Ghost Encounters of the Pirate Kind is the fourteenth episode of Season 3 and the sixty-second overall episode of the Monster Rancher anime series. It aired in Japan on July 8, 2001.
Synopsis[]
Needing to travel across the ocean again, the gang reencounters Captain Horn, who lost The Jolly Roger mysteriously one night. A legend of a phantom ship in these parts of the ocean becomes real when the Searchers and Horn find it right in front of them, filled with greedy Ghosts that want to take all the gold and treasures within.
Full Recap[]
The Searchers continue their journey and find the ocean in their way once more. On the other side, they'll find Kawrea, their next destination. Suezo excitedly says that they must find a boat, but Golem immediately remembers his phobia of the ocean. Genki comforts him, saying that they'll find a boat that's big enough to take all of them aboard, including Golem, without sinking. He hesitantly agrees to these terms and Genki encourages everyone to keep walking to find their next mean of transport, though Golem can't feel as happy as everyone else. Behind some trees a few meters away, a couple of Zuums that were spying on them leave to report their findings to MumMew.
At Durahan's hideout, MumMew reads a paper about a blue corset that promises its bearer a thinner silhouette after being worn for three days straight, using two crudely exaggerated before and after pictures of a brown MumMew as model. Already wearing hers, she turns around to ask Gobi if he's sure about this, saying that one doesn't realize they've been ripped off until it's too late. Gobi flinches at this; she asks whether he checked its legitimacy before buying it and he nervously affirms it. A second later, the corset breaks, comes out flying directly at Gobi and bounces off back at MumMew, hitting her face, making her fall backwards. She gets up with a bloody nose and enraged, blaming Gobi for this defective thing, as he sweats in fear. Durahan's doors open to reveal him and Poison leaning against one of the diagonal cables, as she slanders MumMew, saying that this won't make any differences in her appearance. She and Gobi face the general and kneel before him, informing him that the Searchers have been located. He asks where that is, and she replies that they're looking for a boat to take them to Kawrea. He tells her that they must hurry, if that's the case, and MumMew lets him know that she's already sent some men their way. Poison approaches her, mocking her way of pretending to be useful despite wasting a lot of time (like with the fake corset) and, in revenge MumMew puts it back on just so it'll get shot directly at the Pixie's face, knocking her out. The Mew assures Durahan that, when they're at the sea, they'll be caught without fail. Choosing to trust her confidence, the General allows this, laughing evilly.
Drunk off "juice". At a saloon.
Back with the Searchers, they keep looking for a ride in a nearly deserted town, before they overhear a conversation inside a bar. A client keeps asking the bartender for more, but he refuses to serve him because he's out of money. The client, who turns out to be captain Horn, insists, wanting to get his glass filled once more, with the excuse that they're both men of the sea and he should feel compassion for him, as he waves his glass in front of his face. The bartender, sick with his behaviour, grabs him from the tongue and the horn, asking how he could get drunk just on juice. Horn gets flung out of the bar, landing on the ground right in front of the Searchers' feet. He gets up, complaining about this treatment, and Genki calls his name in disbelief of the state he's in.
He seems to remember... but then doesn't.
Horn, clearly drunk, approaches them, claiming not to know who they are and disliking the kid's friendly attitude. When he's standing right in front of them, Genki asks if he remembers them, and he seems to recognize them, but then doesn't, disappointing everyone. Holly steps forward, asking if he's truly forgotten about them, to which he immediately gets closer, wraps his tonge around her back and assures her that he'd never forget about her. He asks her for a kiss to celebrate their reunion and she struggles to get away from him as he tries to force a kiss, but Suezo hits him with a frying pan, leaving a big lump on his head. Horn rubs his wound as Suezo tells him that he surely remembers him as well. Horn gets up, laughing and acting like he does, but he calls Suezo an altered version of his name (Tomezo in Japanese, Eyezo in English), earning some tongue slaps from him. When he gets away from these hits, Hare steps closer to him and tells him that they found him just in time. Tiger says that they can stop looking for a boat now, and Genki asks Horn if he'll let them on his ship again, Hare promising him a good reward for it.
Nothing rivals some foamy "juice".
