DP044

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Mass Hip-Po-Sis!

DP044

EP510

迷子のヒポポタスを助けろ！
Save the Lost Hippopotas!

First broadcast

Japan	August 23, 2007
United States	January 5, 2008

English themes

Opening	Diamond and Pearl
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	Together
Ending	君のそばで〜ヒカリのテーマ〜(PopUp.Version)

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Iguchi
Screenplay	大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard	山田浩之 Hiroyuki Yamada
Assistant director	山田浩之 Hiroyuki Yamada
Animation director	夏目久仁彦 Kunihiko Natsume

Screenshots on Filb.de

Mass Hip-Po-Sis! (Japanese: 迷子のヒポポタスを助けろ！ Save the Lost Hippopotas!) is the 44th episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the 510th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on August 23, 2007 and in the United States on January 5, 2008.

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

Blurb

Ash's Turtwig brings everyone's attention to a young Hippopotas that's stranded on the ledge of a cliff. Ash hauls the Hippopotas to safety, and it insists on following him. Then Rhonda and the Sinnoh Now news team arrive on the scene, and they want to follow Ash around, too! Rhonda wants to see Ash reunite the Hippopotas with its migrating herd. Team Rocket, of course, wants to steal Hippopotas, but between Hippopotas's Yawn attack and Ash, Team Rocket barely even manages to slow our heroes down.

Of course, Team Rocket won't quit that easily. They come back for another try, using a piece of fruit to lure Hippopotas into their balloon. But when Hippopotas uses Sand Tomb, their plans are sunk just as fast as their balloon, and Hippopotas happily returns to Ash. Next Ash has to cross a narrow bridge across a river, and when Team Rocket attacks, Hippopotas falls in the river! For a Ground-type like Hippopotas, that's bad news.

Hippopotas is rushed to the nearest Pokémon Center, where Nurse Joy has it feeling fine in no time. The quest for the Hippopotas herd resumes, and the gang encounters a strangely familiar group of sand salesmen. They turn out to be Team Rocket, of course, but the thieving trio didn't count on Hippopotas and that Yawn attack, which puts Jessie to sleep. Meowth and James' Cacnea are no match for Pikachu and Ash's Turtwig, and once they're gone, our heroes keep searching until they find the Hippopotas herd. The lost Hippopotas is back where it belongs and Ash is headed back on the road to Hearthome City—after a Yawn-induced nap, that is!

Plot

After a lunch break, Ash, Dawn and Brock recall their Pokémon and prepare to hit the road once again. Pikachu suddenly imitates Turtwig, and Brock realizes that Turtwig went by itself into the woods. Following its trail, they find Turtwig, who points them to a cliff where a frightened Hippopotas is trapped. Deciding to help it, Ash climbs down the cliff, with the help of a rope onto the ledge where Hippopotas is. Ash tries to reassure Hippopotas, but he is too frightened and bites Ash’s hand. Ash calls Pikachu who slides down the rope, and comforts Hippopotas, with success. Ash promptly hoists Hippopotas into his arms and they are lifted to safety by Brock and Dawn. Brock hands Hippopotas some Pokémon food, however it doesn’t like the taste. Instead, Hippopotas walks over to a nearby fruit tree, so Ash gets a fruit for him, which Hippopotas devours whole.

Ash and his friends prepare to leave, saying goodbye to Hippopotas, however the young Pokémon continues to follow them. Suddenly Rhonda and her staff from Sinnoh Now show up for a scoop about a herd of Hippopotas. Rhonda instantly recognizes the group and informs them that a male Hippopotas got lost from his family. After hearing the story about his family, Ash’s group decides to help Hippopotas return to his family.

They set off in searching for the herd with Hippopotas and the TV crew following them, but they all fall into a pitfall trap set up by Team Rocket who takes Hippopotas in their balloon. Being scared, he responds with a Yawn, which hits Meowth. Ash sends out his Turtwig which uses Razor Leaf to cut Hippopotas from his restraints. He falls and is caught by Ash releasing another Yawn which hits Brock and Jack. Jessie is left feeling frustrated as Ash and the others flee with the Hippopotas while Meowth drifts off to sleep. James convinces Jessie that they should go after Hippopotas for the boss, even providing his own boss fantasy.

Brock suddenly succumbs to the Yawn attack, collapsing on the ground. Ash and Dawn notice Team Rocket flying overhead and decide to hide behind a nearby bush. They quickly realize they forgot Brock, though Croagunk drags Brock behind the same bush. Meanwhile, Rhonda is annoyed as she is forced to hold the microphone boom while one of her staff carries the now sleeping Jack on his back. Later, Ash and his friends stop at a roadblock, where a bridge is under construction. While distracted, Team Rocket lures Hippopotas into their balloon with the help of a fishing rod and a bait. Hippopotas uses Sand Tomb to bring the balloon down to the ground. Ash sends out Aipom who uses Focus Punch to send Team Rocket blasting off. Back on Ash's head, Hippopotas releases another Yawn, this time on Dawn, making her drowsy, and eventually fall asleep.

