The Pokémon anime usually takes its sweet time telling the story of one of the games. Where most players can get through a region after 20-some-odd hours of gameplay, Ash takes around three years in real-time. Thus, most of the anime is filler, so it’s a big deal when something eventful happens. When a lot of major events happen all at once, it’s something magical.
Episode 261, “Here’s Lookin’ at You, Elekid,” is a monumental episode for several reasons. Not only did it see the return, debut, and goodbye of several Pokémon and characters, but a major change was made to the production process for the whole series. It’s an unbelievable coincidence that so many of these things could have happened all at once in one episode.
What Big Events Happened in Episode 261?
The biggest change to come out of this episode was its transition to digital animation. Technically, the openings had switched to this style at the start of Season 3. Additionally, a few new flashback scenes for James and his Victreebel were still drawn with cel animation. Regardless, digital animation would become the norm for the anime.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the new animation style was the change in colors. Everything was made to look more vibrant than it ever did on cels. In some cases, this change in colors caused certain characters to look slightly different. Jessie, for example, had her hair changed from crimson to a dark magenta. Anyone who liked the older colors and wants to see them again will have to refer back to older episodes.
The other big change that came with this episode was the release of James’ Victreebel. James was tricked by the Magikarp Salesman into trading it away for a useless Weepinbel. When the Weepinbel evolved into a Victreebel and tried to eat Jessie, she kicked it into the distance. Meanwhile, the Magikarp Salesman, who was similarly dissatisfied with James’ Victreebel, kicked it into the woods. The two abandoned Victreebel met up, fell in love, and wandered off; neither has been seen since. This was essentially the departure of a longtime cast member for the anime. It was also the last time one of James’ Pokémon evolved.
Besides the Magikarp Salesman, this Episode also saw the return of Casey, the rookie Trainer Ash and co. met at the start of their Johto journeys. Since their last encounter, she had evolved her Bayleef into a Meganium. This was also the episode where she caught an Elekid, which was making its official debut in the anime. This was an important catch for her as Elekid evolves into her favorite Pokémon, Electabuzz.
While not much about this episode directly affected Ash, Brock, or Misty, it was an eventful episode nonetheless. It would literally change how fans view the anime forever. This is on top of several miscellaneous events happening all at once, especially the release of Victreebel. Even fans who missed this episode when it came out would have realized that something was different.
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