Love at First Flight (バルビートとイルミーゼ! 愛のダンス!, Barubeat to Illumise! Ai no Dance!?, lit. Barubeat and Illumise! The Dance of Love!) is the 42nd episode of Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation and the 2nd episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire.
Synopsis[]
Japanese[]
- Satoshi-tachi wa Haruka-ko to yobareru mizūmi no hotori ni aru machi e to yattekita. Soko de wa mamonaku okonawareru to iu matsuri ni mukete, Romeo wa Barubeat, Juliet wa Illumise to, sorezore no Pokémon to tomo ni dance no renshū ni hagemuite ita. Tokoro ga Romeo wa Barubeat e no shiji o misu shite shimai, nasakenai sugata o Satoshi-tachi ni misete shimau koto ni... Kikeba Romeo wa Juliet, Barubeat wa Illumise ni sorezore koi o shite iru rashiku, me no mae de wa aite o ishiki suru amari fudan no jitsuryoku ga dasenai no da to iu. Soko de ikkō wa Romeo & Barubeat no tame ni hitohada nugu koto ni suru ga... Hatashite ko no koi no yukue wa? Soshite matsuri de no dance wa utsukushiku mi o musubu no ka!?
- Satoshi-tachi wa Haruka-ko to yobareru mizūmi no hotori ni aru machi e to yattekita. Soko de wa mamonaku okonawareru to iu matsuri ni mukete, Romio wa Barubīto, Jurie wa Irumīze to, sorezore no Pokemon to tomo ni dansu no renshū ni hagemuite ita. Tokoro ga Romio wa Barubīto e no shiji o misu shite shimai, nasakenai sugata o Satoshi-tachi ni misete shimau koto ni... Kikeba Romio wa Jurie, Barubīto wa Irumīze ni sorezore koi o shite iru rashiku, me no mae de wa aite o ishiki suru amari fudan no jitsuryoku ga dasenai no da to iu. Soko de ikkō wa Romio & Barubīto no tame ni hitohada nugu koto ni suru ga... Hatashite ko no koi no yukue wa? Soshite matsuri de no dansu wa utsukushiku mi o musubu no ka!?
- Satoshi and his friends arrive at a town by the lakeside known as Haruka Lake. There, in preparation for a festival that is about to take place, Romeo with Barubeat and Juliet with Illumise are each practicing dances together with their Pokémon. However, Romeo makes a mistake in giving instructions to Barubeat, ending up showing a pitiful side of himself to Satoshi and the others… Upon hearing more, it turns out that Romeo is in love with Juliet, while Barubeat is in love with Illumise. Because they are so conscious of their partners in front of them, they cannot display their true abilities. Seeing this, the group decides to lend a helping hand for the sake of Romeo & Barubeat… What will become of this romance? And will the dance at the festival come to beautiful fruition!?
English[]
Ash and friends are still on their way to Fallarbor Town and stop by Lake May for a rest, where they spot an Illumise and some Volbeat practicing for the May Festival. The Volbeat Trainer, Romeo, is a big klutz, and he causes an accident that sends all of the Pokémon crashing into the water. Ash and Brock send out their Water-type Pokémon to save them.
It turns out that Romeo is in love with the Illumise Trainer, Juliet, and he gets nervous around her. May decides to help him practice confessing how he feels by having Ash dress up as Juliet.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket has Meowth pose as a Volbeat, luring Illumise into a trap. Juliet goes searching for her Pokémon and instead comes across Romeo rehearsing with the kids. Romeo sends all of his Volbeat to track down Juliet's Illumise.
Team Rocket uses Sweet Scent to lure all of the Pokémon into a powerful vacuum, capturing Ash and Pikachu in the process. Pikachu shocks the vacuum to shut it down, and the one free Volbeat uses Quick Attack to destroy it, freeing everyone. The combined Volbeat use Signal Beam to send Team Rocket blasting off again.
Romeo confesses how he feels to Juliet, and they decide to marry. At the May Festival, the Volbeat and Illumise put on a spectacular performance.
