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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon (Season 20) · Welcome to Alola arc (SM001–SM004) |
| Episode | Season 20, episode 3 · English episode 938 · Japanese episode 943 · Bulbapedia code SM003 |
| English title | Loading the Dex! |
| Japanese title | よロトしく、ボク、ロトム図鑑ロト！ Yoroto-shiku, Boku, Rotomu Zukan Roto! — “Hello, Roto, I’m the Rotom Pokédex, Roto!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 24 November 2016 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 13 May 2017 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Alola!! – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) · Pōzu (Pose) – Taiiku Okazaki |
| English opening | Under the Alolan Sun – Jannel Candrice and The Sad Truth (featuring Ben Dixon and the Vestigial Horns) |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Mimikyu (US) |
| Previous episode | The Guardian’s Challenge! (SM002) |
| Next episode | First Catch in Alola, Ketchum-Style! (SM004) |
Plot episodeRotom DexTeam Rocket arrive
Loading the Dex! is the 3rd episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, the twentieth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 938th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 943, Bulbapedia code SM003). It first aired in Japan on 24 November 2016 and in the United States on 13 May 2017. It falls within the season’s Welcome to Alola stretch (EP1–EP4).
Premiered at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday 13 May 2017, during Disney XD’s week of daily premieres (SM003–SM010, 13–20 May 2017); Canada’s Teletoon had shown it on 1 April and CITV in the UK on 13 April.
Synopsis
A Rotom moves into Ash’s new Pokédex and becomes the talkative Rotom Dex, while Team Rocket arrive in Alola and meet a strange, Pikachu-hating Mimikyu. Giovanni has sent Jessie, James and Meowth to capture the region’s unique Pokémon, and they leave Gourgeist and Inkay behind at headquarters. At Kukui’s house a Rotom slips into the Pokédex, boots it up in several languages, photographs Pikachu and Rockruff, explains that it can learn on its own and asks to be called “Rotom Dex”. To test Pikachu it tugs on Pikachu’s tail and gets everyone zapped. Meanwhile, in the forest, a Bewear lumbers past a Mimikyu, and a Litten watches Samson Oak’s sleeping Komala near the school. At school Lillie is fascinated by the talking Pokédex, Sophocles wants to take it apart to see how it works, and Samson Oak’s cheerful “Alola” greeting confuses it until Mallow explains it, along with her love of puns, which Rotom quickly copies.
Professor Kukui announces fieldwork in the forest, and Ash is told to catch a wild Pokémon there. Elsewhere in the woods, Meowth and Wobbuffet meet the Mimikyu. Meowth’s Fury Swipes pass harmlessly through its costume, so he demands that it show its face, peeks under the disguise and collapses in terror. In a nightmare he chases visions of Gardevoir, Lopunny and Glaceon, which turn out to be Gastly, Haunter and Gengar, and he falls into darkness until Jessie and James wake him with a splash of water. Ash’s group then finds the Mimikyu, which glares at Pikachu. Lillie recognises it from a book, and Rotom adds the grim legend of a scholar who died after looking under its rag. Pikachu’s Iron Tail does no damage to the disguise, and Mimikyu answers with Play Rough and Shadow Claw.
Team Rocket appear and recite their motto, which Rotom takes literally before photographing Meowth. When Meowth battles Pikachu, the Mimikyu blocks Pikachu’s Electro Ball with Shadow Ball to protect him, and Meowth translates its feelings: it simply hates Pikachu. Jessie immediately wants it for herself. Before she can do anything, the wild Bewear grabs Jessie and James and carries them off into the forest, and the Mimikyu reluctantly follows at Meowth’s request. Ash is disappointed that he has failed to catch anything, but Lillie reminds him that the forest is full of Pokémon, and the group continues its lesson. It is the beginning of Rotom’s life as Ash’s companion, and of Team Rocket’s odd new life in Alola under the care of a Bewear that will not let them go.
Major Events
- Rotom Dex and Team Rocket. A Rotom enters Ash’s new Pokédex
- Team Rocket arrive on Giovanni’s orders with a new motto, leaving Gourgeist and Inkay at headquarters
- Meowth peeks under Mimikyu’s disguise and faints
- Bewear carries Jessie and James off
- Erica Schroeder takes over as Wobbuffet
- The first Japanese episode after the release of Pokémon Sun and Moon, and the first Poké Problem
Pokémon making their anime debut
Mimikyu#0778 · SM003
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Japanese text of Team Rocket’s new motto is removed
- Meowth breaks the fourth wall by calling it “a family show”
- Team Rocket’s new motto is set to a remixed instrumental of Team Rocket’s Team Song
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.