Camping It Up! – Pokémon Season 11, Episode 36

Filler / stand-alone episodeSummer Academy, part 1Angie debuts

Camping It Up! is the 36th episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 551st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 555, Bulbapedia code DP088). It first aired in Japan on 7 August 2008 and in the United States on 3 January 2009. It falls within the season’s Hearthome Collection & the Summer Academy stretch (EP86–EP91).

Premiered on Saturday 3 January 2009 according to Bulbapedia and Wikipedia; pocketmonsters.net’s calendar gives 5 January.

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Ash, Dawn and Brock hurry to the Pokémon Summer Academy near Mount Coronet, a week-long training camp to which Professor Rowan has invited them. The students are split into Red, Blue and Green teams, and each draws a random Poké Ball holding the Pokémon they will train for the week. Ash, Dawn and Brock all land on the Red Team along with Angie, a competitive tomboy who quickly becomes Ash’s rival. Ash gets a jumpy Raichu, Angie a spirited Monferno, Dawn a Grimer that seems to lack confidence and Brock a Magnemite, while Conway, on the Blue Team, gets a Venonat. Team Rocket are there too: Jessie, disguised as “Jessilinda” on the Green Team, dotes on her Smoochum, while James and Meowth work as janitors. Angie’s Monferno picks a fight with a Croconaw and hits Pikachu with Ember, and the squabble grows until Professor Rowan scolds everyone and explains that teams will earn points for how well they bond with their Pokémon.

In the first class, taught by Yuzo, the students study their Pokémon’s moves on their Pokédexes. Dawn feeds Grimer homemade Poffins and practises Contest poses with it, and Brock gives Magnemite static electricity and polishes it, but when Ash brushes Raichu, the comb tangles and Raichu shocks him. Angie’s Monferno keeps evading her and hits Ash, Pikachu and Raichu with Ember, and when Ash and Angie start arguing they are sent to run laps; after lunch they fall asleep in class and get into trouble again. That night Dawn produces a deck of cards and the friends stay up playing, blocking the door with a pillow to keep Conway out. Angie explains that she works at a Pokémon Day Care and hopes to run it one day, and the others share their own dreams until Yuzo storms in to enforce lights-out.

On the morning of the battles, Ash builds Raichu’s confidence by having it smash a huge boulder with Focus Punch, and Angie, impressed, has Monferno attack her to build up its power and speed, so both pairs begin to bond. Brock’s Magnemite takes on Jessilinda’s Smoochum, but Jessie is so charmed by her partner that she walks into Magnemite’s Thunder, and Yuzo declares no contest. Dawn treats her match against Conway like a Contest: Venonat turns Grimer’s Sludge back with Psychic, but Grimer counters Stun Spore by spinning while releasing Poison Gas, and the battle is drawn. Ash and Angie’s battle swings back and forth, Focus Punch cancelling Mach Punch and Raichu digging under Flame Wheel and dodging Fury Swipes with Double Team, until a final Thunderbolt meets Ember as time expires. Dawn wins an award for the strongest bond, but the Red Team finish last, behind Blue and Green, because Ash and Angie’s behaviour cost them points, and the two rivals apologise and promise to do better.

Major Events

• Professor Rowan’s week-long camp
• Angie debuts
• The Red, Blue and Green teams
• Borrowed Pokémon, a Raichu for Ash and a Grimer for Dawn
• Raichu and Angie’s Monferno draw
• Dawn wins the bond award
• Monferno’s TV debut

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Monferno#0391 · DP088

Trivia

• The English title plays on a summer camp — or, as Bulbapedia suggests, “ramping it up”.
• The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.

Changes in the English Dub

• “Summer Vacation Fan Club”

Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.