The captain starts sweating as he stutters before disclosing that his ship was stolen, shocking everyone. When asked who did it, he claims not to know and then elaborates on the night of its disappearance. He tells them that he'll never forget how he was resting on a deserted island with his Rockies. It's shown that they were inside a cave, giving a toast, each with a mug filled with foamy "juice" and a platter with lots of meat in the center. The next morning when they woke up and came out, the ship was gone. Hare says that it was no wonder it got stolen, since there was no one on board. Suezo asks if he got it back, but Horn gets angry, saying that if he had, he wouldn't be wasting time there. The Searchers, seeing how the situation was, decided to turn around and walk away, saying goodbye to Horn. He gets upset, asking how they could leave him knowing what happened to him, and they simply state that they have no use for a pirate without a ship and that they're in a hurry to get to Kawrea. As they keep walking, Horn hates being underestimated and whispers confidently that he has another ship they could use. Suezo quickly returns to his side, asking him to prove it, and so does he.
"Horn the Second".
Despite everything, it could fit them all without sinking due to their combined weigths.
His ship actually turns out to be a small raft with a pole to support a tiny pirate flag like that of The Jolly Roger and a golden fish figure on top. The Searchers are severely underwhelmed to see it, but Horn calls it a "fabulous, unrivaled fighting ship", named Horn the Second. Hare doubts that it'd be able to carry all of them at once, but Horn tells them not to be shy and to get on board, tackling them all into it by surprise. The group lands on the raft and Golem quickly secures a spot around the mast, shivering with fear. Genki wonders what they should do, Hare hesitantly notes that it does float with them on board, and Holly tells them that taking this would be faster than looking for another ship, though Suezo disagrees. Captain Horn then happily sees that they've made up their minds and joins them to set sail towards Kawrea.
Now moving across the sea, Horn feels joy for being out to sea again after a long time, and claiming to love the ocean. The Searchers are all sitting on the edges of the ship, rowing to keep it moving. Hare notes that it'll get dark soon so they must hurry, and tells Tiger to work harder, only annoying him as he can only help so much with his paws. At night, the Searchers, especially Genki, Mocchi and Suezo, are exhausted after so much rowing. Horn scolds the latter, telling him to use his time to row instead of resting, though he immediately turns to a tired Holly, telling her to take a break so they can stargaze and relax together. She claims not to be tired to avoid this and resumes her rowing, disappointing him. When Genki complains about how tired he is, Horn tells him not to worry because they'll get to Kawrea in three days, making everyone fall off their seats. Suezo calls Horn an idiot, saying that that's too long, and the captain only screams at him not to yell. Then he tells the Searchers to just do as he says, because he knows more than them about the dangers of this part of the ocean. Golem interrupts to say that it was dangerous for him from the start and Horn tells them to listen carefully to him as he begins to tell a story about a thick, glowing fog appearing at night in those parts, followed by a weird, laughing voice and a huge ghost ship appearing from the fog. As he adds every detail, it comes true behind him, and the group quivers with fear seeing all these things. He finishes it off saying that they sink everyone who's out at sea. They all run away from where Horn is standing and he laughs at their fear, calling them newbs for falling for all that he had just made up, right before something hits the raft.
He falls forward and only then stands up and turns around to see that the ship from his story is right in front of him. Horn starts rowing furiously to get them away from there, but Holly notices that its figurehead on the bow looks familiar. Horn recognizes it as The Jolly Roger and a rope ladder falls from its deck for them. The Searchers wonder if there's someone on board who wants them to get on as well. Suezo fears that it might be a ghost, but Horn bravely starts climbing the ladder, telling them that after finally finding his ship, he must find whoever stole it and beat them up. The others aren't so sure about this risk, but Tiger is the first to follow Horn, saying that this raft wouldn't have lasted three days and that they stand a better chance of reaching Kawrea on this bigger ship.
What's a good ghost ship without tattered veils?
Once they're all aboard, Horn complains about the precarious state his ship is in and Suezo is creeped out, looking to return to the raft instead. Horn ignores him and ventures into the ship to investigate, telling the rest to follow him. Golem prefers to stay hugging the mast again and the others, but Suezo, quickly run to go after the captain; Suezo ends up joining them as well. Horn kicks open a door, looking for the perpetrators of this crime, but neither him nor the Searchers can see anyone there. Before leaving to check out other rooms, he laments the poor state of his favourite spittoon, lying in the floor. They enter several rooms, but they're all uninhabitated. Tiger notes that every time they open a door, the presence he feels disappears; everyone gets terrified to learn this, with Suezo even suggesting that it's ghosts. Horn takes this chance to wrap his tongue around Holly, asking her to hold him tightly since he's very scared, but Suezo isn't having any of that and he quickly grabs him and tosses the captain to the other side of the room.
