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| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · The National Park & the road from Goldenrod arc (EP161–EP172) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 4 · English episode 161 · Japanese episode 163 · Bulbapedia code EP161 |
| English title | The Bug Stops Here |
| Japanese title | むしとりたいかい! しぜんこうえんでゲットだぜ!! Mushitori Taikai! Shizen Kōen de Getto da ze!! — “Bug Trainer Convention! Got It at the Natural Park!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 24 August 2000 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 25 August 2001 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Hideki Sonoda |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | OK! – Rica Matsumoto · Takeshi no Paradaisu (Takeshi’s Paradise) – Yūji Ueda |
| English opening | Born to Be a Winner – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Cubone (US) · Jessie as Venomoth (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Air Time (EP160) |
| Next episode | Type Casting (EP162) |
Plot episodeBug-Catching ContestCasey’s Chikorita evolves
The Bug Stops Here is the 4th episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 161st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 163, Bulbapedia code EP161). It first aired in Japan on 24 August 2000 and in the United States on 25 August 2001. It falls within the season’s The National Park & the road from Goldenrod stretch (EP161–EP172).
Synopsis
Ash wins the National Park Bug-Catching Contest with a Beedrill, then hands his prize Pokémon to Casey. Entrants receive a single Park Ball and may use only one Pokémon; the winner keeps the catch and receives a Sun Stone. Casey, the Electabuzz-mad Trainer from earlier in Johto, vows to beat Ash and snatches a Weedle from under his nose with her Chikorita. Team Rocket, barred for being too old, kidnap the registration clerk and try to lure Pokémon with a Venomoth costume, earning Jessie a face full of Stun Spore.
Casey drives her exhausted Chikorita from one Pineco fight to the next and even orders it against a wild Scyther, until Ash and Pikachu intervene. Chikorita hides from her, and only after Misty explains how badly she has ignored her partner’s feelings does Casey tearfully apologise and win it back.
Pikachu zaps a Beedrill from a disturbed swarm and the Park Ball seals the catch, but Team Rocket trap the pair in a cage beneath their balloon. As Meowth launches a baseball rocket, Chikorita evolves into Bayleef, bats it away and frees Ash with Razor Leaf before Pikachu’s Thunderbolt does the rest. Ash takes the Sun Stone but gives Beedrill, black and yellow after all, to a delighted Casey.
Major Events
- Casey returns
- Casey’s Chikorita evolves into Bayleef (debut)
- Ash catches a Beedrill in a Park Ball and wins the Bug-Catching Contest and a Sun Stone
- Ash gives Beedrill to Casey, the only time he gives a Pokémon away
Pokémon making their anime debut
Bayleef#0153 · EP161
Captures and evolutions
Beedrill#0015 · Ash · Park Ball · given to Casey- Chikorita → Bayleef#0153 · Casey
Trivia
- The English title plays on the saying "the buck stops here".
- The screenplay is by Hideki Sonoda.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Jessie as Venomoth in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Cubone in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- The contest’s age limit is lowered from 18 to 16, and Jessie and James are said to be “over 16”.
- Casey’s Japanese baseball references to Shigeo Nagashima and the BayStars are lost.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.