DP105: Get Your Rotom Running!

16/07/2014 20:36
Pokémon  
Diamond and Pearl – Galactic Battles 
Season # 12 - Episode 574  
 

This episode is a huge mixture of comedy, action and excitement. Surely it is one of the most humorous episodes the Pokémon anime has to offer. A person will find it very hard to ignore watching it again. This episode attracts the younger audiences more than it attracts the older ones. This may be due to the lack of real Pokémon battles in it.
What about Pearlshipping in this episode? If looked closely, you’ll see that the directors have actually tried to portray Ash and Dawns closeness and trust in each other. It also proved some degrading theories regarding our female protagonist Dawn Berlitz to be insanely false. Yes, you heard me, they’re indeed FALSE. Also, Get your rotom running has shown prominent signs of Ash and Dawn having similar thinking. The episode has hinted on Ash and Dawn being more relaxed around each other and how their Pokémon are representing their trainers. Read on ahead for more details…



The episode starts off with the heart touching opening-theme-song and the anime clips of Ash and his companions. The opening-theme-song itself inspires a person to never give up and to try harder if we fail. It’s the perfect way to start off the episode.
“Sometimes it's hard to know 
Which way you're supposed to go 
But deep inside, you know you're strong 
If you follow your heart you can't be wrong 
Stand Up (Stand Up) 
For what is right 
Be Brave 
Get ready to fight 
Hold On (Hold On) 
We're friends for life 
And if we come, together as one 
Complete the quest we've begun 
We will win the battle 
Galactic Battles 
Pokémon!” 
During the theme-song, Ash is shown with all his poke-pals especially his Pikachu while Brock was there for a short 4 seconds and had no significant contribution to the theme-song. In the theme-song, Dawn is there with her Buneary ONLY. Her piplup made no on-screen appearance in the theme-song. In fact, Buneary is the only Pokémon under Dawns ownership to be shown in the theme-song. This may be a potential hint towards Dawn and Buneary being related with Logomorph shipping.
Here is what they looked like:





Next, it shows Ash having a conversation with Prof.Oak via video phone with Dawn and Brock behind him. Ash tells the Professor about Grotles’ recent evolution which leads to this:

Grotle pounced on Ash and showed affection for him after which Dawn decided to tell the Professor about her own Pilloswine evolving. When she tells him this, Piloswine mimics Grotles actions and pounces on Dawn:



This tells us another similarity between Ash and Dawn. The two are them still on the floor while Brock is given no attention. He just stares at the two in disbelief, much like Professor Oak does. The episode then advances forward after the Professor suggests the trio to try the old Gateau from the old Chateau. They all agree to this and plan to go there immediately. While the others were conversing, a short team Rocket moment appears where they discuss about going to the Chateau first and eating all the Gateau out so that the ‘Twerps’ have nothing left.
To be honest, in this particular scene:
Ash and Dawn are showed to be standing really close to each other and Brock is left out as usual. This shows us that Ash and Dawn are the central parts of the anime

After this, there is a bit of comic relief by a construction worker who warns the trio about a ghost haunting the Chateau:




Over here, the construction worker warns them. You’d really laugh at this point. Mainly because of the faces our heroes made after they heard of the rumor:

 
The trio – even after the warning – proceeds to the Chateau and try to convince themselves that there are no ghosts. They go inside and walk around until Pikachu runs off somewhere after hearing a suspicious noise. Ash and the gang go after Pikachu and end up in a basement. There, Pikachu tries to tell them that the microwave on the floor is not an ordinary piece of metal. The trio aren't convinced by the electric mouses poor display and go on ahead to check the generator out. When they reach the generator, the microwave turns into a Rotom(heat) and traps Pikachu inside it. Pikachu – not expecting that response – uses thunder bolt which lands on the generator.
When this happens, Ash and Dawn have been separated from Brock once again:



 

The power gets back on and our heroes go into the kitchen. There, they hear from a voice recording P.A system that the Gateau is made manually as they follow the instructions. Ash and Dawn get excited and are looking at each other while standing at a very close distance:  

This shows that the two are equally excited about the Gateau and are eager to try it out. When this happens, Ash announces that he’ll do some training while Brock will cook. He goes outside and trains with his chimchar and Pikachu. Dawn – after Ash went outside – decides to train for her contest too. She goes into hall with a stage to train with Piplup and Buneary. This tells us that the both of them have similar desire for training their Pokémon, unlike with a certain Kalosian girl we could mention.


