Pokémon
Just Waiting on a Friend
TV Flash files “Just Waiting on a Friend” as hour 234 of 1220 in the TV Flash guide — Pokémon (1998–present (U.S.)) on Kids' WB/Syndication, season 5, episode 23, aired 2002-09-26, 22 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E23: listed hour 234 of 1220 in the Pokémon guide, hour 23 of 65 in season 5. It aired 2002-09-26 (22 min). The listed hour before it is “Dues and Don'ts!” (S05E22). Next is “A Tyrogue Full of Trouble” (S05E24). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
As they journey towards Mahogany Town, Ash and friends stop in a house for the night. When they arrive, they discover that there's a girl named Lakoko who owns it and a Ninetales. Brock instantly falls in love with her. Strangely, she likes him too. Brock says that he wants to marry her and she agrees that she wants to marry him. He is about to hug her but actually goes through her. Ash and Misty get scared and as they get suspicious, a fog appears and Ninetales Fire Blasts them out of the house. Meanwhile, Team Rocket tries to sneak into the house but they run into some booby traps. Ash and Misty sneak in and find that there's an old picture of Brock in the house. There's also a diary written by Lakoko that is over 200 years old...
Viewer FAQ
Where does Just Waiting on a Friend sit in the Pokémon guide?
S05E23 is listed hour 234 of 1220 — hour 23 of 65 in season 5, season 5 episode 23.
When did Pokémon S05E23 air?
Just Waiting on a Friend aired 2002-09-26 and is listed at 22 minutes.
Do I need the games first?
The TV series is one engine with the games and cards, not a homework prerequisite. U.S. breakthrough is 1998 anime syndication as childhood OS.
In the series
Why this series still plays
A ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, and a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Anime lands in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards — catch, train, argue about types. Kids’ TV as collection ritual, gym-badge serialization, and the rare cartoon that still prints money because the adventure never quite finishes.
The work, first: a young trainer, a yellow mouse, a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Based on Game Freak/Nintendo games, the anime's U.S. TV breakthrough in 1998 (Kids' WB and syndication) detonated a multi-platform kids' empire: games, cards, films, toys, one engine. Satoshi Tajiri and Kunihiko Yuyama's world turned anime into mainstream American children's programming. Rica Matsumoto and Veronica Taylor as Ash across languages; Ikue Otani's Pikachu. Catch, train, argue about…
Filed against
- Rica Matsumoto as Ash Ketchum (JP)
Rica Matsumoto voices Ash Ketchum on Pokémon — the ten-year-old whose globetrotting checklist became a childhood operating system in Japanese, then a syndication engine abroad. Catch, train, argue about types. TV Flash files her as 1990s…
- Veronica Taylor as Ash Ketchum (US early)
Veronica Taylor was early U.S. Ash Ketchum on Pokémon — a ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Anime landed in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards:…
- Ikue Otani as Pikachu
Ikue Otani voiced Pikachu as a childhood operating system — a ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, anime landing in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards. Catch, train, argue about types. TV Flash files her as 1990s kids-TV…