EP026

← EP025 : Primeape Goes Bananas

Original series

EP027 : Hypno's Naptime →

Pokémon Scent-sation!

EP026   エリカとクサイハナ Erika and Kusaihana

First broadcast Japan September 23, 1997 United States October 12, 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 園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda Storyboard 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Assistant director 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Animation director 志村隆行 Takayuki Shimura Additional credits

Pokémon Scent-sation! (Japanese: エリカとクサイハナ Erika and Kusaihana) is the 26th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on September 23, 1997 and in the United States on October 12, 1998.

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

Synopsis

Ash and his friends have reached Celadon City, renowned for the skyscrapers filling the city. Everyone but Ash notice a wonderful smell in the air as Brock runs off. Ash finds him with his face against a store window, noticing several girls inside. Ash thinks Brock is wasting time and proceeds to leave, but Misty and Pikachu are not around. Brock points inside as Ash looks. Misty and Pikachu are inside the perfume store admiring the variety of aromas. Misty asks about how much it will cost, but Ash steps inside and urges her not to waste her money. The female manager confronts Ash about his negative claim, but Ash pushes it further by saying all perfumes are a waste and turn guys into zombies, pointing to Brock. Everyone in the store is against Ash about his remark, even his own friends, as they kick him out. Ash storms away and heads to the Celadon Gym, but when he tries to enter, none of the trainers are willing to let him in. They know about his perfume distaste since the perfume originates from the gym. The lead trainer plants a red cross stamp on Ash’s face before kicking him out and closing the doors.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket sets up a latter to sneak into the gym and steal the perfume formula. They explore the interior forest as Jessie runs into a Gloom. James waves at Gloom’s face, waking it up. James sends out his Koffing to launch Poison Gas, but Gloom is unaffected by the attack, breathing it as if it were fresh air. Gloom responds by releasing its stench, the putrid smell instantly knocking out Team Rocket. Meowth is unaffected since he does not have a nose, but the trainers knock Meowth out with a hammer before planting red cross marks on all three of them, taking them outside and suspending them from a tree branch.

Ash runs into Team Rocket tied up in the tree. James asks Ash to free them, but Jessie refuses at first. She then decides to taunt Ash for not getting into the gym. Jessie offers to help Ash get inside the gym if he releases them. Though reluctant at first, Ash does not want to pass up the opportunity to get the badge. They go to the department store and Team Rocket dresses Ash up in a dress and a blonde wig. Ash speaks about wanting to get back at the trainers, but Team Rocket subtly point out that Ash needs to change his voice. Ash coughs and speaks again in a high-pitched voice, setting up his disguise.

Jessie and James dress up as Ash’s parents and go to the gym to enroll Ash in the Pokémon training classes under the name Ashley. Ash notices that the girl registering him into the class was the same one he saw at the store, but the disguise holds and he is successfully admitted. Team Rocket runs off to find the secret perfume formula while Ash unintentionally distracts the trainers. Meowth, hiding under James’s disguise, pulls out a blaster ball, asking what to do with it, and Jessie orders Meowth to plant it.

The gym trainers work out with their Grass Pokémon while Erika finishes telling a story to the group. Ash enters the room and finds Misty and Brock in the group. Ash finds out that Erika is not only the gym leader, but she is also the store manager that kicked him out. Brock steps forward to introduce the seemingly shy Ashley as Ash notices Pikachu in the group as well. Misty asks Erika why Gloom does not emit its horrible smell. Erika points out that as long as Gloom feels safe, it will not smell. Erika recounts on how she first met Gloom when she was a child and ran into a wild Grimer. Gloom came by and used its stench to send Grimer scurrying. As Erika finishes the story, Misty wishes that Ash could have heard the story. Ash responds in his normal voice, raising suspicion as Misty takes a closer look at Ash. Pikachu gets closer and easily makes Ash, hugging his leg before shocking him, breaking the disguise. Ash drops the façade and challenges Erika to a battle. Meanwhile, Team Rocket breaks into the safe holding the perfume.

Erika accepts the challenge and sets up a three-on-three battle. Ash sends out Bulbasaur while Erika sends out Tangela, which prompts Ash to check his Pokédex. Bulbasaur attacks with Vine Whip, but Tangela uses Constrict to pull Bulbasaur closer before following up with Stun Spore, paralyzing Bulbasaur. Ash recalls Bulbasaur and Erika offers to treat it with Paralyz Heal, but he refuses and considers using Primeape, but knowing how unruly the Pokémon is, he changes his mind and sends out Charmander. Erika sends out Weepinbell and opens with a Razor Leaf attack. Charmander uses Flamethrower to stop the attack and send it back as fireballs. Charmander uses Skull Bash to knock out Weepinbell. Erika points out Ash’s lack of empathy towards his Pokémon as she sends out Gloom. It releases its stench and upon smelling it, Charmander jumps into the air, holding its nose before fainting. Ash tries to decide between his other Pokémon on who should go, but Pikachu steps forward and offers to battle. Ash is not optimistic, but Pikachu is confident that it will win.

