EP009

← EP008 : The Path to the Pokémon League

Original series

EP010 : Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village →

The School of Hard Knocks

EP009   ポケモンひっしょうマニュアル Pokémon Victory Manual

First broadcast Japan May 27, 1997 United States September 18, 1998

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ひゃくごじゅういち

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 首藤剛志 Takeshi Shudō Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 玉川明洋 Akihiro Tamagawa Additional credits

The School of Hard Knocks (Japanese: ポケモンひっしょうマニュアル Pokémon Victory Manual) is the ninth episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 27, 1997 and in the United States on September 18, 1998.

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

Synopsis

Misty and Ash were fighting about her broken bike again. In an effort to get them to cool off, Brock pulled a table and some chairs out of his backpack, with all the necessities to set it for a nice afternoon cup of tea. Brock sent Ash to collect firewood to make tea and crepes.

As Ash and Pikachu wandered around the forest, they encounter a group of boys in suits. One of them was running on a treadmill, while the rest gathered around to quiz him about various Pokémon. He misses a question and is rejected by the other boys. Ash jumped in to defend him. The boys revealed that they are students of Pokémon Technical Institute, a boarding school which educates Pokémon Trainers. They left, stating they don't want to fight. As Brock read from the school's brochure, Pikachu started the treadmill and tried to keep up. The school trains its students without sending them to collect badges, and guarantees entry into the Pokémon League upon graduation. Brock leaned on the treadmill, speeding it up, which sent Pikachu flying. The school is expensive, and therefore populated with rich kids.

The student who was being bullied, Joe, defended his "friends," who were trying to help him, he said that he sometimes pretends to know less than he really does because the questions get so much harder. Ash was very upset at this brutal "tutoring" system, and demanded to meet the student in charge, with plans to stop it. The head student of the beginner class was a girl; Brock and Ash drool over her photo, which made Misty even angrier. Ash referred to Misty as "someone who treats you bad and looks even worse", which made her more angry.

Team Rocket revealed they both flunked out of Pokémon Tech. Being led there by Ash had brought back some bad memories for Jessie and James, but Meowth cheered them up.

Joe lead them to the head student Giselle's study area. He said it's overall skill as a Trainer, not any one battle, that determines success at Pokémon Tech. He said that even though he's the weakest student in his class, he's still better than someone with two badges. Misty took offense, and Joe said he's familiar with her Gym; he usually beats her preferred Water Pokémon on the simulator. Misty demanded a real battle, and Joe told her, "You'll be sorry."

Misty called her Starmie, while Joe called a Weepinbell, a Template:Type2 Pokémon which will have an advantage over Misty's water-type. Nevertheless, Starmie beat the Weepinbell. Giselle walks in and chastised Joe for not realizing that Starmie's real battle experience would give it an advantage. She called him an embarrassment to the school. Brock and Ash swooned over the very pretty Giselle. Even James, who was looking on with Jessie from a tree outside, was taken with her. Giselle continued to upbraid Joe, and threatened to withdraw the help of the other students.

Misty challenged her, saying that a true friend wouldn't walk away from a friend in need of help, and that Giselle's beauty is only skin deep. Giselle accuses Misty of being jealous. Giselle summons a Graveler to challenge Misty's Starmie. Although Rock Pokémon are weak against water Pokémon, Giselle said hers is so advanced that it could win. The Graveler smashed into Starmie, shattering its core, and thrown through a window and out into the pool.

Giselle said that a Pokémon is only as good as its Trainer. A weak Pokémon can still win if it's better trained. Ash jumped in, saying there's more to training Pokémon than levels. He said he has two badges, and Giselle said that he's still a beginner. When he revealed that he's been on his quest for 2 months, she is shocked that he has not yet trained his Pikachu into a Poké Ball, and snidely remarks, "Maybe your Pokémon are training you!"

Ash said his three Pokémon are his friends. Giselle was surprised that he had only three; most beginners have six. She attributed his two badges to luck. She is surprised he chose Pikachu as his starting Pokémon, as they are known to be hard to handle. She is amazed at Ash having two badges, given how little he knows, and laughs at him. Pikachu is angry, too, and Ash demanded a battle. Giselle summoned Cubone. Ash called for a shock attack, but Cubone deflected it, to his dismay. Giselle called for a Leer attack, but Pikachu responded by making funny faces at Cubone. The two Pokémon get into a close-range staring contest, until Giselle called for a Bone Club attack; the bonk on the head staggered Pikachu. She then called for a Bonemerang, which knocked Pikachu out cold. The next time the Bonemerang is launched, Pikachu jumped over it, and twisted the skull backwards on Cubone's head, so he can no longer see. Pikachu pummeled the Cubone, then ducked away as the Bonemerang came back to take out its master. Giselle was amazed that Pikachu had won without using electricity. She was stunned that she had lost.

