SM035

Currying Favor and Flavor! (Japanese: カレーなバトル！ラランテスの舞！！ A Beautiful Curry Battle! The Dance of !!) is the 35th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, and the 974th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on July 27, 2017 and in the United States on October 14, 2017.
==Blurb==
Ash wants to get right to his grand trial with Kahuna Olivia, but she reminds him that he has to pass the preliminary trials first. Today, though, she has another plan in mind: sending the students out to gather ingredients for the famous Akala Curry!
Ash and Mallow team up to look for herbs and berries in the forest, and they run into an unexpected challenge: the Totem Pokémon Lurantis! Ash defeats it, earning a Grass-type Z-Crystal—and when he gets back to Olivia, she reveals that the day’s activities were his preliminary trials in disguise. He passed with flying colors, so the grand trial can proceed!
==Plot==
 is ready for his battle against Olivia, but to his astonishment, every time he throws a , it fails to release the Pokémon inside and drops down ineffectively. Wondering what's wrong, Ash picks up one of the Poké Balls, just as it grows and turns into a , which then electrocutes Ash. Ash wakes up panting heavily, drenched in cold sweat, and screams so loudly that it wakes his sleeping classmates. Later, at the breakfast table, Ash declares that he can't wait for his upcoming grand trial against Olivia. However, both and Olivia remind him that he has to clear the island trial first.
Kukui and Olivia inform the students that, as part of their daily curriculum, they will be divided into three teams, provided with maps with some basic information, to fetch all the ingredients that are essential to prepare the island's years-old delicacy: the Akala curry. and are paired, followed by and , and lastly, Ash and . The three items Ash and Mallow are to collect are Mago Berry, Revival Herb and Miracle Seed. Mallow is excited and states that Miracle Seeds are exceedingly rare. As Ash and Mallow begin to leave, Olivia calls Mallow back and shares some secret with her, unbeknownst to Ash.
First, they decide to collect a Mago Berry. According to the map, the tree can be found at a nearby hilltop, which Ash quickly locates. Mallow and Ash venture up the hill, but when Ash wakes the sleeping group of , the angry Fomantis attack with a combined attack, forcing them to retreat. With the group of Fomantis standing guard between themselves and the Mago Berries, Ash decides to send a half-sleepy for the job, who can fly silently to the summit and collect the berry. But the plan proves to be ineffectual, when it falls asleep midway. Seeing no other alternative, Ash and Mallow carefully tiptoe to the summit, but unfortunately get struck by a 's on the way. Ash and Pikachu nearly sneeze, but they manage to hold their breath, comically inflating their cheeks. Mallow and Steenee see this and try to hold in their laughter, also getting comically inflated cheeks. The sound starts to anger the Fomantis and seeing this, the group quickly get on their way to the Mago Berry. Just as they reach the summit, Ash trips over and falls flat on his face. As everyone laughs, all the Fomantis become enraged and fire Leafage and collectively at them. Ash is sent flying, and crashing downhill, but fortunately, with the Mago Berry clasped tightly in his hand.
The next ingredient is a Revival Herb, that can be found at a nearby rocky mound. Although this task initially appears difficult, Pikachu quickly locates the Revival Herbs using his acute sense of smell. With a little effort, Mallow and Ash squeeze themselves inside the narrow grotto and collect the herbs.
The final ingredient is the rare Miracle seed. The group venture off into a cave with multiple tunnels branching off at every juncture. At one point, Ash falls into a pit made by Alolan , who quickly attacks and forces the group out of the tunnel. Ash then finds a whisker of an Alolan Diglett which allows to navigate the right way out while avoiding the Alolan Diglett living in the cave.
Once they leave the cave, the group find themselves amidst a paradise of colorful flowers and lush foliage. Ash and Mallow find a hollow tree stump, inside which, a wide variety of berries are stacked. Digging into the pile, Ash finds the Miracle Seed. But their celebration is interrupted when a colossal Pokémon swats them away with . Rotom identifies it as , the Bloom Sickle Pokémon, but its size tells Ash that it is a Totem Pokémon.
Ash summons , and orders an . The move strikes Lurantis, but it charges up a , and viciously retaliates, sending Litten reeling. When Lurantis charges another Solar Blade, Litten interrupts it with . After another Solar Blade misses, Lurantis calls for an ally, and it turns out to be a , that transforms into its Sunny form after using . The bright sunlight allows Lurantis to use Solar Blade without building up power. Castform further helps by incapacitating Litten with a supereffective . Being outmatched and outnumbered, Ash sends out Rowlet. After a heated skirmish, Rowlet's eventually eliminates Castform from the battle.
With Castform's defeat, the effects of Sunny Day also disappear. Taking advantage of the time taken to unleash Solar Blade, Ash has Litten use , which finally knocks out Lurantis. Mallow revives Castform and Lurantis with some extra leaves of the Revival Herbs, and Ash is awarded a Grassium Z by the Totem Pokémon.
Suddenly, Olivia pops out and congratulates all of them with warm embraces. She reveals that, gathering ingredients for the Akala curry was part of the island trial. Ash suspects Mallow's involvement in Olivia's plan, to which she sheepishly gives a nod. They celebrate Ash's victory, nevertheless.
While relishing the palatable dishes of the Akala curry at the dinner table, Ash is informed by Olivia, that he is now eligible for the grand trial. Olivia adds that she is going to be a formidable challenge. Ash excitingly and enthusiastically contemplates his upcoming hurdle, as the sun sinks below the horizon.
==Major events==
* Ash's Litten performs for the first time.
* clears the trial in Lush Jungle, earning a Grassium Z from the as a reward.
* Ash becomes qualified to challenge Olivia's grand trial.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
* 
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* Nurse Joy
* 
* Olivia
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international), (Japan)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; Alolan form)
* ('s; Alolan form; Snowy)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (multiple; debut)
* (Alolan form; ×3)
* (; debut)
* ()
* 
* (dream)
==Trivia==
* Poké Problem: What is the Totem Pokémon that appears in today's episode?
** Host: 
** Choices: , , , 
** Answer: Lurantis
* , Mallow, and narrate the preview for the next episode.
* The scene Ash battles Olivia in his dream is recycled of when he faces Hala in Trial and Tribulation!, including the background, Ash's position, and 's movements.
* In the scene where Ash wakes up, he is seen wearing the same white T-shirt with a head resembling the Pokémon 20th Anniversary logo on it, that was previously seen in So Long, Sophocles!.
* Ash, Mallow, and read out the Who's That Pokémon? segment in the English dub.
* This episode marks the first appearance of a in the since its cameo in Spontaneous Combusken!, 538 episodes earlier.
===Errors===
* When Ash performs his Z-Move pose, he isn't shown wearing his backpack like in the previous shot. This is likely because the animation was taken from previous episodes where Ash does this pose.
** Additionally, Ash's Z-Ring is shown equipped with the Electrium Z throughout the battle, but it changes into the Normalium Z when Litten uses .
===Dub edits===
* The Japanese text depicting Breakneck Blitz's name is edited out in the English dub.
==In other languages==
035
Category:Episodes written by Shōji Yonemura
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Hiromasa Amano
Category:Episodes directed by Ryō Nakano
Category:Episodes animated by Noriko Itō
Category:Episodes animated by Taki Yatagi
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes focusing on Mallow
Category:Episodes with trials
Category:Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon learns a new move
Category:Episodes in which a main character receives a Z-Crystal
de:Eine geschmackvolle Aufgabe!
es:EP978
fr:SL035
it:SL035
ja:SM編第35話
zh:宝可梦 太阳＆月亮 第35集