EP039

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Pikachu's Goodbye redirects here. For the song, see The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye).
EP038
Original series
EP040 : The Battling Eevee Brothers
Pikachu's Goodbye
EP039.png
  EP039  
ピカチュウのもり
Forest of Pikachu
First broadcast
Japan April 16, 1998
United States November 20, 1998
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending ポケットにファンタジー
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita
Storyboard 日高政光 Masamitsu Hidaka
Assistant director 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani
Animation director 酒井啓史 Keishi Sakai
Additional credits
  • The original airing credited 志村泉 Izumi Shimura and 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane as animation directors in addition to Hiroshi Sakai.

Pikachu's Goodbye (Japanese: ピカチュウのもり Forest of Pikachu) is the 39th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 16, 1998 and in the United States on November 20, 1998. It was created in response to the EP038 incident, and did not appear in the original schedule.

Notably, it is also, with The Battling Eevee Brothers, the first hour-long Pokémon special.

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

Ash, Misty, and Brock were resting in the forest. Ash started to swing on vines, but he slammed into a tree. Pikachu came over to see if Ash was all right when it saw a small Pikachu. Ash and Pikachu ran after it and Misty and Brock followed them to see a whole clan of Pikachu with the small Pikachu. Pikachu said hello but the wild Pikachu got scared and ran off. Pikachu started to walk away but the small Pikachu came over and shook tails with it. Brock claimed it must have accepted Ash's Pikachu. Ash ran toward them, yelling that he wants to be part of their group, but he scared them and they ran off. Later, Ash asks Brock and Misty why they ran away. Brock tells him that he probably scared the Pikachu, because they were not used to human contact in the deep forest they were in. The small Pikachu, watching their conversation, fell into a river and Ash's Pikachu jumped in to save it. The Pikachu all started joining tails to save them and they succeeded.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket saw the Pikachu and decided that they would capture them for the Boss.

At night, all the Pikachu started singing their Pikachu chant. Ash and his friends watched and saw how happy Pikachu was. Ash was sad but claimed it was nothing. He stayed up while Misty and Brock slept and saw Pikachu's face in the fire. He thought maybe Pikachu should be with its own kind. The fire finally went out, with the image of Pikachu running away. Suddenly, the Pikachu screamed for help. Ash, Brock, and Misty went to investigate the noise immediately, only to find all the Pikachu captured in a net which was, as Jessie said, electric-proof. James shot a net at Ash and his friends, but they got out of it very easily. Team Rocket started sailing away with the Pikachu but Ash's Pikachu began chewing at the net and broke it. Ash and his friends held up the net they were captured in and the Pikachu jumped in it unharmed. Ash's Pikachu bit a hole in the balloon and Team Rocket started blasting off again. Ash started to walk away without Pikachu and Misty and Brock asked him why. He said Pikachu would be happier here. Pikachu started following but Ash yelled at it to stay behind. He ran away and remembered a lot about Pikachu, having a flashback of many memories of their previous adventures.

Finally, Ash stopped and Misty and Brock caught up to him. Behind Ash, his Pikachu shook tails with the small Pikachu and all the wild Pikachu started chanting. Pikachu ran into Ash's arms. Ash was so touched that he started to cry. The episode ended with Ash and Pikachu hugging, with the narrator saying that in their hearts, they know that they will face every challenge together.

Major events

  • Ash attempts to release Pikachu, but Pikachu returns to Ash.
For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Pikachu

Trivia

  • This episode was created after the EP038 incident: the episode schedule did not include it before the incident. The original EP039 was supposed to be Holiday Hi-Jynx.
    • The net Team Rocket uses is called the "Seizure Net". Coincidentally, this episode is the episode that aired right after the seizure episode in Japan.
  • The episode aired as a two-hour special (放送再開スペシャル(放送再開スペシャル やっとあえるね!)1時間SP) with The Battling Eevee Brothers, when Pokémon returned to airwaves.
  • Not counting the flashbacks, Pikachu and Meowth were the only two species of Pokémon seen in this episode.
  • The events of The Kangaskhan Kid were referenced in the beginning of this episode.
    • Ash crashes into a tree. In response, Misty says, "Watch out for that tree", a popular phrase from the George of the Jungle universe.
  • This is the most recent episode in which wild Pikachu appear.
  • A short version of Goodnight, My Pikachu can be heard.
  • The book I Choose You! is based on this episode.
  • This episode is featured on the Volume 1: Pikachu copy of Pokémon All-Stars.

Errors

Dub edits

  • In the Japanese version of the scene leading up to the Ash and Pikachu montage, Ash originally yelled at Misty and Brock to shut up when they asked why he's leaving Pikachu. Later, when he was saying his goodbyes to Pikachu, Ash's voice was trembling as he was trying not to cry. Also, there was originally no music playing until Ash started running away.
  • The original montage of Ash and Pikachu is different in both versions. The original Japanese version has clips that are shown in chronological episodic order. The dubbed English version have clips from certain episodes in random order, with many clips missing from the original Japanese version, and it also has some clips not present in the original Japanese version.

In other languages



EP038
Original series
EP040 : The Battling Eevee Brothers
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.