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The Adventures In the Orange Islands is season two of the Pokémon Original Series Anime. This season occurs in two regions: Kanto (From Episode 52 to Episode 80) and the Orange Islands (From Episode 81 to Episode 116).
In the digital releases, Adventures in the Orange Islands starts from Episode 81. Those previous episodes (From Episode 52 to Episode 80) were introduced as a part of Pokémon Indigo League, Season one.
But, the Kanto episodes are into Season 2 because of the reschedule the Pokémon anime has after the incident with Episode 38, known as Electric Soldier Porygon; that episode contains repetitive flash colors that caused epilepsy attacks to 685 Japanese kids. After that episode, the Pokémon anime got into a four-month hiatus. When the anime came back to TV, it got a different schedule, a factor that caused some episodes to be rescheduled into Season 1 and 2.
This season and Indigo League were distributed on TV by Kids’ WB! and owned by Warner Bros. The episodes were released on Saturday mornings, starting with Episode 52 (Princess vs. Princess), released on September 4, 1999. The last episode to be released on TV was Episode 105 (Named Charizard Chills), released on September 2, 2000.
Episodes
Actually, this season is only available on Amazon Prime Video. There, the season is divided into five volumes:
- Volume 1: From Episode 52 to Episode 66, Excluding Episodes 54 to 57, and including Snow Way Out!, an episode which was rescheduled because of the incident caused by Electric Soldier Porygon!.
- Volume 2: From Episode 67 to Episode 78.
- Volume 3: From Episode 79 to Episode 91, excluding Episode 90.
- Volume 4: From Episode 92 to Episode 104, excluding Episode 99.
- Volume 5: From Episode 105 to Episode 116.
Episodes 54 to 57 included Todd Snap, a character included in the anime to promote Pokémon Snap. This character was initially named Snap, which caused legal troubles with a Kellogg’s character called Snap, one of the mascots of the Rice Krispies. Snap’s name then was switched to Todd Snap, only to be released on TV while those episodes were totally excluded from the digital releases.
The other excluded episodes were censored, mostly because of showing real guns.
Plot
Warning: From here, there will be spoilers! Be careful and skip this part if you want to see the season entirely!
The season starts with Ash traveling to Cinnabar Island, looking for the Gym to get a battle against Blaine to claim the Volcano Badge. Blaine won the first match, but after the volcano where the secret Blaine’s Gym collapsed, Blaine agreed to do a rematch, a one vs. one match with Magmar against Ash’s Charizard. Charizard won, and Ash claimed the Volcano Badge.
After Cinnabar Island, the last site to visit before the Indigo League was Viridian City to claim the Earth Badge. Here, we can see how Gary gets defeated by a mysterious Gym Leader, none other than Giovanni, the Team Rocket boss. Giovanni had to leave the Gym to attend to issues, while Jesse, James, and Meowth got in charge of the Gym in the meanwhile.
Ash and his friends, in the meanwhile, were looking for Togepi, which got lost before Gary challenged the Gym. Misty heard Togepi’s voice inside the Gym, and they got into it, where Ash, Misty, and Brock saw Gary and his friends lying on the floor, claiming that the Gym was impossible. Team Rocket’s trio came out of the dark to reveal they were in charge of the Gym. After the battle, Ash won the Earth Badge and was able to participate in the Indigo League.
Ash travels to the Indigo Plateau to compete in the Indigo League Conference, along with his friends. The Indigo League Conference starts, and Ash defeats his rivals: Mandi, Pete, and Jeanette. Gary, on the other side, falls in the round of 32 against Melissa.
Ash meets Ritchie, a trainer who also has a Pikachu, and they quickly get to be friends. Ritchie is also a contestant in the Indigo League Conference, and the match-up leads Ash in a battle against Ritchie. Ritchie won the match, and Ash fell in the round of 16. Ritchie later had his quarter-finals battle against Assunta; she won, and Ritchie got the top 8.
We will not know who won the Indigo League Conference, but Assunta got into the Top 3.