Next, they continue their trek with Dawn being carried on Brock's back. They come across another bridge, which they proceed to cross. Team Rocket shows up and uses a net to capture Hippopotas. Ash jumps on the net which breaks and they both fall into the river below. Brock sends out Croagunk which uses Poison Sting to send Team Rocket blasting off again. Dawn turns her attention to Ash and Hippopotas, and sends her Buizel outs to rescue them. Once ashore, Dawn immediately dries Hippopotas because he is weak to water before taking him to the nearest Pokémon Center for treatment. After a check-up, Nurse Joy places Hippopotas in a box of sand to rest and dry himself. Ash and his friends retrieve some more desert sand which helps Hippopotas make a quick recovery and they set off in searching of the herd again.

On their way out, the group spot some roadside sand traders, none other than Team Rocket in disguise. Not recognizing the trio, Hippopotas releases another Yawn on Jessie and Ash decides to let Hippopotas try the sand, before buying it. Team Rocket closes the bag, trapping Hippopotas inside, before revealing their true identity and rushing to the balloon. As they recite the motto, Jessie starts to fall asleep, and Hippopotas escapes from the bag. Ash and his friends are furious, and respond back with own rip-off of the Team Rocket motto to intimidate James. James calls Cacnea out to battle and Ash sends out Turtwig. Cacnea unleashes a Pin Missile, but Turtwig dodges and uses Bite then Razor Leaf followed by a Tackle and Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and sends Team Rocket blasting off again for good as Jessie wakes up.

The group heads off to a large desert, where they spot recent Hippopotas footprints. Aside from the sand dunes, nothing is in sight. Hippopotas calls out to its friends, resulting in plenty of Hippopotas popping out of the sand. They leave Hippopotas there, but, before that, Ash tosses him a fruit, which he gobbles down in a single bite. Hippopotas replies by releasing another Yawn, which lulls Ash and Pikachu to sleep. Later, the group continue onwards to Hearthome City with a sleeping Ash being carried on Brock's back while Dawn holds Pikachu in her arms.

Major events

Ash and his friends encounter a roaming wild Hippopotas.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Hippopotas (anime)

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Trivia

Music from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, as well as Because the Sky is There, are used as background music.
4Kids background music is used in this episode.
Hippopotas is seen riding atop Ash's head (at Ash's insistence), despite weighing over one hundred pounds (almost 50 kilograms).
- He also doesn't weigh down Team Rocket's balloon until after he uses Sand Tomb. This is an example of animation physics.
Jessie frequently mispronounces Hippopotas's name (in the dub, it is a different way each time).
Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia: Mothim
- Pokémon senryū: ガーメイル　おてがみかいたよ　eメイル Gāmeiru, otegami kaita yo, imeiru. "Gamale, it wrote a letter, an email."
Ash and J narrate the preview for the next episode.
The same Hippopotas from this episode reappears in Sleight of Sand!.
When Jessie states that she wants a script change, Meowth says "they'll call Cassidy". Coincidentally, in the next episode this same Hippopotas appears in, Cassidy is in it.
Uniquely, the boss fantasy in this episode is imagined by James instead of Meowth, due to the latter being hit by Hippopotas's Yawn and falling asleep.
In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.
This is one of the few episodes where Team Rocket blasts off three times.
- It is also one of the few episodes since Tricks Of The Trade to feature Team Rocket outside of Pokémon the Series: Black & White in which Jessie's Wobbuffet doesn't appear.
Brock and Dawn mock a few lines of Team Rocket's motto.

Errors

When Brock tries to feed Hippopotas with Pokémon food, his hand is much lighter than it should be.
When Ash and his friends are digging, Ash overlaps Brock.
In the scene where Ash's Turtwig uses Bite on James's Cacnea, the green on the top of Cacnea's head is yellow. This also happens when Turtwig uses Tackle.
In the Polish dub, Brock orders Croagunk to use Poison Jab instead of Poison Sting.

Brock's skin tone
The overlap error
Cacnea coloring error

Dub edits

In the Polish dub, as Team Rocket blasts off, Meowth doesn't mention Cassidy at all.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		幫助迷路的怪河馬！
Czech		Hromadná Hrošáda *
Danish		Hip-Hip Hippopotas!
Dutch		Massa Hip-po-se!
Finnish		Massahippoosi
European French		Sieste obligatoire
German		Mit Seifenblasen ins Traumland!
Italian		Un Hippopotas in pericolo
Korean		히포포타스! 엄마 찾아 삼만리
Polish		Hippo-problem
Portuguese	Brazil	Hipótese Hipnótica!
Portuguese	Portugal	Hipó-Teses em Grande! *
Russian		Гиппопотас
Spanish	Latin America	¡Hip-Po-Sis masiva!
Spanish	Spain	¡El Hippopotas perdido!
Swedish		Åh, gäsp!
Thai		มาช่วยฮิโปโปตัสหลงทางกันเถอะ