From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
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This article is about an episode of the Pokémon animated series that has not been dubbed into English. As such, its coverage may contain romanized Japanese names, rather than dub names.
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| JN145
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逆襲のロケット団！
Rocket-dan Strikes Back!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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March 10, 2023
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| United States
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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(Japanese: 逆襲のロケット団！ Rocket-dan Strikes Back!) is the ninth episode of Pocket Monsters: Aim to Be a Pokémon Master, the 145th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,230th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on March 10, 2023.
Plot
While traveling along a road, Ash and his friends spot a Delibird flying across the sky. Said Delibird soon arrives in front of the Team Rocket trio, delivering them boxed lunches and ten Poké Balls, containing the Pokémon they had previously left behind at the Team Rocket HQ, much to their great delight. Delibird then produces a golden statue of Giovanni, through which the actual Giovanni contacts them, telling Jessie and James to take charge of managing these Pokémon from now on. The statue then self-destructs and Delibird flies away. The trio is happy to reunite with their Pokémon and takes a moment to reminisce about the Pokémon that are no longer with them. With all these Pokémon at their disposal, they decide to launch the ultimate Pikachu capture scheme, with James already having a plan in mind.
Soon after, Mime Jr. appears before Ash and his friends, pleading for help. Pikachu, recognizing it, is distrustful, but the others sympathize with it due to its distressed expression, just as James had planned. Team Rocket appears on a nearby tree and performs their motto before claiming that Mime Jr. has betrayed them and is trying to meet up with an Officer Jenny to turn them in. Ash has Pikachu send Team Rocket blasting off with a Thunderbolt to defend Mime Jr., who then starts leading them towards the spot where it supposedly wants to meet Officer Jenny. Along the way, however, the second part of Team Rocket's scheme is put into action in order to split the group up. First off, Amoonguss and Yanmega attack the group, with Brock staying behind so he and Ludicolo can hold them off. Next up, Ash and Misty run into Frillish and Yamask. Misty sends out Staryu and stays behind to fight them. Psyduck also emerges to join in, only for Yamask to attach its mask to its face and render it useless. Lastly, Ash runs into Carnivine and Gourgeist, which he fights with Infernape and Hawlucha while telling Pikachu and Mime Jr. to run ahead.
Ash's team for this episode
Pikachu and Mime Jr. arrive at the supposed meetup spot, where Jessie, James, Meowth, Wobbuffet and Morpeko appear. Mime Jr. then reveals its true colors and tries to hold Pikachu back while James fires a net at it, but Pikachu manages to break free, resulting in Mime Jr. getting caught in the net instead. James frees the Mime Pokémon and congratulates it on its great work. Woobat, Seviper, and Inkay join in to keep Pikachu from getting away while Jessie and James prepare to seize him in a net, forcing Pikachu to fight off multiple enemies alone. Latias, who has invisibly been watching the entire scheme unfold, refuses to just stand by any longer and relays Ash a telepathic vision of Pikachu's distressed state. Though confused, Ash trusts the vision and abandons the fight with Carnivine and Gourgeist to go save his partner. Gourgeist fires Seed Bombs into the air to signal that the plan has been exposed, but before Pikachu can be seized, Ash arrives in the nick of time and has Infernape destroy Team Rocket's nets with Flare Blitz.
All of Team Rocket's Pokémon come together while the trio reveals to Ash that Mime Jr.'s seeming betrayal was just a part of their plan all along. The Pokémon launch a devastating combo attack towards Ash and his Pokémon, but they quickly move out of the way, forcing Wobbuffet to take the hit instead. He manages to reflect the attack back with Mirror Coat, causing it to strike a nearby tree and obliterate part of its trunk. When the tree falls down, a Slakoth that was resting on it is sent flying, so Ash runs up a rock and jumps high into the air to save it. Just as Brock and Misty arrive, they notice Ash seemingly floating through the air and being brought back down. Ash realizes Latias was behind this, and she reveals herself, much to Brock and Misty's surprise. Latias then turns to Team Rocket, using Psychic to send them and their Pokémon blasting off. After crashing down, the trio starts considering what they did wrong. The situation quickly dissolves into the trio members blaming each other, until they finally declare they're through and head their different ways, their Pokémon sadly looking after them.
