[18] Vacation at Aopulco
Feb. 7th, 2024 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marchionessofmustacheThe infamous "Beauty and the Beach" episode. This episode was initially not localized but then ended up getting an English dub later in the series's life...? Or something, IDK. I had kinda fallen out of the show by the time this got an English release, but I remember reading about it on the internet.
The gang finally gets off Pokemon Land island and makes it to the beach town of Aopulco. This episode is pretty much filler upon filler, and I can see why it wasn't localized. Besides the point that it has nothing to do with anything, there are some questionable choices.
But first I want to point out Kasumi's Master Ball beach ball. So cute! When she appears in her swimsuit to play in the ocean with Takeshi and Satoshi, they stare at her a lot. And then she's like "wtf" and Satoshi says something like "I forgot Kasumi was a girl" LOL (That's not exactly it but I'm bad at translations so XD)
Then the gang borrows? rents? a speedboat (I have no idea how they got it tbh) and while on it alone realizes none of them know how to drive it. Then the Rockets come in a Gyarados submarine and crash into them, sending them off course and they crash into the pier.
An old man named Ryu (the owner of the boat/pier) comes out and yells at them. Satoshi hides behind Kasumi, and then the man stares at her breasts, blushing and drooling, and says "In 8 years I could have some fun with you~" I didn't catch the screenshot at the perviest moment but yeah.
To repay the guy, Kasumi volunteers Satoshi and Takeshi to work for the old man at his restaurant (though she ends up working too).
The Rockets take up part-time work at the neighboring rival restaurant owned by the richer Obaba (a creepy looking old lady), which is all fancy compared Ryu's little shack restaurant. No one is eating at Ryu's because it looks shabby, so Satoshi decides to call on his Pokemon to help promote the store. Pikachu and Zenigame hand out flyers, Pigeon wafts the food smells to the beach, Hitokage helps in the kitchen, and Fushigidane helps serve the food with Kasumi. Takeshi does much of nothing.
As I've mentioned before, I like when the Pokemon do unique things other than battling. So this was really cute and fun to see. Of course, the restaurant gets really popular with the help of the Pokemon, so Nyarth sabotages them by doing dastardly things like dumping oil in the kitchen to set it on fire lol.
Once the restaurant is dead again, Satoshi's mom and Dr. Ookido show up to tell them to hold a beauty contenst. Oh, and Ryu needs money to pay his debt to Obaba or she's going to take his boat. That's part of the plot but I forgot :P And there's a whole scene about Satoshi telling him not to give up on his dreams so easily.
And so they hold a Beauty+Pokemon contest.
Look at Ookido in his little pineapple aloha shirt <3 He's so cute. I used to have a big crush on Ookido as well, especially after finding this INTENSE Ookido/Matisse shipper who drew a lot of fanart on their website (it was in Japanese so I don't even know how I found it, as I didn't know any Japanese back then, and I remember clicking every single link on the page to make sure I found all the art because I couldn't read anything lmaoo)
Then later my crush was revived with Ookido/Nanakamado in 4th gen hahaha. These days I still love the ol' lug but I mostly just want to give him a big hug and hang out with him :) Maybe a little smooch on the cheek.
Erm. Anyway, they hold the beauty contest, Takeshi pervs a bit, Kasumi mentions that he has a weak spot for older women, and then there's the infamous blow-up boobs scene where the "Rocket Ladies" enter the show, with Kojiro sporting inflatable boobs that he pumps up, plays with, and jiggles at Kasumi.
Shigeru is there for whatever reason and enters his squad of girlfriends -- which they refer to as a 'gundan' as well (corps) and I also realized that when referring to the "Teams" not by name but as groups, they call them 'gundan' as well, so it's like... I have no idea how to translate this. "Team" works in some cases but it just sounds weird like with the Zenigames or the Rockets. "Squad" works for the Zenigame or Girlfriends because they're a smaller group, but not really for the entire mafia of the Rockets. IDK. "Group" sounds fairly corporate but lacks flavor. Co. is the best thing I can come up with for the Rockets. But then what about when we get to like, Aqua and Magma who are more like gangs? I guess "Gang" would work for them. IDK. I'll worry about it when I get that far, I guess. But yeah I don't even remember what I went for when I was working on a fan translation of Pokemon Special. I might have actually went with "Group" instead of "Co." back then...??
