SM124

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Living on the Cutting Edge!

SM124

EP1063

斬れ味バツグン！カミツルギ見参！！
Perfect Sharpness! Kamiturugi has Arrived!!

First broadcast

Japan	June 2, 2019
United States	October 5, 2019

English themes

Opening	The Challenge of Life
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	キミの冒険
Ending	心のノート

Credits

No additional credits are available at this time.
Animation	Team Kato
Screenplay	米村正二 Shōji Yonemura
Storyboard	野田泰宏 Yasuhiro Noda
Assistant director	野田泰宏 Yasuhiro Noda
Animation directors	金振英 Kim Jin-Yeong
	黃星元 Hwang Seong-Won
	朴唱煥 Park Chang-Hwan
	大西雅也 Masaya Ōnishi

Living on the Cutting Edge! (Japanese: 斬れ味バツグン！カミツルギ見参！！ Perfect Sharpness! Kamiturugi has Arrived!!) is the 124th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, and the 1,063rd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on June 2, 2019 and in the United States on October 5, 2019.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

Someone’s been slicing and dicing objects all over Melemele Island: a cabbage at Mallow’s Family Restaurant gets chopped up, a golden Viren statue is cut in half, and the trees in Lillie’s yard are shaped into perfect topiaries! These occurrences (and more) are the work of an Ultra Beast named Kartana, who can cut anything with its bladelike body. When the Ultra Guardians ask Kartana to stop its cutting spree, it ignores them—but later it saves the day by demolishing a meteor that’s barreling straight for the Pokémon School! Grateful for Kartana’s help, our heroes bid it farewell as it returns home through an Ultra Wormhole.

Plot

Overnight, an Ultra Wormhole opens up, and a Kartana emerges to look at its new surroundings. The glistening lights of Viren's latest development project, Viren Stadium, instantly attracts the Ultra Beast. As Viren practices for the inauguration ceremony, showing off his gold statue to his henchmen, he orders a fireworks display. Meanwhile, Kartana promptly slices the statue in half and Viren's henchmen scramble to come up with a solution.

The following morning, Aina's Kitchen is preparing for another busy day of customers. At the same time, the radio announces that the Stufful meteor shower will appear overnight. Mallow prepares to slice up some cabbage when her father asks her to check on the pressure cooker. As she is away, Kartana soars into the restaurant and dices up the head of cabbage into thin pieces. Mallow returns to her work bench to find the sliced cabbage, but Abe is unable to explain anything. Meanwhile, Lillie and Snowy are preparing to leave home for Pokémon School, with Lillie bidding Magearna farewell. Outside, Hobbes is neatening up the hedge trees and plans to make them into Pokémon topiary trees. However, Kartana gets in first and cuts the hedges into geometric designs, shocking both Lillie and Hobbes.

Later, Professor Kukui prepares to teach his class how to use moves to cut objects. Rotom is intrigued by the makiwara and admits that it saw one during an episode of "Alolan Detective Laki". Kukui laughs at the Nogawa reference, admitting that makiwara are often used to practice sword skills. Attempts by Ash, Mallow, and Kiawe fail to fully cut the makiwara, and Professor Kukui admits that even sword masters struggle to cut down makiwara. Ash decides to try again with Pikachu, but Kartana suddenly appears and cleanly cuts through the obstacle with ease before disappearing without being noticed. As everyone else is befuddled, Lillie and Mallow recall their strange experiences that morning.

Suddenly, Komala rings the school bell and the students change into their Ultra Guardians uniforms. In the Ultra Guardians' base, Lusamine and her staff show them a video of Kartana slicing through Viren's gold statue the previous night. Lillie instantly suspects that Kartana is an Ultra Beast, but Professor Burnet admits that she hasn't located an Ultra Wormhole. Wicke adds that Ultra Aura was detected for a moment and Faba affirms that the Aether Foundation is continuing its investigation. Lusamine orders the Ultra Guardians to capture Kartana before further damage is done. The still-multiplying horde of Meltan then present the Ultra Guardians with a box of Beast Balls before they fly out of the base aboard their Ride Pokémon.

Ash orders everyone to split up, and they cover the entirety of Melemele Island. Suddenly, Ash overhears a shrill scream, which leads him to the Hau'oli City fruit markets. There, he finds Anela, who is staring in shock at her sliced fruit. Meanwhile, Lillie arrives at Yoko's salon, where Kartana has already trimmed and styled her clients' Furfrou. At the same time, a Deoxys and a Rayquaza are locked in battle in space. The Rayquaza fires a Hyper Beam, but Deoxys transforms into its Defense Forme to protect itself. The deflected attack strikes a meteor instead, sending it towards the planet below.

At Bewear's den, Team Rocket watches Viren on his shopping channel as he advertises the "Bling Bling Gold Safe", a seemingly indestructible safe. Viren orders his Electivire and Pangoro to attack the safe with Thunder Punch and Fire Punch, respectively, to no effect. Just then, Kartana appears and slashes through the safe with ease. Viren recognizes Kartana as the one who destroyed his statue and demands that it own up to its deeds as his Pokémon surround the Ultra Beast. Meowth is in awe of Kartana's power and Jessie declares that it would make the perfect gift for the Boss.

