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What are your favorite episodes of the Pokémon anime?
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marshiyanmisuta
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There is many, but I think Malice in Wonderland is the top episode on my list.
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That episode felt like I was on drugs.
AgedVeteranofShow
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My Top 10 Favorite Pokemon Episodes/Best of All Time:
1. EP001: "Pokemon, I Choose You"- What can I say, ladies and gentlemen? It's a classic, introduces us to this character we all grew to know and love at one point or another. Ash was in fact, my very first Anime hero as a young boy, never thought over 20+ years later he'd still be a 10 year old kid going on journeys but at the time we never knew the Anime was going to go the way of pretty much an advertisement as it went on. Favorite parts are still Ash running away from the Spearow on his bike, while running away taking Misty's bike to rescue it and save it from harm, and when Ash stood in front of the Spearow to protect Pikachu. Iconic episode, folks, iconic moments.
2. EP039: "Pikachu's Goodbye"- Really memorable, iconic episode, Ash releasing Pikachu is unheard of these days but back then it really seemed like he was going to do it and he chose not to. The Pikachu in the wild, all of that, it's just a really nice and pleasant episode: also I loved to hear so much of the Japanese music was kept in the dub, and it has some of the best scores Miyazaki ever composed too, IMO.
3. EP105: "Charizard Chills"- Everything about it was wonderful, IMO, Ash had struggled up until this point to get Charizard to listen to him but it took a near-death experience to finally get it to wise up about him. I loved when Ash stayed up all night with Misty & Tracey just to take care of it, just such a sweet, nice episode looking back.
4. EP112: "Enter the Dragonite"- Ash's first legitimate win, the Orange League, for that alone it makes the list but the battle vs Drake was really good, especially since OS is not known to feature the best battle episodes but this one stands out. And Ash uses his brain throughout the match, was shockingly good to watch all these years later.
5. EP273: "Gotta Catch Ya Later"- The parting of the original main trio of Ash, Brock, and Misty: it's really more memorable for Misty's departure from the franchise because "we gotta have our eyecandy herp derp" apparently is what Hidaka claimed in an interview back then supposedly, but I think it was beautifully handled and I especially get teary-eyed and think fondly of when Ash gets all the cutlery from Brock & Misty before he leaves them pre-setting off to Hoenn on his own for the first time. I know it's cheesy as hell, but when he gets out of the hole and says "I always have my friends with me" with the cutlery it just...struck all the right chords, cheesy in a good way, so much heart and love there. And we got to see our true first signs of Ash maturing as a character here, too, Independence forming.
6. AG108: "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snowrunt" ("Let It Snow" jingle reference)- Not sure why, but this capture episode is super nice in hindsight. Ash's Snowrunt was mischievous as hell before becoming a Glalie, and I find it hilarious, but its attitude changed completely when it learned it was responsible for such a mess and Ash catching it was a real highlight of the episode by the end. Even Team Rocket was pretty funny in this one, tbh.
7. AG109: "Do I Hear a Ralts"- The best episode with Max in it, period, actually highlighting his not swarmy side and his kind side. When he raced Ralts to the Pokemon Center, even the insert song in both the dub and Japanese Version (both are beautiful, imo, corny sure but beautiful nonetheless) and he did it all on his own too. And Team Rocket was a lot more intimidating than usual, too, shades of their former selves in this episode instead of the flanderized versions of themselves as time passed here.
8. AG145: "Pasta La Vista" (pun on Hasta La Vista) - The final episode of the original English dub of the Pokemon Series in the Anime, and why I love it is despite the fairly filler nature of it, it was actually a really nice way to see the fighting dojo we had never seen in the Anime up to that point. Also really cool to see Ash and May fight in the episode with Fighting Type Pokemon, pretty funny subplot with the COTD's here. Kyle Hamm deciding to go and follow in his father's footsteps to do noodle/ramen business work, was a decent ending. And for 4Kids, who was infamous for being a censor happy company that just loved to Americanize stuff, fact they kept in all the noodle references and didn't do any shoddy paint edits or shy away from not excluding Japanese culture in this episode was shockingly nice here.
