DP080

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The Thief That Keeps on Thieving!

DP080

EP546

ヤンヤンマ！ゲット作戦！！
Yanyanma! Capture Operation!!

First broadcast

Japan	May 22, 2008
United States	October 18, 2008

English themes

Opening	We Will Be Heroes
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	Together2008
Ending	風のメッセージ (PokaPoka Version)

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Iguchi
Screenplay	大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard	小山賢 Masaru Koyama
Assistant director	小山賢 Masaru Koyama
Animation director	田口広一 Kōichi Taguchi

Screenshots on Filb.de

The Thief That Keeps on Thieving! (Japanese: ヤンヤンマ！ゲット作戦！！ Yanyanma! Capture Operation!!) is the 80th episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the 546th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on May 22, 2008 and in the United States on October 18, 2008.

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

Blurb

On the way to Pastoria City, Ash and his friends meet Tyler and his Piplup, Pippy. The pair is hot on the trail of a Yanma; Tyler's only been a Trainer for a week, but he's already spent three days trying to catch that Yanma! Ash and the gang help Tyler track the Yanma down, and Pippy battles it to wear it down. Now Tyler is ready to throw his Poké Ball and complete the capture—except Team Rocket slips in, nabs Yanma, and makes a quick getaway! Unable to find Team Rocket, our heroes can only cheer Tyler up and encourage him to find another Yanma to catch.

Team Rocket sends the purloined Yanma to Team Rocket headquarters, eagerly anticipating a reward from the Boss. But Team Rocket already has plenty of Yanma, so Giovanni sends it back without comment. Team Rocket thinks the Boss is just being generous, so Jessie takes charge of their new Yanma and sets out to catch another Yanma for Giovanni. It's not long before Team Rocket crosses paths with Tyler, who's just found another wild Yanma.

Jessie sends out her new Yanma, which evolves into a surprisingly tough Yanmega. Team Rocket is delighted by Yanmega's powerful Sonic Boom and Ancient Power moves, except the fight with Tyler and Ash scares off the wild Yanma. Team Rocket might not have won this round, but Tyler is dismayed at losing out on another Yanma and Ash and his friends have to urge him not to give up. So when Tyler finds another Yanma and Team Rocket again shows up to spoil the show, Ash has Buizel and Pikachu put Team Rocket in their place. At last, Tyler catches a Yanma without any further interruption, and our heroes congratulate him before they resume their trip to Pastoria City.

Plot

As Ash and his friends are walking by a lake, Dawn admires her new Ribbon and Ash is excited for his next Gym Battle. A Yanma flies by and momentarily lands on Dawn's head, prompting Dawn to check her Pokédex for information. As Yanma flies away, a keen Trainer named Tyler comes running and asks the group if they'd seen a Yanma. Ash tells him it went across the lake and Tyler starts running. Ash and his friends decide to follow him.

Tyler catches up to the Yanma and sends out Pippy, his female Piplup. Pippy uses Peck but Yanma dodges. Yanma knocks Pippy backwards with Sonic Boom. Pippy tries a Pound attack, though Yanma dodges and knocks her down with Wing Attack before flying off. Tyler falls on his knees after his latest failure at catching the Yanma and Pippy feels the same way.

Tyler sits down with group, revealing that he has only been traveling for a week. He promised himself that he would catch the first Pokémon he saw, hence his determination to catch a Yanma. After Dawn and Ash recall catching their firsts, Buneary and Caterpie respectively, they offer to help Tyler out. They soon locate Yanma thanks to Ash's Staravia. Tyler and Pippy prepare to battle, however her Bubble is evaded. Pippy lands two consecutive hits on Yanma. Yanma dives down with Quick Attack, though Pippy counters this Peck and Yanma is sent backwards seeming unable to battle further. Tyler is ready to throw a Poké Ball, but Team Rocket comes up from the lake and performs their motto, after which Jessie throws a Poké Ball and catches Yanma without any effort. The group is shocked and Team Rocket escapes with their catch, leaving Tyler distraught again.

