May, We Harley Drew'd Ya! (Japanese:開幕！ポケモンコンテスト・グランドフェスティバル！！Raising the Curtain! Pokémon Contest - Grand Festival!!) is the 180th episode ofPokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 454th episode of thePokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 15, 2006, and in the United States on December 11, 2006.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
May has arrived at the Indigo Plateau Grand Festival, where there are many familiar faces in town. Team Rocket is turning over a new leaf as Contest commentators. And Aipom has followed Ash all the way there, but its latest hat-snatching spree is halted by Drew and another Coordinator, Solidad. Solidad is an experienced Coordinator and an old acquaintance of Drew, so it's no wonder that with all this competition, May is feeling a few butterflies.
That night, May sits down and has a talk with Solidad, who helps restore her confidence. Solidad even tells her some tales about her early encounters with Drew. May also has a mystery admirer who sends her a very strange flower. With one of May's biggest rivals yet to appear, it's easy to guess who it is—but what is he up to?
The next day, the first round begins! May and Combusken put on a good show, but Solidad and her Lapras are impressive. Drew and Masquerain look good, too. Then Harley makes his big appearance, dressed up as May! His memorable performance with Banette earns him a spot in the next round, along with all his rivals. Afterward, all four Coordinators run into each other again. And while only one person can win the Grand Festival, each of them is confident that they'll be the winner!
Plot
The long anticipatedKanto Grand Festival is one day away asour heroes stride towards theIndigo Plateau. Just over the hilltop, thestadiums can be viewed from overhead.May runs ahead speeding down the hillside and racing ahead to meet the inevitable Grand Festival.
Inside thePokémon Center, queues start to form as thePokémon Coordinators who managed to qualify for the big event make their registrations. Outside the building, adisguisedJessie makes a brief broadcast whileJames,Meowth, andWobbuffet act as her crew. May makes her way towards the counter and presents her fiveRibbons confirming her entry into the tournament. Hundreds of Coordinators anticipate the Grand Festival, preparing theirPokémon with utmost care. Jessie, calling herself Jessadia, finally finishes the broadcast asLilian approaches her and congratulates her on the effort and broadcast.
Meanwhile, May gets a call from her motherCaroline, who tells her that neither she norNorman can make it to the Grand Festival, because they're very busy, but she wishes her luck.Aipom manages to locateAsh and scurries down towards the ground. As the telephone screen shuts off, a scream is heard in the distance while Aipom races across the floor collecting hats. The stack of hats continues to grow in size as Aipom walks towards Ash and turns slightly to the left causing the mountain of hats to fall down crashing onto Ash. While Ash manages to recover from the collision, Aipom hops over and grasps his hat escaping off into the distance.Pikachu races after the escaping Aipom and manages to crash into a tree.Drew notices the chaos brewing in the lobby and directsRoselia to assist in capturing Aipom. Roselia releases an assortment of red blossoms which surround and envelop Aipom as a young woman has herSlowbro use itsPsychic to move Aipom into Ash's arms. Ash removes his hat as Aipom escapes outside of the lobby doors. The young woman introduces herself asSolidad while Brock performs his usual romance ritual to attempt to entice Solidad. Our heroes only sigh as Brock introduces himself taking part in the great profession of Pokémon breeding. However, Solidad easily turns down Brock's advances by saying that she needs to talk to Drew right now (much to Brock's shock and dismay) and Ash, May, Max and Pikachu are shocked at how she was able to turn Brock down easily. Solidad notices Drew a few feet away standing with his Roselia. Drew exits the lobby as Solidad wishes May good luck in the upcoming tournament.
Night falls upon the land as our heroes are situated at table where many other Coordinators enjoy drinks and concessions. Solidad explains to May that she had defeated Drew in his very firstPokémon Contest.Max holds an empty glass as a mysterious man collides with him and gives him a black rose to deliver to May and walks off into the distance. Max interrupts May and Solidad's conversation presenting the rose to May startling her. As May grabs the rose, it explodes leaving May in confusion. A new day arrives, and Lilian officially starts the Grand Festival as magnificent fireworks explode overhead and a spotlight showers overhead of theRibbon Cup. Lilian reveals that the preliminaries of the Kanto Grand Festival will be held on two different stadiums. In one of them, Lilian introduces theusualContestjudges and announces that her older sister,Vivian, came all the way from theHoennregion to serve as a guest judge. In the other stadium, Jessadia works as aContest announcer while three Nurse Joys evaluate the performances.
