EP015

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Battle Aboard the St. Anne

EP015

サントアンヌごうのたたかい！
Battle of the St. Anne!

First broadcast

Japan	July 8, 1997
United States	September 7, 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

Additional credits
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Assistant director	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director	玉川明洋 Akihiro Tamagawa

Battle Aboard the St. Anne (Japanese: サントアンヌごうのたたかい！ Battle of the St. Anne!) is the 15th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 8, 1997. It aired in the United States as the first dubbed episode on September 7, 1998, and later aired in-sequence on September 28, 1998.

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

Synopsis

After earning the Thunder Badge, Ash and his friends walk across a bridge and spot a luxury liner in the distance. The group takes a closer look at the ship and they want to get on board, but Brock mentions that they cannot afford it, so they walk away sullen. However, Jessie and James, in disguise as ganguro girls, give them tickets to get on board to participate in a Pokémon Trainer party on board the St. Anne. While they look for the luxury liner, Jessie and James head to a nearby lighthouse to meet up with Meowth. Meowth opens up a call with the boss and Meowth notices a Persian hugging up to the boss, replacing Meowth due to the group’s constant failure. Team Rocket reveals the plan about the party being a ruse to allow Team Rocket to steal Pokémon.

Ash and his friends get on board the ship and head into the main ballroom, noticing all the people, Pokémon and merchandise. Ash notices a battle between a Starmie and a Raticate. Raticate uses Super Fang to break Starmie's jewel, giving Raticate the win. Ash decides to step forward to challenge the Raticate’s Trainer, sending Butterfree out. Raticate attacks with Hi Jump Kick, but Butterfree counts with Tackle. Raticate uses Hyper Fang, but Butterfree uses Stun Spore to paralyze it. Ash prepares to finish the duel, but the Gentleman recalls his Raticate and declares it a draw even though Ash was winning. Meanwhile, James walks by the vendors. A salesman calls him over and convinces him to buy a Magikarp, thinking that the Pokémon is worth a lot of money.

The ship sails out of Vermilion City as Ash and his friends chow down. The Gentleman comes up to Ash and commends his Butterfree. He proposes a trade between his Raticate and Ash's Butterfree. Ash asks Brock if he should go through with it, but Brock is too attracted to the woman next to him, so Ash goes through with the trade. They go to a trade machine and execute the trade. Ash acquires Raticate while the man gets Butterfree. Jessie and Meowth confront James about buying the weak Magikarp. James tells them that it's a "gold mine" Pokémon, even its Poké Ball is gold, but Meowth scratches it showing James that it's spray painted gold. Jessie asks James how he afforded that, and James reveals that the advance on his salary was to low so he took Jessie’s salary advance to buy it, which makes her angry and she runs after him and forces him to return the Magikarp. Meanwhile, Misty finds Ash looking out at sea, having second doubts about the trade and unsure if Butterfree will be taken care off. He mentions that as the trade was happening, he remembered the experiences he shared with Butterfree.

Team Rocket's plan goes into motion, the ballroom being locked down and Team Rocket Grunts confronting the Trainers. The grunts use vacuums to capture the Poké Balls. When one of the grunts walks up to Ash and demands his Pokémon, Ash orders Pikachu to attack the thugs with ThunderShock. He spurs the other Trainers to fight back, everyone sending out Pokémon. Ash’s Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur and Brock's Geodude join with other Pokémon in stopping the Team Rocket thugs. Ash notices a Butterfree swarm attacking with Stun Spore and decides to summon his Butterfree. However, the Poké Ball reveals his Raticate as Misty reminds him that he traded Butterfree. As he watches, Ash deeply misses his Butterfree, remembering his experiences with it and wanting it back.

Ash sends out Pidgeotto to join others in a group Gust attack. The Pikachu group uses Thunderbolt to send Team Rocket flying off the ship and foiling the attack. However, the ship has sailed directly into a storm, strong waves battering the ship. James drops the Poké Ball holding Magikarp and runs after it. Meanwhile, Ash finds the man and requests the trade reversed. The man agrees and executes a reverse trade. The captain tries to call the passengers and assures them that the ship is unsinkable. Another wave crashes against the ship as the captain goes down in a lifeboat. The passengers quickly scramble onto the lifeboats to evacuate. Misty and Brock find Ash finishing the trade. Ash grabs his Poké Ball, but another wave causes him to drop it. Ash runs after it as his friends follow. Most of the passengers get off the ship safely. Ash grabs Butterfree’s Poké Ball as the ship rocks again, throwing Ash and his friends into another room and knocking them out. James gets Magikarp’s Poké Ball as another wave sends them flying against a wall, knocking them out as well. The ship capsizes and goes down as the captain assumes that everyone is safe, not knowing that Ash and his friends are on board, as well as Team Rocket.