9. AG192: "Home is Where The Start Is" (Reference to "Home is Where The Heart Is")- A beautiful ending to this Series, despite being marred by the dub change unfortunately in English (ironically, Gary's VA got to keep his OG dub voice of all people, because JCC!) but Ash had just won the Battle Frontier challenge and yet Gary defeating him again just like Rivalry Revival in Orange Islands sparks his interest in heading off to Sinnoh, like it did for Ash heading to Johto (nostalgic throwback). It was nice to see Delia & Tracey, too, when Delia put the Frontier symbols in his room too and sewed up his clothes was just so...aw, man, it was a nice way to end things here.
10. SM139: "Enter the Champion!"- Ash's third victory, and his first Regional canon one if you want to debate the former, at last he finally achieved a win after so many defeats. The episode really encompasses the theme of never giving up no matter how much you get knocked down- my only real gripe here is I think Ash vs Kukui wasn't nearly a good a battle as many others from OS-XY tbh, but still a memorable episode.
Honorable mentions:
EP010 (Love it)
EP011 (Also love it, best of the Kanto starter captures, "And when its tail flame goes out, it'll DIE" was dark as heck for this show tbh.)
EP012 (Love it, too, Ash hugging Squirtle gives all the feels)
EP021 (Ash's first Pokemon he ever raised, releasing it, just the feels here are so sweet and sad)
EP028 (Great ep for Brock)
EP048 (James is funny as hell in this one, and it's just a nice ep with Growlithe)
EP080 (Comes after one of the worst eps in the franchise for me, ironically, heh)
EP096 (Meowth is great in this one)
EP109 (Good ep for Tracey)
EP110 (Yes, TR is garbage here, but I love Misty in this one)
EP113 (Ash releasing Lapras just...oh my god, the feels)
EP115-116 (Great way to close out the Orange Islands saga, Ash's rivalry with Gary is reborn)
EP126 (Shocking a Johto ep makes my list, but Ash is fantastic in this one, really shows how much he grew since early OS)
EP129 (I love Jessie here, everything about this ep, probably 11 for me if it qualified)
EP150 (Another great Ash ep)
EP157 (We all know why, "I'm a flaming Moltres" freaking LMAO)
EP270 (Fantastic Ash vs Gary battle)
AG025 (Brock was great here)
AG044-AG045 (Super good eps for Misty)
AG064 (Best ep with May, IMO)
AG110 (Ash vs Juan, loved it)
AG136 (Charizard vs Articuno, heck yeah)
AG190 (Nice Frontier Brain battle)
DP052 (Nice tag battle ep)
DP131 (Big Ash vs Paul battle)
DP187 (End of Ash vs Paul conflict)
BW120 (It's shockingly good for a BW ep, N and Ash had good chemistry)
XY063 (Pretty decent episode)
SM138 (Nice battle)
Shockingly, nothing from JN, nothing stood out!
1. EP001: "Pokemon, I Choose You"- What can I say, ladies and gentlemen? It's a classic, introduces us to this character we all grew to know and love at one point or another. Ash was in fact, my very first Anime hero as a young boy, never thought over 20+ years later he'd still be a 10 year old kid going on journeys but at the time we never knew the Anime was going to go the way of pretty much an advertisement as it went on. Favorite parts are still Ash running away from the Spearow on his bike, while running away taking Misty's bike to rescue it and save it from harm, and when Ash stood in front of the Spearow to protect Pikachu. Iconic episode, folks, iconic moments.
2. EP039: "Pikachu's Goodbye"- Really memorable, iconic episode, Ash releasing Pikachu is unheard of these days but back then it really seemed like he was going to do it and he chose not to. The Pikachu in the wild, all of that, it's just a really nice and pleasant episode: also I loved to hear so much of the Japanese music was kept in the dub, and it has some of the best scores Miyazaki ever composed too, IMO.
