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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures (Season 21) · Interlude across the islands arc (SM056–SM060) |
| Episode | Season 21, episode 16 · English episode 994 · Japanese episode 999 · Bulbapedia code SM059 |
| English title | Tasting the Bitter with the Sweet! |
| Japanese title | マオとスイレン、にがあまメモリーズ！ Mao to Suiren, Nigaama Memorīzu! — “Mao and Suiren, the Bittersweet Memories!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 25 January 2018 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 2 July 2018 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Yuka Miyata |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Arōra!! (Alola!!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) · Pōzu (Pose) – Taiiku Okazaki |
| English opening | Under the Alolan Moon – Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Drampa (US) |
| Previous episode | Fighting Back the Tears! (SM058) |
| Next episode | Getting a Jump on the Competition! (SM060) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeLana and Mallow’s first meetingGrandpa Forest
Tasting the Bitter with the Sweet! is the 16th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures, the twenty-first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 994th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 999, Bulbapedia code SM059). It first aired in Japan on 25 January 2018 and in the United States on 2 July 2018. It falls within the season’s Interlude across the islands stretch (EP56–EP60).
Premiered on Monday 2 July 2018 after a six-week break, the first episode of Disney XD’s summer line-up of seven Monday-evening premieres (2 July – 13 August 2018).
Synopsis
Lana and Mallow remember how they first met as small children and take Ash into the forest to thank the giant Pokémon they call Grandpa Forest, a Drampa that once saved them. Lana’s younger sisters Harper and Sarah got lost in the woods and were given Haban Berries by a mysterious Pokémon, and Mallow and Lana realise it must be the creature they met years ago but never saw again. Ash suggests a search, and Team Rocket, hiding under a staircase, decide to follow. On the way, the girls recall the day Lana came with her mother to collect a delivery from Aina’s Kitchen: Mallow startled her in the grass, pulled her into the forest, made her a flower bracelet and followed a Cutiefly to a flock of Ribombee, which gave each girl a Pollen Puff in return for the bracelet.
Team Rocket, disguised as Bug-type Pokémon, try to get Pollen Puffs of their own, but Jessie receives a purple one that gives her a stomachache. At the girls’ old tree, they remember seeing a huge white-and-green Pokémon that roared at them and sent them running until they were lost and hungry. Mallow cried, so Lana found Haban Berries and shared them; they were bitter, but Lana was glad to stop Mallow’s tears, and Mallow was pleased that Lana called her by name instead of the teasing nickname “Miss Family Restaurant.” The more they ate, the sweeter the “Bittersweet Berries” seemed. Then Lana chased a falling berry to a cliff edge, the vine they grabbed snapped, and both girls fell—until the mysterious Pokémon caught them. Rotom finally identifies it as a Drampa.
Pikachu sniffs out a clearing surrounded by Haban Berry trees, and there Grandpa Forest happily greets its old friends. Team Rocket arrive dressed as Preschoolers, but neither the children nor Drampa are fooled. Meowth’s backup plan is a baby bottle that turns into a net gun, and he traps Drampa—until the angry Pokémon breaks free and catches the trio in a Twister, from which Bewear rescues them. Drampa recognises Lana and Mallow and hugs them, and Ash joins in as the girls thank it for saving them and Lana’s sisters. Ash picks Haban Berries to share, and the girls are startled all over again by how bitter they are. Back at home, Lana watches Harper and Sarah draw pictures of Drampa and the Haban Berries, and she approves of their artwork.
Major Events
- Grandpa Forest. How Lana and Mallow first met
- Haban Berries become their “Bittersweet Berries”
- Grandpa Forest, a Drampa
- Team Rocket disguised as preschoolers
- Anime debut of Drampa
Pokémon making their anime debut
Drampa#0780 · SM059
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Yuka Miyata.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Alola story.
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.