Japanese Title: Report 1: Red
Original Airdate: October 2nd, 2013
US Airdate: November 15th, 2013
Professor Oak gives the classic introduction speech from Pokémon Red and Blue, which segues into the equally-iconic battle between Gengar and Nidorino. This is all revealed to be a video Red is watching, but he is interrupted when his mother calls up to him, saying that Professor Oak wants to meet him in the lab. Red excitedly rushes over and is met by his rude neighbor, Blue. The two boys are each given a Pokédex, and are offered one of the Professor's Pokémon in exchange, as had been previously promised. Red chooses Charmander without hesitation, as the little fire Pokémon is perfectly suited to the "passion and energy" behind its new trainer's name. Although Blue can't help but mock Red's reasoning, he still chooses Squirtle in order to have an advantage over Charmander. However, he refuses to battle Red as yet another insult.
While walking along a forest path, Red tries to catch a Pidgey, but his inexperience causes him to fail miserably. Further attempts at catching Pokémon prove more successful, but he draws the ire of a Youngster after trying to catch the other boy's Nidoran. Red reaches Viridian City, where Blue challenges him to a battle; though Red initially refuses the challenge, he quickly changes his mind when Blue calls his confidence and skill into question. Brock watches from the background as Squirtle savagely attacks Charmander. Blue's gloating discourages Red, but Brock later offers some more constructive criticism and motivates the boy to begin challenging Gym Leaders and become a serious battler.
Some time later, Red arrives in Pewter City and hears people talk about how tough the Gym Leader is. He goes to the Gym, but is blocked from entering by a pair of rude trainers. Brock tells the kids off and accepts Red's challenge. Once again, Red's inexperience shows, but Brock's advice eventually helps him figure out how to defeat Geodude. Onix proves to be a tougher opponent, but Charmander is able to defeat it with some help from Metapod's String Shot.
Red leaves the Gym with both a Boulder Badge, and a new understanding of what Pokémon battling is all about. Meanwhile, both Brock and Professor Oak acknowledge that despite Red's flaws, he has great potential.
Tropes
- Fire Is Red: Red chooses Charmander as his starter Pokémon to go along with his meaningful name.
- Idiot Hero: Red starts off as one of these, with actions like attempting catch another trainer's Pokémon without realizing the implication and commanding Charmander to simply go on the offense against Blue's Squirtle with no actual strategy. He begins to grow out of the trope after he takes Brock's advice and criticism to heart.
- Jerkass: Blue manages to be even ruder than his game counterpart.
- Meaningful Name: Red tries to invoke this; his dad gave him the name out of a hope for him to be a passionate person, and Red wants to live up to those wishes.
- Mentor Archetype: Much like his other anime counterpart, Brock is a mentor figure to Red; he teaches him that battles can't be won simply by brute force, and instills in the young boy a resolve to be a truly good trainer.
- Mythology Gag: Several of them, both to the games and the anime.
- The episode opens with Professor Oak giving his famous Welcome to the World of Pokémon speech. This introduction is notable for breaking the Fourth Wall as Oak's introducing the audience to Pokémon rather than Red or Blue.
- Red is first introduced watching television upstairs featuring a Gengar and Nidorino fighting each other in the arena, a nod to Ash's introduction in the first episode.
- Red says the phrase "Science is so amazing," which is said by one of the inhabitants of Pallet Town in the Japanese games, as well as being Ash's future Catchphrase in XY for Clemont's inventions. Unfortunately, the English dub failed to pick that reference up, or otherwise Red would be saying "The Technology is Incredible!"
- Professor Oak calls Bulbasaur a Plant Pokémon as opposed to Grass Pokémon, which is a nod to what Oak said in the original English versions of Red and Blue despite being a mistranslation.
- In the Japanese version, Red considers nicknaming Charmander Sepultra, an actual nickname used for a Charmander seen in the back cover of the Red and Green.
- A female trainer states to Red that he is "light years away from being ready" to challenge Brock, which is a quote used by the Jr. Trainer found in Pewter City.
- Retraux: The beginning and end scenes directly invoke the menus of the original games, Game Boy-style graphics and all.
- Smug Snake: Blue's arrogance leads him to refuse having Red as his first opponent, since an easy victory wouldn't make for a satisfying memory. Later, when he does win against Red, he gloats over his victory.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The Youngster called Red out for trying to catch his Nidoran.