Soon after, Lusamine alerts Ash and the others to the latest Kartana sighting, this time at Viren Tower. However, by the time they reach it, Kartana has already cut its way to freedom. During the pursuit, Lillie suggests leading Kartana to the mountains to avoid more havoc in Hau'oli City. Just then, Kartana prepares to attack the Pokémon School, forcing Ash and Garchomp to intervene. Ash explains no one wants anything cut in his world, which Kartana appears to understand. With the Ultra Beast placated, Lana throws out a Beast Ball, but Kartana slices through it. Realizing Kartana is unwilling to be caught, the Ultra Guardians battle it. Kiawe sends out Marowak and orders it to use Flare Blitz, but the attack misses. Kartana then manages to cut Marowak's Ultra Guardian symbol as a warning.

Just then, Team Rocket arrives inside a Meowth robot. Right after Team Rocket ends their motto, Kartana is revealed to have sliced the robot in half already. Lusamine contacts the Ultra Guardians again, this time to abort the mission because one of the Stufful meteor shower's comets is headed directly at them. Faba issues an evacuation order for everyone within a mile of the school. Principal Samson Oak orders the Ultra Guardians to run, but Ash and his classmates declare they will not abandon the school. Team Rocket notices the comet quickly approaching, but Bewear arrives before they can enjoy the cataclysm. Bewear throws the trio into the Meowth robot, crushing the two halves together, and launching the mecha back to the den.

Ash and the others use their Ride Pokémon to reach the comet. They decide to rapidly cool the comet to make it brittle before crushing it into smaller fragments. Lillie orders Snowy and Altaria to use Powder Snow and Ice Beam, respectively, while Lana has Dragonair add its own Ice Beam. As frost begins to encase the comet, Ash, Mallow, Kiawe, and Sophocles's Pokémon follow up with their own attacks, but their efforts only destroy the ice and not the comet. Kartana then soars upwards and cuts the comet into smaller fragments, which land in the ocean and cause a rainbow to appear in the sky. As Lusamine and Burnet check on the Ultra Guardians, Kartana's frantic attempts to cut the immaterial rainbow result in it inadvertently opening a new wormhole, allowing it to leave the Alola region.

Major events

The wild Meltan are revealed to be multiplying.
Ash and his classmates go on their eighth Ultra Guardians mission.
The Ultra Guardians attempt to catch a Kartana, but fail as it slices the Beast Ball to pieces.
Kartana opens itself its own Ultra Wormhole, allowing it to return home.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Kartana

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Kartana

Trivia

Poké Problem: The Ultra Beast that appears in today's episode is...?
- Host: Professor Burnet
- Choices: Kartana, Buzzwole, Celesteela, Guzzlord
- Answer: Kartana
Kartana speaks fragmented human language in reverse throughout the episode, most commonly repeating random fragments of the phrase "また、つまらぬものを斬ってしまった" ("Once again, I have cut a worthless object"). This phrase is often said by samurai in old samurai movies, as well as by Goemon Ishikawa XIII, a character from the long-running manga and anime series Lupin the Third. The English dub translates this line as "Once again, I cut a worthless object."
- Its voice actor, Daisuke Namikawa, is also the same voice actor for Goemon Ishikawa XIII as of 2011.
- In addition, the animation in Team Rocket's motto is in the same style as Lupin the Third.
This episode features the most Mythical Pokémon out of any animated series episode to date, with four.
This episode marks the first appearance of a Deoxys in the animated series since PK21, nearly nine years earlier.
Ash, Professor Kukui, and Rowlet narrate the preview for the next episode.
Kartana breaks the fourth wall twice, first when it slices the background at the end of Team Rocket's motto, and then when it cuts a hole and appears from the black background at the end of the episode.
The English dub title is a play on the phrase "living on the edge".
This episode marks the last appearances of Ash and Lillie in their Ultra Guardians uniforms.
This is the last episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon to feature a character of the day.

Errors

In the first preview for this episode, when Kiawe is shown riding on his Charizard after Kartana, he is seen in his normal clothes rather than his Ultra Guardian uniform. This is corrected in the actual episode.
In the original version, when the Ultra Guardians notice Kartana heading towards the Pokémon School, Garchomp's lower jaw is colored purple like its body instead of red. This is fixed in the dub.
Sophocles's Vikavolt is shown with its Ultra Guardian symbol before the animation of the symbols appearing starts.
After the Ultra Guardians say "Ultroger", Primarina's bow is colored red instead of yellow.
When Bewear arrives to throw Team Rocket back into their Meowth robot, the top of her head is colored white instead of pink.
- Shortly after, the edges of Meowth's front ears are cream-colored instead of black.

Primarina's bow error
Bewear's miscolored head

Dub edits

In other languages


Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	鋒利無比，紙御劍登場
Chinese	Mandarin	鋒利無比！紙御劍登場！！
Danish		Livet På Den Knivskarpe Kant!
Dutch		Op het scherp van de snede!
Finnish		Kehityksen kärjessä, veitsen terällä!
German		Auf Messers Schneide!
Hebrew		!לחיות על הקצה החד
Italian		Vivere sul filo del rasoio!
Korean		뭐든지 벱니다! 종이신도 등장!!
Polish		Życie na ostrej krawędzi!
Brazilian Portuguese		Vivendo no fio da navalha!
Russian		На острие атаки!
Latin American Spanish		¡Viviendo al filo del peligro!
Turkish		Bıçak ağzında yaşamak!