• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Review XY079: Fierce Battle in the Monster Ball Factory! Pikachu VS Nyarth!!

Playerking

Not-well known member.
Joined
Oct 30, 2010
Messages
4,441
Reaction score
1,521
XY079 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Discuss the episode here.

Here's my summary of the episode.

The episode starts with Ash and co. arriving at the Poke Ball Factory.

Clemont cries soon after he sees it.

Team Rocket appear in front of Ash and co. in disguise.

They are disguised as tour guides of the Poke Ball Factory.

Meowth is standing on top of Jessie's Wobbuffet.

They promise to take Ash and co. on a tour inside the Poke Ball Factory.

Team Rocket appear in the title card.

Ash and co. are in a room watching Poke Ball's being created inside the factory.

Team Rocket suggest to Ash and co. that they should give them their Poke Ball's.

They tell that they should do this so that they can perform a maintenance check on them.

Ash and co. hand over their Poke Ball's and Pikachu is put into a glass case that isn't much bigger than he is.

Ash and co. continue to follow Team Rocket on the tour.

Ash and co. walk into a room, before Team Rocket closes the door to the room after they enter.

Team Rocket take off their disguises and then say their motto.

Ash is angry that Team Rocket has stolen their Pokemon.

Meowth is happy that they have stolen Pikachu, but then Pikachu escapes its glass case.

Jessie and James get angry at Meowth.

Meowth tries recalling Pikachu to its Poke Ball.

Pikachu goes to use Thunderbolt on Team Rocket, but Wobbuffet counters it with Mirror Coat.

Jessie sends out her Pumpkaboo and James sends out his Inkay.

They try and use their attacks to attack Pikachu with.

A cloud of smoke appears where Pikachu is, so Meowth tries again to recall Pikahcu.

Pikachu appears to have gone back inside its Poke Ball.

Team Rocket are happy, so they leave and start going to the Poke Ball assembly room.

There they steal a lot of different types of Poke Ball's.

Ash and co. are still trapped in the room and then they hear Pikachu's voice.

Soon afterwards, they see that Pikachu is in front of the room.

Pikachu explains to them that when the cloud of smoke surrounded him, he escaped into a nearby vent.

Team Rocket then walk back, to near where Ash and co. are.

They see Pikachu standing in front of the room that Ash and co. are trapped in.

They get shocked to see Pikachu free.

They then try to get Pikachu again.

James sends out his Inkay again.

Pikachu goes back into the vent that it hid in before and Inkay follows him.

Pikachu and Inkay fight inside the air vent.

Pikachu then manages to escape through a connecting air vent, by crashing through its cover.

He then comes to near where Meowth is and the two start fighting.

While this happens, Meowth is still trying to bring Pikachu back into its Poke Ball.

Pokemon Quiz: Meowth.

Ash is tired of trying to break the door down.

Pikachu and Meowth go with some unpainted Poke Ball's and are both shaped into Poke Ball's.

They go back to their normal shapes and then some robotic claws pick them up.

Pikachu gets sprayed like a Nest Ball and Meowth laughs at Pikachu.

Meowth then gets sprayed like a Safarii Ball and Pikachu then laughs at Meowth.

Jessie, James and Wobbuffet have now seen Pikachu and Meowth.

Pikachu then gets spayed like a Repeat Ball and Meowth gets sprayed like a Heal Ball.

They then get the paint that they is sprayed on them cleaned off and they fall down a hole/chute.

Clemont laughs as he has now come up with an idea.

Clemont reveals a new invention of his.

Ash and co. manage to escape from their room.

Meowth is still chasing Pikachu through the Poke Ball Factory, trying to recall him back into his Poke Ball.

Pikachu gets Meowth captured in a Luxury Ball, but Meowth quickly gets back out of it.

Team Rocket hop into a truck and they use the truck to escape the factory.

They have escaped the factory and so have Ash and co.

Pikachu and Meowth are now on top of the truck, or some wall and are about to fight eachother.

Pikachu jumps in the air and starts flying towards Meowth.

Meowth shoots the Poke Ball beam which returns Pikachu to its Poke Ball, but Pikachu dodges the beam.

Pikachu uses Iron Tail or some other attack on Meowth and Meowth uses Fury Swipes on Pikachu.

The attacks hit eachother and Pikachu seems to be a bit hurt by Meowth's attack.

Although, Meowth faints from Pikachu's attack.

One of the giant Poke Ball statues outside the Poke Ball Factory falls down and crashes into Team Rocket.

Team Rocket blast off.

Ash and co. get all of their Poke Ball's and then send all of their Pokemon out, to see if they are all alright.

All of their Pokemon are alright.

Ash and co. then meet the real people who work at the factory.

The sun starts to set as the episode ends.

To be continued.
 
