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| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · Wobbuffet Village to the gates of Ecruteak arc (EP173–EP180) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 22 · English episode 179 · Japanese episode 181 · Bulbapedia code EP179 |
| English title | The Apple Corp |
| Japanese title | ピカチュウとピチュー! Pikachū to Pichū! — “Pikachu and Pichu!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 4 January 2001 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 1 December 2001 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Junki Takegami |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | OK! – Rica Matsumoto · Boku no Best Friend e (To My Best Friend) – Hiromi Iwasaki |
| English opening | Born to Be a Winner – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Snubbull (US) · Pichu (Japan) |
| Previous episode | The Grass Route (EP178) |
| Next episode | Houndoom’s Special Delivery (EP180) |
Filler / stand-alone episodePichu TV debut
The Apple Corp is the 22nd episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 179th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 181, Bulbapedia code EP179). It first aired in Japan on 4 January 2001 and in the United States on 1 December 2001. It falls within the season’s Wobbuffet Village to the gates of Ecruteak stretch (EP173–EP180).
Synopsis
A gang of hungry Pichu raiding an orchard become its guardians after Pikachu teaches them to earn their apples. Pikachu is netted as the suspected thief by orchard owner Charmaine, but the tiny bite marks on the fruit clear him. Helping with the harvest, the gang catch three Pichu carrying apples away, and Pikachu finds the rest cowering from a Fearow. The bravest Pichu zap the bird but faint from the effort; Pikachu drives it off and learns that the forest has run out of wild fruit.
Charmaine fears the Pichu will strip her trees bare, but when a flock of Pidgey descends Pikachu marshals the little Electric types into a shock-and-pounce defence that sends the birds packing. Ash and Pikachu then train the Pichu to pick and pack apples in exchange for their meals, and the harvest speeds up.
Team Rocket arrive with the Rocket Super Sucker, which clamps onto Pikachu and drains his electricity to run their TV before hoovering up the apples. The Pichu’s Thunder Shocks barely dent the balloon and Meowth blows them away, but they link into a chain against the wind to reach Pikachu and revive him. His Thunderbolt, combined with theirs, overloads the machine and blasts the trio off. Charmaine makes the Pichu her partners: protect the orchard and eat your fill.
Major Events
- Pichu main-series debut
- First Japanese episode of the 21st century
- Japanese insert song Let’s Make an Exploration Party!
Pokémon making their anime debut
Pichu#0172 · EP179
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Johto story.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Pichu in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Snubbull in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- “Fruit” becomes “apples” (as it also does in EP193 and EP204).
- The Japanese insert song Let’s Make an Exploration Party! is replaced with music from Mewtwo Strikes Back and Pikachu’s Vacation.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.