AG073

←	AG072 : The Bicker the Better

Grass Hysteria!

AG073

EP347

禁断の森の王者！フシギバナ！！
King of the Forbidden Forest! Fushigibana!!

First broadcast

Japan	April 22, 2004
United States	April 9, 2005

English themes

Opening	This Dream
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	チャレンジャー!!
Ending	スマイル ②

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita
Storyboard	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Assistant director	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director	岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane

Grass Hysteria! (Japanese: 禁断の森の王者！フシギバナ！！ King of the Forbidden Forest! Fushigibana!!) is the 73rd episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 347th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 22, 2004, and in the United States on April 9, 2005.

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

Blurb

Ash and friends are lost in a forest when they are attacked by a Skarmory that kidnaps May. It drops May on the other side of a tall fence, and several hooded men prevent Ash, Brock, and Max from pursuing.

The Skarmory drops May on the ground, where she saves a Bulbasaur from falling off a cliff. A group of Grass-type Pokémon angrily attack May, but she drives them back with Torchic's Ember attack.

The hooded men explain to the guys that the Grass-type Pokémon will attack any human that trespasses, because people damaged the forest trying to catch Grass-type Pokémon. The guys decide saving May is more important, and Ash manages to get over the fence.

A group of Grass-types corner May, and Ash swoops in and has Pikachu clear a path. The two kids run for it, but get cornered again. A Venusaur arrives and orders the other Pokémon to back off, accompanied by the Bulbasaur that May helped.

May begins to befriend the Bulbasaur, but Team Rocket arrives, trying to catch Grass-types with their robot. May gets caught inside the robot as well, and helps all the Pokémon break free. The Venusaur uses Solarbeam to blast the robot away.

Reunited in the end, the kids get ready to depart the forest, with one new addition—the Bulbasaur decides to join May on her journey.

Plot

Ash and his friends find themselves lost on the road to Fortree City when they wander into an uncharted area of Hoenn. To make matters worse neither Brock's compass nor Max's PokéNav seem to function correctly. Suddenly a wild Skarmory comes swooping down. Ash and his friends run away, but May's Skitty pops out of its Poké Ball and appears right in the Skarmory's path. May grabs Skitty, but before she can get away the Skarmory latches onto her waistpack and flies away with her. Ash, Brock, and Max follow it as best they can, but run into a large wooden wall, guarded by two cloaked men. The men tell them that beyond lies the Forbidden Forest, an area where humans aren't allowed. After hearing about their situation, the men lead Ash and his friends to their village. There they meet the village leader Old Man Obee. Obee listens to their story, and calls a town meeting, where he discusses whether or not they should let Ash and his friends go into the forest to rescue May. While they're distracted, Ash takes the opportunity to sneak into the forest, leaving Brock and Max behind.

Meanwhile, the Skarmory drops May on top of a mountain. While looking for a way down, she notices a wild} Bulbasaur on the edge of a cliff trying to pick some flowers with Vine Whip. Suddenly the Bulbasaur loses her footing, but May is able to grab her before she falls off the edge of the cliff. Surprised to see a human, the Bulbasaur is cautious at first, but after May reassures her that she means no harm, she quickly warms up to her. However, before she can get too close to Bulbasaur, several wild Grass Pokémon appear and start attacking her. Realizing she's in danger, May calls upon Torchic, who clears an escape route with Ember. She runs down the mountain and into the forest, dodging attacks from wild Grass Pokémon left and right. However she soon finds herself cornered against a tree. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, Ash appears with Pikachu and opens a path with Thunderbolt. The two continue to flee, the Grass-type Pokémon still chasing them.

Back in the village, Old Man Obee tells Brock and Max that the Forbidden Forest is a sanctuary for Grass Pokémon. So many Trainers used to come to the area to capture the Pokémon there that the Pokémon eventually become hostile towards humans. Wanting to protect the Pokémon, the villagers built a giant wall around the Forest, and set up guards to keep anybody from getting inside. Obee explains that the area has strange magnetic properties, which is why Max's PokéNav and Brock's compass weren't working. He tells them that the villagers have reached a consensus, and have agreed to help Brock and Max find their lost friends. Opening up the gates, he begins to track May and Ash using several Poochyena. They enter the forest, unaware that Team Rocket was eavesdropping on the conversation. They decide that they'll sneak into the forest as well, and steal all of the Grass-type Pokémon there for the Boss.

