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| Season | Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series (Season 24) · Ultra Class battles & the first token arc (JN076–JN083) |
| Episode | Season 24, episode 33 · English episode 1161 · Japanese episode 1167 · Bulbapedia code JN081 |
| English title | Mad About Blue! |
| Japanese title | 激突！？青ポケマニア！ Gekitotsu!? Ao Poke Mania! — “Clash!? The Blue Poké Maniacs!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 17 September 2021 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 26 May 2022 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Yuka Miyata |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Karaage Sisters · Batsugun Taipu (Supereffective Type), Version 1 – Pokémon Music Club (on TV Tokyo, with a live-action dance video in place of the animation) |
| English opening | Journey to Your Heart – Haven Paschall |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Dewott (US) · Dewott (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Trial on a Golden Scale! (JN080) |
| Next episode | The Sweet Taste of Battle! (JN082) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeGoh catches a Shiny VoltorbBlue Pokémon fanatics
Mad About Blue! is the 33rd episode of Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1161st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1167, Bulbapedia code JN081). It first aired in Japan on 17 September 2021 and in the United States on 26 May 2022. It falls within the season’s Ultra Class battles & the first token stretch (EP76–EP83).
Released on Netflix in the US on Thursday 26 May 2022 with the rest of Part 3; Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 22 January 2022, followed by POP in the UK on 9 March 2022, e.tv in South Africa on 15 March 2022 and Australian television on 5 May 2022.
Synopsis
Two rival fanatics of blue Pokémon drag Ash, Goh and Chloe through a day of blue-themed outings, and Goh catches a Shiny Voltorb along the way. Chloe is walking home from school when Ash and Goh come racing up behind her, chasing a Shiny Voltorb, and Goh catches it mid-leap before letting it out again. A Trainer with a Dewott rushes over and hugs the blue Voltorb, which promptly uses Self-Destruct; he apologises and introduces himself as Gorman, a self-proclaimed blue Pokémon fanatic from Kalos, and invites the group on a series of blue activities he calls “Do-Blue.” Ash and Goh agree, and Eevee eagerly pulls the hesitant Chloe along. A disguised Team Rocket overhear Gorman and decide to cash in on his passion. At a museum of photos of blue Pokémon, Gorman imagines what a Brionne’s expression means, until his rival Bluto arrives with his Meowstic, calls him a simpleton and offers his own theory.
Bluto imagines training the Brionne into a Primarina, whose shade of blue Gorman dislikes. Team Rocket, disguised as blue enthusiasts, offer photos with their Wobbuffet, but it finds the fanatics so unsettling that it flees and, when the trio catch up, recalls itself into its own Poké Ball. Bluto hugs Goh’s Voltorb, setting off another explosion. Gorman, annoyed that he and Bluto keep crossing paths, takes the group to a café where everything is blue, and the rivals race through Yache Berry pancakes with Oran cream, Rawst toast and Kelpsy juice so fast that Gorman cannot taste his food. Next comes the filming location of a blue candy commercial starring a Vanillite and a Frogadier, which Gorman treats as sacred ground, and the rivals argue over whether Vanillite is blue or white. Team Rocket return with Meowth dressed as Wobbuffet, but his disguise falls apart, and Chloe works out that the rivals keep meeting because both make the same plans.
Both rush to a Poké Mart for a plushie celebrating the candy’s fifth anniversary, tear the last one in half, and agree to settle things once and for all, with the loser returning to Kalos. Blindfolded, each identifies the other’s Pokémon and their exact shades of blue by touch, Bluto naming Nidorina and Phanpy, Gorman naming Seismitoad and Croagunk. Then Team Rocket net Pikachu, Eevee and Grookey, but Meowstic’s Disarming Voice makes James drop his net gun, Dewott cuts the net with its shells, and Meowstic brings down the balloon. When Pelipper sees the fanatics staring hungrily at its blue colouring, it flies off without the Rocket Prize Master, leaving the defenceless trio to Pikachu’s Thunderbolt. Gorman and Bluto then receive alerts about a new candy launch in the next town and rush off together, leaving Ash, Goh and Chloe to wonder whether fighting side by side has made the rivals friends, and to laugh it off.
Major Events
- Blue Pokémon fanatics. Gorman and Bluto’s Do-Blue day
- Goh catches a Shiny Voltorb, the first Shiny caught by a main character since Ash’s Noctowl
- A Great Ball and a Quick Ball are shown in use for the first time
- Jessie’s Wobbuffet’s Poké Ball is shown for the only time
- James cross-dresses
Captures and evolutions
Voltorb#0100 · Goh · a Shiny one, the first Shiny caught by a main character since Ash’s Noctowl
Trivia
- The English title plays on the sitcom Mad About You.
- 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.
Changes in the English Dub
- Bluto wants Wobbuffet on a T-shirt instead of a dakimakura
- TV Tokyo’s airings of JN081 to JN095 replace the ending animation with a live-action dance video
Part of our Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.