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| Season | Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Rivals & setbacks arc (JN031–JN041) |
| Episode | Season 23, episode 32 · English episode 1112 · Japanese episode 1118 · Bulbapedia code JN032 |
| English title | Time After Time! |
| Japanese title | セレビィ 時を超えた約束 Serebī Toki o Koeta Yakusoku — “Celebi: A Timeless Promise” |
| First aired (Japan) | 9 August 2020 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 4 December 2020 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Nishikawa-kun and Kirishō · Pokémon Shiritori (Mew → Zamazenta Ver.) – Pokémon Music Club |
| English opening | The Journey Starts Today – Walk off the Earth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Sunflora (US) · Sunflora (Japan) |
| Previous episode | The Cuteness Quotient! (JN031) |
| Next episode | Trade, Borrow, and Steal! (JN033) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeNo Ash or PikachuCelebi
Time After Time! is the 32nd episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1112th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1118, Bulbapedia code JN032). It first aired in Japan on 9 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 17 November 2020.
Synopsis
On a family holiday to Azalea Town in Johto, Goh remembers the boy he befriended three years earlier while searching Ilex Forest for Celebi, and the broken promise that ended their friendship, until a letter at the forest shrine reveals what really happened. Without Ash or Pikachu, Goh travels with his parents, Camille and Walker, to the cabin they last visited three years ago, and the manager, Mr. Norris, notes that Goh is now a ten-year-old Trainer. While his parents nap, Goh heads into Ilex Forest, where a Hoothoot’s call brings back a memory. Seven-year-old Goh, chasing what he hoped was a Mew, collided with another boy diving for the same creature—a sly Misdreavus. The boy, Horace from Cianwood City, had shouted “Celebi”; impressed that Goh had seen a Mew, he explained that Celebi guards beautiful forests and can travel through time, and Goh offered to help him find one.
Searching with a handheld computer his parents had built, young Goh spotted a pattern in Celebi sightings pointing to the Ilex Forest shrine, which lay behind a waterfall and through a cave system. In the tall grass the boys were chased off by a wild Ariados and then an agitated Pineco, so Goh ran back to borrow Mr. Norris’s Sunflora, leaving Horace alone for so long that he scolded Goh, who promised that he would never break a promise. Sunflora’s Razor Leaf cleared a path until evening, when it needed the sun to stay awake. The boys lay in a clearing gazing at the stars and talking about the vastness of the universe, then, seeing Horace shiver, agreed to meet again the next day. The next morning Goh waited in the clearing with Sunflora for hours as rain began to fall, but Horace never came, and Goh’s parents found him soaked. He never saw Horace again.
Back in the present, Goh reassures his worried Raboot and Sobble and returns to catching. Scyther’s Slash uncovers an Ariados, which he catches with one throw, and he adds a Pineco—both reminders of Horace that rekindle his frustration. Reaching the shrine at last, Goh finds a letter tucked into it, from Horace: he had a fever on the day they were supposed to meet, came back the day after to find Goh gone, and returned a year later hoping Celebi would send him back in time to keep his promise; when it never answered, he left the letter instead. Hearing his name, Goh turns to see Horace arriving with his Chikorita, saying he has so much to tell him, and the two friends walk towards each other as a pair of Celebi, one of them Shiny, fly overhead and vanish.
Major Events
- Goh and Horace. The first main-series episode without Ash or Pikachu
- Goh’s family holiday in Azalea Town
- Flashback to seven-year-old Goh and Horace searching Ilex Forest for Celebi
- Goh catches an Ariados and a Pineco
- Two Celebi, one of them Shiny, appear
- The Japanese opening switches to Nishikawa-kun and Kirishō’s version
Trivia
- The English title plays on Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”, for Goh’s promise to Horace.
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- 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
- Sunflora keeps its Japanese voice
- The Japanese opening switches to Nishikawa-kun and Kirishō’s version of 1·2·3, showing a normal Celebi
Part of our Pokémon Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.