May and Combusken
The crowd explodes as we ignite into the beginning of the festival with multiple rounds depicting a marvelousRapidash spouting flames around its body and aGoldeen exploding from underneath a pool of water. Other contestants include aVenusaur usingFrenzy Plant to score 77, aTropius scoring 86,Pichu scoring 88 with an electrifyingThunderbolt,Jigglypuff with its marvelous voice claiming an 83,Tyrogue claiming 91, and a deviousSalamence claiming a marvelous 93.
May's turn finally arrives as she explodes onto the stage and sends out herCombusken. May throws the usualfrisbee as Combusken blazes towards the rotating object with its claws dragging into the battlefield and propels into the air, slicing the frisbee withSky Uppercut. Combusken lands gracefully on the ground as the crowd bursts with excitement. Ash,Brock, and Max cheer May on for her first round. Jessadia introduces Solidad and her magnificentLapras. Lapras splashes into the pool creating a wave of water and simultaneously freezes it into place creating a glorious pillar of ice withSheer Cold. Drew finally takes his place in the first round calling upon hisMasquerain. Masquerain begins rotating at a high-speed creating a magnificent gust of wind withSilver Wind to rotate around its body.
Harley finally makes his debut removing the cape and reveals himself dressed exactly as May. Ash falls from his seat with the sight of Harley. May covers her face with the sight of Harley on the screen as he calls upon hisBanette, however Solidad notes that it's just like Harley to pull off such a stunt. Ash is dumbstruck by Harley's antics, while Max remarks that if he didn't know about Harley's past schemes, he would think that Harley has a huge crush on May. Banette displays its marvelousWill-O-Wisp attack as tiny blue flames glow surrounding Banette's body. As Banette gives out its evil laugh, Harley begins dancing as May watches the screen in disgust.
The contestants for the mainPerformance Stage are announced including Solidad, May, Drew, Harley, and 60 other Coordinators. Dusk falls upon our heroes while May feeds Combusken. Solidad praises May's performance, with May returning the favor. After a few seconds, Harley comes running down a pathway, still dressed in his May-centric attire, as our heroes shriek in terror. May is still horrified at Harley's outfit and begins suffering from a "Harley headache", to which he replies that if May is scared now, wait until he wins the competition. As Drew arrives, Harley drops his faux-May personality in favor of his traditional narcissism, stating that he will defeat Drew as well. Aipom manages to snatchAsh's hat while Ash and Pikachu race after her.
The next day, the second round of appeals begins, which will narrow the remaining field of 64 down to the final contestants. Leading off the round is Drew, who calls upon his newest Pokémon,Absol.
The English dub title of this episode is based on the phrase "We hardly knew ya".
For an unknown reason, this episode's Englishtitle card is written inall caps.
This episode begins the three-partKanto Grand Festival arc. During it,Team Rocket does not recite their motto, blast off, or wear their regular uniforms.
There are 270 participants in theGrand Festival, which would mean that there had to have been at least 1,350Contests held throughout theKantoregion.
Although only one Pokémon can be entered in the Appeals Round, aMantine had aRemoraid with it, but it may be there because Remoraid are known to attach themselves to Mantine, which are rarely seen without them.
This marks the first appearance of aTyrogue in the animated series since itsdebut 221 episodes earlier.
The closing picture is the only point of the episode in which Harley is seen in his regular outfit.
This episode marks the final speaking appearance ofCaroline.
WhenMay registers for the Grand Festival and her current party appears on-screen in order of capture,Eevee is listed as being caught betweenCombusken andMunchlax instead of afterSquirtle.
WhenMax dragsBrock away from the table they were sitting at with Solidad, their chairs disappear.
WhileLilian Meridian states that 64 participants will be entered into the second round, only 34 beeps can be heard over the following few shots, and in the shot showing the pictures of the trainers who have qualified, only 24 unique pictures are shown.
At one point, the screens above the stadium briefly read "Grande Festibal".
Dub edits
In the original Japanese version, Harley calls himself "The Bad Angel, Harley" when he reveals his May cosplay. In the English dub, he calls himself "your favorite naughty Coordinator, me".