3. EP105: "Charizard Chills"- Everything about it was wonderful, IMO, Ash had struggled up until this point to get Charizard to listen to him but it took a near-death experience to finally get it to wise up about him. I loved when Ash stayed up all night with Misty & Tracey just to take care of it, just such a sweet, nice episode looking back.
4. EP112: "Enter the Dragonite"- Ash's first legitimate win, the Orange League, for that alone it makes the list but the battle vs Drake was really good, especially since OS is not known to feature the best battle episodes but this one stands out. And Ash uses his brain throughout the match, was shockingly good to watch all these years later.
5. EP273: "Gotta Catch Ya Later"- The parting of the original main trio of Ash, Brock, and Misty: it's really more memorable for Misty's departure from the franchise because "we gotta have our eyecandy herp derp" apparently is what Hidaka claimed in an interview back then supposedly, but I think it was beautifully handled and I especially get teary-eyed and think fondly of when Ash gets all the cutlery from Brock & Misty before he leaves them pre-setting off to Hoenn on his own for the first time. I know it's cheesy as hell, but when he gets out of the hole and says "I always have my friends with me" with the cutlery it just...struck all the right chords, cheesy in a good way, so much heart and love there. And we got to see our true first signs of Ash maturing as a character here, too, Independence forming.
6. AG108: "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snowrunt" ("Let It Snow" jingle reference)- Not sure why, but this capture episode is super nice in hindsight. Ash's Snowrunt was mischievous as hell before becoming a Glalie, and I find it hilarious, but its attitude changed completely when it learned it was responsible for such a mess and Ash catching it was a real highlight of the episode by the end. Even Team Rocket was pretty funny in this one, tbh.
7. AG109: "Do I Hear a Ralts"- The best episode with Max in it, period, actually highlighting his not swarmy side and his kind side. When he raced Ralts to the Pokemon Center, even the insert song in both the dub and Japanese Version (both are beautiful, imo, corny sure but beautiful nonetheless) and he did it all on his own too. And Team Rocket was a lot more intimidating than usual, too, shades of their former selves in this episode instead of the flanderized versions of themselves as time passed here.
8. AG145: "Pasta La Vista" (pun on Hasta La Vista) - The final episode of the original English dub of the Pokemon Series in the Anime, and why I love it is despite the fairly filler nature of it, it was actually a really nice way to see the fighting dojo we had never seen in the Anime up to that point. Also really cool to see Ash and May fight in the episode with Fighting Type Pokemon, pretty funny subplot with the COTD's here. Kyle Hamm deciding to go and follow in his father's footsteps to do noodle/ramen business work, was a decent ending. And for 4Kids, who was infamous for being a censor happy company that just loved to Americanize stuff, fact they kept in all the noodle references and didn't do any shoddy paint edits or shy away from not excluding Japanese culture in this episode was shockingly nice here.
9. AG192: "Home is Where The Start Is" (Reference to "Home is Where The Heart Is")- A beautiful ending to this Series, despite being marred by the dub change unfortunately in English (ironically, Gary's VA got to keep his OG dub voice of all people, because JCC!) but Ash had just won the Battle Frontier challenge and yet Gary defeating him again just like Rivalry Revival in Orange Islands sparks his interest in heading off to Sinnoh, like it did for Ash heading to Johto (nostalgic throwback). It was nice to see Delia & Tracey, too, when Delia put the Frontier symbols in his room too and sewed up his clothes was just so...aw, man, it was a nice way to end things here.
10. SM139: "Enter the Champion!"- Ash's third victory, and his first Regional canon one if you want to debate the former, at last he finally achieved a win after so many defeats. The episode really encompasses the theme of never giving up no matter how much you get knocked down- my only real gripe here is I think Ash vs Kukui wasn't nearly a good a battle as many others from OS-XY tbh, but still a memorable episode.
