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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures (Season 21) · Ultra Beasts & everyday Alola arc (SM078–SM086) |
| Episode | Season 21, episode 40 · English episode 1018 · Japanese episode 1024 · Bulbapedia code SM084 |
| English title | The Shape of Love to Come! |
| Japanese title | 家族のカタチ、ベベノムのキモチ！ Kazoku no Katachi, Bebenomu no Kimochi! — “The Shape of Family, Bevenom’s Feelings!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 2 August 2018 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 22 December 2018 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Mirai Konekushon (Future Connection) – ЯeaL · Buresu (Breath) – Porno Graffitti (first TV airing; Twerp, Twerpette on DVD) |
| English opening | Under the Alolan Moon – Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Ribombee (US) |
| Previous episode | Dummy, You Shrunk the Kids! (SM083) |
| Next episode | The Long Vault Home! (SM085) |
Plot episodeMinaPoipole learns Fury Attack
The Shape of Love to Come! is the 40th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures, the twenty-first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1018th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1024, Bulbapedia code SM084). It first aired in Japan on 2 August 2018 and in the United States on 22 December 2018. It falls within the season’s Ultra Beasts & everyday Alola stretch (EP78–EP86).
Prime Video and Google Play released it on 16 December 2018, six days before the Disney XD premiere.
Synopsis
A painter named Mina and her Ribombee discover that Poipole’s playful drawings hide homesickness and a heavy sense of mission, and that night Poipole paints a picture of the Blinding One. During Ash’s practice battles, Rowlet’s Razor Leaf matches Torracat’s Flame Charge, and Poipole chases Lycanroc away with a newly learned Fury Attack before spraying ink everywhere and drawing a picture of Pikachu in the sand. In the Hau’oli City market, Poipole flies straight at a young painter’s picture of the sun, and her Ribombee lands on its head and flutters its wings, which the painter, Mina, says means that Poipole loves to draw; she can partly understand Ribombee, which can link the hearts of Pokémon and people. The next day, Ash brings his classmates to see Mina’s work, including a portrait of Ash’s household, and Poipole’s thunderbolt drawings translate as “Like, Like, Love.”
Professor Burnet shows Poipole’s drawings to Lusamine, Faba and Wicke; Faba finds them unscientific, but Lusamine is fascinated and asks Ash to keep observing, and Kukui and Burnet perform the Ultra Guardians’ sign-off for the first time. Poipole paints murals of its Alolan family, but that night it dreams of a group of Poipole gathered around a roaring Naganadel and flies outside to cry at the moon. The next day, a blackboard drawing shows Pikachu surrounded by lightning beside a weeping Poipole, which flies into Ash’s arms in tears. Meanwhile, Team Skull’s Tupp, Zipp and Rapp go looking for trouble at the market, and when Rapp fixates on Ribombee, Mina proposes an art contest instead. Mina’s sketch of Ribombee outshines the grunts’ drawings, and they throw away their sketchbooks and demand a real battle.
Poipole blocks Salandit’s Toxic, and Ash arrives to object to a three-against-one fight. Salandit, Zubat and Garbodor attack with Toxic, Air Cutter and Venoshock; Mina’s Ribombee shoots a Pollen Puff into Zubat’s mouth, Pikachu’s Iron Tail hits Salandit and Poipole’s Fury Attack defeats Garbodor—Ash’s first battle with Poipole—and the grunts flee. Through Ribombee, Mina reads Poipole’s blackboard drawing: it is happy now, but it has been overwhelmed by sadness over a heavy burden tied to some unknown mission. Ash promises to support Poipole no matter what, and it cheers up. Back at Professor Kukui’s house, though, Rotom finds Poipole painting a huge image on the ceiling, which it identifies as the Blinding One from the book in Acerola’s library, and everyone wonders why Poipole connects that legend with “Like, Like, Love.”
Major Events
- Mina. Poipole learns Fury Attack
- The painter Mina and her Ribombee read Poipole’s “Like, Like, Love” and a burden tied to a mission
- Poipole dreams of a Naganadel
- An art battle with Team Skull
- Ash’s first battle using Poipole
- Poipole paints the Blinding One
- Debut of Mina
- Anime debut of Naganadel, in a dream
Pokémon making their anime debut
Naganadel#0804 · SM084
Trivia
- The English title plays on “H. G. Wells’s <em>The Shape of Things to Come</em>, also behind DP015 and XY021”.
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The first TV Tokyo airing ended with Breath (Porno Graffitti); the DVD uses Twerp, Twerpette
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.