He yells at Suezo for doing this but then shifts his focus to a purple top hat placed on the table, wondering if that was always there. One second later, a skull-like ghost comes out, booing and scaring everyone into running away from there. The hat ascends and out of it comes a muscular white ghost that extends his arm to snatch Holly's satchel with the Disc stone, but she holds it firmly, preventing him from taking it, and Tiger takes this chance to fire a lightning attack at the ghost, only to make it break into several smaller ghosts, each with a top hat and a baddie crest.
Suezo recognizes them not as actual spirits, but monsters named Ghost. The Ghosts then try to attack and Hare and Tiger use a Dragon Kick and Lightning to stop them, but they become invisible and ultimately come out unharmed. When Genki recognizes that Mocchi will attempt an attack too, he tries to stop him but he doesn't listen. Mocchi jumps to use his Cherry Blossom Blizzard, but the room isn't big enough and he ends up hitting his head against the roof, losing control of his attack as the blizzard catches his allies instead. Only when the blizzard ends, they're released, though they end up being flung against the walls around them. Holly notices her bag floating in the air and Genki runs to get it, but it falls through a long hole in the floor to the one below. Horn comments that the storage hold is below, and there's no way out of there, so they all hurry to get there.
When they do, they find the Ghosts all in one place, holding Holly's bag. Genki tells them to hand over the Disc Stone, but they let a trap fall over them. The Ghosts leave as the Searchers and Horn are left immobilized, tied up. Tiger complains about this and Hare mocks him, so they both start rolling in circles as Tiger tries to reach Hare to eat him and he tries to escape. Genki wonders how they'll get out of there before he tells Suezo and Horn to do their thing. Horn confidently bounces to land next to Holly, telling her that he'll use his horn to free her, but as he rolls, his horn pierces the floor tiles, getting him stuck. Genki, midly annoyed, tells him that he meant he should use his Teleport technique, and he laughs nervously before doing so. Now free, he uses his horn more accurately this time to cut the rope around Holly. Right after that, he wraps his tonge around her waist, trying to bring her closer for a kiss, but she pushes him away from her, telling him not now, that he has to get his ship back first.
After setting everyone free, Horn commands them to go and attack them, but Tiger stops him, saying that barging in there without a plan would make them end up in the same position as before. Hare then wishes they knew their weak point and Suezo claims to know, surprising everyone. He explains that he heard about it once, that there's a secret attack that will easily get them: something only Suezos can do. They all try to guess what it is: Tongue Slap, Tail Attack, Teleport, but none of those. When asked to just tell them, Suezo confesses that he can't remember what it is, earning a scolding from captain Horn. Hare, away from the fight between these Suezos, tells the others that they'll have to keep a defensive stance, find their weakness themselves and come up with a plan afterwards. Horn joins them, saying that he and Suezo will take them out, and the others agree. Genki tells Suezo to forget about their weak spot, and as he tries to remember again, Horn interrupts him by extending his tongue around his back. When Suezo asks, annoyedly, what he's doing, the captain tells him that, since he's not good at it, he'll teleport the two of them.
The two Suezos find themselves in another room with several full wooden creates. Suezo wonders where they are, and seeing that there's a lot of food in them, asks if it's the ship's pantry. Horn isn't sure, since he doesn't remember loading these things on board. Suezo then connects the dots and tells the captain that the Ghosts made his ship pose as a ghost ship, using it to steal from other ships, originating the rumours that he had told the Searchers earlier that night. Horn, incensed due to this realization, promises to stop them, and teleports himself and Suezo to the crow's nest. From there, they see that the Ghosts have tied Golem right where he was, further immobilizing him, and are surrounding him as they laugh. Suezo sees this and then turns around, discovering that the Ghosts are transporting several gold-filled chests from inside the ship to the deck. Horn sees this, crying about his treasure but Suezo shushes him, as they lay these coffers over a net extended on the floor. Horn gets even angrier at them for stealing from "honest pirates".
One of the Ghosts, wearing Holly's satchel over his chest and a yellow mask, steps forward, giving orders to the others. Suezo recognizes him as their boss. The captain looks away to watch as a couple of ghosts tie the helm. He notes that the ship will only go straight that way and suddenly remembers that in that direction there's a reef, making the horrible realization of what they intend to do with The Jolly Roger: ram it into the reef so they all sink together with it while they escape with the Disc Stone and the loot. Horn rushes to jump down and try to stop them, but Suezo grabs his horn, stopping him. When Horn complains because they only have 30 minutes before the disaster, Suezo reminds him that they're outnumbered and can't win. Suezo proposes bringing the others to help them with this battle, and Horn takes a moment to think and ends up agreeing. Suezo, still holding the captain, tries to teleport them back to where they left the others, but takes both of them to the sea, far away from the ship. They almost drown before Horn curses at him and teleports them to where they were meant to go.