Oh also I'd like to mention that I'm watching rips from newer releases of the show (I think it's mostly the Amazon Video JP versions but IDK, I actually found this big batch of episodes long ago before Sun & Moon and just have had it on an external hard drive this whole time lol) which were post-seizure-incident, and random scenes are darkened to modify their brightness, but they're darkened WAY too much IMO and it's very noticeable and looks so off. You think there's something wrong with your video for a second. There's also a difference in the OP -- there's a part where originally it showed rapidly-changing pictures of different Pokemon with their names on the screen in bright colors, and now they appear in corners of the screen instead.
Anyway, the Rockets decide to sabotage the show by driving their Gyarados sub up onto land and scaring everyone away. But Satoshi gets on the mic and tells everyone it's a fake and they'll deal with it, an act to which everyone seems to react with a great deal of pride for him. Like it shows different scenes of characters being happy for him doing that, and Ookido even says something like "Man, good going" or whatever. Very odd lol. Like his little announcement saved the whole day and was super honorable and worth a bunch of extra scenes.
Then the Rockets fire a homing missile at the stage, and Satoshi and Shigeru sit around and talk about it for like literally an entire 30 seconds before actually doing something about it. Pigeon carries Hitokage, who shoots fire at the missile, causing it to turn around (totally makes sense) and start chasing the Rockets instead. They AND Obaba get blown up and disappear into the sky, and somehow that means Ryu repaid his debt and gets to keep the boat.
Oh I also want to say that the Rockets' "blasting off again" catchphrase is "ya na kanji" in Japanese which literally means "Feels bad," but often they also say the opposite (ii kanji / feels good) as a 'good timing' catchphrase, which I think would have been neat if they had two opposite catchphrases like that in English. And it allows them to say 'ya na kanji' in other situations other than just 'blasting off.' When I was thinking about translating the series, I had come up with "This sucks! and "This rocks!" as equivalents for them as "This feels bad!" sounds stupid lol. Sucks/Rocks doesn't necessarily make as good a pair as feels bad/feels good but at least they kind of complement each other...?
Anyway, the day and boat is saved thanks to Satoshi and friends. Overall, this was actually a fun little episode. Nice to see the Pokemon helping out with the restaurant (Where was Butterfree though? Coulda been a mascot or something!) and just over all lots of little gags and cute things. I tend to burn out on filler fast (*glares at Sailor Moon*) but I think I have to look at this series differently as there's not even that much of a 'story' and the entire show is just filler-like episodes. So I was able to have fun with this one. Especially after the more serious/dangerous episodes with everyone almost dying in the past three, it was nice to have a little change of pace.
And next up I think we have another banned episode :) Stay tuned! *does the Space Channel 5 wave*
Pocket Monsters Watchthrough
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The gang finally gets off Pokemon Land island and makes it to the beach town of Aopulco. This episode is pretty much filler upon filler, and I can see why it wasn't localized. Besides the point that it has nothing to do with anything, there are some questionable choices.
But first I want to point out Kasumi's Master Ball beach ball. So cute! When she appears in her swimsuit to play in the ocean with Takeshi and Satoshi, they stare at her a lot. And then she's like "wtf" and Satoshi says something like "I forgot Kasumi was a girl" LOL (That's not exactly it but I'm bad at translations so XD)
Then the gang borrows? rents? a speedboat (I have no idea how they got it tbh) and while on it alone realizes none of them know how to drive it. Then the Rockets come in a Gyarados submarine and crash into them, sending them off course and they crash into the pier.
An old man named Ryu (the owner of the boat/pier) comes out and yells at them. Satoshi hides behind Kasumi, and then the man stares at her breasts, blushing and drooling, and says "In 8 years I could have some fun with you~" I didn't catch the screenshot at the perviest moment but yeah.
