 |
|
| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · The Masters Eight: semifinals arc (JN121–JN128) |
| Episode | Never dubbed · Japanese episode 1214 · Bulbapedia code JN128 |
| English title | Climax! The Night Before the Decisive Battle! Satoshi VS Dande!! |
| Japanese title | 最高潮！決戦前夜サトシVSダンデ！！ Saikōchō! Kessen Zen’ya Satoshi tai Dande!! — “Climax! The Night Before the Decisive Battle! Satoshi VS Dande!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 14 October 2022 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | Never aired |
| Screenplay | Not credited (clip show) |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Satoshi & Go (Rica Matsumoto and Daiki Yamashita) · Batsugun Taipu (Supereffective Type) – Pokémon Music Club |
| Previous episode | Just a Scone’s Throw From Here! (JN127) |
| Next episode | A Flood of Torrential Gains! (JN129) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeClip show, never dubbedFinal preview
Climax! The Night Before the Decisive Battle! Satoshi VS Dande!! is the 38th Japanese episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and Japanese episode 1214 overall (Bulbapedia code JN128). It has never been dubbed into English. It first aired in Japan on 14 October 2022. It falls within the season’s The Masters Eight: semifinals stretch (EP121–EP128).
Never dubbed or released in English: a Japan-only clip show (TV Tokyo, 14 October 2022), skipped like all four of the season’s clip shows, so Netflix goes straight from JN127 to JN129. Outside Japan it aired only in South Korea; it is the last undubbed episode of Journeys. Read more about the four undubbed clip shows.
Synopsis
In the last Japan-only clip show of the series, a “Pokémon World Coronation Series News” special, with the battle reviewer Mr. Daimonji as guest, previews the Masters Eight final between Ash and Leon by looking back at the tournament so far. Mr. Daimonji reads the title card. The broadcast opens with a short recap of the eight competitors and the quarterfinal results, in which Leon beat Alain, Diantha beat Lance, Cynthia beat Iris and Ash beat Steven Stone, setting the scene for the two semifinals and the championship match. As with the earlier clip shows of the arc, no main character appears in person outside the recaps; the episode was never dubbed into any language and aired only in Japan and South Korea, and it is the last episode of Pokémon Journeys to be left undubbed. It aired the week after a Friday with no episode at all, two weeks after JN127.
The programme then examines the two semifinals in more depth, with Mr. Daimonji analysing the strategies each Champion used. Leon’s crushing win over Diantha, in which his Rillaboom alone defeated four of her Pokémon and his Gigantamax Charizard overcame her Mega Gardevoir, is revisited through footage of her Gardevoir and Goodra, and Ash’s long full battle against Cynthia through the clashes between Pikachu, Dragonite, Gengar, Lucario, Sirfetch’d and Dracovish on one side and Cynthia’s Garchomp, Roserade, Milotic, Spiritomb and Togekiss on the other, including their Mega Evolved and Dynamaxed forms, from Spiritomb’s Destiny Bond, which took Pikachu down with it, to Mega Lucario’s final Reversal against Garchomp. Flashback appearances by Iris, Lance, Steven, Cynthia, Alain, Diantha, Goh and the referee Dan accompany the recap of the road to the final, leading up to the championship match between the undefeated Monarch and Ash.
The broadcast then sets up the final itself, introducing both full teams and revealing Leon’s three Pokémon that have not yet battled in the tournament, Cinderace, Inteleon and Mr. Rime, along with a poster for the match whose line-up of Leon’s team includes Dragapult, Cinderace, Inteleon and Mr. Rime, Pokémon that Ash has never faced in an official battle. The episode closes by replaying Ash and Leon’s first, unofficial battle from JN013, in which Leon lent Ash a Dynamax Band and his Charizard’s G-Max Wildfire overwhelmed a Gigantamax Pikachu, after which Leon promised that their next battle would be an official one in front of a crowd, a promise that the next episode finally fulfils. Team Rocket narrate the preview of JN129, and a special preview of the Ash versus Leon final airs after the episode.
Major Events
- The night before the final. A World Coronation Series News special with Mr. Daimonji recaps the semifinals and reveals Leon’s Cinderace, Inteleon and Mr. Rime
- Ash and Leon’s first battle, from JN013, is replayed
- No main character appears in person
- The last undubbed episode of Journeys
- Aired only in Japan and South Korea
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Not credited (clip show).
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto, Galar & beyond story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Never dubbed: the last of the four Japan-only clip shows, also aired in South Korea
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.