Mind-Boggling Dynamax! – Pokémon Journeys Episode 5 (JN005)


Season	Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Goh’s first Pokémon arc (JN004–JN005)
Episode	Season 23, episode 5 · English episode 1085 · Japanese episode 1091 · Bulbapedia code JN005
English title	Mind-Boggling Dynamax!
Japanese title	カビゴン巨大化！？ダイマックスの謎！！ Kabigon Kyodaika!? Daimakkusu no Nazo!! — “Kabigon Became Gigantic!? The Mystery of Daimax!!”
First aired (Japan)	15 December 2019 · TV Tokyo
First aired (US)	12 June 2020 · Netflix
Screenplay	Jun’ichi Fujisaku
Opening / ending (Japan)	Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – After the Rain · Pokémon Shiritori (Pikachu → Mew Ver.) – Pokémon Music Club
English opening	The Journey Starts Today – Walk off the Earth
Who’s That Pokémon?	Snorlax (US) · Snorlax (Japan)
Previous episode	Settling the Scorbunny! (JN004)
Next episode	Working My Way Back to Mew! (JN006)

Plot episodeGoh catches ScorbunnyFirst Dynamax

Mind-Boggling Dynamax! is the 5th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1085th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1091, Bulbapedia code JN005). It first aired in Japan on 15 December 2019 and in the United States on 12 June 2020. It falls within the season’s Goh’s first Pokémon stretch (EP4–EP5).

Synopsis

In Galar’s Wild Area, Ash and Goh see Dynamax for the first time when a sleeping Snorlax swells into its Gigantamax form across a railway line, and Goh catches his first Pokémon, Scorbunny. Scorbunny, now clean and white, rides the same train as the boys but cannot get their attention in the dining car; it swipes some food, kicks away a fruit it dislikes and topples a waiter’s tray. When Ash and Goh get off at the Wild Area station, a worn-out Scorbunny is carried onward until it jumps out of a window and sprints back along the tracks. A concierge tells the boys to follow the red lights if they want to learn about Dynamax, but they find only railway crossing signals. Beyond the tracks they come upon a sleeping Snorlax that ignores them completely. Scorbunny arrives and tries to greet Goh; when it is ignored again it kicks a stone that bounces off Ash’s head and knocks a Sitrus Berry into Snorlax’s mouth. The boys are glad to see it again, but Goh explains that he wants Mew to be his first Pokémon, and Scorbunny droops.

Suddenly red lights drift down and engulf Snorlax, which grows to an enormous size in its Gigantamax form, with a tree sprouting from its belly—and it now blocks the tracks with a train due in eight minutes. Pikachu’s Thunderbolt barely registers, and the still-sleeping Snorlax answers with Hyper Beam. Noticing a giant Berry growing on Snorlax’s tree, Goh suggests that feeding it to Snorlax might wake it. The boys climb the giant Pokémon, but Pikachu’s Iron Tail cannot cut through the thick stem, so Ash jumps onto the Berry to swing it while Pikachu hammers the stem with a barrage of Iron Tails. The Berry finally falls but snags in the thick bushes, and Goh is not strong enough to free it as the crossing bells begin to ring.

Scorbunny leaps in and pushes, and Goh, seeing its feet dig into the ground and remembering its powerful kicks, calls for Double Kick. The blow sends the Berry rolling towards Snorlax, which jumps up to swallow it; the shockwave as it lands brings the approaching train to a halt just in time. For a moment Goh fears that Snorlax has eaten Scorbunny too, but when the Pokémon shrinks back to normal size, Scorbunny is safe. Goh thanks it for saving the train, and as Scorbunny turns sadly to leave, he asks it to become his first Pokémon. His Poké Ball curves away and misses, so Scorbunny kicks it back into itself to complete the capture. The Rotom Phone registers the data, and the new partners celebrate with a high-five. Back at the Cerise Laboratory, Yamper barks at the newcomer until Pikachu calms things down, Scorbunny runs to Goh in a fit of jealousy, and Goh proudly tells a surprised Professor Cerise that Scorbunny is his first Pokémon.

Major Events

Goh’s first Pokémon. The anime’s first Dynamax and Gigantamax: a sleeping Snorlax Gigantamaxes across a railway line in the Wild Area
Scorbunny saves the train and kicks Goh’s missed Poké Ball into itself
Goh is the first male companion whose first Pokémon is a Fire-type starter, and the first to catch it outside his home region