Team Rocket interrupts the battle and jumps down to the battlefield. Meowth detonates the blaster bomb, which is still on Meowth, sending them blasting off, but they manage to escape with the perfume. The bomb starts a massive fire as the trainers quickly recall their Pokémon. Everyone gets outside as the fire grows out of control and threatens to destroy the gym. Everyone tries to put the fire out, but the attempts are not very effective. Ash feels guilty that he allowed Team Rocket inside, but Misty snaps him out of it. He sends Squirtle while Misty sends out Staryu and Starmie to fire Water Gun at the fire. Brock sends Geodude to drop dirt on the flames. As they begin to get a hold on the fire, Erika runs around frantic because she cannot find Gloom. She thinks Gloom is still inside and attempts to run in, but Misty stops her. Ash runs in instead. He finds Gloom scared, but as he approaches, Gloom releases its smell. The ceiling begins to cave in around Gloom. Ash takes a chance and holds his breath as he rushes into the room. He gets up to Gloom, but can no longer hold his breath as he takes a breath, but he finds no smell because he remembers the story that Gloom will not stink if it feels safe.

Ash runs out of the burning gym with Gloom in hand as everyone congratulates Ash for his bravery. The next day, Erika presents the Rainbow Badge to Ash because he saved Gloom. Ash points out the lost potion, but Erika points out that the bottle held Gloom's scent. Meanwhile, Team Rocket opens the bottle, the contents knocking them out. Ash now has five badges and they move on to the next town.

Major events

• Ash battles Erika, but is disrupted by Team Rocket.
• Ash earns the Rainbow Badge.

Debuts

• Erika

Pokémon debuts

• Gloom (Erika's)
• Victreebel
• Vileplume
• Exeggcute
• Grimer
• Tangela

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Erika

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Gloom

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Charmander (Ash's)
• Squirtle (Ash's)
• Primeape (Ash's; flashback)
• Staryu (Misty's)
• Starmie (Misty's)
• Geodude (Brock's)
• Koffing (James's)
• Gloom (Erika's; debut)
• Tangela (Erika's; debut)
• Weepinbell (Erika's)
• Oddish (Celadon Gym's)
• Vileplume (Celadon Gym's; debut)
• Bellsprout (Celadon Gym's)
• Victreebel (Celadon Gym's; debut)
• Exeggcute (Celadon Gym's; debut)
• Grimer (flashback; debut)

Trivia

Ash as "Ashley"

• With the help of Team Rocket, Ash crossdresses to get into Celadon Gym. This marks the first time Ash crossdresses. He does it again in Love at First Flight and Tanks for the Memories!.
• Gloom manages to knock out Charmender without launching an attack.
• Jessie's method of using her legs to persuade James to go along with her plan may be a reference to a similar technique used by Xenia Onatopp in the 17th James Bond film, GoldenEye; and a technique Jessie repeats in The Punchy Pokémon.

Errors

• In Showdown in Pewter City, Brock claims that as a Gym Leader, he has to accept Ash's challenge. By extension this implies all Gym Leaders must accept any challenge from a Pokémon trainer, however, in this episode Erika refuses to accept Ash's challenge. This means she may have broken a Pokémon League guideline, unless this is merely a traditional expectation of a Gym Leader rather than a formal rule.

Dub edits

• Most of the scenes involving the perfume shop had Kanji removed from them.
• Erika's explanation towards what perfume was different between the two versions. The English version resembled a kind of cheer, while the Japanese version mentioned that perfume helps people relax, gives them energy, and gives them a peace of mind.
• The Cleopatra reference was dub only.
• The scene setting up the gag involving Meowth's lacking a nose was played out slightly differently between the two versions. In the Japanese Version, Meowth was reacting along with everyone else about the smell, but then Jessie mentions "hana" (as in, "flower"), which by that point Meowth thinks about his own nose because hana means both "nose" and "flower" in Japanese. He then starts freaking out until he realizes that he doesn't have a nose. In the English dub, Meowth complaining about his nose being on fire. Then Jessie reminds Meowth that he doesn't even have a nose, thus causing Meowth to panic about his nose "being dissolved by the fumes". He soon realizes that the "cartoonists never gave him one". Presumably, this was done due to this being an untranslatable joke.
  • On a related note, Meowth's line of the cartoonists never giving him one was dub only.
• The department store had some banners removed as well as some kanji.
• The word "bomb" was replaced with the word "Blaster ball"
• The line about Erika having to accept challenges from Gym Leaders due to League Rules was dub only.

In other languages

• Dutch: Pokémon parfum
• Finnish: Hätä ei lue lakia
• French: Un parfum de victoire
• German: Im Reich der Düfte
• Hebrew: על ריח אין להתווכח al re'ach ein lehitvakeach *
• Italian: La città dei profumi
• Mandarin: 艾莉嘉和臭臭花
• Portuguese:
  • Brazilian Portuguese: Perfume de Pokémon!
  • European Portuguese: A Sensação Pokémon
• Spanish:
  • Iberian Spanish: Perfume Pokémon
  • Latin American Spanish: ¡Aromas Pokémon!

← EP025 : Primeape Goes Bananas

Original series

EP027 : Hypno's Naptime →

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