Honorable mentions:
EP010 (Love it)
EP011 (Also love it, best of the Kanto starter captures, "And when its tail flame goes out, it'll DIE" was dark as heck for this show tbh.)
EP012 (Love it, too, Ash hugging Squirtle gives all the feels)
EP021 (Ash's first Pokemon he ever raised, releasing it, just the feels here are so sweet and sad)
EP028 (Great ep for Brock)
EP048 (James is funny as hell in this one, and it's just a nice ep with Growlithe)
EP080 (Comes after one of the worst eps in the franchise for me, ironically, heh)
EP096 (Meowth is great in this one)
EP109 (Good ep for Tracey)
EP110 (Yes, TR is garbage here, but I love Misty in this one)
EP113 (Ash releasing Lapras just...oh my god, the feels)
EP115-116 (Great way to close out the Orange Islands saga, Ash's rivalry with Gary is reborn)
EP126 (Shocking a Johto ep makes my list, but Ash is fantastic in this one, really shows how much he grew since early OS)
EP129 (I love Jessie here, everything about this ep, probably 11 for me if it qualified)
EP150 (Another great Ash ep)
EP157 (We all know why, "I'm a flaming Moltres" freaking LMAO)
EP270 (Fantastic Ash vs Gary battle)
AG025 (Brock was great here)
AG044-AG045 (Super good eps for Misty)
AG064 (Best ep with May, IMO)
AG110 (Ash vs Juan, loved it)
AG136 (Charizard vs Articuno, heck yeah)
AG190 (Nice Frontier Brain battle)
DP052 (Nice tag battle ep)
DP131 (Big Ash vs Paul battle)
DP187 (End of Ash vs Paul conflict)
BW120 (It's shockingly good for a BW ep, N and Ash had good chemistry)
XY063 (Pretty decent episode)
SM138 (Nice battle)
Shockingly, nothing from JN, nothing stood out!
Last edited:
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*Pokémon, I choose you! Iconic for a reason.
*The SS/St Anne Trilogy: Great trio that made an incredibly memorably miniarc out of a setpiece from the games.
*Holy Matrimony: Great TR episode, good shipping episode.
*Go West Young Meowth: Tragic. Also at times oddly hilarious.
*Bound for Trouble: Candidate for the cutest episode in the series. Unusually persistent as Meowth and Pikachu get along better when paired together later on,good shipping episode.
*The "Drake" duology: Ash's first full battle, and they hit it out of the park. A great denouement to the gen 1 storyline.
*That's Just Swellow--Tailow evolves and undergoes apotheosis. Also a quite good James episode.
*Claydol, Big and Tall--an absolutely madhouse episode. Amazing.
*A Frenzied Factory Fiasco--Tom and Jerry in Pokémon worked out much better than it should have.
[I know it really skews early]
*The SS/St Anne Trilogy: Great trio that made an incredibly memorably miniarc out of a setpiece from the games.
*Holy Matrimony: Great TR episode, good shipping episode.
*Go West Young Meowth: Tragic. Also at times oddly hilarious.
*Bound for Trouble: Candidate for the cutest episode in the series. Unusually persistent as Meowth and Pikachu get along better when paired together later on,
*The "Drake" duology: Ash's first full battle, and they hit it out of the park. A great denouement to the gen 1 storyline.
*That's Just Swellow--Tailow evolves and undergoes apotheosis. Also a quite good James episode.
*Claydol, Big and Tall--an absolutely madhouse episode. Amazing.
*A Frenzied Factory Fiasco--Tom and Jerry in Pokémon worked out much better than it should have.
[I know it really skews early]
Last edited:
ii kanji
A chair for baby bear
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Well it’s inevitable with so little Krazyshipping in latter days eh?
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I think for me it's mostly linked to a combination of seeing far fewer latter era episodes and the growing feeling that any episode that felt like it had meaningful growth would just be overwritten next series anyway.Well it’s inevitable with so little Krazyshipping in latter days eh?
