EP053

The Purr-fect Hero (Japanese: こどものひだよ！ぜんいんしゅうごう！ It's Children's Day! Everyone Gather!) is the 53rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on July 9, 1998 and in the United States on September 11, 1999. It was initially intended to air in Japan on May 5, 1998, but was rescheduled following the EP038 incident.

Blurb
''It's Kids Day, and Ash and friends help the children at a nearby school celebrate the holiday. Team Rocket spoils the fun with a Pikachu-napping scheme that goes awry when they snatch a kid instead of the Pokémon. But in a shocking turn of events, Meowth becomes a good guy—or does he?''

Plot
As and  are walking along a dirt path,  notices a flagpole with several wind cones modeled after a, , and. At that moment, the group recognizes that it is Kids Day. Suddenly, a woman,, mistakes the trio for the Pokémon Trainers she has been expecting, though a phone call clarifies that the requested visitors will not be able to attend. However, after hearing how she wanted to do something special for the preschool's children, the trio decides to let the children play with their Pokémon instead. Elsewhere, reminisces about Kids Day; James says he always had a great Kids Day with the day off school, swimming, and ice cream sandwiches, whereas Jessie did not.

Inside the school, the children rush over to play with, pulling at his face. Ash rescues the children from electrocution and receives the shock instead. Ash, Misty, and let out all of their Pokémon, who all begin playing with the kids. However, one child,, reveals that has no interest in playing with any Pokémon besides. He explains that this was due to a Meowth saving him from a  once. However, the other children do not believe the story and mock him.

Suddenly, a bright van pulls up to the school, where Jessie, disguised as a magician, convinces the teacher to let her, James, and do a magic show for the children, which she agrees to. Team Rocket shows the children, the gang, and the teacher an empty box, and claim that they need a volunteer. Pikachu is swept up by James, who places him into the box. Both Jessie and James then chant before tapping the box with a wand, whereupon Meowth flies from the box and completes the trick, much to the kids' enjoyment.

The trio tries to make their getaway, but are stopped by Ash, who demands his Pikachu back. Team Rocket reveals themselves, but are attacked by the overly excited children, which interrupts their several times. James tells to use, which is able to blind the gang. Timmy, upon seeing Meowth's distress, rushes over to help, but knocks down the box Meowth was standing on. This also knocks Pikachu out of the box, unbeknownst to everyone else. Team Rocket picks up the box and flees. As Ash finds Pikachu inside the school, the teacher realizes that Timmy has gone missing.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket rejoices over their capture and opens the box, only to find Timmy. He proceeds to cry, but the tears stop when he sees Meowth, who he believes is the Meowth who saved him from the wild Beedrill. Meowth is about to tell him he has the wrong Pokémon, but Jessie and James convince Meowth to go along with Timmy to avoid crushing his hopes. Putting on an act, Jessie and James behave like they want to do harm to Timmy, but Meowth pretends to save him with and escapes with him.

They come running back to the school, surprising everyone. Misty is a little suspicious, noting that this Meowth resembles the one from Team Rocket, which makes Meowth slightly nervous. However, the children see Meowth and apologize for not believing Timmy's story in the first place. Timmy accepts their apologies and allows them to play with Meowth, who relishes in the attention. Meowth accidentally lets some human speech slip from his mouth, and Misty calls him out. He starts to back away from the group, with his cover now blown. In desperation, he makes a run for it, much to the dismay of Timmy and his classmates. Meowth is able to make it back to Team Rocket, but he is followed by everyone after Timmy began to run after him.

Team Rocket recites their motto once more and challenges Ash to a battle. Jessie sends out while James sends out his Weezing. Ash calls his out and Brock helps by using. Weezing uses, which is easily blown away by Pidgeotto's , along with Weezing itself. Arbok, however, escapes by using. Arbok pops up in front of the gang, but is by Onix. This causes part of the cliff Arbok slammed into to crumble, and a giant rock is dislodged and rolls towards everyone. Most escape in time, though Timmy trips over and Ash picks him up; the pair are in boulder's path as it continues its descent. However, a wild Meowth comes out of nowhere, kicking the boulder in two and saving their lives. Timmy immediately recognizes this Meowth as the one that saved him before. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is running atop a second boulder, disappearing from sight while chasing their Meowth.

Once back at the school, the teacher thanks Ash and his friends for all their help. Timmy proclaims he is going to become a Pokémon Trainer as well, hinting that the wild Meowth, resting on the preschool's roof, is now his. Meanwhile, Team Rocket discuss the day's events, with Meowth stating that Jessie and James need him more. Jessie proclaims they still need to get Pikachu, and James states that Meowth will come up with their next plan, in turn affirming Meowth's prized place in the trio.

Major events

 * Misty's Horsea is revealed to know.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Schoolchildren
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Schoolchildren
 * Schoolchildren
 * Schoolchildren

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international),  (Japan)


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Scheduling conflict
This episode was originally scheduled to air on itself, on May 5, 1998, but was rescheduled in the aftermath of EP038. The original schedule was as follows:

This episode and the preceding air after The Breeding Center Secret in the dub. It aired between The Breeding Center Secret and Riddle Me This on Pocket Monsters Encore.

