Journey Through Borders

"Journey Through Borders" is the forty-sixth episode of Butterfly Valley (1998 series) and the twentieth episode of the second season.
==Synopsis==
While Rose, Petunia and their family went for a trip to Tokyo in the human world, the butterfly fairies decide to visit the beetle kingdom as they gather up to watch Princess Butterfly meet the emperor and his daughter, but the trolls follow their path to kidnap the princess…
==Plot==
Rose and Petunia are packing up their bags for their family trip to Tōkyō, Japan. Their mother Carmen checked the twins if they had brought their things for the trip.
The twins and Carmen head outside to pack everything they had to the trunk of the car. Once they've got everything prepared, Bill drives everyone to the Sideview Beach International Airport.
Meanwhile at the Kabutokyō International Airport near Kabutokyō, the capital city of the Kabuto Kingdom, the airplane landed down the strip. The butterfly fairies exit the airplane and are greeted by a beetle fairy tour guide, who speaks Japanese. The butterfly fairies don't understand what she is saying, but she can also speak English, which delighted them.
The butterfly fairies are unaware that the troll guards are following them to kidnap the princess.
In the the Great Troll Palace, the troll guards are watching the others to keep on track as they are trying to locate the princess.
Just outside the Tōkyō International Airport, after checking their bags at the counter, the Hanson family pack them into the trunk of the taxi, which them sends them to the a nearby hotel.
The Hanson family went to the Akihabara district, where they see many people walking across the streets. They head to one of the famous sushi bars in Tōkyō, Haruka no Hana, which is named after Evan's favorite manga series, which he thought it was a comic series.
Meanwhile at Kabutokyō, the butterfly fairies greet several beetle fairies, who transform to fairy forms. They went to the path that leads to the emperor's palace.
The Hanson family soon went to an amusement park in Yomiuri, to watch a stage show. They cheer for a local superhero named Dragonic Man, who is defeating a dinosaur-like monster.
They greet the tour guide, but like the beetle fairy tour guide, she speaks Japanese, although she can also speak English. She shows some cherry blossom trees, pagodas and traditional Japanese houses.
Meanwhile in the Kabutokyō, the butterfly fairies are surrounded by beetle ninjas, but they are saved by a beetle fairy samurai named Musashi. Bluebell recgonized him as he stops the ninjas from his new friends. The butterfly fairies try to thank him, but they don't understand what he is saying. (he speaks Japanese, anyway)
Meanwhile in downtown Tōkyō, the Hanson family decide to rest in a place they've never went before, a capsule hotel. They head to one of the capsule hotels in Shibuya named "Capsule Inn".
Meanwhile in the Great Troll Palace, some of the troll guards are watching the others finding Princess Tatsue. King Boogieman came in and noticed Princess Butterfly at the palace where Emperor Matsuhiko and Princess Tatsue reside.
The butterfly fairies went to the temple as Emperor Matsuhiko and Princess Tatsue greet them. They wave back and sit down as they watch Princess Butterfly bow with Emperor Matsuhiko.
The troll guards sneak in a bush in a community park and captured Princess Tatsue, but she turns out to be a dummy. The trolls then went to one of the cross roads and noticed a beetle fairy businesswoman named Tatsue Katsurata. Thinking that she is Princess Tatsue due to their similarities in both looks and name, they successfully kidnap her and escort to the Great Troll Palace.
The local news stations report on the news of the kidnapping of Tatsue Katsurata. Many beetle fairies gather up to follow the news at the streets.
The Hanson family went to a shopping mall in Harajuku to meet Tsukasa Ishimoto and her family. They greet the Ishimoto family and they head to the resting area.
With their relatives sitting at the opposite side of the bench, Tsukasa presents her own magic flower (a cherry blossom) to Rose and Petunia.
Rose picks up the American magic flower (a magnolia) from her pocket and explains to Tsukasa that it can only transport her and Petunia to the Butterfly Kingdom, then Tsukasa explains to the twins that her magic flower can only transport her to the Kabuto Kingdom.
Tsukasa uses her magic flower to transport Rose, Petunia and herself to Kabutokyō and the twins are befuddled as they are surrounded by beetle fairies. They alert the girls that Tatsue Katsurata is missing.
Rose and Petunia try to greet them, but since the beetle fairies are speaking in Japanese, Tsukasa introduce the twins to them and responded that she and the twins will help them find Tatsue Katsurata. They use the magic flower from Rose's pocket to visit Butterfly Valley, which is the only way to enter the Troll Kingdom.