For me this episode was a full 10/10. It was one of those episodes which one would watch for the comedy present in the Anime. One particular moment in the episode was all above all the stuff, when Pikachu says it's Signature Line after Ash catches a Pokemon, i.e, Pi-Pikachu, which he says in the episode when he throws a Luxury Ball on Meowth, that was the Best Moment of the Episode, IMO.
 
Initially I was worried thinking it was going over the same ground as the dozen other episodes where Ash has given all his Pokemon to Team Rocket - but by throwing Pikachu's ball into the mix it resulted in the episode being really good.

Minor complaint first - how hard is putting the little lightning bolt on the ball? Seems like every second time we see Pikachu's ball it is missing.

Slightly more major complaint - why is it always Ash pushing himself to the limit to break out of traps while everyone else just stays back? Even Bonnie could be going around the room looking for ways out that only she could fit in, yet we consistently just get Ash being the one trying. I know that's his thing - but they could at least show they are trying to help - because the lack of that makes it look like they don't care all that much.

Anyway, over to being positive...

That scene on the factory floor was really great - the Pokeballs all make really good Pikachu colour schemes. Though the best thing had to be Pikachu's little 'Pi-pikachu' capture celebration after half catching Meowth.

Being able to escape capture so many times was really nice as well - Team Rocket thinking they'd recalled Pikachu is probably the first time in a while I genuinely fell for something like that, it really did look like he'd been caught and Ash's reaction was really strong. Matched by Team Rocket's realisation about having the empty ball.

So yeah, certainly really enjoyed how this episode unfolded. Shame we didn't get to see a proper tour of the Pokeball factory - I'd have found that really interesting if they explained the production process and how the balls differ in anime theory - different programming code?
 
This episode is horrendous, seeing Team Rocket's hideous face makes me want to puke.

When I read the summary I Playerking wrote I thought it would be fun, but now I can just say its a piece of crap for me, just me mind you.

Here are a few problems with this episode.

1. Ash is the only one trying to escape despite all of them got their Pokemon taken away.

2. Pikachu knowing Pokeballs work on Meowth only used the trick once almost made me think he is stupid. And he did not snatch away his Pokeball when Meowth is absorbed into the Luxury Ball, this makes me question if he is dumb.

3. Team Rocket is too evil in this episode for me to feel any comfortable, and they have been thus far in XY, it's making me more and more intolerable for them. They are getting way too cruel towards Pokemons, this is shit. I really thought they love Pokemons. This is just getting shittier and shittier since BW. For moreexample that I can't tolerate with them, take a look at the Team Rocket in XY discussion thread.

4. Meowth's face and voice make me so uncomfortable, he cant't even stop muttering for a second, I almost thought I am watching Home Alone. Now excuse me I want to go to the bathroom, feel like vomiting.
 
Minor complaint first - how hard is putting the little lightning bolt on the ball? Seems like every second time we see Pikachu's ball it is missing.

I wish people would stop complaining about that. This is literally the only time we've ever seen it...



It didn't even reappear later in the same episode, so it isn't a mistake.

Anyway, moving onto the episode itself, this is definitely earning an A+ for comedy. Plenty of good funny moments, plus it helped that it was a pretty exciting story to boot.
 
Would it have killed them to write the episode, where Ash had at least one other Pokemon just so we could see Pikachu being recalled and seeing its reaction being in the Poke ball after so long of never being in it.

I feel like I can't thoroughly enjoy the episode, because Pikachu wasn't recalled to its Poke ball.

Plus why didn't Chespin release itself, speaking of which why didn't Oshawott release itself in the Subway train episode in Best Wishes. Those inconsistencies makes it hard for me to enjoy the episodes as well.
 
Eh. This was ok, I guess.

First of all these have to be some of TR's fugliest disguises yet. Meowth in particular looked atrocious. Anyway, I love how Ash and co. just casually give their Pokeballs to random strangers:/ Though I never expected to see Dedenne to go back into it's Pokeball, so I guess that's interesting. And then Ash didn't find it the slightest bit odd that they had to put Pikachu in that case rather than just carrying him. And with that, I love how TR's trap was electric proof, yet easily breakable upon hitting the floor.

I will admit that Mewoth trying to recall Pikachu to his Pokeball and basically using it as a weapon was interesting. Though in theory, Pikachu could probably just break out of it on his own anyway, so overall it seems pretty pointless. And man, would it have killed Pikachu to use Quick Attack on those conveyor belts to get away and dodge quicker? That would have been better than just jumping around at regular speed. I did lol when he smashed Meowth backwards with that Iron Tail though:) I love how Pikachu's Ball was sprayed into a Heal Ball. Kinda wish it would have stayed that way:) I like how we got another invention from Clemont. And well, it did technically open the door:p

Pikachu turning the tables on Mewoth and trapping him a Luxury Ball was cool, but I kinda wish he would have gone to grab his own before Meowth got out so he couldn't use it against him anymore. I did like how Meowth came out in a happy mood to reflect the ball's effect though. I never would have expected Meowth to challenge Pikachu to a 1-on-1 fight, and I suppose I should have known he'd cheat. Well, whatever. He lost as expected. And TR blasting off due to a ball rolling on them was probably the best part of this episode.

