"Someone is talking about me?"
RotomDex, after a Sneeze Cut
Japanese Title: Satoshi and Pikachu, the Promise between Them
Original Airdate: April 6, 2017
US Airdate: July 1, 2017
Ash and Pikachu take a day off from the Pokémon School to relax at a secluded beach. This rest is interrupted when they find a Wimpod stuck in an outcropping.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: A unique one for Ash and Pikachu, being the first one in a long while that doesn't feature Team Rocket and barely features any of the respective series' companions besides early points.
- Breather Episode: Just Ash and Pikachu bonding at the beach. Good thing too, considering what the episode after this is...
- Fauxshadowing: Were you expecting Ash to catch Wimpod after befriending it? Perhaps another day...
- Foreshadowing: Ash catches his first sighting of the Akala Island Guardian Deity, Tapu Lele, after the Wimpod he rescued leaves with its herd.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: A brief moment of this occurs when Pikachu nuzzles Ash.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Kiawe, Sophocles, and RotomDex make up various excuses to leave before the girls go to Alola Sunrise. Ash also attempts this, but Mallow, Lana, and Lillie rope him in before he can make one up.
- Mr. Fanservice: Ash spends a good portion of this episode shirtless, and then in just his boxers. This episode was also the second time that Ash has ever been shirtless while still wearing his hat, the last occasion being in an episode that aired exactly 20 years ago from this one.
- Shopping Montage: Mallow, Lana, and Lillie drag Ash with them, resulting in one of these.
- Sneeze Cut: RotomDex sneezes when Ash mentions it. Professor Kukui is apparently surprised that a talking encyclopedia can sneeze. RotomDex even throws a lampshade on it.
- Very Special Episode: This episode is the de facto 20th anniversary episode for the anime. It was first aired in Japan as a special linked to the next episode, and aired in the U.S. as part of a three-hour mini-marathon, the fifth of six new episodes to air on the same date.