Back with the rest of the group, Horn warns them of what will happen, earning concerned gasps from the humans. He tells them that the ship will break apart and they'll drown, as he pushes Suezo's chest down to get out the excess of water he swallowed. The Searchers decide to go out and face them, and they promptly leave that room after Tiger gets rid of the blocking door with a Lightning, much to Horn's displeasure.
Above them, the Ghosts have their net full of Horn's treasures, and their boss points towards a small boat attached to the ship, that they'll use to take the chests with them. Tiger fires a Lightning at him, stopping the Ghosts from going any further with that net. When the boss hits the wall behind him as result, he loses his hat and the satchel, and the others leave the treasures on the floor. Genki tells Hare, who's carrying Holly on his back, to help Golem, and so he does. He jumps a high distance to get there and Holly uses her fahter's dagger to free him while Genki retrieves the disc. The Ghosts surround Golem, Hare and Holly and he's too scared of the sea around them to fight them. Tiger tries to tackle a group of Ghosts, but they become invisible and intangible. They then charge at Genki and Mocchi, though they manage to dodge them. Mocchi tries to hit them and so does Hare, but it's no use. Genki climbs up the ropes on the ship only to be harassed by Ghosts while Tiger defies their boss. The Ghost takes out a magic baton from his hat, makes it spin and rests over it as a cane. Tiger gets irritated and jumps up high to use his lightning attack, but it misses. Ghost then appears behind him, and though he hopped away from him, an Energy Shot fired from his baton reaches Tiger, electrifying him. Genki reaches the crow's nest only to find a purple hat lying there. Its owner uses Astonishment to make a huge ghost skull-like head come out, immensely frightening the kid, making him lose the disc to them again before falling. Luckily, Golem forgets about his fear for a moment to rush and catch him, but he ends up falling and breaking part of the deck's surface.
Horn and Suezo are now facing the helm that's being guarded by three Ghosts, and the captain comments that they'll die unless they cut the ropes forcing the ship to go straight. Suezo acknoledges this and tries his Tail Attack, but it can't harm them, hurting himself instead. Horn charges at them for a Horn Attack, but misses as well, landing with his horn between Suezo's upper and lower teeth. A group of eight Ghosts face them and start dancing with their batons, confusing the Suezos, before using Necromancy on them, firing several skull-like ghosts at them, shocking them. Suezo, lying down in pain, recognizes their strength, while Horn is seen limping and babbling. Somehow, this triggers the memory of what Ghosts' weakness was, and Suezo teleports away just in time to avoid another Necromancy attack, though he doesn't take Horn with him and he gets hit. He appears in a different room and feels relieved to see that it worked this time.
Mocchi and the others keep trying to defeat the Ghosts but can only tire themselves, as it's all fruitless. All of sudden, Suezo's voice can be heard as he talks through the ship's megaphone, and he asks the baddies if they can hear him. He warns them that he's remembered what their weak point is, telling them to prepare for his secret weapon: his singing.
200% as effective as normal attacks.
Damaging the ears of everyone around him.
He starts singing so atrociously that it stuns and hurts not only the Ghosts but also everyone else. Friends and foes alike suffer with the way this monster sings. It's horrible enough to make Captain Horn recover consciousness, waking up confused to see so many baddies lying flat on the deck. Holly tells him that their weakness is Suezo's singing. Horn, unable to stand this any longer, teleports to where he is, landing directly on his head and stopping him, asking what he's doing to his ship. Suezo complains about being interrupted but Horn scolds him, saying that his brain will rot if he keeps at it, taking his turn to sing now. The Ghosts, barely collecting themselves back up, quiver with fear hearing this, and rightfully so, because the captain's singing isn't to their liking either. The Ghosts flee all at once and Suezo criticizes Horn, forcing him to shut up, but he doesn't want to, claiming to have a lot of songs in him. Suezo proposes doing a duet, calling him "old friend" and he agrees, but the Searchers arrive just in time to stop both of them. Holly informs them that the baddies are gone, and the two Suezos shyly ask to be let singing a bit longer, but they all in unison reject that. Disappointed and midly scared about their annoyance, the Suezos suddenly think that they were forgetting something, before realizing, as they get dangerously close to the reef Horn saw earlier, that they were supposed to cut the ropes tying the helm in place.
The Jolly Roger sails the seas spook-free once more.