After Ash participates in the League, Professor Oak asks Ash to search for the GS Ball in the Orange Islands from Professor Ivy. The GS Ball can’t be sent via PC; that’s why Professor Oak asked Ash to look for it.
After getting in the Orange Islands, Ash decided to challenge the Orange League. In his way, Brock agreed to stick to Professor Ivy as her assistant, and Ash went with Misty and met Tracey, a Pokémon Watcher who joined their group. Tracey isn’t a good trainer, but he went in all the travel supporting Ash through the challenge.
Ash had to challenge Cissy, Danny, Rudy, and Luana; Orange Crew members; and Drake, the Orange Crew Supreme Gym Leader. The challenges of the Orange Crew members are quite different from what Ash has seen in the Indigo League.
Cissy gave Ash the Coral-Eye Badge after she challenged Ash to a Water Gun Match, where her Seadra battled against Ash’s Squirtle. This first part ended in a draw, and Cissy challenged Ash once again in a Pokémon Wave Ride. Cissy used Blastoise while Ash used Lapras. Ash won the race and, therefore, the badge.
Later, Danny challenged Ash to three challenges after they had to climb a mountain. The first challenge was to freeze a geyser’s hot water. Danny and his Nidoqueen won. The second challenge was to carve ice into a sled using three Pokémon. Ash won this round using Charizard. The last challenge was a race down the mountain. Ash and Danny had to restart the race since Team Rocket interfered, stealing Ash’s Pikachu. Ash won the second race and, therefore, the Sea Ruby Badge.
Ash’s third challenge comes from Rudy in a three-round battle. Rudy asked Ash to choose three types, and he decided Electric, Grass, and Water-type.
The first round was Ash’s Pikachu against Rudy’s Electabuzz, and the latter won the match. The second round was Ash’s Bulbasaur against Rudy’s Exeggutor, and Bulbasaur won the match. The last round was Ash’s Squirtle against Rudy’s Starmie. Squirtle won, and Ash got the Spike Shell Badge.
The last challenge was from Luana. This was a double battle, with Luana using Alakazam and Marowak and Ash using Pikachu and Charizard. The match was tough, and both Pikachu and Charizard didn’t want to cooperate, but in the end, they won the battle, and Ash won the Jade Star Badge.
Lastly, Ash had to face Drake, the Orange Crew Supreme Leader. Drake challenged Ash to a Full Battle. Ash had to switch Snorlax since it ate a lot and will sleep for several days; that’s why Ash used a Tauros in this battle. After an intense battle, where Pikachu got a victory against a Ditto who copied it.
Ash’s Squirtle got a hard time defeating Onix, a Gengar messing around with Tauros using a Confuse Ray, Lapras doing a great battle, and all Ash’s team trying to get Dragonite down, Ash finally wins the Winner’s Trophy and the Orange Challenge.
Ash caught Mr. Mime, Lapras, and Snorlax in the journey, while Krabby evolved into Kingler and Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot. Also, Misty caught a Poliwag, and Tracey did the same with a Scyther. Ash decided to set Pidgeot and Lapras free while leaving Snorlax in Oak’s Laboratory at the end of the season.
After Ash’s path in the Orange Islands, he, Brock, Misty, and Tracey decided to get back into Pallet Town, to meet Professor Oak and give the GS Ball. Ash’s new destiny is to meet Johto, where he will find many new Pokémon and exciting people in his path.
FAQs
Question: Where can I see Adventures in the Orange Islands?
Answer: Currently, Adventures in the Orange Islands is only available to see in Amazon Video. It got retired from Netflix.
Question: Are the Orange Islands in Kanto?
Answer: The Orange Archipelago is an entire region from the anime, and it is located south of Kanto and between Kanto and Johto.
Question: What is the GS Ball?
Answer: The GS Ball is a mysterious Poké Ball, probably included as a reference to Gold and Silver, the Gen 2 games. In the games, exactly in Gold and Silver, it works to summon Celebi.
Being this the first time we see Ash winning a tournament, this Season 2 of the Original Series is such a great show to watch. In this season, so many things happened which changes the story, so it is a must if you are watching all the series. This is the best season of the Original Series.
