BW043
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Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Meowth's Scrafty Tactics! (Japanese: ニャゴシエーター・ニャース！ズルズキン説得作戦！！ Nyagotiator Nyarth! Zuruzukin Persuasion Tactics!!) is the 43rd episode of Pokémon the Series: Black & White, and the 700th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on August 18, 2011 and in the United States on November 26, 2011.
Blurb
On their way to Nimbasa City, Ash and the gang are surprised to come across Meowth, who has been injured. They learn that Meowth has been fired from Team Rocket, so our heroes decide it would be best for Meowth to join them...as long as he behaves!
Soon after, Axew is lured away and captured by an angry Scrafty. With Meowth translating, Scrafty warns our heroes that if they don’t help it in battle, they’ll never see Axew again! Ash hatches a plan: Meowth and Scraggy will distract Scrafty with negotiations while he frees Axew with the help of Pikachu and Snivy.
When Scrafty discovers the deceit, it immediately challenges Ash to a battle. Ash and Tepig quickly get the upper hand...and Scrafty bursts into tears! With Meowth’s help, Scrafty explains that its den was stolen by a Mandibuzz. Upon further investigation, the gang discovers that the Mandibuzz was kicked out of its own nest after having a fight with a friend.
Meowth agrees to go with the ousted Mandibuzz and ask its friend for forgiveness so it can move back in, and Meowth’s expert negotiating skills seal the deal! The two Mandibuzz are friends again, Scrafty has its den back, and our heroes continue on their way to Nimbasa City—now with Meowth as part of the gang!
Plot
On their way to Nimbasa City, the group is taking a break for lunch. While Tepig and Axew are playing, they find an unconscious Meowth in the bushes. Upon telling everyone, Cilan quickly inspects Meowth's condition before giving him medicine. Meowth regains consciousness and is startled to be surrounded by the twerps. Iris demands to know what Team Rocket’s next scheme is, but he replies that he is no longer a part of Team Rocket. When Ash asks him what happened, Meowth tries to run away, claiming that nothing happened, but he is not able to run in his condition, and almost collapses. Ash asks again, and Meowth agrees to tell them the story as they saved him. He explains that he was caught while carrying out an operation, and as a result Giovanni fired him. Jessie and James soon left him, leaving Meowth alone. With that, Meowth decided to go on his own journey. Iris presses for the truth, and Meowth assures her of his story.
Cilan suggests to the others that they should let Meowth travel with them, but Ash and Iris don't think that it's a good idea. Cilan then reminds them that he is the only Meowth in Unova, and that wandering alone wouldn't be safe. Meowth initially refuses, but Iris says that he will faint again if they leave him. Ash tells Meowth that he can travel with them on the condition that he doesn't do anything bad. Meowth agrees to these terms as he has no reason to do anything bad, seeing as he's no longer a part of Team Rocket.
As they start walking, Meowth flatters the group on their qualities; commenting on Cilan's soup, calling Iris a princess, and even calling Ash a good Trainer. As they walk, Axew becomes interested in a shiny object placed on the road, but when Axew tries to grab it, he is kidnapped by a Scrafty. The group follows Scrafty to its hut, but Meowth tries to stop them, explaining that they mustn't get any closer to Scrafty's hut because he could hurt Axew. Ash ignores Meowth and runs ahead, but Meowth stops him again, telling him that Scrafty is serious and that they shouldn't anger it. Pikachu agrees with Meowth, and Cilan suggests that they wait there until it things calm down. Inside the hut, Axew tries to use Dragon Rage, shattering the window, but Scrafty manages to evade it.
Meowth tells the others that he will take it from there, claiming that he is a negotiator. Meowth slowly walks to Scrafty's hut, calling for it to come outside. Meowth soon returns, informing the group that Scrafty will return Axew in exchange for a battle. Ash and the others are unimpressed, so Cilan suggests they buy themselves some time. While Ash sneaks around the building, Meowth confronts Scrafty again, requesting it shows them Axew. Scrafty opens the door slightly to reveal that Axew is in one piece—but is tied up. Higher up, Ash notices that there is a window on the side, later suggesting that there is a way to release Axew. He tells Meowth to talk with Scrafty, but Meowth explains that Scrafty is an evolved form of Scraggy, and that it will be good idea to take Scraggy with him to distract Scrafty. Ash complies and lets Scraggy go with Meowth, and takes Snivy with him. As Snivy is released from her Poké Ball, she attacks Meowth with Vine Whip, only for Ash to tell her that Meowth is now their friend.
At Nimbasa City’s busy Gear Station, Jessie and James are completing another one of their operations. After scanning the Unova train network and schedules, they board the next train. They soon get off at a junction to fix a device to the underground subway wall.
Meanwhile, Meowth and Scraggy go to Scrafty while Ash walks around the hut again. As Scraggy and Scrafty show which moves they can use, Meowth suggests that Scrafty should teach Scraggy some good moves in an attempt to distract it. Scrafty accepts, and shows Scraggy how to use High Jump Kick. Scraggy tries to use the move, distracting Scrafty and allowing Meowth to signal to Ash that he can release Axew. Ash tells Snivy to use Vine Whip and carry Axew out of the window. As Meowth pretends to alert that Axew is missing, he and Scraggy leave so Pikachu can use Thunderbolt on Scrafty and return to the others.
