BW007

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Best Wishes series

BW008 : Saving Darmanitan from the Bell! →

Snivy Plays Hard to Catch!

BW007   EP664 ツタージャ・ゲットでメロメロ！？ Tsutarja - Captured by Mad Love!?

First broadcast Japan October 28, 2010 United States March 19, 2011

English themes Opening Black and White Ending

Japanese themes Opening ベストウイッシュ！ Ending 心のファンファーレ

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard まついひとゆき Hitoyuki Matsui Assistant director 花井宏和 Hirokazu Hanai Animation director 武内啓 Akira Takeuchi Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Snivy Plays Hard to Catch! (Japanese: ツタージャ・ゲットでメロメロ！？ Tsutarja - Captured by Mad Love!?) is the seventh episode of the Best Wishes series, and the 664th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 28, 2010 and in the United States on March 19, 2011.

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

Blurb

Now accompanied by Cilan and Iris, Ash is headed toward Nacrene City and his second Gym Battle challenge. On their way, the three Trainers come across a wild Snivy. Of course, Ash’s first reaction is to catch this intelligent and speedy Pokémon, and the wily Snivy doesn’t give up easily, ensnaring most of Ash’s team with a devastating Attract move. After Pikachu, Oshawott, and Tepig all fall prey to Snivy’s charms, Ash enlists the aid of his Pidove, who turns out to be a girl—and thus immune to Snivy’s Attract! Finally, after some intense battling, the weary Snivy finally stays in its Poké Ball, and Ash has his fourth Unova region Pokémon!

Plot

After obtaining his first Badge from the Striaton City Gym, Ash and his friends are now heading towards Nacrene City. Meanwhile, Ash's stomach began to growl and he said that he is hungry. Iris subsequently proposes stopping for lunch and volunteers to search for food. Ash and Cilan then wait at a clearing in the forest. Iris soon returns with a basket of fruits and berries, and before she and Ash could start eating, Cilan stops them. Putting his cooking skills to use, Cilan prepares lunch for the group using the fruits and berries Iris had picked. Ash and Iris then compliment Cilan on his wonderful cooking. Pleased with their response, Cilan tells them that he prepared seconds, causing Ash and Iris to rush to the cooking area. However, when the two of them realize that there isn't any food left, they alerted Cilan, causing him to be as equally puzzled as them. While they were pondering, Iris notices that the grass is moving, hinting that something is hiding amongst the grass, and moving away from them.

Ash follows the trail of disturbed grass leading him to an empty clearing, where a Snivy is seen eating one of the flour-like cakes Cilan had prepared. Ash instantly throws a Poké Ball but she soon breaks free. Sweeping the Poké Ball back to Ash with her tail, the Snivy quickly escapes by running into the grass. Realizing that only a wild Pokémon can be caught by a Poké Ball, Ash is determined to make the wild Snivy a part of his team, and chases after her.

In another empty clearing, the group finds Snivy almost finishing the flour-like cake. Ash promptly commands his Pikachu to do a Quick Attack, in which Snivy evaded almost instantly. Cilan then tells Ash about Snivy's agility and intelligence; her cool demeanor emphasized by her finishing the cake slowly and calmly, then beaming at them. Taunted, Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but Snivy prevents Pikachu from attacking by using Attract. While Pikachu was being infatuated with Snivy, Iris deduced that the wild Snivy is a female. Immediately, Snivy uses Vine Whip. While her first two hits manages to hit Pikachu, the subsequent three hits were blocked by Ash when he suddenly shields Pikachu. Shocked by how Ash protected Pikachu, Snivy escapes using Leaf Storm. Cilan then commented on Snivy's demonstration of high level competency and ability, causing both Iris and Cilan to speculate that Snivy may have abandoned her Trainer, whom she apparently thought was unworthy of her. Ash then becomes even more determined to earn the respect of Snivy, and sends out Pidove to find her.

Meanwhile, Giovanni informs the Team Rocket trio—Jessie, James and Meowth—that another secret organization had started activities in the Unova region as well. Snivy is quietly observing them when James talked about strengthening their forces and not only with one Pokémon. Just when Snivy decides to walk away, Jessie notices her and decides to catch her. Jessie throws a Poké Ball but Snivy gracefully dodges it. Meowth then pursues Snivy and uses Scratch, but Snivy evades it completely, causing the attack to land on a rock instead.

Snivy, having escaped from Team Rocket (and previously Ash), feels tired and lies on some rocks to rest. She recalls the earlier incident when Ash protected Pikachu, before closing her eyes and falling asleep. Pidove manages to find Snivy and flies back to Ash to inform him. Ash follows Pidove and finally finds Snivy at the top of a rock formation, looking down at him. Ash challenges Snivy to another battle and Oshawott comes out of his Poké Ball, indicating that he wants to battle with Snivy. Snivy, in an attempt to stop them from ascending the rock formation, uses her tail to sweep some rocks down. However, Ash, Pikachu and Oshawott managed to evade the falling rocks by hiding behind a huge rock, and was then successful in reaching the top (Oshawott riding on Ash's head).

Ash commands Oshawott to use Water Gun and Snivy dodges it with a series of jumps. Meanwhile, Iris and Cilan finally make it to the top of the rock formation. Iris, once again, reminds Ash about type-compatibilities (Water going against Grass), while Cilan praises Oshawott's fighting spirit. Snivy continues the battle with Vine Whip but Oshawott blocks it with his shell. Ash then tells Oshawott to use Razor Shell. For a second time, Snivy used her Attract which prevents Oshawott from attacking, causing him to be infatuated. Snivy then uses Vine Whip and Oshawott falls onto the ground. Before another Vine Whip could be executed, Ash recalls his Oshawott. Snivy runs away again.