Sailing the sea once more, without any unwanted visitors, Horn rejoices having his ship and his crew back. A Rocky standing on the crow's nest yells that Kawrea is in sight, making everyone happy. Leaving his ship far behind and dropping them at shore on a boat along with two Rockies, Horn tells them that the townsfolk would be too scared if a pirate ship got near their port, so they'll part ways there. The Searchers don't mind, and tell him not to lose his ship again. The captain tells Suezo to have a song contest next time they meet, and he gladly acceptes, though the others aren't at all thrilled at the idea of those two singing again. Holly steps forward to kindly bid farewell to Horn, hoping to see him again. He feels touched by her words, and ruins the moment by hastily asking for a kiss, but he rejects him, punching him in the eye like she once did when they met. Brokenhearted, he has no choice but to simply say goodbye too.
The Jolly Roger sets sails and starts another journey away from the Searchers, as they and the captain say one last goodbye to each other.
Featured Characters[]
Featured Monsters[]
Trivia[]
- This episode's title is a reference to science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
- The music playing during the Ghost scenes resembles the Ghostbusters theme song.
- Captain Horn was definitely drinking beer both at the bar and with his Rockies the night his ship was stolen, but it was changed in all dubs (including the original Japanese audio) to "juice".
- There was an error on the main flag of The Jolly Roger near the end of the episode: the skull's upper jaw had no divisions to represent the teeth, unlike in previous appearances.
In the English and Latin American Spanish versions:
- A shot of Mum Mew having a nosebleed due to the corset bouncing off Gobi and hitting her face is omitted.
- The moment where Mum Mew's corset hits Poison's face is also replaced by a comedic special effect.
- The scene where the bartender grabs Horn's wiggly tongue and flings him out of the bar was removed.
- The few seconds of Horn trying to kiss Holly as she struggles wrapped in his stongue were removed.
- Strangely enough, a second of Golem lying flat on Horn's raft upon landing (right before sitting and hugging the mast) was cut out.
- The scene where Suezo yells at the captain that 3 days rowing to Kawrea is too much and he screams louder telling him not to yell, was removed.
- For some reason, the short scene where Horn laughs at the reaction of the Searchers after he tells the ghost ship story was shortened even more, by two seconds.
- Horn's favourite spittoon in one of the ship's rooms was changed to his "favourite penny jar".
- A few frames from the scene where there's a closeup to the Ghosts' baddie crests were removed.
- So were a few seconds of a POV of the Searchers running towards the storage down below.
- And when Suezo is explaining what he knows about Ghosts' weakness and there's a closeup to his eye.
- When Suezo gets Horn away from Holly after he pretends to be scared of ghosts, the bit where Horn hits his head on the table and then falls on the floor was removed, though the sounds of his hits on these surfaces weren't.
- When Mocchi's Cherry Blossom Blizzard fails and catches the Searchers, they end up hitting the walls as a result before noticing that the Ghosts took Holly's bag; these collisions were removed.
- Suezo's failed teleport that led him and Horn to the middle of the ocean was removed altogether. This includes the shots where the captain explains to the Searchers what the Ghosts are planning to do while he resuscitates Suezo.
- Probably due of this omission (because the Suezos were never shown to get back to the Searchers at the storage room), Horn's complaints about Tiger's rough way of opening the door were also removed.
- The impact of Tiger's Lightning on the Ghost boss was removed.
- Similarly, the same happened when the roles were reversed shortly afterwards.
- The few seconds of Genki falling from the crow's nest and the moment his back hits the palm of Golem were removed.
- The moment where the Ghosts' Necromancy hits Suezo and Horn was severely modified, removing the frames of them being electrified and then lying on the floor.
- Horn receiving a second Necromancy when Suezo teleports by himself was also deleted.
- Mocchi's fall after failing to hit the Ghosts was slightly censored, removing the frames where the camera shakes lightly due to his landing.
- When the Ghost boss is about to finish the Searchers off, there's a shot of Tiger, Holly and Hare looking helpless in front of him and his troops, then one of him raising his wand to prepare his final attack, then another of the Searchers, before the Ghost's attention is caught by Suezo's voice. This second shot of the Searchers was deleted.
- When Horn wakes up after moving his tail like a pendulum just to find the Ghosts lying around him, knocked out, followed by Holly telling him that it was Suezo's singing that caused this, was removed.
- The exact moment when the two Ghosts that were holding the Lost Disc hit the floor, completely numb, was also deleted.
- Everything between Holly telling Horn that she hopes to see him again and The Jolly Roger setting sail (him asking for a kiss and her punching him in the eye) was censored.
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