Episode plot[]
The heroes have arrived to a lake. Brock thinks they should make a break, an idea to which everyone agrees. Brock reads in his book the lake is named as Lake May, making May flattered. Ash spots a purple Pokémon with a yellow ribbon flying above the lake. A red Pokémon arrives to the purple one, wearing a red ribbon. The Pokémon bow to one another and play a game. Brock identifies the Pokémon to be Illumise and Volbeat, who are actually dancing with one another. Nurse Joy appears and thinks the heroes are here for the Main Festival, where Illumise and Volbeat perform their dance. Joy points at the owners of Illumise and Volbeat, named Juliet and Romeo.
Brock rushes to get to Juliet, but May and Max stop him, as she and Romeo need practice for the Festival. Joy explains the legend states when someone in love sees Illumise and Volbeat dancing, they are blessed with luck. Illumise, along with Juliet, practices, having Illumise use Sweet Scent. Juliet asks Romeo to get Volbeat, but Romeo drops his Poké Balls. Brock is furious, as to why Juliet has a clumsy partner like him. Romeo releases four Volbeat and has them practice with the Volbeat with the red ribbon. The red ribboned Volbeat follows Illumise, so Romeo tries to use his stick to gain his attention. However, Romeo drops his stick, causing the Volbeat to descend down, but they collide with Illumise and fall into the lake. Romeo approaches Juliet, who accidentally bumps into Romeo, who falls into the water, while Juliet dives in to search for Illumise. To save them Ash sends Corphish and Brock his Lotad and Mudkip to help. Ash and Brock dive in to help.
While Romeo hangs onto Juliet, Ash, Brock, Corphish, Lotad and Mudkip go to help Volbeat and Illumise to resurface. Mudkip sees Illumise, with her ribbon shining. After some time, everybody is on the deck, so Nurse Joy advises Romeo and Juliet to come to the Pokémon Center to have their Pokémon go through a check up. Romeo thanks Ash for assistance, who introduces himself with his friends. Romeo wishes to be energetic as the heroes are, but hurts himself on Corphish's horns and accidentally falls back in water. Team Rocket spies on the twerps, making Jessie think she'll be lucky to see Illumise and Volbeat dance, thinking about her imaginary lover. Meowth claims the boss will be amused when he sees the dance show of Illumise and Volbeat. Seeing this could benefit them with promotions, Team Rocket decides to capture these Pokémon.
Romeo's Pokémon takes back his Pokémon, but he thinks the show will be a disaster. The heroes propose to help him, so he accepts the offer. Romeo begins training Volbeat, so they make different kinds of formations. The heroes supports Romeo, but Romeo warns he messes up when he and Volbeat are with Juliet and Illumise. He states the leader of the Volbeat, Beat, gets nervous when he sees Illumise. May asks how does Romeo feel when he is near Juliet, he begins to act nervous and becomes clumsy. Ash advises Romeo to go to hospital to cure this illness, but May claims there is no hospital that can cure Romeo, for he is in love. May points out Romeo is in love with Juliet and Beat is in love with Illumise. Romeo claims he and Juliet are close since they were children, but May explains even old friends can fall in love. May blushes by the fact she can help Romeo about his love problem. Max is not pleased, since May is into this stuff. May has an idea and asks a favor of Ash.
During the night, Romeo appears behind Juliet and tries to tell her she loves him. Romeo is too stressed, but May points out all that stress would be gone if he admits his love. Romeo wonders what if Juliet refuses to love Romeo, making May think he'll be dumped. Ash, who is actually dressed as Juliet, is impatient, but May calms him down, pointing out with his help, they will see the dance of Illumise and Volbeat at the lake. Brock steps in and shows how he would do. He gives roses to Ash, claiming his love for "Juliet" is much more than he can bear and begins to go after him, but Ash runs away from Brock. Meanwhile, Juliet wonders what is going with Romeo and remembers when Juliet asked if Romeo would marry her, when Romeo agree. Illumise and Juliet see a spark of light, believing it is a Volbeat. In truth, Jessie and James, from their balloon, have Meowth disguised as a Volbeat, who swings the rope. Illumise arrives to Meowth and James catches her with a net. Juliet begins to wonder what happened to her. Meanwhile, Romeo practices the romantic speech with Ash. May scolds him and tells him to speak up and say "I love you" than "I like you". Juliet overhears the conversation and when Brock demonstrates, he finds her.
