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| Season | Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Mewtwo & a taste of Unova arc (JN046–JN048) |
| Episode | Season 23, episode 48 · English episode 1128 · Japanese episode 1134 · Bulbapedia code JN048 |
| English title | A Close Call… Practically! |
| Japanese title | ほぼほぼピカチュウ危機一髪！ Hobohobo Pikachū Kiki Ippatsu! — “A Close Call with Practically Pikachu!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 4 December 2020 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 5 March 2021 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Deko Akao |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Nishikawa-kun and Kirishō · Fushigina Fushigina Ikimono (Strange and Wonderful Creatures) – Tortoise Matsumoto (first TV Tokyo airing; Pokémon Shiritori (Pikachu → Mew Ver.) otherwise) |
| English opening | The Journey Starts Today – Walk off the Earth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Cinderace (US) · Cinderace (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Crowning the Chow Crusher! (JN047) |
Filler / stand-alone episodePractically PikachuCastelia City
A Close Call… Practically! is the 48th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1128th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1134, Bulbapedia code JN048). It first aired in Japan on 4 December 2020 and in the United States on 5 March 2021. It falls within the season’s Mewtwo & a taste of Unova stretch (EP46–EP48).
The season finale, released on Netflix on 5 March 2021 with the rest of the fourth batch.
Synopsis
On Goh’s prize food tour of Castelia City, Team Rocket swap Pikachu for a robot double called Practically Pikachu, and Lucario and Cinderace, glued together by Meowth’s goop, have to put aside their rivalry to rescue the real one while their Trainers keep eating. Disguised as staff of a fake Casteliacone van, Team Rocket unveil their mecha, which looks exactly like Pikachu but says “Hika” instead of “Pika”—hence its name. Jessie hands the boys vanilla cones, piling Ash’s with extra scoops for a supposed anniversary, and when Ash goes to wash his hands, the trio plant the robot beside the real Pikachu. The two start playing together, confusing everyone, while Goh fights his melting ice cream. Listening for the telltale cry, Team Rocket hear one Pikachu cough “Hika,” grab the other and pedal away on a bicycle.
Ash returns none the wiser, but Cinderace and Lucario, who have been bickering, give chase. Meowth fires a sticky goop that binds their wrists together, yet its stretch lets them bounce off lampposts and snatch Pikachu back. While Ash and Goh move on to Watchog buns—crunchy fried batter on a stick with mustard stripes—Team Rocket corner the pair in a dead-end alley from their Meowth balloon. Lucario and Cinderace argue fiercely over which way to run, and another goop bomb frees them from the alley, still holding Pikachu, but the stretching goop sends them ricocheting off lampposts all across the city until they crash into the balloon and blast the trio away. The boys, meanwhile, are enjoying Crustle cakes—layers of chocolate sponge and cheesecake topped with icing shaped like a Crustle’s shell—and bite-sized Dwebble cakes, with Ash joking that their Pokémon must have eaten so much that they cannot move.
Crash-landing elsewhere, Team Rocket call the Rocket Prize Master for a Sawk and a Throh. Low Sweep, Circle Throw, Brick Break and Vital Throw batter the tethered pair, who keep tangling themselves because they cannot agree on a strategy, until Jessie’s mockery finally inspires Cinderace to cooperate: it spins Lucario at the villains, Lucario’s Reversal knocks out Sawk, and Lucario swings Cinderace so that its Blaze Kick finishes Throh. The goop snaps, and a combined Pyro Ball and Aura Sphere sends Team Rocket flying—but Pikachu has vanished. As they blast off, the trio realise Wobbuffet grabbed “Pikachu” during the fight, only for it to cry “Hikachu,” revealing the robot. Lucario and Cinderace race back to the park in a panic to find the real Pikachu happily snacking with Ash and Goh, and they collapse in shock. Goh offers them snacks; Cinderace shoves one into Lucario’s face, Lucario chases it in a rage, and the oblivious boys remark how well the two get along.
Major Events
- Practically Pikachu. The season finale
- Goh’s prize food tour of Castelia City in Unova
- Team Rocket swap Pikachu for the robot Practically Pikachu
- Lucario and Cinderace, glued together, rescue the real Pikachu while their Trainers keep eating
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Deko Akao.
- 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
- The first TV Tokyo airing ended with Strange and Wonderful Creatures (Tortoise Matsumoto), the theme of the twenty-third movie
Part of our Pokémon Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.