Team Rocket took advantage of everyone's distraction to appear with their motto. The Tech students, recognized them as bad guys who flunked out. They attacked Team Rocket en masse, causing them to flee.

Joe decided to leave Pokémon Tech and return home to start over like Ash did. Joe asked if he can keep her picture; she said she has one of him, because they are now friends. Perhaps one day they'll meet in the Pokémon League.

Ash wanted to know why he and Misty aren't friends like that; she said it's because Joe doesn't owe Giselle a bike!

Major events

• Jessie and James relate how they flunked out of Pokémon Tech in the past.
• Misty Starmie is revealed to know Water Gun.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Weepinbell
• Graveler
• Cubone
• Pidgeot

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Giselle
• Joe

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Cubone

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Starmie (Misty's)
• Weepinbell (Joe's; debut)
• Graveler (Giselle's; debut)
• Cubone (Giselle's; debut)
• Pidgey (fantasy)
• Pidgeotto (fantasy)
• Pidgeot (fantasy; debut)

Trivia

• This episode is to date the only time in which Brock falls for a girl who is younger than himself and Ash falls for a girl at all.
• This is the one of the few episodes where Rachael Lillis provided the voice of Pikachu, namely during the scene when he's on the treadmill.
• Eric Stuart takes over for Ted Lewis in the role of James as of this episode.
• This episode's dub title is a reference to the saying, "School of Hard Knocks."

• This is also the first episode that the title of the episode is a play or a reference on something.

• The scenes where Pikachu battles Cubone are used in first Pokémon opening in South Korea.
• The weather conditions mentioned by the announcer at the beginning of the episode were both later introduced in the games: fog and snow.
• The battle simulator looks similar to the games.
• Though Giselle is shocked that Pikachu had won without using electricity, it would have been ineffective anyway.

Errors

• When Giselle is telling Ash how Pikachu should be kept in a Poké Ball, there is a close up of Pikachu; during this, Pikachu says its name, but its mouth does not move.
• When Giselle is laughing after telling Ash about Pikachu, Pikachu jumps between Ash and Misty and Starmie's leg from the star on its back is missing.
• In the German dub, some Pokémon are called with their evolutionary form. Starmie was accidentally called Staryu and Weepinbell was called Victreebel (their German equivalences of course).

Dub edits

File:Deleted Scene.png

The deleted shot

• Right before the title screen appears, Misty hits Brock in the head with a log. This was cut from the dub because of the direct violence controversy that started with EP001.
  • Also in that same scene, Brock mistakenly said "To be continued" instead of saying to see the episode (thus explaining why Misty hit Brock with a log later).
• This episode contains many paint edits:
  • When talking about tea, Brock pulls out a wooden cup that has some Pokémon names written (Lizardon, Hakuryu, Kentauros and Dodo). In the dub, it is a can with pictograms. Ash is later seen drinking from the cup unedited.
  • Similar to the above edit, Brock's bottle of "Mt. Moon Spring Water" had a picture of a mountain painted over the Japanese text.
  • Misty's note about the Pokémon Seminar was originally full of Japanese text. In the dub, it has a black-and-white picture of the school at the top of the paper and some blurred-out text on the bottom.
  • Joe's picture of Giselle had a note from her in the upper-right hand corner. This was erased in the dub.
  • The sign at the top of the door after the commercial break says "Training Room". The dub replaces the text with five Poké Balls which light up.
  • In the Japanese version, the simulation states the move used on the lower-left hand corner. (In this case, Razor Leaf.) The dub adds another health bar over it.
  • However, the kanji on one student's book is left unedited.
• Computer effects were added in the dubbed version, specifically into the scene where Joe was showing them the virtual training center.

In other languages

Language		Title
Arabic		مدرسة البوكيمون الخاصة
Mandarin Chinese		神奇寶貝必勝指南 / 神奇宝贝必胜指南
Czech		Tvrdá lekce
Dutch		Een Harde Leerschool
Finnish		Ei oppi ojaan kaada
French	Canada	Un dure école
	Europe	L'école crève-coeur
German		Übung macht den Meister
Hebrew		בית הספר לפוקימונים bet hasefer lePokémonim
Hungarian		Kemény ütések iskolája
Italian		La scuola per Allenatori
Portuguese	Brazil	A Escola dos Golpes Duros
	Portugal	A Escola das Provações
Russian		Школа крепких ударов
Spanish	Latin America	¡La Escuela de los Golpes Duros!
	Spain	La escuela de los golpes duros
Swedish		Pokémon Skolan

← EP008 : The Path to the Pokémon League

Original series

EP010 : Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village →

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