Ok, so here's the part that kinda bothered me. Ash and co. stop TR and save the workers they captured, but get nothing in return. Those workers couldn't have given them some special Pokeballs for their troubles? I think that certainly would have been fitting and interesting, especially since the main characters haven't used any special balls since the apricorn balls in Johto. That pretty much ruined the ending for me.

Overall, this episode was just average imo. Not horrendous, but not really good either. Honestly, it was pretty much just a chase scene from Meowth and Pikachu for the most of the episode. Eh, 6/10.
 
This was an average episode for me. It may sound weird but I liked the short battle between Pikachu and Inkay best (although I got the feeling the writers forgot poor Inkay in there.)

TR trying to recall Pikachu to it's Pokeball was interesting, I wonder why they haven't thought of that before (and why Pikachus Pokeball is rarely mentioned in the anime). But then again, they couldn't force it to stay in it anyway. I guess you shouldn't think about logic in this episode in general. I mean Pikachu could have knocked out Meowth with a single thunderbolt, instead of just running away all the time. But I liked Meowth getting more and more annoyed with every minute - they should have carried that idea with Pikachu trying to capture him in a Pokeball further.

6/10 for me
 
This is one of the best episodes I've seen for a while in my opinion. I love how useful the animation can be, because it gives us this visual slapstick, reminding us that this is still an anime and not a modern-day-western-cartoon-wannabe when it comes to comedy. The story differs a lot from a standard "filler" episode and Team Rocket manages to be as entertaining as they can be, with a completely new scheme but in a classical "Meowth vs. Pikachu" episode.

I don't really understand some of the complaints here. For starters, seems like you guys forget that Clemont was building his machine so they could escape, so it's not like Ash is the only one trying to do something about it. It also seems pretty in-character for Serena to just stay there with a worried look without jumping into action. Perhaps Bonnie would have tried to find a way to get out, but that's pretty much the only thing that could be considered out of place.

Also, I'm pretty sure the Pokémon couldn't get out of their Poké Balls by themselves in this situation, because their Poké Balls were in an enclosed space. So if you put a Pokémon inside a Poké Ball, then lock the Poké Ball inside a briefcase that's smaller than the Pokémon, how would the Pokémon release itself? The energy beam will move around inside the case and get out through its keyhole or what? It doesn't seem a likely scenario to me...
 
Last edited:
It's such a shame that we had to wait more than eighteen years for a Great Ball and an Ultra Ball to appear in the anime. You'd think that these balls would have appeared much earlier, but no.
 
So much negativity for what was perhaps one of the best "Filler" episodes in XY for a while. Also to People complaining about the lightning bolt sticker on Pikachu's PokeBall, you need to stop. It was only literally seen on the ball in that one scene of episode 1. It was NEVER seen again.

A fun-filled, Tom & Jerry inspired episode that had me chuckling several times throughout. 10/1/0
 
For me this was the hat-trick perfect episode after last week's two. It was great to see Nyasu star in the presence of Musashi and Kojiro when they usually get rid of them if they want Nyasu to shine. Animation top notch as expected from Iwane. Pikachu yet again proved that he is the franchise's main character for a reason and could carry the show on his own if need be!
 
Also, I'm pretty sure the Pokémon couldn't get out of their Poké Balls by themselves in this situation, because their Poké Balls were in an enclosed space. So if you put a Pokémon inside a Poké Ball, then lock the Poké Ball inside a briefcase that's smaller than the Pokémon, how would the Pokémon release itself? The energy beam will move around inside the case and get out through its keyhole or what? It doesn't seem a likely scenario to me...

I misremembered, I thought when Team Rocket revealed themselves that Chespin could've released themselves, I forgot they already closed the case.
 
Pikachu turning the tables on Mewoth and trapping him a Luxury Ball was cool, but I kinda wish he would have gone to grab his own before Meowth got out so he couldn't use it against him anymore. I did like how Meowth came out in a happy mood to reflect the ball's effect though.

If you ask me, the reason why Pikachu didn't grab his own Poke Ball while Meowth was trapped inside the Luxury Ball (which I think is the best part of the episode) is because he risks accidently zapping himself inside anyway (it's his Poke Ball, after all). Why risk it?
 
The only thing that annoyed me from this episode is how Ash and co. didn't receive special pokeballs in return for rescuing the workers.

Such a missed opportunity.
 
True, but unless I'm totally off, I think the workers said they'd give them a real tour as thanks.
 
Please note: The thread is from 9 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom