Sobbing Sobble! – Pokémon Season 23, Episode 28

Plot episodeGoh catches SobbleMorpeko

Sobbing Sobble! is the 28th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1108th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1114, Bulbapedia code JN028). It first aired in Japan on 12 July 2020 and in the United States on 4 December 2020. It falls within the season’s The Great Class & a return to Galar stretch (EP25–EP30).

Released on Netflix on 4 December 2020 with the rest of the third batch; POP had premiered it in the UK on 11 November 2020.

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

Synopsis

In Wyndon, Goh accidentally catches a timid Sobble whose tears make everyone around it cry, then wins its trust by rescuing it from Team Rocket and recognising its caution as a strength. While Ash and Goh eat curry with their Pokémon at the Wyndon Pokémon Center, the Sobble that followed them in the previous episode turns invisible and steals their food; when it reappears surrounded, it bursts into tears, and everyone starts crying too, letting it vanish again. Nurse Joy explains that Sobble turns invisible when it touches water and may be hiding in the fountain behind them. Goh speaks to the fountain, saying that he likes Sobble’s ability and asking whether it would like to come with him, and in frustration at the silence throws a Poké Ball into the water—catching it. Overhead, Team Rocket’s balloon, blown all the way to Galar during a failed attempt to net Pikachu, drifts past before another gust carries it away.

When Riolu accidentally digs up a Silicobra, Goh’s Poké Ball misses, so he sends out his new Sobble. Its fearful sweat makes it invisible, and it lands Water Gun and Pound, but Silicobra’s thrown sand reveals it, and when it attacks Sobble cries, reducing everyone to tears—Goh’s Rotom Phone warns that its tears are as potent as a hundred onions. Silicobra escapes and Sobble runs off before Goh can recall it. Following a trail of weeping people, Goh finds it by a river and apologises, but it only cries harder and dives in; remembering something about Mr. Mime, he hatches a plan. Downstream, Team Rocket’s crashed balloon is being raided by a Morpeko, and a tin can Jessie throws at it hits Sobble instead, making it visible. Learning its name, the trio cage Sobble and offer to trade it for Pikachu.

Ash and Goh refuse, and Goh blames himself for Sobble’s flight until Ash reminds him that things do not always go right the first time. The Rocket Prize Master gives Team Rocket a Magnezone and an Armaldo, whose Metal Claw and Supersonic stun the boys’ Pokémon, and the villains mock Sobble as a weak crybaby. Goh insists it is not weak and vows to save it, and Sobble, remembering his words at the fountain, bends the bars of its cheap cage. When Armaldo steps on its tail it cries again, leaving Team Rocket in tears—while Ash, Goh and their Pokémon wear goggles, an idea Goh took from Mr. Mime cutting onions. With their opponents blinded by tears, the boys’ Pokémon blast Team Rocket off. Goh apologises to Sobble for sending it into battle without asking and tells it that its timidity keeps it alert and able to protect its friends, and then has to stop it crying happy tears. Later, the Morpeko returns demanding more food, switches to Hangry Mode and blasts Team Rocket off with Aura Wheel.

Major Events

• Goh’s Sobble. Goh catches a timid Sobble by throwing a Poké Ball into a fountain, the first main character other than Ash to own two current-generation starters
• Goh fails to catch a Silicobra
• A wild Morpeko begins following Team Rocket
• The boys return to Vermilion City

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Morpeko#0877 · JN028
• Silicobra#0843 · JN028

Captures and evolutions

• Sobble#0816 · Goh · caught by a Poké Ball thrown into a fountain

Trivia

• The English title plays on a rare direct translation of the Japanese title, keeping its alliteration (mesomeso Messon).
• The screenplay is by Michihiro Tsuchiya.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• An animation error in Riolu’s aura sensors is fixed
• The English title is a rare direct translation of the Japanese

Part of our Pokémon Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.