Juliet approaches the heroes and asks if the Volbeat on the lake was Romeo's. Romeo denies, making Juliet scared, as her Illumise disappeared with the Volbeat. Brock promises to find Illumise, even if he has no clue where to start. Instead, Romeo has Volbeat search the area and track Illumise's scent. The Volbeat go up, so the heroes need to climb the cliff. Ash and Romeo climb up and see Jessie and James dressed as Volbeat and Illumise. Team Rocket goes into the balloon and a hose sucks all the Volbeat inside. Team Rocket powers up the machine, making even Pikachu and Ash get sucked, though they do not enter the container. Beat uses Quick Attack on Illumise's cage, setting her free, but the hose sucks Pikachu and Ash. The hose is about to suck the Illumise and Volbeat, but Pikachu's Thunderbolt disables it. Volbeat uses Double Edge, destroying the container and setting Volbeat, Ash and Pikachu free, who are dizzy from the spinning inside.
Jessie sends Seviper and attacks Volbeat, but Illumise uses Sweet Scent to attract the Volbeat to her, causing Seviper to miss. Seviper makes another attack, but Volbeat use Signal Beam, blasting Team Rocket away. Illumise kisses Beat, while Romeo confesses to Juliet he loves her. Brock tries to impress Juliet by giving her flowers, but Juliet replies she likes Romeo. While Juliet reminds Romeo of his promise to marry her (to which Romeo accepts), Brock is very sad that Juliet didn't choose him. The Festival starts, with Illumise and Volbeat doing their performance and using Tail Glow. May claims the power of love prevailed today, claiming Ash will understand this when he is older.
Debuts[]
Character[]
Pokémon[]
Move[]
Trivia[]
- "Ohkido-hakase no Pokémon Kōza": Mass Recruitment for Mantine ("AG050"), Misdreavus ("AG051"), Meganium ("AG052"), Quilava ("AG054")
- "Pokémon Trainer's Choice":
- Question: "Trainers, which Pokémon would be most effective against Mudkip?"
- Choices: Roselia, Plusle, Torchic
- Answer: Plusle
- While this Trainer's Choice is correct in establishing that Plusle is effective against Mudkip, Roselia, being a Grass type, is also just as effective, if not more due to Mudkip, while not a Ground-type yet, commonly carrying Ground-type moves.
- The English dub title is based on the phrase "Love at first sight".
- For reasons unknown, this episode was pulled over and aired on a later date in the English dub.
- This is the last episode where Megan Hollingshead provides the English dub voice of Nurse Joy until 2020.
- Romeo and Juliet are based on the characters of the same names from William Shakespeare's titular tragic love story, which has been adapted into movie form various times over the years; one of its most famous being 1961's West Side Story.
- This episode marks the second time that Ash has cross-dressed. He has cross-dressed before in "Pokémon Scent-sation!", and later on in "Tanks for the Memories!", "Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige!", and "Real Life…Inquire Within!". In this episode's case, Brock falls madly in love with Ash when he is dressed as Juliet, which hasn't happened before or since.
- This is probably because the first time, he was dressed as a girl too young for Brock to fall in love with; the next time Ash would cross-dress, Brock doesn't witness the event.
Notes[]
References[]
- ^ (n.d.) . "Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation | Amazon Prime Video | Amazon.co.jp". From Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation | Amazon.co.jp. Archived from the original on June 23, 2025.
- ^ (n.d.) . "Broadcast list | TV Tokyo (tv-tokyo.co.jp)". From ポケットモンスター ADVANCED GENERATION | TV Tokyo. Archived from the original on December 14, 2025.
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| Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire | ||