A Rollicking Roll… Eyes on the Goal!

JN058   EP1143 パニック！ゴクリン球！！ カモンカムカメカメレース！ Panic! Gokulin Ball!! Come on, Kamukame - The Turtle Race!

First broadcast Japan March 5, 2021 United States September 10, 2021

English themes Opening Journey to Your Heart Ending

Japanese themes Opening １・２・３ Ending ポケモンしりとり（ピカチュウ→ミュウVer.）

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 赤尾でこDeko Akao Storyboard 湯山邦彦Kunihiko Yuyama Assistant director ウヱノ史博Fumihiro Ueno Animation director 篠原隆Takashi Shinohara Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGfClosed Original review thread on BMGf Dub review thread on BMGf This is one of the few episodes storyboarded by previous executive producer and for this series Creative SupervisorKunihiko Yuyama

A Rollicking Roll… / Eyes on the Goal! (Japanese:パニック！ゴクリン球！！ / カモンカムカメカメレース！Panic!Gokulin Ball!! / Come on,Kamukame - The Turtle Race!) is the 58th episode ofPokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,143rd episode of thePokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on March 5, 2021, in Canada on August 14, 2021, and in the United States on September 10, 2021.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

Ash and Goh are curious by nature, so it’s no surprise when Ash sneaks up on Goh during a run. But when he knocks Goh into a bush, a Gulpin gets stuck to Goh’s head! Another Gulpin attaches to Ash’s backside, so our heroes decide it’s time for Professor Cerise’s help. But then a big group of Gulpin end up stuck to our heroes, forming a huge ball that rolls out of control!

Then, Meowth and Wobbuffet reunite with Chewtle, who meets a Turtwig…and both shelled Pokémon want to race! More competitors join, but when all the other Pokémon have to go home for the day, Chewtle wins!

Plot

A Rollicking Roll…

InTeam Rocket's secret base, the evil trio is dozing off. WhenJessie accidentally slapsJames in her sleep, he mistakes it forMeowth having kicked him in his sleep, and lifts him onto theRocket Prize Master's coin slot, before going back to sleep.Pelipper, woken up by this, walks up to the vending machine and decides to give it a try. As the cranking mechanism won't budge, Pelipper bumps the machine, and aPoké Ball comes out, releasing aGulpin. To Pelipper's horror, the machine then starts dispensing Poké Balls uncontrollably, each of them releasing a Gulpin. As the Gulpin start leaving the base, Pelipper does its best to ignore the chaos it's caused.

Meanwhile,Ash andGoh are out jogging, when Goh spots something in a bush. He leans closer to inspect it, when Ash catches up to him and accidentally pushes him down. Goh emerges from the bush with a Gulpin stuck on his head, preventing him from seeing anything. When he touches the Gulpin to feel it, his hand also gets stuck fast on its sticky skin. He and Ash decide to head back to theCerise Laboratory to ask for help fromProfessor Cerise. Just then, Ash notices that another Gulpin has gotten stuck on his rear, and both he andPikachu end up touching it before they can stop themselves.

On their way back to the Cerise Laboratory, Ash notices anAlakazam doing a juggling act and runs towards it, only for him and Goh to be covered by a huge swarm of Gulpin. The Gulpin gather into a ball around them, and they start rolling, with many Pokémon, including the Alakazam, getting stuck together with them. Dirt, branches, and other materials they hit also get stuck on the ball, until Alakazam starts usingPsychic, causing the ball to become airborne. At the Cerise Laboratory, the energy reading from the ball is detected by Professor Cerise andChrysa, who wonder if they've detected a new Pokémon.

The ball eventually hits the side of a building and squishes together enough for Alakazam to pass out from the pressure, resulting in the ball falling back down and resuming rolling aroundVermilion City. To Goh's disbelief, Ash actually starts enjoying the experience. Professor Cerise and Chrysa, meanwhile, start receiving images of the ball fromRen, who's out shopping. As videos of the incident start appearing on the internet, Chrysa rewinds them to find out the cause of it, revealing that Ash and Goh are involved. At the same time, Goh frantically callsChloe and begs for help. Just then, Alakazam regains consciousness, and the ball starts levitating again. As the ball flies over the Cerise Laboratory, Professor Cerise takes Chloe'sRotom Phone. He explains to Goh that the cause to the situation is the Gulpin'sSticky HoldAbility, and tells Goh and Ash to have the Gulpin useGastro Acid to neutralize it. They do as they were told, and the giant ball finally breaks apart, despite Goh mishearing Gastro Acid as "Astro Glasses", freeing everyone who had gotten stuck on or in it.

Safely at the Cerise Laboratory again, Ash and Goh explain everything that happened to Professor Cerise, who thanks them for the data they provided for him. Ash says he enjoyed the experience, and Goh can't help but admit that he kind of did too.

Eyes on the Goal!

Back at Team Rocket's secret base, Meowth andWobbuffet wake up. Before taking Meowth off the Rocket Prize Master, Wobbuffet vends a ball too. When he throws it,Chewtle emerges, and it walks out of the base. Meowth and Wobbuffet follow it, finding out that it's wanting to go play at the park. However, when it approaches the park, aTurtwig appears and starts walking past Chewtle. Angered by this, Chewtle starts speeding up to overtake Turtwig. As they enter the park, Chewtle and Turtwig start bragging at each other about their speed, and end up challenging each other to a race. Meowth is excited and decides to use the Rocket trio's Rotom Phone to record the race, so that he can post it on the internet later. Wobbuffet, meanwhile, runs to the other end of the park to mark the finish line.

At Meowth's signal, the race begins. Unexpectedly, aTorkoal also joins in. However, the Torkoal turns out to be very easily amused by Meowth's commentary, and bursts out laughing, covering the racetrack in thick white smoke. Chewtle and Turtwig turn off from the main path to get out of the smoke cloud and head through a playground, climbing up the stairs of a slide. Turtwig ends up accidentally pushing Chewtle off the stairs, but narrowly manages to save it, before tossing it to the other side of the slide, willingly putting itself at a disadvantage to help its fellow competitor. Next, they arrive at a sandpit, where aTirtouga enters the race, moving swiftly through the sand. However, it ends up going too fast and collides with the edge of the sandpit, taking it out of the race.

As Chewtle and Turtwig make it back to the main path, Turtwig collapses, and Meowth notices that the leaves on its head are wilting. Despite Turtwig insisting that it's not thirsty, Chewtle still usesWater Gun to rehydrate it. Turtwig is thankful, and the race continues. Out of nowhere, multiple other turtle Pokémon also join the race, and Wobbuffet flees in panic to avoid being trampled by them. He ends up tripping and falling down, but just before he can be trampled, an old man appears and tells all the turtle Pokémon it's time to go home. Meowth realizes that this man, theShell Sage, must be theTrainer of all of the Pokémon that joined the race. With Chewtle left as the only competitor, it easily wins, bragging to Meowth that its victory was a certainty from the start.

Major events

For a list of all major events inPokémon Journeys: The Series, please see thetimeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Goh
• Chloe
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Cerise
• Ren
• Chrysa
• Shell Sage
• Trainers

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?:Gulpin

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Mr. Mime (Ash's;Mimey)
• Rotom (Professor Cerise's;Rotom Phone; ×2)
• Magnemite (Ren's;Francois)
• Turtwig (Shell Sage's)
• Torkoal (Shell Sage's)
• Tirtouga (Shell Sage's)
• Squirtle (Shell Sage's)
• Wartortle (Shell Sage's)
• Drednaw (Shell Sage's)
• Grotle (Shell Sage's)
• Torterra (Shell Sage's)
• Carracosta (Shell Sage's)
• Turtonator (Shell Sage's)
• Blastoise (Shell Sage's; ×6)
• Pelipper (Team Rocket)
• Rotom (Team Rocket's;Rotom Phone)
• Chewtle (Team Rocket's)
• Gulpin (Team Rocket's; multiple)
• Alakazam (Trainer's)
• Raticate (Trainer's)
• Clefairy (Trainer's)
• Psyduck (Trainer's)
• Nidoran♀ (Trainer's)
• Nidoran♂ (Trainer's)
• Machoke (Trainer's)
• Ekans (Trainer's)
• Wigglytuff (Trainer's)
• Vulpix (Trainer's)
• Morpeko (anime;Full Belly Mode)
• Snorlax

Trivia

• Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!!:Gulpin
• The English dub was released on theiTunes Store in Australia the day before the episode aired in Canada.
• Wobbuffet replacesPikachu for the second segment'stitle card, which is read byJessie andJames.
• Ash andGoh do not appear in the second segment.
• This is the first episode inPokémon Journeys: The Series in which none ofGoh's Pokémon appear since hecaughtScorbunny inMind-Boggling Dynamax!.
• At the beginning of the episode, Jessie is shown to have a mug with anArbok pattern on it. This is a reference to theArbok she once owned.
• Multiple Gulpin getting stuck together and turning into a ball that gets bigger as it collects Ash, Goh, a variety of Pokémon, leaves, grass, and rocks is a reference to theKatamari Damacy video game franchise.
• The Gulpin that gets attached to Goh's head is referred to as a female in theBraziliandub.
• This episode marks the first appearance of a number ofPokémon species in the main series after long absences:
  • Tirtouga andCarracosta, both of whom last appeared inA Restoration Confrontation! Part 2, 410 episodes earlier.
    • This also marks the first main series appearance of the two since their main series debuts in the aforementioned episode andits first part.
  • Grotle, who last appeared inThe Journalist from Another Region!, 352 episodes earlier.
    • This also marks the first physical appearance of a Grotle in theanimated series other thanthe one that belonged to Ash.
  • Torterra, who last appeared inThe Dream Continues!, 344 episodes earlier.
• This episode marks the first appearance of aTurtonator in the animated series other thanthe one that belongs toKiawe.
• Goh, Ash, Jessie, James, andPikachu narrate the preview for thenext episode.
  • In the preview, Goh says"One morning, when I woke from strange dreams, I found myself transformed into aRillaboom," which is an almost word by word quote of the opening line ofThe Metamorphosis byFranz Kafka ("One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin").

Errors

Dub edits

• In the original version, Goh mishears "Gastro Acid" (いえき) as "Yay". In the Englishdub, he instead mishears it as "Astro Glasses".
• In the original version,Meowth refers to the Pokémon participating in the race as turtle Pokémon. In the English dub, he calls them "Pokémon with shells" instead.

In other languages

This episode article is part ofProject Anime, aBulbapedia project that covers all aspects ofPokémon animation.

• Pokémon Journeys: The Series episodes
• Episodes written by Deko Akao
• Episodes storyboarded by Kunihiko Yuyama
• Episodes directed by Fumihiro Ueno
• Episodes animated by Takashi Shinohara
• Episodes with two segments
• Episodes which aired in Canada before the United States