Japanese Title: Itomaru! The Great Investigation!!
Original Airdate: November 25th, 1999
US Airdate: November 11th, 2000
The one where... Team Rocket get some class.
Ash and friends reach a new town and hear of three mysterious robbers apparently mimicking the crimes of a legendary master thief. The town rests its hopes in these young Trainers to somehow stop this criminal duo and their Meowth accomplice.
Tropes:
- Advance Notice Crime: One of the Black Arachnid's tactics was to send letters to his victims in advance of robbing them.
- Call-Back: Officer Jenny recognizes our heroes from when they rescued the Totodile at New Bark Town.
- Desperate Object Catch: When all the stolen items fall out of Team Rocket's balloon, our heroes and their Pokémon scramble to catch them.
- Gentleman Thief: Team Rocket is imitating one from Catallia City's history.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: While Ash's other Pokémon take hiding spots they can blend in with, his Charizard opts to stand beside a Blastoise statue and pretend to be part of a fountain.
- Non-Indicative Name: In the dub, the famed thief of the city's past is named "The Black Arachnid", despite having literally nothing to do with spiders of any sort. In the original Japanese, his name is "The Phantom Thief Nekohachi" (being such a major Classy Cat-Burglar that he used a Meowth in his crimes). It's possible the dubbers changed it because this is the Spinarak episode.
- Spiders Are Scary: The Catallia City Officer Jenny uses Spinarak on her force.
- Why Did It Have to Be Spiders?: To be expected, given Misty's long-standing fear of Bug-types.
