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| Season | Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl (Season 10) · Route 202: Nando, Turtwig & a first defeat arc (DP004–DP009) |
| Episode | Season 10, episode 7 · English episode 471 · Japanese episode 474 · Bulbapedia code DP007 |
| English title | Like It or Lup It! |
| Japanese title | ポッチャマがんばる！！ Potchama Ganbaru!! — “Pochama Tries Its Hardest!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 2 November 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 13 June 2007 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Junki Takegami |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Tēma~ (By Your Side ~Hikari’s Theme~) – Grin |
| English opening | Diamond and Pearl – Chris “Breeze” Barczynski |
| Previous episode | Different Strokes for Different Blokes! (DP006) |
| Next episode | Gymbaliar! (DP008) |
Filler / stand-alone episodePiplup’s spinning Bubble Beam
Like It or Lup It! is the 7th episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the tenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 471st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 474, Bulbapedia code DP007). It first aired in Japan on 2 November 2006 and in the United States on 13 June 2007. It falls within the season’s Route 202: Nando, Turtwig & a first defeat stretch (EP4–EP9).
Synopsis
Practising for the Jubilife Contest, Dawn asks Piplup for a spinning Bubble Beam, but the penguin twirls itself dizzy and lands on its head, sending stray bubbles everywhere. Nearby, a starving Team Rocket stumble on a mountain of berries and, despite the suspicious footprints around it, carry the whole stockpile off to their Magikarp submarine. The berries belong to a group of Water Pokémon led by a Golduck, and when a spill sends some baskets tumbling beside three dancing Ludicolo, Golduck’s gang accuse the Ludicolo of the theft. Spotting a chance to grab both Pokémon and berries, Team Rocket stage a mock trial in judges’ wigs, then drop the act when Golduck insults them, beating it back with Seviper’s Poison Tail and Carnivine’s Bite and covering its retreat with Haze. The Ludicolo greet the trio as heroes and spin them around so enthusiastically that Team Rocket soon run away.
Piplup wanders off to train and is promptly flattened by Golduck, Quagsire and the other angry Water Pokémon, and, wing on chest, it volunteers to settle the matter. It leads them to the Ludicolo, who fire a triple Water Gun and block its Peck with a wall of sound. Under the lake, Team Rocket decide to grab Piplup too: a Peck sends it crashing into their periscope and they toss it back into the water. When Ash, Dawn and Brock catch up, the submarine surfaces and the trio recite their motto. Piplup pecks at the hull, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt is useless against the electricity-proof armour, and the sub’s secret weapon, a pair of wires, snares Golduck’s group, the Ludicolo and Pikachu. A swarm of robotic Remoraid then batters Piplup from every side.
Seeing Dawn running toward it through the barrage, Piplup finally spins into a perfect Bubble Beam that destroys every robot and lands neatly on its feet. Dawn has it aim the spinning bubbles at the submarine, and the whirlpool they create frees the captives. When Team Rocket surface again, gasping for air and too battered to dodge, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt blasts them away, and the stolen berries rain down on everyone below. Golduck realises the Ludicolo were innocent and apologises, and when the soaked villains crawl out of the water, the Ludicolo and Golduck’s group combine their Water Guns to blast them off again. That evening the friends bid farewell to the Water Pokémon and resume the road to Jubilife City, and one more practice Bubble Beam, spun to perfection, leaves Dawn confident about her Contest debut.
Major Events
- Piplup masters a spinning Bubble Beam, an early Counter Shield
- A feud over stolen berries between Golduck’s gang and three Ludicolo
- Team Rocket’s robotic Remoraid
- The first Diamond and Pearl boss fantasy
Trivia
- The English title plays on "like it or lump it", with Piplup.
- The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.
Changes in the English Dub
- A “gift from God” line removed
- An “I’m not a fruit” line added
- The proposed English title “Piplup or Shut Up”, pitched by Bill Rogers, dropped over Standards and Practices concerns
- Gotta Dance!! as background music
- Pikachu’s Vacation music added in the dub
Part of our Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.