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| Season | Pokémon the Series: XYZ (Season 19) · Mastering the bond & the Iceberg Badge arc (XY114–XY122) |
| Episode | Season 19, episode 24 · English episode 912 · Japanese episode 917 · Bulbapedia code XY117 |
| English title | Making Friends and Influencing Villains! |
| Japanese title | 森の呪いと白いボクレー！ Mori no Noroi to Shiroi Bokurē! — “The Forest’s Curse and the White Bokurei!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 28 April 2016 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 30 July 2016 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shinzō Fujita |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | XY&Z – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Puni-chan no Uta (Puni-chan’s Song) – Eureka (Mariya Ise) |
| English opening | Stand Tall – Ben Dixon and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Phantump (US) |
| Previous episode | The Synchronicity Test! (XY116) |
| Next episode | Championing a Research Battle! (XY118) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeShiny Phantump
Making Friends and Influencing Villains! is the 24th episode of Pokémon the Series: XYZ, the nineteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 912th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 917, Bulbapedia code XY117). It first aired in Japan on 28 April 2016 and in the United States on 30 July 2016. It falls within the season’s Mastering the bond & the Iceberg Badge stretch (EP114–EP122).
On sale on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video from 29 July 2016, a day before the US premiere.
Synopsis
The group helps a lost Shiny Phantump find its way home to a great tree on a mountaintop, while Team Rocket, who caused it to get lost, try to use it as bait to catch Pikachu. In a forest, Team Rocket find a stash of macarons in a tree hollow and start eating them, ignoring the angry Phantump who own them. When the trio refuse to give the treats back, a Shiny Phantump traps them with Forest’s Curse and the others blast them all away with Shadow Ball. The Shiny Phantump is flung clear and lands on Ash, knocking them both out. When it wakes, Bonnie startles it, and it traps the group with Forest’s Curse before Pikachu’s Iron Tail frees them. Serena’s guidebook explains that Phantump lure lost travelers by imitating children’s voices, and the hungry Pokémon steals Ash’s bun until Bonnie gives it another.
Learning from the guidebook that Phantump live in a big tree on a mountaintop, the group offers to take the lost Pokémon home, and it happily agrees. Along the way it hides behind Bonnie from a Diglett and Dugtrio, and Bonnie encourages it to make new friends. At a rest stop, Chespin eats most of Serena’s homemade macarons but shares one with Phantump, which bursts into tears remembering its friends, and Ash promises to get it home. With Bonnie’s help the Shiny Phantump befriends a Helioptile and a Bidoof. Team Rocket then try disguising themselves as a Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir and Gallade family to lure it away, but they tumble off a cliff, and Bonnie is disappointed she could not play with the “Psychic” Pokémon.
Next, Team Rocket disguise themselves as a giant Phantump and carry the Shiny Phantump off in a box, while Jessie plays with a fake one to lure Ash away. The real Phantump is rescued by its friends, who have come looking for it, and Serena, Clemont and Bonnie expose James and Meowth. Jessie traps Pikachu with a bomb disguised as a Phantump, but the Phantump pop Team Rocket’s balloon with Energy Ball, freeing Pikachu, then counter Dark Pulse and Psybeam with Horn Leech and trap the trio with Forest’s Curse before Pikachu’s Thunderbolt blasts them off. At the mountaintop, Serena and Clemont treat the Phantump to macarons and Pokémon food, Bonnie advises the Shiny Phantump not to get lost again, and it introduces its new friends to the others. The group heads for Snowbelle City, while a starving Team Rocket flee from children’s laughter that comes from two passing Campers.
Major Events
- The Shiny Phantump. The group helps a lost Shiny Phantump home while Team Rocket disguise themselves as a Ralts family
- Anime debut of Phantump
Pokémon making their anime debut
Phantump#0708 · XY117
Trivia
- The English title plays on “Dale Carnegie’s book <em>How to Win Friends and Influence People</em>”.
- The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kalos story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Jessie’s voice is heard in a scene with only James
Part of our Pokémon the Series: XYZ guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.