"The truth is, I don't like Pokémon."
—May
Japanese Title: A New Land! A New Adventure!!
Original Airdate: November 21, 2002
US Airdate: March 15, 2003 (special airing), November 1, 2003 (in sequence)
Why, yes, Captain Obvious. They are angry.
May sets off for Littleroot Town to get her first Pokémon, around the same time that Ash first arrives in the Hoenn region. In a race against time to save Pikachu, May and Professor Birch get an early look at Team Rocket's danger.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adapted Out: In the games, you have two Player Characters to choose from: Brendan, or May. The one you choose is Norman's child, while the other one is Professor Birch's child. May is established to be Norman's daughter, but Brendan does not appear as Birch’s child and is never mentioned, only appearing as a cameo in later movies.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: May narrates her own introduction.
- Captain Obvious: Professor Birch pointing out that the Poochyena that he stumbled over were angry at him.Professor Birch: (while being chased around a tree by said Poochyena) I'M BRILLIANT!!!
- Drives Like Crazy: Professor Birch has no issue hitting the accelerator when it's clear Pikachu is in trouble.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: May is slightly taller than Ash in this episode, whereas in every episode afterward she’s slightly shorter than him note .
- Establishing Character Moment: May shrugs off the destruction of her bike rather quickly note , showing that she's a rather different character than Misty.
- Exact Words: May tells Mudkip to use water gun, but since she wasn’t specific on which Mudkip should use water gun on, it used it on her instead.
- Expansion Pack Past: Another point to Team Rocket's already complicated résumé was how Jessie has been to Hoenn before.
- Mythology Gag: When a player starts Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, they have to choose one of Professor Birch's Pokémon to fend off a Poochyena.note In this episode, Professor Birch asks May to do the same.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After their Electromagnet scheme to drain Pikachu's Electricity backfires, Team Rocket uses a battery mecha to do the same thing again, except the robot accidentally heals Pikachu of his negative electricity rather than draining him all.
- Not His Sled: As Mythology Gag stated, part of the episode is dedicated to the first battle of Ruby and Sapphire. However, instead of having May choose her starter during that event, she had to make her choice at the lab later. The Mudkip she chose to (try to) save Professor Birch didn't leave her with a good impression, and she picks Torchic instead.
- Red Herring:
- May gets her bike totaled by a stray Thunderbolt. The next morning, she takes one look at the charred remains, and decides to take the loss in stride. A complete 180 compared to her "predecessor", although May still uses the bike as an excuse to travel with Ash.
- When she has to help Professor Birch against the Poochyena, May ends up with Mudkip. But when it comes time to choose one of the starters, she spurns it, saying it wouldn't follow her commands. She ends up picking Torchic, which showed her affection when first called.
- Running Gag: This episode establishes that Pikachu accidentally frying a girl's bike will now be a series tradition.
- Ship Tease: May seems awfully...excited that her plan of guilt-tripping Ash into traveling together worked.
- Sick Episode: Following up on the cliff-hanger of "Hoenn Alone", Pikachu is in a feverish state for most of this episode.
- Uncanny Valley: In-universe, May finds something off-putting about a Treecko's eyes. This, plus an earlier incident with Mudkip, narrowed her choice down to Torchic.
- Your Size May Vary: When standing together outside Birch's lab, May looks slightly taller than Ash. For the rest of the AG saga, they should at least be the same height (or, at least, Ash should be slightly taller).