To repay the guy, Kasumi volunteers Satoshi and Takeshi to work for the old man at his restaurant (though she ends up working too).
The Rockets take up part-time work at the neighboring rival restaurant owned by the richer Obaba (a creepy looking old lady), which is all fancy compared Ryu's little shack restaurant. No one is eating at Ryu's because it looks shabby, so Satoshi decides to call on his Pokemon to help promote the store. Pikachu and Zenigame hand out flyers, Pigeon wafts the food smells to the beach, Hitokage helps in the kitchen, and Fushigidane helps serve the food with Kasumi. Takeshi does much of nothing.
As I've mentioned before, I like when the Pokemon do unique things other than battling. So this was really cute and fun to see. Of course, the restaurant gets really popular with the help of the Pokemon, so Nyarth sabotages them by doing dastardly things like dumping oil in the kitchen to set it on fire lol.
Once the restaurant is dead again, Satoshi's mom and Dr. Ookido show up to tell them to hold a beauty contenst. Oh, and Ryu needs money to pay his debt to Obaba or she's going to take his boat. That's part of the plot but I forgot :P And there's a whole scene about Satoshi telling him not to give up on his dreams so easily.
And so they hold a Beauty+Pokemon contest.
Look at Ookido in his little pineapple aloha shirt <3 He's so cute. I used to have a big crush on Ookido as well, especially after finding this INTENSE Ookido/Matisse shipper who drew a lot of fanart on their website (it was in Japanese so I don't even know how I found it, as I didn't know any Japanese back then, and I remember clicking every single link on the page to make sure I found all the art because I couldn't read anything lmaoo)
Then later my crush was revived with Ookido/Nanakamado in 4th gen hahaha. These days I still love the ol' lug but I mostly just want to give him a big hug and hang out with him :) Maybe a little smooch on the cheek.
Erm. Anyway, they hold the beauty contest, Takeshi pervs a bit, Kasumi mentions that he has a weak spot for older women, and then there's the infamous blow-up boobs scene where the "Rocket Ladies" enter the show, with Kojiro sporting inflatable boobs that he pumps up, plays with, and jiggles at Kasumi.
Shigeru is there for whatever reason and enters his squad of girlfriends -- which they refer to as a 'gundan' as well (corps) and I also realized that when referring to the "Teams" not by name but as groups, they call them 'gundan' as well, so it's like... I have no idea how to translate this. "Team" works in some cases but it just sounds weird like with the Zenigames or the Rockets. "Squad" works for the Zenigame or Girlfriends because they're a smaller group, but not really for the entire mafia of the Rockets. IDK. "Group" sounds fairly corporate but lacks flavor. Co. is the best thing I can come up with for the Rockets. But then what about when we get to like, Aqua and Magma who are more like gangs? I guess "Gang" would work for them. IDK. I'll worry about it when I get that far, I guess. But yeah I don't even remember what I went for when I was working on a fan translation of Pokemon Special. I might have actually went with "Group" instead of "Co." back then...??
Oh also I'd like to mention that I'm watching rips from newer releases of the show (I think it's mostly the Amazon Video JP versions but IDK, I actually found this big batch of episodes long ago before Sun & Moon and just have had it on an external hard drive this whole time lol) which were post-seizure-incident, and random scenes are darkened to modify their brightness, but they're darkened WAY too much IMO and it's very noticeable and looks so off. You think there's something wrong with your video for a second. There's also a difference in the OP -- there's a part where originally it showed rapidly-changing pictures of different Pokemon with their names on the screen in bright colors, and now they appear in corners of the screen instead.
Anyway, the Rockets decide to sabotage the show by driving their Gyarados sub up onto land and scaring everyone away. But Satoshi gets on the mic and tells everyone it's a fake and they'll deal with it, an act to which everyone seems to react with a great deal of pride for him. Like it shows different scenes of characters being happy for him doing that, and Ookido even says something like "Man, good going" or whatever. Very odd lol. Like his little announcement saved the whole day and was super honorable and worth a bunch of extra scenes.
