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| Season | Pokémon Horizons: The Series (Horizons Season 1) · The road back to Paldea arc (HZ035–HZ041) |
| Episode | Horizons Season 1, episode 40 · English episode 1264 · Japanese episode 1273 · Bulbapedia code HZ040 |
| English title | Farewell, Sprigatito? |
| Japanese title | さよなら、ニャオハ？ Sayonara, Nyaoha? — “Farewell, Nyahoja?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 16 February 2024 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 22 November 2024 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Michihiro Tsuchiya |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Haro (Halo) – yama × BotchiBoromaru · RVR ~Raijingu Borutekkāzu Rappu~ PART2, Murdock Ver. – Roy (Yuka Terasaki) & Liko (Minori Suzuki) |
| English opening | Becoming Me – Haven Paschall (version 2, with clips from Halo) |
| Previous episode | Tinkatink’s Ideal Hammer (HZ039) |
| Next episode | A Wild Mom Appears! (HZ041) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeSprigatito learns Magical LeafMarnya
Farewell, Sprigatito? is the 40th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1264th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1273, Bulbapedia code HZ040). It first aired in Japan on 16 February 2024 and in the United States on 22 November 2024. It falls within the season’s The road back to Paldea stretch (EP35–EP41).
Released on Netflix in the US on Friday 22 November 2024 with the rest of Part 4 (HZ035–HZ045); BBC iPlayer had released it in the UK on 22 July 2024, and Australia’s 9Go! aired HZ035–HZ045 from 18 September to 2 October 2024.
Synopsis
After accidentally hurting Liko’s wrist in a training battle, Sprigatito runs away to the forest house where it grew up, and as Liko learns from the Breeder Marnya why her partner fears its own Leafage, the two renew their bond and Sprigatito learns Magical Leaf. While the crew repairs the holes Orthworm left near Steelbound Town, Liko bathes Hatenna and Terapagos, but Sprigatito walks away from its bath, and Liko spots a house with cat-ear windows in the woods. In a battle with Roy, Disarming Voice stops Quick Attack and Scratch cuts through Ember, but when Fuecoco dodges a big Leafage, the attack heads for Hatenna and Terapagos, and Liko is knocked down shielding them, spraining her wrist. Mollie fits her with a brace, while a guilt-stricken Sprigatito watches from the doorway and leaves. Ludlow tells Liko it went towards the forest house, and as she sets off, Terapagos vanishes too, panicking Hatenna.
At the house, Liko is overwhelmed by a crowd of Sprigatito and greeted by their owner, Marnya, a cat-loving Pokémon Breeder who supplies partners to Indigo Academy students and already knows Liko. She remembers Liko’s Sprigatito as unusually carefree and fickle, says it seemed unhappy when she saw it earlier, and warns that a Pokémon and Trainer who stop getting along may have to part ways. Shocked, Liko insists they are fine and finds her partner on the sunny roof, where it looks away guiltily at her brace. When Liko catches it and pleads with it to stay, Sprigatito scratches her hand and runs off, just as it did when they first met. Over matcha, Marnya tells Liko that Sprigatito once kept to the roof until a surprisingly strong Leafage saved a friend and won it companions, but when it drove off a troublesome Spidops that had snatched its friends, its Leafage hurt them too, and the others began to fear it.
Liko realises that her injury revived Sprigatito’s fear of hurting someone, and Marnya adds that Sprigatito could not stop staring at Liko during her academy interview. Liko finds her partner at the Oran Berry trees, catches and tickles it, and tells it she is not afraid of being scratched, that everything new and frightening feels possible because Sprigatito is with her. Sprigatito retracts its claws and the two embrace. Then Hatenna’s cry rings out: the same Spidops has snatched Hatenna and Terapagos. Sprigatito hesitates, but Liko encourages it and commands Leafage, which becomes Magical Leaf, knocking Spidops away and freeing its captives. Marnya, proud that Sprigatito has found a great family, credits their bond. Back at the ship, Liko and Roy resume their battle, and a leaping Magical Leaf knocks out Fuecoco in one hit, after which Liko and Sprigatito share a high five.
Major Events
- Sprigatito’s past. Sprigatito runs away to the Breeder Marnya’s house after hurting Liko
- Sprigatito learns Magical Leaf
Pokémon making their anime debut
Spidops#0918 · HZ040
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Michihiro Tsuchiya.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto, Galar and Paldea story.
Part of our Pokémon Horizons: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.