Ditto that has taken the form of Ash's Pikachu. However, its face still looks like a Ditto's, which leads to Brock thinking it is a new kind of Pikachu. Ash tries to capture it, but a girl dressed as Ash appears and reveals that it is her Ditto. Ash is still unconvinced of it's usefulness in a battle, so the girl - who introduces herself as Duplica - challenges him to a battle. Ash chooses Bulbasaur and tries to attack using Razor Leaf, but Duplica's Ditto Transforms and wins using a Vine Whip attack.

Later, Duplica explains that she wants to be a Ditto Master and a star, but she cannot because her Ditto is unable to mirror the other Pokémon's faces. Whenever it transforms it still has the face a of a Ditto, much to the disappointment of her audiences. Then Team Rocket appear and try to steal Ditto, in the hope that they can get it to transform into Dratini and present it to Giovanni as a Legendary Pokémon. Using Weezing's SmokeScreen, they are able to escape with Ditto.

Once they are away from the house, Jessie and James try to test Ditto's power by having it turn into a Dratini from a picture in a book that they have, at first. But then, Jessie stops James and says that they should have a little bit of fun before handing Ditto over to the boss. She asks Ditto to transform into what a certain boy would look like if he were an adult, and pulls out a photo frame. James and Meowth then try to get Jessie to show the picture to them, but she refuses. Ditto agrees, and then a picture of a man with blue hair shows up with a Ditto's face. Now angry, Jessie commands Ditto to once again become a Dratini. Instead, Ditto transforms into a book.

Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Misty, Brock, and Ash are trying to cheer Duplica up. Ash then states about how a trainer decides how a Ditto would transforms. Pidgeotto and Zubat, who were on guard, return with news that they saw Ditto. Ash and freinds then go decide to save Ditto.

Later, they try to get it to look like Meowth, only to be yelled at, because Meowth's face was replaced with Ditto's. They are angered when it is unable to change its face. Eventually they are able to threaten it into transforming correctly.

Then Ash, Brock, Misty and Duplica appear dressed in Team Rocket uniforms and say their motto, much to the irritation of the real Team Rocket. They demand Ditto back, and are surprised when they see two identical Meowths. Team Rocket try to trick them by giving them the real Meowth and escaping in their balloon with Ditto. But Duplica says she can tell that this isn't her Ditto, even though it looks identical to the other Meowth. She throws Meowth at the balloon, causing Team Rocket to drop Ditto. Duplica tells it to transform into a cannon and fire Pikachu at the balloon. After being hit by Pikachu's ThunderShock, the balloon bursts and Team Rocket are blasted off again.

Now that Ditto can transform perfectly, Duplica reopens her theater for performances. She thanks Ash and his friends and they leave, with Ash hoping to catch his own Ditto someday.

The episode ends with Team Rocket attempting to put a Dratini suit onto Meowth, who scratches them.

Major events

• Ash and co. meet Duplica.

Debuts

• Duplica

Pokémon debuts

• Ditto

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Duplica

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Ditto

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Pidgeotto (Ash's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Zubat (Brock's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Ditto (Duplica's; debut)
• Machoke (flashback)
• Voltorb (flashback)
• Electrode (flashback)

Trivia

File:AshBrockTR.png

Ash and Brock beginning their motto imitation

File:MistyDuplicaTR.png

Misty and Duplica continuing the motto

File:Ash no gloves.png

Ash with no gloves

• This is the first time that Ash and his friends mock Team Rocket's motto completely.
• The strategy that Duplica used to defeat Ash's Bulbasaur will later be repeated in Mewtwo Strikes Back when Mewtwo's Venusaur defeats Corey's Bruteroot. Ironically, both battles had to deal with a Pokémon that technically isn't real (Mewtwo's Venusaur was created through cloning, where as Duplica's Ditto transformed into Bulbasaur for the fight).
• Duplica claims that Ditto is the only Pokémon that can use Transform, but Mew shares this ability. However, since Mew was at this point a secret Pokémon, the writers probably made Duplica not know about Mew's existence.
• When Duplica imitates Officer Jenny, she says "You're under arrest for Pokémon poaching." This is what the Officer Jenny from The Kangaskhan Kid said.
• As James furiously points out, when Ash and his friends imitate Team Rocket, Duplica incorrectly says "To ignite all peoples within our nation."

Errors

• Ash's gloves disappear briefly at the beginning.
• After both of the Meowth say "No way", Jessie's lipstick disappears.

Dub edits

• Ditto keeps its Japanese voice when it's transformed into Pikachu in the English version.
• The scenes of Team Rocket getting irritated by the imitation motto is removed from the Dutch version.

In other languages

• Dutch: Ditto's truc
• Finnish: Ditto ja salaisuuksien talo
• French: Le manoir mystérieux
• German: Die mysteriöse Villa
• Hebrew: בית החיקויים של דיטו beit hachikuyim shel Ditto
• Italian: Un Pokémon dopo l'altro
• Mandarin: 百变怪跟模仿少女
• Portuguese (Brazilian): A Mansão Misteriosa do Ditto
• Russian: Таинственный дом Дитто
• Spanish:
  • Iberian Spanish: La misteriosa mansión de Ditto
  • Latin American Spanish: ¡La misteriosa mansión de Ditto!
• Swedish: Imitehuset

← EP036 : The Bridge Bike Gang

Original series

EP038 →

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