• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

Pokémon Scent-Sation (026)

7threst

Well-Known Member
I always defended the way Ash got that second badge from Misty, but I agree entirely that this was really a pity-badge. But still, the episode was really interesting and funny in many ways. Ash cross-dressing with the help of Team Rocket and the gym leader too was probably the most normal and nicest one out of Kanto, comparable with the nowadays female gym leaders in the other seasons. As for the decision for not using Primeape in battle, I still don't really understand why didn't took the risk while it was almost certain Primeape would go feral on his enemies. Good episode though. Unfortunately, I rarely saw it back in the day. It seemed my channel always skipped this for some unknown reason.
 

Pikachu Fan Number Nine

Don't Mess wit Texas
Although I kind of had a problem with Ash's challenge being rejected (Gym Leaders are required to accept challenges, and no one may accept or reject on their behalf), the scene that won me over was Ash rescuing Gloom from the burning Gym. It's part of the reason I want to become a firefighter, even though Ash was (and still is) merely a civilian.
 

Caseydia

Ace Trainer
Dammit Pikachu! I wanted to see how long Ash could go dressed like a girl. That would have been super funny. But yet Team Rocket has to ruin everything. The battle was going good too.
 

Golduck Is Cool

Well-Known Member
This episode kind of represents my two only faults with the show. 1) Ash being given the badges. I get Brock and Misty. You can't have Ash being flat out better than them if they're gonna follow him around everywhere, but everyone else he should be able to beat. 2) Team Rocket wrecking everything. I like Team Rocket, but we're in the middle of a gym battle, which is always fresh and exiting and you get to see new Pokémon for the first time in the show, then Team Rocket comes out and it's some scheme we've already seen before.

Probably why Electric Shock Showdown is one of my favorites. Ash beats Surge fair and square, and Team Rocket stays out of it.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
Celadon City—the city of rainbow's colors. Doesn't look like it to me. Seems to be implied to be a bigger city than Saffron, though they don't really touch upon it. The only store they mention is the perfume shop. Though I like how Brock presses his face to the window when he spots the girls. Reference to the dirty old man, perhaps?

While the humor of the previous episode was on how apes*** insane Primeape got on just about everybody, the core of the humor is more toward Ash's actions. He got kicked out of the perfume shop and the gym because he doesn't like perfume very much. It's in turn a reference to the original game in that the girls freak out over the player (a boy) coming into the gym, only they're being judgmental on his tastes. His line saying perfume turns guys into zombies and pulls out Brock to prove his point is one of the funniest lines in the episode. As a girl who doesn't like perfume, I can't exactly state whether this is true or not, though I have to wonder if that's what some girls think about cologne as well. (Cologne smells nasty, by the way, if only because the person wearing it thinks he has to drench himself in it—similar to women drenching themselves in perfume.) However, I have to give Ash props for his harsh statement if only because it does show his boyish characteristic, and that he's not interested in some of the same things his friends are.

This is the second time Ash teamed up with Team Rocket briefly, only this time it's for the sake of meeting a goal: Ash wants to battle Erika, and Team Rocket wants to steal the secret perfume formula. And their genius idea was to pretend to be a family in which the parents are enrolling their daughter, Ashley, into the program. The biggest laughs are with the cross-dressing even though Team Rocket gets their share of laughs as well: Jessie is the traditional Japanese wife, and James is the bumbling husband. And Meowth can't keep his big mouth shut, so James is struggling to maintain his disguise while talking about his “little princess”. Veronica Taylor does great here in going between Ash's normal voice and his falsetto, but I love Rachel Lillis and Eric Stuart's dialogue as the parents. It's just the way it's delivered that tickles my fancy somehow. But Ash gets funnier when he encounters Brock, Misty and Pikachu. The way he mutters “Knock it off” to Pikachu is another funny line of his if only because of the delivery.

One of my favorite moments was the demonstration of how Gloom doesn't become affected by Poison Gas. I suppose even if it wasn't in the games, it just makes sense for a Poison-type to be poisoned. Well, Gloom is a dual-type, so the way it sucks up the poison like it was nothing makes for an interesting moment, similar to how plants take in carbon dioxide for nourishment. (Only instead of oxygen, Gloom spouts out noxious gas.) Also since some kids hadn't yet played the game, they figured Gloom was purely Grass and thus figured all Grass-types can't get poisoned at all. I was a dumb child.

After a long time of not seeing her onscreen outside of her lines from Pokémon Puzzle League, Erika is an okay character, even though her backstory is kinda... I guess cliché, but her befriending the Gloom was sweet. The Grimer I suppose is a reference to the pollution problem in Celadon even though it won't be exactly notable until Gold and Silver (unless the old man in the original also said Grimer lived in that lake in front of his house?). She is a good Grass trainer, I'll give her that, but she doesn't have a personality outside of being a perfume store manager and soft-spoken. She does have that air of elegance about her, but that's about it. Still not a fan of her, though.