Trivia

 * Depending on the version (see below) either (Japanese version) or  references the events of Princess vs. Princess in this episode.
 * This episode seems to have a legitimate Multi Battle, consisting of Ash and vs. Jessie and James towards the end, though Multi Battles didn't exist until Generation III.
 * This episode is featured on Volume 11: Meowth from Viz Media's series.
 * Starting with this episode, the dialogue of the Who's That Pokémon? segment sounds different from the previous episodes (unless a Pokémon has already been used in a segment).
 * Also, this is so far the only episode in which the Pokémon featured in the segment is a Meowth that is not Team Rocket's. The next time a different Meowth appears is in The Ultimate Test.
 * When Brock sends out his Pokémon, he says "that's not all, folks", a references to the "That's all folks" line at the end of the and  cartoon series.
 * During 's fantasy of being revered like a hero, his English name appears twice as a logo and written on a card respectively. Bizarrely, this is the case even in the Japanese version.
 * Due to it being rescheduled after the EP038 incident, this episode is considered a part of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands, even though the episode is still set in Kanto.
 * Ash and Brock's initial insistence that Kids Day was a holiday for males and that Misty already had her Princess Festival refers to how the basis for the holiday, Children's Day in Japan, had initially been designated for males (with Girls' Day on March 3 being the basis for the Princess Festival) until 1948 where it celebrated all children largely as a result of World War II.

Errors

 * In a scene where the children throw around, Weezing's eyes are missing. However, it could just be that its eyes are not visible from the camera angle.
 * In the dub, when the children are playing with James' Weezing, screams at her class to "get inside this instant!", even though they are clearly already indoors.
 * When sends out her Pokémon,  makes a sound before moving its mouth.
 * When James puts into the magic box, he speaks without opening his mouth.

Dub edits

 * Pikachu's Jukebox: My Best Friends (US DVD box set), Double Trouble (Pokémon TV)
 * When finding the koinobori, Ash and Brock immediately identify the Pokémon representing them in the Japanese version, while in the dub, Misty was the one who identifies the Pokémon a little while later.
 * On that note, the koinobori are referred to as Pokémon Banners in the dub.
 * Ash also comments in the dub that such was his favorite holiday in the year, while in the original, Ash doesn't indicate such was the case.
 * Originally, Misty expresses interest in whether there are any local areas having all-you-can-eat kashiwa mochi, while in the dub she wishes that they could play all day like they used to.
 * Likewise, Ash in the original version reminds Misty that Children's Day was originally designated to boys and that Misty already had her Princess Festival a little while back, with Brock backing him up, while in the dub, Brock was the one who points out Misty having already done the Princess Festival while Ash reminds her that they still need to get the Volcano Badge. Similarly, Misty when responding to their comments originally pointed out that anyone can celebrate the holiday currently, while in the dub, she mentioned she was still tough before demanding they play.
 * When James reminisces over when he celebrated Kids Day as a child, the kashiwa-mochi (mochi balls wrapped in oak leaves, a traditional Children's Day snack) are referred to as ice cream sandwiches.
 * Similarly, the dub also notes that the only sandwiches Jessie did eat as a kid were baloney with one slice, while originally, she indicated that she only ate actual oak leaves on Kids Day, and that she ate calamus leaf bits in her fried rice.
 * When Brock accepts the request from the teacher to show off Pokémon in place of the original trainers, originally he mentioned there wouldn't have been much stock in trainers who crush children's dreams, while in the dub he acts like they were heartless.
 * When describing the Meowth that saved Tommy, originally, there was specific mention of it using a spinning kick in the times it saved Tommy, which wasn't made clear in the dub.
 * On that note, Timmy when Team Rocket's Meowth "saves" him, originally tells him to use the spinning kick (to Meowth's confusion), while in the dub, he instead tells him to use Fury Swipes.
 * The Japanese text on Team Rocket's magician truck is deleted.
 * Jessie originally refers to the preschool kids as "mini-Twerps", while in the dub she doesn't.
 * In the dub, after Jessie and James abduct Pikachu, Ash recognizes Jessie and James, while originally he makes no indication of recognizing them.
 * James originally ordered Weezing to attack the children, when in the dub, he merely remarks that it wasn't fair presumably in reference to Weezing being crowd-swarmed by the preschoolers. Similarly, Jessie retorts in the dub that Weezing made a nice volleyball, when originally, she guessed it was popular among kids.
 * In the dub, the teacher tells the children to stop before someone gets hurt, before snapping at them to get inside, when originally, she merely requests they flee, and then reiterates the order.
 * In the dub, after discovering they accidentally abducted Timmy instead of Pikachu and that he thinks their Meowth is the one that saved him, James when stated that even they don't wish to destroy children's dreams adds in that such might eventually happen. Likewise, Jessie originally referenced her awful children's day memories when stating she didn't want Tommy to have similar rotten memories, while in the dub, she mentions that lying can make Meowth into a hero.
 * Originally, in Meowth's fantasy of being a hero, he merely laughs and tells people not to push.
 * Team Rocket's "threat" to Tommy was a bit harsher originally, claiming they're the Team Rocket that deceives even small children.
 * The dub has Brock notice the similarities between the Meowth that saved Tommy and Team Rocket's Meowth, while originally, he mentioned he looked handsome.
 * The dub makes it sound as though Team Rocket was glad Meowth blew his cover, while originally they merely stated they'll take it from there.
 * The dub has Timmy identifying Ash, Misty and Brock by name, when originally he merely calls them oniichan.
 * Similarly, the exchange also implied the Meowth that saved him is now owned by Timmy while originally, it was never indicated he currently owned it.
 * Extra dialogue was added to the ending in the dub where Jessie, James and Meowth were walking away while Jessie and James were trying to plan another way to capture Pikachu, only for Meowth to ignore them. Originally, they were completely silent, although it was still nonetheless implied that Meowth was deeply reconsidering the possibility of staying behind.

In other languages
Katzengejammer und Heldengeschichten EP053 EP053 EP053 無印編第53話 精灵宝可梦 第52集