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Here is my list of top 5 favorite episodes. These aren't necessarily my most replayed episodes - more so ones that left a certain impression on me:
Abra and the Psychic Showdown
Battling the Enemy Within
Hocus Pokémon
Pokémon Scent-sation!
Camping It Up!
Some honorable mentions I won't go into too much detail with: Pokémon-I Choose You! (the one that started it all); Charmander-The Stray Pokémon (heartrending); Here Comes the Squirtle Squad (Squirtle Squad ftw); Pikachu's Goodbye (all of the tears); Bye Bye Butterfree (yet more tears); Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden (magical); Holy Matrimony! (James-centric goodness); Go West Young Meowth (Meowth's backstory); The Ghost of Maiden's Peak (bizarre, in a good way); Gaining Groudon (Pikachu gets possessed); Malice in Wonderland (a trip from start to finish); Pika and Goliath! (has my most watched battle, nice homage to the first Pikachu vs Raichu battle); A Crasher Course in Power! (favorite gym battle); Top-Down Training (Cynthia and her Garchomp are awesome)
Abra and the Psychic Showdown
Battling the Enemy Within
Hoo boy. I used to be absolutely obsessed with this episode as an edgy middle schooler. Watched it over and over again on YouTube. Remember AMVs? Yeah, I watched a bunch of those featuring Evil!Ash / the King of Pokélantis back then too. I guess I still haven't grown out of my "good guys turned evil" phase seeing as I'm placing it high on this list. I just love that trope, OK?
Hocus Pokémon
Pokémon Scent-sation!
The OG "Ash cross-dresses" episode. Sets the stage for all future Ash cross-dressing episodes that happen every generation (afaik, idk about Journeys). It's one of the most consistent things about the anime, honestly. Gives me an odd sense of comfort whenever I hear one of these types of episodes has come out ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ Oh and the reason I chose this episode rather than any of the others is because this Ashley is my favorite.
Camping It Up!
This and the rest of the episodes from the DP Pokémon Summer Academy arc make for a fun excursion on the side. Some of my favorite things: Loved Ash and Angie's chemistry I ship them tbh, especially when they got in trouble with the teacher and were held up by their collars like a pair of kittens; We get to see more of Professor Rowan - he's underrated imo; Every scene with Conway in it (I go wild whenever he's on screen); Raichu being adorable; Team Rocket (especially James) were excellent as per usual. Another memorable thing was when screenshots of Ash with his borrowed Raichu were revealed prior to the episode airing, people went crazy thinking Ash's Pikachu had evolved finally.
Some honorable mentions I won't go into too much detail with: Pokémon-I Choose You! (the one that started it all); Charmander-The Stray Pokémon (heartrending); Here Comes the Squirtle Squad (Squirtle Squad ftw); Pikachu's Goodbye (all of the tears); Bye Bye Butterfree (yet more tears); Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden (magical); Holy Matrimony! (James-centric goodness); Go West Young Meowth (Meowth's backstory); The Ghost of Maiden's Peak (bizarre, in a good way); Gaining Groudon (Pikachu gets possessed); Malice in Wonderland (a trip from start to finish); Pika and Goliath! (has my most watched battle, nice homage to the first Pikachu vs Raichu battle); A Crasher Course in Power! (favorite gym battle); Top-Down Training (Cynthia and her Garchomp are awesome)
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Your first two entries scream edgy lol
KillerFrost
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That one where they meet a complete stranger, assist him or her with their issue, and afterwards become lifelong friends. They bid them farewell and never see them again.
Nah, just kidding. I particularly enjoy the episode when Brock helps a lady who is having trouble training her Miltank and she starts to have feelings for him. For once, it's good to see someone attracted to Brock rather than the other way around.
Nah, just kidding. I particularly enjoy the episode when Brock helps a lady who is having trouble training her Miltank and she starts to have feelings for him. For once, it's good to see someone attracted to Brock rather than the other way around.
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