Then the Rockets fire a homing missile at the stage, and Satoshi and Shigeru sit around and talk about it for like literally an entire 30 seconds before actually doing something about it. Pigeon carries Hitokage, who shoots fire at the missile, causing it to turn around (totally makes sense) and start chasing the Rockets instead. They AND Obaba get blown up and disappear into the sky, and somehow that means Ryu repaid his debt and gets to keep the boat.
Oh I also want to say that the Rockets' "blasting off again" catchphrase is "ya na kanji" in Japanese which literally means "Feels bad," but often they also say the opposite (ii kanji / feels good) as a 'good timing' catchphrase, which I think would have been neat if they had two opposite catchphrases like that in English. And it allows them to say 'ya na kanji' in other situations other than just 'blasting off.' When I was thinking about translating the series, I had come up with "This sucks! and "This rocks!" as equivalents for them as "This feels bad!" sounds stupid lol. Sucks/Rocks doesn't necessarily make as good a pair as feels bad/feels good but at least they kind of complement each other...?
Anyway, the day and boat is saved thanks to Satoshi and friends. Overall, this was actually a fun little episode. Nice to see the Pokemon helping out with the restaurant (Where was Butterfree though? Coulda been a mascot or something!) and just over all lots of little gags and cute things. I tend to burn out on filler fast (*glares at Sailor Moon*) but I think I have to look at this series differently as there's not even that much of a 'story' and the entire show is just filler-like episodes. So I was able to have fun with this one. Especially after the more serious/dangerous episodes with everyone almost dying in the past three, it was nice to have a little change of pace.
And next up I think we have another banned episode :) Stay tuned! *does the Space Channel 5 wave*
<< PREV INDEX NEXT >>
no subject
Date: 2024-02-08 03:50 pm (UTC)Okay, but like… Kasumi’s beach outfit is barely less risqué than her normal attire? She’s wearing shorts, a tiny little top, and suspenders. How is she more “girly” in a bathing suit?
Then the Rockets come in a Gyarados submarine and crash into them
That’s icon behavior.
Ugh. Old dudes perving on actual children skeeves me out. Isn’t Kasumi like ten? Chris Hanson, I choose you!
No one is eating at Ryu's because he keeps hitting on their elementary schoolers.
Takeshi does much of nothing.
It has begun.
I love how Oak and Delia pop up and just like… vibe together haha. I ship it. (So, I don’t read Pokemon fanfic. That being said, the only one I have read in the last ten years was a total banger about those two when Delia returned to Pallet town, pregnant with Ash, and went indepth on their history and it was just. So good.) I remember how much you loved the good professor though. He’s so great.
The image of Kojiro holding his gag boobs is iconic. Our Koji is a drag icon.
The only translation for ‘gundan’ that’ll work for Shigeru’s gals is “hunnies.” “Shigeru’s Hunnies” has a nice ring to it.
I like how Satoshi, a literal ten year old, is like “we’ll stop this sub that might have weapons or some shit” and all the adults are like “go get ‘em tiger. This looks like a job for a small child.”
Then the Rockets fire a homing missile at the stage
Oh fuck it actually does have weapons. I literally laughed out loud when I read that. (I type these replies in a sep doc as I’m reading so you get a full stream of consciousness response.)
no subject
Date: 2024-02-08 05:38 pm (UTC)Yeah IDK what is with the old perv trope in Japanese media where they always just HAVE to have that comment where they lust over a child. At least in Sailor Moon Rei's grandpa didn't stoop as far as Chibiusa. But Misty and Relm are 10 so maybe that's the magic number :P Once you hit double digits you're fair game?? (puke emoji)
Oh yeah when Kasumi sees the Rockets in their swimsuits, she's like "Aren't you a guy, Kojiro?" and he says "My beauty transcends gender." pretty much XD Love that. Though I do wonder how he got those inflatables to look so real.
Hunnies. I love it. "Gundan" seems like a hard word to translate for everyone; I remember Morning Musume did a song called "Ai no Gundan" and the official translation was like "Gundan of Love." They didn't even bother translating it hahaha. I still call the song "Love Corps" though because it sounds cool and fits the MV.