As Ash and his friends follow Snivy with the help of Pidove, Iris complains about Ash's persistence and stubbornness. However, Cilan reassures her that it's only due to Ash's willpower. Subsequently, Snivy is seen jumping from tree to tree. Ash then tells Pikachu to get onto his shoulder, grabs a vine and swings from vine to vine. While crossing a muddy swamp, Snivy lands on a lily pad. At the same time, however, one of the vines Ash had grabbed starts giving way, and together both Ash and Pikachu fall. At that instant, Snivy jumps away from the lily pad, and both Ash and Pikachu land on it. Due to their heavy weight, however, the lily pad starts to flood, and they both start sinking into the muddy water. Ash tells Pikachu to get on his shoulder while Snivy watches. As Ash sinks further, he tells Pikachu to get on top of his head. Though it seems like they will continue to sink all the way, Iris and Cilan throw them a vine and pull them out of the swamp. Seeing that Ash is finally out of the swamp, Snivy walks away. Iris and Cilan then discourage Ash from getting Snivy but Ash is still determined to catch her.

Snivy approaches a river and starts drinking from it when she sees Pidove flying in the sky. As Ash approaches, she gives a grin of confidence. Ash then sends out Tepig, but Iris and Cilan are worried that Tepig might be affected by Attract as well, despite his advantageous Fire type. Ash commands Tepig to use Ember, to which Snivy dodges. True to Iris's and Cilan's worries, Snivy uses Attract once again and Tepig becomes infatuated. Ash has no choice but to recall Tepig, allowing the successful Snivy to spite him with a wave and a smile. Pidove then requests to battle. Ash tells Pidove to use Gust, but Snivy was still able to dodge it and perform Attract. At that instant, Pidove attempts a Quick Attack to dodge the Attract, but she was still hit by it. This time, however, Attract had seemingly no effect on Pidove, which led Iris and Cilan to conclude that Pidove is also female. Snivy then performs a Vine Whip and a Leaf Storm, in which was completely dodged by Pidove. With a combination of Gust, Air Cutter and Quick Attack executed by Pidove, Snivy is weakened. Ash immediately throws a Poké Ball in an attempt to catch her, but Snivy breaks free again. Pidove is then told to use Quick Attack, but Snivy counters it with Vine Whip. Ash then tells Pidove to use Air Cutter. Unable to dodge or run away, Snivy is hit and damaged badly. Nevertheless, Snivy manages to get up on her feet. With a wave of determination, Ash throws a Poké Ball at Snivy. Knowing her Trainer is competent and worthy of catching her, Snivy gives a small, humble smile before allowing the Poké Ball to catch her.

Delighted at his success, Ash sends out Snivy and informs her that together they will be competing in the Unova League. Snivy smiles.

Major events

• Giovanni informs Team Rocket of the presence of another villainous team.
• Jessie tries and fails to catch a Snivy.
• Ash catches the Snivy that Jessie failed to catch.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Ash's Snivy

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Iris
• Cilan
• Jessie
• James
• Giovanni
• Matori

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Snivy

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Axew (Iris's)
• Pidove (Ash's)
• Oshawott (Ash's)
• Tepig (Ash's)
• Snivy (Ash's; new)

Trivia

Eyecatch 1; the updated version

Eyecatch 2; the updated version

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Tepig.
• The eyecatches have been updated to include Iris and Cilan.
• This episode marks the largest number of instances in one episode where a main character's Pokémon's gender is revealed, with a total of four. While Pidove and Snivy were revealed to be female, Oshawott and Tepig are both revealed to be male.
  • This episode also marks the first time in the anime that Ash has had more than one confirmed female Pokémon on hand.
• This is the first episode of the Best Wishes series not to debut any new Pokémon.
• This episode establishes that Cilan is the cook of the group, much like his predecessor Brock.
• This episode marks the third time Ash has caught all of the starter Pokémon of a region. He did so for the first time in Kanto, then again in Johto. However, for the other regions, he didn't, only getting one starter in Hoenn and Kalos, and two in Sinnoh and Alola.
• The dub title is meant to be a play on the phrase "Playing hard to get". ゲット "GET" is also the Japanese equivalent of "Catch" in terms of Pokémon.

Errors

• When Axew comes out of Iris's hair after the group wonders who took the food, Axew is missing the green markings around his eyes.

• 

  Axew's missing marks

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		藤藤蛇！迷人收服！？
Croatian		Snivjja je teško uhvatiti!
Danish		Snivy er en svær fangst!
Dutch		Snivy laat zich moeilijk vangen
Finnish		Snivy esittää vaikeasti napattavaa!
German		Ein Serpifeu lässt sich nicht so leicht fangen!!
Greek		Το Snivy Είναι Δύσκολο να Πιαστεί!
Hindi		Snivy को पकड़ना आसान नहीं! Snivy ko pakadna asaan nahi!
Indonesian		Snivy! Menangkap dengan Jurus Attract!?
Italian		Uno Snivy difficile da catturare!
Korean		주리비얀의 헤롱헤롱에 모두 헤롱헤롱되다?!
Norwegian		Snivy er ikke lett å fange!
Polish		Snivy, która nie chciała dać się złapać!
Portuguese	Brazil	Snivy Joga Duro!
	Portugal	A Snivy Faz-se Difícil de Apanhar!
Russian		В погоне за Снайви!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Atrapar a Snivy es un juego difícil!
	Spain	¡Snivy se resiste!
Swedish		Snivy spelar svårfångad!
Thai		ซึทาจะเป็นราชินี!?
Turkish		Snivy Yakalanması Zor Olanı Oynuyor!

← BW006 : Dreams by the Yard Full!

Best Wishes series

BW008 : Saving Darmanitan from the Bell! →

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