Deep in the forest, Ash and May find themselves trapped on the edge of a cliff. However, the Pokémon chasing them suddenly stop, when a large Venusaur appears, with the Bulbasaur May helped earlier next to it. The Venusaur commands the other Pokémon to stop their attack, and beckons Ash and May to follow it into the forest. Hidden nearby, Jessie and James listen as Meowth translates for Venusaur. Apparently, the Bulbasaur May saved was the Venusaur's child, and by saving her May proved that she wasn't a dangerous human. Jessie realizes that the Venusaur must be the leader of all the Grass-type Pokémon, and decides that catching it should be their primary mission. Ash and May follow Venusaur to the center of the forest, where they find a beautiful spring. Bulbasaur appears, and gives May some of the flowers she picked earlier. She grabs hold of May with Vine Whip, and leads her and Ash around the forest. Soon they arrive on top of a cliff, where May notices a city in the distance. Realizing that Bulbasaur has never been outside of the forest, May begins to tell her about all of the things that she has seen on her journey. Ash, May, and Bulbasaur play together for a while, until Ash realizes that Brock and Max must be worried about them. As the two prepare to head out of the forest, several Grass-type Pokémon come running past them in fear. Looking around, they spy Team Rocket, using a large robot to scoop up and capture the wild Pokémon.

Ash orders Pikachu to attack the robot, but his attack is deflected by it. Venusaur soon arrives, and begins to battle as well. However Team Rocket's robot is too strong even for it. Knocking Venusaur away, the robot grabs Bulbasaur and May, and tosses them into a large sack on its back. However, before they can get away, Old Man Obee, Brock, and Max appear with several villagers. Using Poochyena's Shadow Ball, Old Man Obee is able to stun the robot. Finally, Venusaur's Solar Beam causes the robot to explode, and sends Team Rocket blasting off again. With Ash's and his friends reunited, they all prepare to leave the forest. May bids a tearful farewell to Bulbasaur, however at the last moment Bulbasaur decides to leave the forest and go with her. Waving goodbye to her friends in the forest, Bulbasaur is welcomed by Ash and his friends as the newest member of their group.

Major events

May after catching Bulbasaur

May catches a Bulbasaur.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

May's Bulbasaur

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Electrike

Pikachu (Ash's)
Meowth (Team Rocket)
Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
Torchic (May's)
Skitty (May's)
Bulbasaur (May's; new)
Poochyena (Old Man Obee's; ×3)
Venusaur (King of the Forbidden Forest)
Oddish (multiple)
Gloom (multiple)
Vileplume (multiple)
Weepinbell (multiple)
Hoppip (multiple)
Skiploom (multiple)
Jumpluff (multiple)
Sunkern (multiple)
Sunflora (multiple)
Skarmory

Trivia

Advance Adventure is used as background music.
The title is based on the phrase "Mass hysteria".
This episode is featured on the Volume 1: Grass copy of Pokémon Elements.
This episode is the first to use the new 4Kids Entertainment logo, replacing the previous logo since Princess vs. Princess in the first season. Originally, the logo had "Entertainment" on the bottom of the logo. However, the last episode of season 7 and the following season replaces this variant with the "TV" variant of the logo.^[1]
When the robot gets out of hand, Meowth shouts "James! Stop this crazy thing!", a reference to George's famous catchprase in The Jetsons. The same reference happened in an earlier episode.
This episode marks the first time that a:
- Main character besides Ash has obtained a Grass-type first partner Pokémon.
- Female main character has obtained a Grass-type first partner Pokémon.
- Grass-type first partner Pokémon was obtained or caught outside its native region.

Errors

Dub edits

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Question: Trainers, which one of these Pokémon evolves into Manectric?
Choices: Electrike, Mantine, Electrode
Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Electrike, you were right!

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		禁忌森林的國王，妙蛙花！
Danish		Et Pokémon paradis!
Dutch		Gedonder met Gras Pokemon
Finnish		Ruohohysteria!
European French		Le territoire interdit
German		Betreten verboten!
Hebrew		היער האסורhaya'ar ha'asur
Hindi		ग्रास पोकेमोन की कहानी Grass Pokémon ki Kahani *
Italian		Terra proibita
Korean		금단숲의 지배자, 이상해꽃
Norwegian		Gresshysteri
Portuguese	Brazil	Histeria das Plantas!
Portuguese	Portugal	Histeria de Erva!
Russian		Лесной переполох
Spanish	Latin America	¡Histeria de hierba!
Spanish	Spain	La furia de los Pokémon planta
Swedish		Gräsligt! *