Meanwhile, Ash is thanking Latias for her help, understanding that she was also the source behind the vision he saw. Brock and Misty reveal that Ash had actually told them of his encounter with her. Suddenly, Latias starts showing them another vision, this time showing them a Latios behind a glass wall in an underground facility. He breaks the glass and the vision moves outdoors, showing the group a view of the surrounding landscape before the vision cuts off. Latias is looking sad, making Ash wonder what exactly is going on.
Major events
- 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?: Latias
Trivia
The "After the story" artwork for this episode
- Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!! - Episode Paldea: Miraidon
- Face Forward Team Rocket!, Takeshi's Paradise, and Team Rocket's Team Song are used as insert songs in this episode.
- This episode's title card features Meowth instead of Pikachu.
- This episode marks the first appearance of many of Team Rocket's Pokémon after long absences:
- Mime Jr., who last appeared in Coming Full-Festival Circle!, 588 episodes earlier.
- Seviper, Carnivine, and Yanmega, all of whom last appeared in Memories are Made of Bliss!, 573 episodes earlier.
- Woobat, who last appeared in Team Rocket's Shocking Recruit!, 434 episodes earlier.
- Frillish and Amoonguss, both of whom last appeared in Best Wishes Until We Meet Again!, 432 episodes earlier.
- Yamask, who last appeared in The Dream Continues!, 431 episodes earlier.
- Inkay and Gourgeist, both of whom last appeared in Till We Compete Again!, 291 episodes earlier.
- Aside from Seviper and Mime Jr., this is the first appearance of the aforementioned Pokémon outside of their debut series.
- This is the first time where Wobbuffet interacts with Team Rocket’s Unova Pokémon, since he wasn’t in Jessie's active party during Pokémon the Series: Black & White.
- This episode marks the first appearance of Brock's Ludicolo since Grating Spaces!, 779 episodes earlier.
- This episode also marks the first appearance of Team Rocket's Delibird since Memories are Made of Bliss!, 573 episodes earlier.
- The appearance of Misty's Staryu confirms that, like Ash, she is also rotating her Pokémon in and out of her party.
- This episode marks the first appreance of a Latios in the main series since its main series debut in The Semi-Final Frontier!, 579 episodes earlier.
- This episode marks the first time Team Rocket has used Pokémon caught in previous series other than Wobbuffet since Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.
- This is the first episode where Jessie has had more than two Pokémon on hand since Memories are Made of Bliss!, 573 episodes earlier, as well as the first episode where James has had more than one Pokémon on hand since The Dream Continues!, 431 episodes earlier.
- This is also the first time Jessie and James have had a full team of six Pokémon on hand each.
- This is also the first episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series when Jessie has had Pokémon other than Wobbuffet in her active team.
- At 12 Pokémon (21 including fantasies), this episode features the highest number of Team Rocket's Pokémon ever seen in a single episode.
- Gyarados is the only Pokémon that has been in Team Rocket's party for longer than one episode to not appear in this episode in any capacity.
- Growlie also didn't appear in the episode. However, even though it appeared in two episodes and is James's Pokémon, it never was a part of Team Rocket and never joined James's active party.
- Shinji Miyazaki's music from the original series, Pokémon the Series: XY, and Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias are reused as background music in this episode.
- Team Rocket's motto music from Pokémon the Series: XY is also reused as background music in this episode.
- As of this episode, it can be observed that Misty’s Togetic is the only main character, whether human or Pokémon, from the original Pokémon anime series who has not made any appearance in the current ongoing series.
- This episode marks the first time James's Amoonguss has used a new move since its debut, 464 episodes prior.
- Gourgeist's method of firing Seed Bombs that explode like fireworks up into the sky is reminiscent of Ash's Bulbasaur doing so with its Solar Beam in The Dream Continues!.
- Unshō Ishizuka was added into the credits for this episode, with archived audio of his voice being used for James's Weezing.
- As of this episode, all of Ash's Kalos Pokémon that reside at Professor Oak's Laboratory have been in his active party at some point during Aim to Be a Pokémon Master.
- Mime Jr.'s act of seemingly leaving Team Rocket is similar to what Meowth did in Pokémon the Series: Black & White.
- Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Latias, Brock, and a Latios narrate the preview for the next episode.
Errors
Dub edits
In other languages