Major events

Ash trades his Butterfree for a Gentleman's Raticate, but then trades back.
James buys a Magikarp.
The St. Anne sinks with Ash, Misty, Brock and Team Rocket on board.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Raticate

Pikachu (Ash's)
Meowth (Team Rocket)
Caterpie (Ash's; flashback)
Metapod (Ash's; flashback)
Butterfree (Ash's; traded to Gentleman, then traded back)
Pidgeotto (Ash's)
Bulbasaur (Ash's)
Charmander (Ash's)
Squirtle (Ash's)
Staryu (Misty's)
Geodude (Brock's)
Magikarp (James's; new)
Persian (Giovanni's; debut)
Squirtle (Gentleman's)
Raticate (Gentleman's; traded to Ash, then traded back; debut)

Pokémon seen on the S.S. Anne:

Trivia

When the episode aired as a sneak peek, it was not shown everywhere, as some areas ran the annual Labor Day Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon instead.
This is the first episode in which Ash is seen making a Pokémon trade.
This is the first episode in which Team Rocket members besides Jessie, James, and Meowth appear.
While there wasn't an attack by Team Rocket on the ship in the games, an undercover Global Police officer mentions he is on the trail of Team Rocket, hinting that there may be an attack.
While not in the episode itself, the preview for this episode from the previous episode had Ash directly referring to Giovanni by name, the only instance where one of the protagonists ever used his name.
The St. Anne retains its Japanese name in the anime, despite being called the S.S. Anne in the games. This is probably due to the number of paint edits required to make the change, but actually prevents a future dub error when Ritchie is on a ship called the S.S. Anne in The Search for the Legend.
The captain calling the St. Anne unsinkable and then capsizing is an obvious reference to the Titanic. (Indeed, in the next episode, during the recap, the narrator says "Holy Titanic!")
The scene where all the Pikachu are jumping over a wall to battle the Team Rocket soldiers is identical to the scene in Pokémon Emergency where the Pikachu are jumping over a wall in the Pokémon Center to battle Team Rocket.
The button the Gentleman pressed to start the trade was a "record" button. There were also play, fast forward, and pause buttons.
The book Island of the Giant Pokémon is based on this episode.

Errors

Raticate uses Jump Kick in this episode (Hi Jump Kick in the dub), two moves that can't be learned by Raticate in the games.
During the battle between the Gentleman's Raticate and an unnamed Trainer's Starmie, the unnamed Trainer tells his Starmie to use an attack called "Spinning Tackle." An attack similar to Rapid Spin, a move that can be considered a spinning tackle. However, Rapid Spin wasn't introduced until Generation II.
In the scene where James is walking by the Magikarp salesman, the booth to the left of the Magikarp salesman's booth has a pyramid of normal colored Poké Balls on it. Later, in a scene where James is talking to the Magikarp salesman, the pyramid of Poké Balls is now gold.
While James is dreaming about getting all of the Pokémon on the ship, a Kabuto is among the Pokémon. Kabuto is said in Mystery At The Lighthouse to be extinct.
In the Swedish dub, Persian is pronounced [pɛːrsːɑːn], when it should be pronounced like in English.

Dub edits

The scene with Giovanni talking with Jessie, James and Meowth was used in the VHS A Sneak Peek at Pokémon with alternate dialogue. Rather than discussing their plan, Giovanni tells them, that they need to capture Ash's Pikachu before various Pokémon merchandise (i.e. the anime, the comic books, video games and trading cards) is distributed in stores. Otherwise many people will be looking for Pikachu.
In the original version, Ash calls the man to whom he trades his Butterfree a "gentleman."
Raticate's Jump Kick was translated as Hi Jump Kick in the dub.

In other languages

Language		Title
Arabic		معركه على ظهر السفينه
Mandarin Chinese		聖安奴號之戰 / 圣安奴号之战
Czech		Bitva na palubě Svaté Anny
Dutch		Het gevecht aan boord van de St. Anne
Finnish		Kieroa peliä valtamerilaivalla!
French	Canada	Bataille à bord du Sainte Anne
French	Europe	Bataille à bord du St. Anne
German		An Bord der M.S. Anne
Hebrew		הקרב על הסיפון hakrav al hasipun
Hungarian		Harc a Szent Anna fedélzetén
Italian		Un'insolita crociera
Portuguese	Brazil	Batalha a Bordo do St. Anne
Portuguese	Portugal	Batalha a Bordo do Santa Ana
Russian		Битва на борту Св. Анны
Spanish	Latin America	¡Duelo a bordo del Santa Anna!
Spanish	Spain	Combate a bordo del St. Anne
Swedish		Slaget på Saint Anne