"Where to?!"
"Farther than I'd like. Quite a bit farther."
"Farther than I'd like. Quite a bit farther."
—Sophocles and his Dad, whose Melodrama led to the misunderstanding
Japanese Title: Farewell, Maamane!!
Original Airdate: May 11, 2017
US Airdate: August 5, 2017
Who's taking the news harder: Sophocles, or Togedemaru?
A misunderstanding leads Sophocles to telling his classmates he is moving away from Alola, when it later turns out his family is only renting a house down the street so their roof can be repaired. He feels terrible for having misled his classmates, and is scared to tell them the truth. But some positive may come out of the ordeal.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Curbstomp Battle: Togedemaru again shows her deceptive prowess when she rather quickly captures Charjabug for Sophocles, absorbing its electricity for a very powerful Zing Zap.
- Empathy Pet: Inverted when Sophocles breaks the news of the move to Togedemaru. She starts crying, and he follows shortly thereafter. Played Straight at the end when he reveals the truth to his classmates, as he starts crying first (though she doesn't know either, so it's not for the same reason).
- End-of-Episode Silliness:
- At the end of both edits of the episode in particular, Togedemaru, realising she's staying with Pikachu after all, goes into a happy electric fit, Zing Zap-shocking everyone around her.
- In the Japanese Poke-problem epilogue, Sophocles puts Charjabug in Togedemaru's hamster wheel. It doesn't respond to a command to run, and only moves when commanded to walk instead.
- Funny Background Event: While RotomDex is helping Ash think of a going-away present for Sophocles, Pikachu is chewing on Ash's socks.
- Imagine Spot: Sophocles imagines his friends would all shun him if he told the truth. Of course, this fear turned out to be completely unfounded, as they are relieved and overjoyed that Sophocles is staying. Sophocles even gets to keep Charjabug.
- Imagine Spotting: At the very beginning, when Sophocles gets a Growling Gut, he imagines food, and Togedemaru reaches for his thought bubble.
- It Was a Gift: Ash gives Sophocles a Charjabug to catch.
- The Moving Experience: The episode's plot.
- Ocular Gushers: When Sophocles breaks the news to Togedemaru, she starts sobbing. He follows shortly thereafter. He also gets these when he breaks the truth that he's not really moving to the other twerps at the end.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Togedemaru crying and rolling into Pikachu during an activity was odd enough, but Sophocles' other behavior the day after he found out led the classmates to follow him and ask what's going on. He finally fesses up about having to move.
- Poor Communication Kills: When he first told Sophocles about the move, his father was rather melodramatic about it. Sophocles assumed he meant they were moving away, and ran off to his lab before he could finish. It was the next evening, after he had told his classmates he was leaving, that Sophocles found out they were only moving a few houses down the street for roof repairs. He felt he couldn't set his classmates, or even Togedemaru, straight after this.
- Shipper on Deck: Sophocles frames breaking the news both times to Togedemaru in terms of her and Pikachu being together (or not).
- Shock and Awe: When Ash tries to corral a Charjabug for Sophocles, he gets electrocuted.
- The World Is Just Awesome: Kiawe and Lana both give Sophocles priceless experiences at their native areas of Alola. While the first one is wholly heartfelt, the second one came after Sophocles learned the truth of the "move", and he was really beginning to feel guilty.
