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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · The Kanto Grand Festival arc (AG180–AG182) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 36 · English episode 453 · Japanese episode 457 · Bulbapedia code AG181 |
| English title | Thinning the Hoard! |
| Japanese title | ハルカVSハーリー！ダブルバトルでステージ・オン！！ Haruka Tai Hārī! Daburu Batoru de Sutēji On!! — “Haruka VS Harley! Stage On with a Double Battle!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 22 June 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 12 December 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Supāto! (Spurt!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Watashi, Makenai! ~Haruka no Tēma~ (I Won’t Lose! ~Haruka’s Theme~) – Haruka (KAORI.) |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | May, We Harley Drew’d Ya! (AG180) |
| Next episode | Channeling the Battle Zone! (AG182) |
Plot episodeMay beats HarleyGrand Festival Top 8
Thinning the Hoard! is the 36th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 453rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 457, Bulbapedia code AG181). It first aired in Japan on 22 June 2006 and in the United States on 12 December 2006. It falls within the season’s The Kanto Grand Festival stretch (EP180–EP182).
The Brazilian Portuguese version of Pokémon TV initially skipped this episode when the season was added in August 2016.
Synopsis
Drew’s new Absol lights up the stadium with Flash, which Solidad and May agree is a difficult move to make shine on such a pale, sleek Pokémon, then shatters a Water Pulse with Razor Wind into a shimmering spray. The crowd applauds, but Drew is not satisfied. Harley’s Octillery spins Fire Blast into a ring of flame around itself without getting burned, Solidad’s Slowbro twirls on the tip of its shell while spouting a Water Gun fountain, and May, arriving just in time with Pikachu after another chase after Aipom, has Munchlax gather sunlight into a sphere for Solar Beam and strike it with Focus Punch to create a ringing, glittering bell. Even Solidad and Harley are impressed. Ash, meanwhile, decides to catch Aipom, but it throws his Poké Ball straight back at his head.
After the appeals, May watches Drew scold Absol for a weak Razor Wind, insisting the move should be powerful rather than merely pretty. When she defends Absol, Drew calls her a wimp, leaving her hurt while Harley laughs from the trees. That evening, Solidad and Max suggest that Drew feels threatened by how much May has grown, and by a lake Ash and Brock sit with Drew while Ash talks about his own rivals; Drew comes to accept May as his true rival. All four of them reach the Battle Stage, and the draw pits May against Harley, who calls it fate. In their Double Battle, Harley’s Wigglytuff inflates to float out of reach and Cacturne’s Poison Sting costs May a fifth of her points, but Eevee’s Shadow Ball, powered up by Munchlax’s Focus Punch, knocks Cacturne out and wipes away three-fifths of Harley’s score.
Wigglytuff keeps dodging in the air, costing May more points, until she has her Pokémon deliberately miss so that their attacks hit behind it and drive it down to the ground, where Munchlax’s Focus Punch knocks it out. Harley’s score drops to zero, and he goes from shock to fury as May advances. Drew’s Roselia and Masquerain win their battle quickly, and Solidad’s Slowbro smashes through an opponent’s ice with Hyper Beam. That sets up the quarter-final everyone has been waiting for, May against Drew for the third time at this stage of a competition, with Combusken and Squirtle facing Flygon and Absol. Squirtle uses Rapid Spin, Flygon whips up a sandstorm, and Absol blinds Combusken with Flash and strikes with Iron Tail as Bubble and Sky Uppercut fly, with the outcome left hanging.
Major Events
- Grand Festival, part 2. The second-round appeals
- Drew comes to accept May as his rival
- May beats Harley in the round of sixteen, Munchlax and Eevee against Cacturne and Wigglytuff
- The quarter-final between May and Drew begins
- Ash fails to catch Aipom
Trivia
- The English title plays on "thinning the herd".
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The dub says “Top 4” where the Japanese has the Top 8
- An instrumental I Won’t Lose! and the Pokémon Symphonic Medley
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.