Piplup comes out of the water, not finding Team Rocket's Magikarp submarine. Tyler remains sad, but Ash encourages him to not give up. Tyler regains his confidence just as another Yanma flies by and everyone agrees that Tyler can catch this one. By evening, the search ends with no sight of a Yanma. They set up camp and enjoy a meal prepared by Brock. Ash impresses Tyler with his Sinnoh League Badges while Dawn shows off her Ribbons.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket have since delivered their caught Yanma to Giovanni via Delibird. That night the trio dreams of their promotions, having finally delivered a Pokémon to the boss. Meanwhile, at Team Rocket's headquarters, Giovanni receives Jessie's Yanma, delivered to his office by two Team Rocket Grunts. He uses his laptop to scan the Poké Ball, revealing the species inside and the moves it knows, one of which is Ancient Power. He asks about their current supply, and one of the grunts reports that Team Rocket has recently caught a large number of Yanma. The next morning, Delibird returns to the Rocket trio and delivers Yanma back to them. Meowth suggests the Poké Ball contains a powerful Pokémon as a reward from HQ. Jessie and James aren't disappointed to see the very same Yanma, instead they believe Giovanni decided to reward them for catching a powerful Pokémon by returning said Pokémon to them. The two agree that Jessie should be Yanma's Trainer and also decide to catch another Yanma for Giovanni in return.

Meanwhile, the group is ready to catch Yanma and Brock has set up Pokémon food for it. Pippy uses Peck on another Yanma and knocks it out. Ash tells Tyler to throw a Poké Ball. Tyler is about to, but Team Rocket steps in front of the Yanma. Jessie sends out her Yanma, and Ash sends out Chimchar. Yanma approaches with Wing Attack, but Chimchar dodges and uses Flamethrower. Meowth defends Giovanni’s gift and Fury Swipes on Chimchar. James sends out Carnivine, who greets its Trainer with a friendly Bite before rushing into battle with a Bullet Seed. Yanma uses Sonic Boom. Chimchar dodges both the attacks and scorches Team Rocket’s Pokémon with a Flame Wheel. Yanma recovers and after unleashing an Ancient Power on Chimchar, Yanma evolves into a Yanmega. Jessie is pleasantly surprised and calls for a Sonic Boom. Power and momentum are on Yanmega's side and Chimchar is sent flying back. Yanmega knocks the twerps around with several more Sonic Booms. Team Rocket is happy that they beat the twerps, but switch targets after the wild Yanma soars away.

Brock sets out the Pokémon food again and another Yanma takes the bait. Pippy ambushes Yanma with a Pound attack. Team Rocket reappears in their sub, so Ash sends out Buizel to deal with them. Jessie has Yanmega use Ancient Power, but Buizel dodges and strikes back with Aqua Jet. Yanmega is struck down by a Sonic Boom from Buizel, and Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to send Team Rocket blasting off.

Meanwhile, Yanma is eating the Pokémon food and Pippy uses Bubble. Yanma dodges and tries a Wing Attack. After Pippy dodges, Yanma goes over the lake. Pippy immediately dives in and swims to gain on Yanma before landing a hit with Peck. Pippy ducks under the water to dodge Yanma’s retaliation, and resurfaces to attack with Bubble and Peck. Yanma crashes onto the shore. Tyler throws a Poké Ball, but Yanma pops out. However, Tyler doesn't give up and Pippy uses Peck once more. Tyler throws his Poké Ball again and successfully catches Yanma. Ash and his friends congratulate Tyler on his first catch. By evening, Tyler and the group prepare to part ways. Tyler plans on heading towards Lake Valor, and Brock gifts him some Pokémon food for his journey. Meanwhile, Ash and his friends continue on to Pastoria City.