Upon returning Axew, Meowth says that Scraggy is worried about Scrafty, but Scrafty returns and challenges the group. Ash accepts and chooses Tepig to battle. Scrafty takes serious crash damage after failing to hit a High Jump Kick. As Tepig uses Ember attack, Scrafty fires a Focus Blast, though it misses its target. Tepig replies with Flame Charge, knocking Scrafty out. Scrafty sobs from its defeat, leading Meowth to wonder if something is amiss. After refusing to speak, Scrafty admits that its nest was taken away, and it needs help to get it back, and that everyone he has asked has refused to help—resulting in it kidnapping Pokémon. After hearing the story, Ash and his friends agree to help Scrafty.
Scrafty leads them to its nest, showing them that a Mandibuzz had taken it. Scrafty tries to attack Mandibuzz, but is easily defeated by her Shadow Ball. Scraggy decides to try to defend his friend. Mandibuzz uses Pluck and dives towards Scraggy, but Scraggy manages to dodge the attack. Mandibuzz hits the head in the ground and gets stuck on the rocks. As Mandibuzz tries to get free, Scrafty commands Scraggy to use High Jump Kick, which successfully hits and defeats Mandibuzz. Upon defeating Mandibuzz, she starts crying, explaining that she was kicked out of her flock because she ate all of the food, forcing her to take Scrafty's nest. After hearing this, Meowth suggests that they pick up some food and give it to Mandibuzz's flock. After seeing it as a peace-offering, Mandibuzz is welcomed back to her flock.
As the trio continue their journey, Iris compliments Meowth's negotiation skills, to which everybody agrees. Suddenly, Iris decides to capture Meowth and throws a Poké Ball at him. The catch is unsuccessful as Meowth yells at her, claiming that he belongs to no-one. He agrees to continue traveling with the group, as long as they don't try to catch him.
By nightfall, Jessie and James have reached Anville Town's train yard and are planning to report their progress to Dr. Zager.
Major events
- Meowth begins to travel with Ash and his friends, claiming to have been fired from Team Rocket.
- Ash's Scraggy learns High Jump Kick.
- Iris attempts to capture Meowth, but is unsuccessful.
- Jessie and James arrive in Anville Town and begin their plans to sabotage the Nimbasa Subway system.
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
TV episode debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Axew (Iris's)
- Tranquill (Ash's)
- Oshawott (Ash's)
- Tepig (Ash's)
- Snivy (Ash's)
- Scraggy (Ash's)
- Pansage (Cilan's)
- Scrafty (debut)
- Mandibuzz (×2)
- Beartic (flashback)
- Scolipede (flashback)
- Darmanitan (flashback)
Trivia
- Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Timburr
- All of the transitions in this episode, not including the theme song, use a Meowth head.
- This episode is the only one in Pokémon the Series: Black & White to feature Giovanni in one of Meowth's fantasies.
- This is the first episode where Meowth is seen entering a Poké Ball.
Errors
- When Scrafty is checking its pants to see if Axew is alright, Axew's eyelid is colored white when he is about to use Dragon Rage on Scrafty.
- When Ash tells Snivy to wait before Meowth will go to save Axew while Scrafty is teaching Scraggy a new move, the stripe on Snivy's neck turns green for a split-second.
- During several scenes throughout the episode, Scraggy's pupils change designs sometimes.
- When the first Mandibuzz explains her problem to Meowth, he replies, "If you went and ate your buddy's food without his permission, you did a bad thing." The "buddy" turns out to be another Mandibuzz, which is a female-only species. It's possible that Meowth didn't know about them being female.
Dub edits
- In the English dub, Meowth makes a reference to Sherlock Holmes when he says "Sure, Sherlock!" as Cilan asks Meowth to let him interrogate Scrafty. Cilan's outfit during the scene could also be influenced by the popular image of Sherlock Holmes. In the Japanese version, he just calls him a detective sommelier.
- In the Latin American dub, when Meowth is trying to distract Scrafty, instead of saying "Scrafty! Watch out, look at that!!", he points and says "¡¡Que horror, los de Digimon!!".
- A similar reference in which a Pokémon character looks down to the Digimon franchise happened in Ill-Will Hunting!.
- In the English dub, Meowth calls Ash and his friends twerps throughout the episode. In the Japanese version, he doesn't call them anything, as he was trying not to blow his cover.
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 交涉喵·喵喵！頭巾混混說服作戰！！ | |
 Croatian
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Meowthova taktika pregovaranja! | |
 Danish
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Meowth's luskede taktik! | |
 Dutch
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Meowth's slimme strategie met Scrafty! | |
 Finnish
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Meowth vaihtaa leiriä! | |
 European French
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Baggaïd et Miaouss le diplomate ! | |
 German
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Mauzi als Retter in der Not! | |
 Greek
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Οι Τακτικές του Meowth με τον Scrafty! | |
 Hindi
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Meowth के Scrafty टकटिक्स! Meowth ke Scrafty tactics! | |
 Indonesian
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Nyasu dalam bahaya! Zuruzurukin Satodoku Sakumon!! | |
 Italian
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Il Meowth che non t'aspetti! | |
 Korean
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나고시에이터 나옹! 곤율거니 설득 작전! | |
 Norwegian
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Meowths listige taktikk! | |
 Polish
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Taktyka Meowtha! | |
 Brazilian Portuguese
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As Taticas do Meowth! | |
 Russian
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Хитрая тактика Мяута! | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Las astutas tácticas de Meowth! |
 Spain
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¡Las tácticas de Meowth con Scrafty! | |
 Swedish
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Meowths sluga taktik! | |
 Thai
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เนียโกทิเอเตอร์ เนียส! แผนกล่อมซึรูซึคิน!! | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
- Pokémon the Series: Black & White episodes
- Milestone episodes
- Episodes focusing on Meowth
- Episodes written by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
- Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada
- Episodes storyboarded by Yūji Asada
- Episodes directed by Yūji Asada
- Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane
- Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon learns a new move
