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| Season | Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Climbing the ranks arc (JN019–JN024) |
| Episode | Season 23, episode 19 · English episode 1099 · Japanese episode 1105 · Bulbapedia code JN019 |
| English title | A Talent for Imitation! |
| Japanese title | ワタシはメタモン！ Watashi wa Metamon! — “I Am Metamon!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 29 March 2020 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 11 September 2020 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Yuka Miyata |
| 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? | Ditto (US) · Ditto (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Destination: Coronation! (JN018) |
| Next episode | Dreams Are Made of These! (JN020) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeDitto actorSuper Team Rocket
A Talent for Imitation! is the 19th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1099th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1105, Bulbapedia code JN019). It first aired in Japan on 29 March 2020 and in the United States on 11 September 2020. It falls within the season’s Climbing the ranks stretch (EP19–EP24).
Synopsis
A nervous Ditto film star runs away from a demanding director and falls in with Team Rocket, who coach it into a confident shapeshifter for a magic-trick scheme before staging a fake kidnapping to send it back to the screen. Ash and Goh visit the studio of the famous director Kublock—Goh catching a Rattata on the way—where a Gardevoir and a Ditto are playing twin Gardevoir sisters, while Jessie, insisting that she is a real actress, is turned away with James and Meowth. During a rescue scene with two Shiftry, Ditto is startled and slumps back into its pink, gooey form; Kublock’s anger reduces it to tears, and it flees the set and hides in Jessie’s handbag. The studio Manager tells the boys that Ditto was an unknown until Kublock noticed its flawless transformations and made it a star, and they promise to find it.
At their hideout, Team Rocket discover the stowaway and decide to recruit it, but its Absol, Glaceon and Salamence all come out with the wrong face or tail, and it retreats to a corner in tears. Jessie offers to train it as a real performer and hatches a plan: posing as street magicians, they will “teleport” Pokémon from one box to another while Ditto takes the victim’s place. The first attempt on a boy with an Eevee fails, yet after Jessie reminds Ditto that they are partners it perfectly copies Wobbuffet—only to fail again back at base. Realising that nerves are the problem, Jessie claims she never gets nervous, Meowth admits to washing his face and James to sniffing his socks, and Jessie teaches Ditto to slap its cheeks to psych itself up, which lets it hold a perfect Meowth. Calling themselves “Super Team Rocket,” the trio set their sights on Pikachu.
In disguise they perform the trick for Ash and Goh, swapping Pikachu for Ditto, but the boys see through it, and when the Manager arrives to take Ditto home, it freezes in fear; Raboot kicks Pikachu’s capsule free and the trio escape with Ditto. They then demand ransom money from the Manager with Ditto sealed in a glass capsule, play their villain roles to the hilt and even prompt Ash to order the Thunderbolt that blasts them off, cheering as they fly. Raboot frees Ditto, which reunites with the Manager but keeps looking at the sky as if it misses its new friends, while Jessie, landing in a tree, wishes her protégé luck. Back on set, Ditto flinches when Kublock shouts, slaps its cheeks as Jessie taught it, and transforms into a flawless Gardevoir; the scene with the Shiftry is finally completed, and Ditto looks forward to its acting career with new confidence.
Major Events
- Team Rocket’s Ditto. A stage-frightened Ditto film star runs away to Team Rocket, who coach it as Super Team Rocket
- Goh catches a Rattata
- Team Rocket get themselves blasted off on purpose
- Parallels EP037, Ditto’s Mysterious Mansion
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Yuka Miyata.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto, Galar & beyond story.
Part of our Pokémon Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.