Meanwhile in the Great Troll Palace, the troll guards brought in Katsurata to King Boogieman and Queen Peregia, who decide to execute her, but they are stopped in time by Rose, Petunia and Tsukasa.
Rose and Petunia fought against the troll guards, while Tsukasa tells King Boogieman and Queen Peregia that Katsurata is an innocent beetle fairy. The trolls realized that she is not Princess Tatsue and King Boogieman scolds the troll guards for kidnapping the wrong Tatsue.
The human girls and Tatsue Katsurata returned to Kabutokyō and everybody are glad that Katsurata was rescued. The beetle fairies thank the girls in Japanese, but the twins don't know what "arigatō" means, then Tsukasa tells them that it means "thank you" in Japanese. The human girls bid farewell to the beetle fairies and butterfly fairies and return to Tōkyō using Tsukasa's magic flower.
Meanwhile in Sideview Beach, the kids are preparing a surprise for Rose and Petunia once they return to the United States from their trip in Tōkyō. Jessa helps the boys hang the "WELCOME HOME" sign.
The Hanson family bid farewell to the Ishimoto family and head back to the capsule hotel, then Tsukasa reminds the twins that she and her family will have a trip to Sideview Beach for a playdate.
The next day, the Ishimoto family bestow special gifts to the Hanson family. Tsukasa gives some goods to Rose and Petunia, while her brother Haruto brought some volumes of Haruka no Hana to Evan. He told Evan that it was a manga series, which surprised him, since they are written in Japanese.
Both families went to Sideview Beach by airplane over the course of two days.
Now back in Sideview Beach, the kids welcome back Rose and Petunia home in Sideview Beach. Rose talked about a trip to Tōkyō with her family, then Tsukasa and her brother Haruto came and the kids greet them, but when Haruto says "konichiwa," they got confused. Tsukasa told them that "konichiwa" is a Japanese greeting.
The kids realize this and the Hanson siblings guide Tsukasa and Haruto around Sideview Beach as the episode ends.
==Trivia==
*The plot for this episode is similar to "The Dragonfly Princess" from the first season, but that episode takes place in China, whereas this episode takes place in Japan.
**Additionally, both episodes involve butterfly fairies gathering up to watch Princess Butterfly meet the monarch of another country, while the trolls attempt to kidnap the princess.
**This somehow upsets Jordyn Long, who wrote "The Dragonfly Princess," as she claimed that Jake Lewis took the episode and rewrote it to an episode about Japanese culture.
**As a result, Lewis apologized to Long and he redid the episode with a more unique plot.
*This is the first part of the two-episode arc involving the Ishimoto family having a trip in Sideview Beach.
*American-born Japanese singer Hikaru Utada guest stars as Princess Tatsue, Tatsue Katsurata and Tsukasa Ishimoto.
*While the tour guide shows the Hanson family some pagodas, Rose whistled to "Ue o muite arukō," a song recorded by Kyū Sakamoto. It is better known outside Japan as "Sukiyaki."
*The title of Haruka no Hana, the manga Evan Hanson likes to read, translates to "flower of the spring fragrance."
*This is the ninth episode to utilize subtitles for viewers who are unable to understand the language a character is speaking.
*This is the third time Rose, Petunia and their foreign friend (in this episode's case, Tsukasa), show their magic flowers to each other, after "It's a Snap" and "The Flower Invasion."
**Additionally, this episode revealed that a magic flower found in a country can only transport a person to that country's animal world counterpart, as explained in a scene where the twins and Tsukasa talk about their magic flowers.
*The broadcaster in the Kabuto Kingdom, KHK (Kabutomushi Hōsō Kyōkai, Beetle Broadcasting Corporation) is a parody of the Japanese broadcaster NHK (Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai, Japan Broadcasting Corporation).
*When the twins intervene the troll guards in the court of the Great Troll Palace, Petunia does the pre-battle pose of the main protagonist of the manga Sailor Moon, even muttering a variation of her catchphrase ("in the name of the butterfly fairies, we'll punish you!").
*This is the third episode of the whole series to feature references to the tokusatsu genre, after "Saving Little Bluebell" and "The Blue Riser."
**In this episode, the fight scenes between the twins and the trolls are reminiscences of those in several tokusatsu shows.
Category:Episodes