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| Season | Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Rivals & setbacks arc (JN031–JN041) |
| Episode | Season 23, episode 31 · English episode 1111 · Japanese episode 1117 · Bulbapedia code JN031 |
| English title | The Cuteness Quotient! |
| Japanese title | ヒンバスのきれいなウロコ Hinbasu no Kirei na Uroko — “Hinbass’s Beautiful Scale” |
| First aired (Japan) | 2 August 2020 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 4 December 2020 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Akemi Omode |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – After the Rain · Pokémon Shiritori (Mew → Zamazenta Ver.) – Pokémon Music Club |
| English opening | The Journey Starts Today – Walk off the Earth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Feebas (US) · Feebas (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Betrayed, Bothered, and Beleaguered! (JN030) |
| Next episode | Time After Time! (JN032) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeFeebas evolves into Milotic
The Cuteness Quotient! is the 31st episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1111th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1117, Bulbapedia code JN031). It first aired in Japan on 2 August 2020 and in the United States on 4 December 2020. It falls within the season’s Rivals & setbacks stretch (EP31–EP41).
Released on Netflix on 4 December 2020 with the rest of the third batch; POP had premiered it in the UK on 16 November 2020.
Synopsis
Ash, Goh and Chloe help Parker’s kindergarten friend Jinny prove that her teased Feebas, Feeby, is special, training the pair for Slateport City’s Friendship Festival, where Feeby evolves into Milotic while protecting her from Team Rocket. Parker calls Chloe for help, and she asks the boys to come along to a park where children are mocking Jinny’s Feebas as ugly; Parker hesitates when Jinny looks to him for support, but Ash insists that Feebas is a great Pokémon and Goh adds that it evolves into something amazing. The bullies are more interested in Pikachu until Raboot scares them away. At Cerise Park Feeby happily befriends Goh’s Goldeen and giant Magikarp, and Professor Cerise explains that Feebas evolves into Milotic, said to be the most beautiful Pokémon in the world, though Ren warns that it takes a lot of effort. Chrysa finds that Slateport City’s annual Friendship Festival is open only to young children, so Jinny decides to enter, and Cerise reminds a doubtful Chloe that you cannot succeed if you do not try.
Ash’s idea of training is a practice battle, but Chloe points out that the festival is not a battle, and Goh proposes a swimming routine—at which Jinny admits that she cannot swim. Moved by her determination to prove everyone wrong about Feeby, Chloe offers to teach her, setting up a small pool for Jinny and having the boys build an obstacle course for Feeby. Goldeen glides through it with a somersault, while Feeby crashes into everything and gets stuck in a swim ring, but both improve, and their practice together goes well. Chloe notices a strange, pretty Prism Scale on Feeby, and when Goh teases that he thought she did not like Pokémon, she admits that she simply wants Jinny to win. On the boat to Slateport, Goh catches a Wingull, reminding an unimpressed Chloe of his goal, while Team Rocket follow in their Magikarp submarine.
At the festival, Tito and his Corsola and Marin and her Seaking win applause, and Jinny’s classmates watch a stream at Chloe’s house. Jinny and Feeby leap into the pool, Feeby jumping and circling her to create a whirlpool, and the crowd is impressed—until Team Rocket crash the stage, grab competitors’ Pokémon with their submarine’s claws and set their sights on Feeby. The Rocket Prize Master supplies a Kingler and a Carvanha; Pikachu blocks Bite with Iron Tail and Raboot dodges Metal Claw, but Meowth’s Fury Swipes knock down Feeby, which has leapt in front of its Trainer, and its unusual scale falls off. When Jinny shields it with her own body, Feeby evolves into Milotic, drives back Carvanha with Wrap and Water Gun, and, after Pikachu’s Iron Tail sends Kingler crashing into Team Rocket, blasts them off with Twister. The stolen Pokémon are returned, Jinny and Milotic receive a special friendship award, and back in Vermilion her classmates praise them as Chloe remarks that Pokémon are amazing.
Major Events
- Feeby’s festival. Chloe’s first trip to another region with the boys, to Slateport City
- Jinny’s Feebas, Feeby, evolves into Milotic at the Friendship Festival
- Goh catches a Wingull
- Goh’s White Flower Flabébé is confirmed caught
- The last episode with After the Rain’s version of the Japanese opening
Captures and evolutions
Feebas → Milotic#0350 · Jinny’s Feeby · protecting her from Team Rocket
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Akemi Omode.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto, Galar & beyond story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Netflix’s episode description uses Jinny’s Japanese name
- The last episode with After the Rain’s version of 1·2·3
Part of our Pokémon Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.