Your favourite episode of all time and why.

[lordfridge]

Mine's Training Daze.

Team Rocket were always favourites of mine, so a whole episode dedicated to how they became the terrible trio we all know and love was such a treat.
Also, it has the Team Rocket's Rockin' song in it so, like, instant win.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Mine is Malice in Wonderland.

Interesting concept, a plot unusual for this show, character development, funny scenes and lines, decent animation by Kinoshita standards, etc.

 

[Rockapheller]

Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden for me.

It is the best episode that shows the mysterious and magical world of Pokémon in an unusual way that just can't be compared to the real world or real world animals. The content is interesting enough to be a 80-page children's book. The setting with the old-fashion (aka hand-drawn) art style depicts the depth of the scene perfectly fine.

 

[Gligarman]

Hmm. This might require more than one post. For now I'll go by series.

Kanto:
Mystery at the Lighthouse is definitely my favorite episode from Kanto. I remember being so fascinated by the tone and the aura of mystery. I mean sure, almost everything that was established was later retconed but at the time this episode was pretty mind blowing to me. At the time I didn't know what Dragonite was so that only added to it. It's also the ONLY episode where I thought the dub music worked well to capture the tone. But naturally Shinji Miyazaki's score wins out as this episode introduced one of my favorite cues! It plays when Dragonite first appears. Another noteworthy observation: This was the first time Team Rocket's actions were so deplorable that James even questioned their actions.

I also have to give a shout out to The Pi-Kahuna. This is a VERY close second as I loved the idea of an aged Pikachu. Clearly I'm not alone either given that it was the inspiration for Alolan Raichu. Plus it's just a great feel-good episode overall. I'm sure I'll think of more later on but these two are the tops for me!

 

[P_S_B]

Originally it was To Master The Onixpected because I liked the whole giant Onix thing. After that it was The Wayward Wobbuffet for being just so darn hilarious. Nowadays though it's In Tapu-Fini's Mist for being such a heartfelt and powerful episode.

 

[Silktree]

Snow Way Out comes first for perfectly encapsulating Ash's relationship with all of his Pokemon rather than one at a time. Next one would have to be Gotta Catch Ya Later for illustrating the same thing for his original companions, and even Gary gets nice closure (sadly, Ash's Pokemon don't). Third place goes to Go West, Young Meowth for giving a backstory to the show's most unique character, not to mention depicting Jessie and James as real friends.

Strong contenders: I Choose You and Charmander - The Stray Pokemon.

 

[Diamond & Pearl]

An episode that has always stayed with me is 'Crossing Paths'. I felt very distraught when Jessie literally stomped on her Dustox's Pokéball so that staying with her wouldn't be an option anymore. It was nice to witness Jessie's actual personality, which is a very sweet one (she just acts toughly all the time) to the fullest.

'Twice Smitten, Once Shy' (the episode in which Dawn caught Pachirisu), 'Mutiny in the Bounty' (Hunter J's debut), 'Once There Were Greenfields' (James's Cacnea being entrusted to Gardenia) and 'Pika and Goliath' (the episode in which Pikachu lost after Raichu's close-range Hyper Beam, which could've resulted in Pikachu's end had Ash not rushed to Nurse Joy) are also among my favourites.

EDIT: How could I forget 'For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll' and 'Do I Hear a Ralts'?

 

[lordfridge]

I remember Pika and Goliath clear as day, mostly because seeing Pikachu clinically dead for those few moments nearly had me bawling as a kid.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I remember Pika and Goliath clear as day, mostly because seeing Pikachu clinically dead for those few moments nearly had me bawling as a kid.

I hated that episode for ruining the portrayal of my favourite Pokemon.

 

[BigDocFan]

Pikachu Revolts for me, a nice dark story involving the serious duo of Cassidy and Butch, they were their darkest that episode and the animation was top notch

 

[Almonds]

The Orange League finals.

Nothing is more satisfying than seeing Ash win a major tournament (even if it is anime only) AND beat a Dragonite.

 

[DarkraiKnight]

My favorite episodes would have to be “Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 1)” and “Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 2).” Easily my favorite battle in the entire show thus far.

 

[Silktree]

My favorite episodes would have to be “Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 1)” and “Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 2).” Easily my favorite battle in the entire show thus far.

I find that interesting considering it was a 6vs3 battle. I've never watched it myself, but there were a lot of complaints.

 

[ii kanji]

There are many, many contenders but for whatever reason the episode I always want to rewatch is Ghost Pokémon and the Summer Festival/The Ghost of Maiden's Peak. It's the quintessential Kanto episode I suppose and showcased a potentially unremarkable Pokemon in a way which was funny, memorable and genuinely a bit creepy. Plus points for Musashi's feminist tirade long before it was cool.

The Girls' Day episode is my second by a microscopic measure.

 

[PokeAmour]

I would say for me, it's "Battling at Full Volume", as it's so interesting that a main character who dresses up and cosplays as Ash Ketchum for the very first time. It's so intriguing and extremely fun to watch.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

For me it is Pararell friendships! It is a cool concept for an episode

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Its Inside Kapu Rehire’s Mist! for me! That episode is emotionally close to me and sadly, relatable. Some Torracat and Stoutland focus sealed the deal for me.

Honourable mention: Fighting Ire with Fire!
Its the episode responsible for making Infernape one of my favourite Pokemon (and one of the first Pokemon I ever saw properly, since DP series was my introduction to Pokemon). I watched it a loooonng time ago but the memory is fresh in my mind like yesterday.
I need to give it a rewatch!

 

[Camille]

Cutting the Ties that Bind! for me. I liked seeing Ash's Sceptile regain its battle capabilities and the debut of yet another Frontier Brain.

 

[Lillie]

I have alot of favorite episodes and it's hard for me to choose just one of them, but if I had to I would choose the Legend of Dratini. It was a beautiful episode and the bgm for the episode was amazing. It's a shame that it's one of the banned episodes and I would have loved to see this episode English dubbed.

 

[ii kanji]

I have alot of favorite episodes and it's hard for me to choose just one of them, but if I had to I would choose the Legend of Dratini. It was a beautiful episode and the bgm for the episode was amazing. It's a shame that it's one of the banned episodes and I would have loved to see this episode English dubbed.

Good choice! My favourite bit of that episode is this underrated bit of dialogue:

Spoiler

#OnlyInKanto