Major events

Yanma being caught

Jessie catches a Yanma.
Team Rocket sends Yanma to Giovanni, who sends her back after deciding he does not need her.
Jessie's Yanma evolves into Yanmega.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

TV episode debuts

Yanmega (Jessie's)

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Pikachu (Ash's)
Meowth (Team Rocket)
Piplup (Dawn's)
Caterpie (Ash's; flashback)
Staravia (Ash's)
Chimchar (Ash's)
Buizel (Ash's)
Buneary (Dawn's; flashback)
Yanma (Jessie's; new; evolves)
Yanmega (Jessie's; newly evolved)
Carnivine (James's)
Persian (Giovanni's)
Piplup (Tyler's; Pippy)
Yanma (Tyler's; new)
Delibird (Team Rocket)

Trivia

This episode has a similar premise to Wings 'N' Things, though in that episode, the younger Trainer wanted to recapture Yanma instead.
This is one of the very few episodes in which Team Rocket successfully catches a Pokémon for Giovanni, although he sends it back to them. However, Yanma was a wild Pokémon at the time of her catch, so she hadn't been stolen.
Jessie catching Yanma after someone else weakened it echoes how she caught her Shellder (although in that case, it was James and his Weezing that weakened the Pokémon).
Yanma is caught and evolves in this episode. The only Pokémon belonging to a main character to do this before is Ash's Caterpie, who is coincidentally referred by Ash in this episode. Ash's Primeape also evolved in its debut episode, though in that case, it evolved prior to being caught. This would not occur again until Gotta Catch a What?!, 574 episodes later.
Two background tracks from Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea are used as music for this episode.
This episode is one of the few episodes in which Jessie's Wobbuffet does not appear.
During the second encounter with Team Rocket, Face Forward Team Rocket! was played.
This episode contains flashbacks to Ash Catches a Pokémon and Setting the World on its Buneary!, the first catches of Ash and Dawn, respectively.
This is one of the few times Meowth fought alongside Jessie's and James's Pokémon, using Fury Swipes on Ash's Chimchar.
Instead of Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia, the end of the episode featured a memorial to Jirachi: Wish Maker called Pikachu the Movie Memorial. This is part of a countdown to Giratina and the Sky Warrior.

Ash's Caterpie

This episode marks the first time one of the main characters' previous Pokémon got a design change from its original appearance. In this case, Ash's Caterpie's mouth is changed from yellow to green to match Caterpie's official art.
This episode features the first use of Ancient Power in the anime, even though it was introduced two generations earlier.
The English dub title is loosely based on the phrase "the gift that keeps on giving."
This is one of the rare episodes where the TO BE CONTINUED... sign appears on the top-right corner of the screen.
Ed Paul (who was credited under his real name of Ted Lewis in season 1) reprises his role as Giovanni, making him the first returning voice actor to regain one of his roles since the dubbing of the show switched from 4Kids to Pokémon USA.
This episode was adapted into a book titled Triple Trouble by author Simcha Whitehill.

Errors

Ash is upset that Team Rocket would be so cruel as to steal a Trainer's first-caught Pokémon. However, Tyler hadn't caught the Yanma in question, so it technically was never his.
Before the second battle with Team Rocket, Tyler's Yanma is knocked out. However, at the end of the battle, Yanma is back at the food stand completely recovered.
During the second battle with Team Rocket, Brock's food stand disappears.

Dub edits

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		陽陽瑪收服大作戰！
Czech		Nenapravitelní zloději
Danish		En gang tyv, altid tyv!
Dutch		De dief die maar blijft stelen!
Finnish		Kerran varas, aina varas!
German		Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen!
Italian		Una cattura difficile!
Korean		왕자리 잡기 대작전!
Norwegian		Tyven som fortsetter å stjele!
Polish		Złodziej, który ciągle kradł
Portuguese	Brazil	Achado não é roubado
Portuguese	Portugal	Uma Vez Ladrão Sempre Ladrão!
Russian		Вечно ворующие воры!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Los ladrones que se la pasan robando!
Spanish	Spain	¡Los Ladrones Nunca Paran de Robar!
Swedish		Tjuven som fortsätter stjäla!