Now the pity badge. Probably the worst pity badge ever—though it's more like “give-away” badge than “pity” similar to the Cascade Badge (which... might be the worst pity badge ever now that I think of it...). Ash only tied the battle before it was interrupted, though I think he was losing anyway (unless calling back Bulbasaur when he's technically still able to fight doesn't count... but Erika felt it was a victory anyway). We don't know if he was going to win against Gloom, and that's my issue with it, because at least Ash tied the battle with Misty for sure before they were interrupted. But while the gym leader can make the rules, I don't think “saving Gloom from doom” should count as a good reason to give him the badge. How could Ash accept it like that when he questioned his previous win two episodes ago? Yeah, he asked what it was for, but... no, I don't think bravery should be the exception for him possibly losing the battle. And I don't know if Ash did learn not to judge a Pokémon by its smell.

Other than that, the pacing is fine. It flowed rather nicely even though it's all about Ash getting into the gym to fight Erika because at least Team Rocket got what they sowed at the end. I suppose one may have seen that coming since perfume is a mixture of different smells put together, but to think that was essence of Gloom... comeuppance or kick the dog moment? Depends on who you ask, I suppose. Just don't ask Cori Falls.

So going through the list of episodes, we got a bit of a break/filler in between gym battles similar to what happened between episodes seven and and fourteen. It won't be long before we reach that long stretch of still-important-episodes/filler, and that's going to bring back some flashbacks of frustration. We waited pretty much a year in the States before we got to Blaine after Koga. Yeah... I personally wasn't a very patient kid for a good few years.
 

Antiyonder

Overlord
Now the pity badge. Probably the worst pity badge ever—though it's more like “give-away” badge than “pity” similar to the Cascade Badge (which... might be the worst pity badge ever now that I think of it...). Ash only tied the battle before it was interrupted, though I think he was losing anyway (unless calling back Bulbasaur when he's technically still able to fight doesn't count... but Erika felt it was a victory anyway).

Honestly, my views have changed slighty in that regard. I now consider the Cascade Badge to be the worst. I defended it here before on the basis that Ash was still starting out, but if Gym Leader recalls worked to his advantage, he was actually close to a full blown win against Misty. So there is no reason why the writers needed to save him with a Pity Badge.

But otherwise, agreed. Erika still recalled a couple of her Pokémon, thus Ash had a legit chance to win. And as vinaro pointed out, Pidgeotto please.
 
Ash(ley) cross-dressing was the best part of the episode, in my opinion.

"Don't stare at me! I'm a very shy little girl!"

"The animators forgot to draw me a nose!"
That fourth wall break! :)
 
Last edited:

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I was kind of sad that Misty and Brock were allowed access into the Celadon Gym while leaving Ash behind; I guess friendship means nothing. Seeing Team Rocket help sneak Ash into the Gym was interesting; I liked when they'd team up with Ash in OS. Overall, I expected more from the actual Gym battle to be frank.
 

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
Personally, this was one of my least favorite episodes in the anime (the other being A Double Dilemma) because everyone aside from Erika & Team Rocket were complete jack***es
  • Ash for what he said about perfumes
  • Erika's assistants for banning Ash from the gym
  • Misty, Brock, & Pikachu for treating Ash like crap and not defending him when he was banned
 
Last edited:

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
In this episode, I was disappointed that Ash wasn't allowed to enter the Celadon Gym for negative comments about perfumes despite being quite rude there. But the best part was when Ash got the Rainbow Badge because he saved the Gym from a fire.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
Personally, this was one of my least favorite episodes in the anime (the other being A Double Dilemma) because everyone aside from Erika & Team Rocket were complete jack***es
  • Ash for what he said about perfumes
  • Erika's assistants for banning Ash from the gym
  • Misty, Brock, & Pikachu for treating Ash like crap and not defending him when he was banned

I kind of thought the same thing regarding their attitudes cuz Ash's perfume comment wasn't so bad as to deserve such treatment any ways. Seeing him dressed as 'Ashley' was funny tho. :D
 

Gillachu

Banned
I kind of thought the same thing regarding their attitudes cuz Ash's perfume comment wasn't so bad as to deserve such treatment any ways. Seeing him dressed as 'Ashley' was funny tho. :D

His gym ban made sense though because he disrespected Erika's hobby.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
Seeing him dressed as 'Ashley' was funny tho.

Yeah Ashley was really funny. But disappointed that Pikachu blew the disguise.
 

Gillachu

Banned
Well he did but it still seemed a little unfair since he said it outside of the gym & it's not like he purposely wanted to offend the gym leader. ^^

The shop was Erika's though so of course she'd be upset even if Ash didn't purposely mean to be disrespectful about perfume lmao. The gym match itself was bad regardless.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
The shop was Erika's though so of course she'd be upset even if Ash didn't purposely mean to be disrespectful about perfume lmao. The gym match itself was bad regardless.

Well I didn't like seeing Ash win a 'pity badge' in the end but he was doing well up until the fire happened at least. Erika's Tangela and Weepinbell were weak tho. ^^;
 

Pikachu Fan Number Nine

Don't Mess wit Texas
This is still one of the few Pokemon episodes where Ash puts his life on the line, literally. The Tower of Terror is another. But this one is more dramatic because he goes into a burning building, something which is not recommended for a civilian to do.
 
Top