When Ash and co. are outside training, they get attacked by a Rotom (grass) which they presume is a haunted lawn mower. The same happens with Dawn except that she was being attacked by a Rotom (Flying). Ash goes inside while Dawn rushes outside, trying to persuade herself that she turned off the fan which soon turned into the Rotom(Flying). She yells and is freaked out until she hears Ash’s voice. Dawn’s tone immediately turns soft and she rushes by Ash’s side. This tells us that Ash is a source of Dawns own comfort. Here is a comparison…
Dawns face before Ash came:



Ash and Dawn tell each other about their experience with the haunted appliances and think for a while before simultaneously shouting “GOTTA WARN BROCK!" As it is shown here:
This tells us that they are equally concerned about the well-being of their friend. What surprises me about this scene though is the fact that Ash and Dawn are closer to each other than normal. In fact, Ash is closer to Dawns face than he has ever been with other female companions. Can you notice how they’re staring dead straight into each other’s eyes?

Next up, Ash and Dawn try finding Brock but the Rotom would always stop them. They eventually reached an elevator and rush into it. After talking for a while they reach the floor where Brock was in and peek out of the door cautiously as shown here:

No doubt this is a logomorph shipping hint. This shows us how much trust buneary puts into Pikachu. She would rather stay behind him rather than to stand by her own trainer. Pikachu has also put up a hand defensively in front of her.
Later, they run out of the elevator to find Brock but the Rotom had caught up with them and chased them all the way down. Even here, Dawn is shown to be running faster than Ash, proving that she is fast runner. Also, just to amuse you, look at this pearl-shippy picture:


The two use team effort to get away from the rotom and go inside to warn Brock. He doesn’t believe them until he sees a Rotom(freeze) with his own squinty eyes. Also, here is a cute scene you may want to notice:

Notice how Buneary and Pikachu are in the same pose as Ash and Dawn are? Buneary is under Pikachu’s arm while Dawn is under Ash’s arm. This indicates that the theory of Pokémon representing their trainers is, in fact, true.

After Brock realizes that what Ash and Dawn are saying is true, the trio runs outside where they were attacked by Rotom’s different forms. Each time they were attacked, Ash and Dawn were separated from Brock. Here is an example:


 
Ash then suggests the rest to climb the stairs while they were being chased by a Rotom (grass). The Rotom realizes his in-ability to climb the stairs and rushes ahead of the trio where he changes form into Rotom (wash). The scene only showed Ash and Dawn climbing the stairs and screaming as the Rotom (wash) came into view as it is shown here:
The trio then gets hydro pumped outside where Ash and Dawn order their electric types to attack Rotom. The washing machine fries while the Rotom faints and reveals his true form. The group asks the reason for Rotoms mischievous behavior but the Pokémon only tricks them again and goes inside a lamp post after thunder bolting Ash and the others. They remain there, commenting about the afro hairstyles they received after the thunder-bolt.

In the end of the episode, the trio sits on a bench and feasts on the Gateau Brock made earlier. There are dramatic scenes from their side as they take a bite from the wonderful Gateau. Brock is shown to have a separate ‘drama moment’ while Ash and Dawn share their own as it is shown here (Dawn is behind Ash):


The episode ends with Ash giving Pikachu a piece of his Gateau and telling him about their gym battle against the Canalave city gym leader tomorrow.

 

 

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