Welcome to Naranja Academy! – Pokémon Horizons Season 2, Episode 1

Plot episodeSeason premiereTera Orbs from Geeta

Welcome to Naranja Academy! is the 1st episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1270th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1279, Bulbapedia code HZ046). It first aired in Japan on 12 April 2024 and in the United States on 7 February 2025. It falls within the season’s Naranja Academy & the first tests stretch (EP46–EP50).

The season premiere and the first episode of Netflix’s Part 1 (HZ046–HZ056), released in the US on Friday 7 February 2025; The Pokémon Company International had announced the season’s exclusive US premiere on Netflix on 20 November 2024. BBC iPlayer and CBBC had premiered it in the UK on 13 January 2025 (CBBC showing HZ046 and HZ047 back to back), and the French dub on Canal J on 12 January 2025, the first dub anywhere; Canadian television followed on 8 February, Australia’s 9Go! on 27 February and the Pokémon Asia ENG YouTube channel on 28 February 2025.

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Liko, Roy and Dot enrol at Naranja Academy to begin Tera Training, and Liko wins a rematch against her Indigo Academy classmate Ann while the Explorers Coral and Sidian sneak in disguised as students. Back home in Cabo Poco after the group’s decision to study the Terastal phenomenon, Liko walks with her mother Lucca as far as Los Platos and continues to Mesagoza with Floragato, carrying Terapagos in her bag so it will not be left alone. At the academy gate she meets Roy and Dot, already in Naranja uniforms while she still wears Indigo’s, and Roy insists on a group photo. In the director’s office, Director Clavell and Chairwoman Geeta show a video about the course: Terastallization is unique to Paldea, tied to Terastal energy that crystallises across the region, and Trainers can harness it only with Tera Orbs, which Paldea grants to a select few. Geeta hands each of them an orb. Roy says he wants to challenge a strong Pokémon again, Liko that she wants to find a certain place, and Dot that she wants to solve the world’s mysteries; Clavell explains that to pass the course they must travel Paldea and battle its Gym Leaders.

Student council president Nemona bursts in, delighted to see Liko and Roy again, showing off her newly evolved Pawmot and leaving Dot awestruck at meeting a Champion-ranked Trainer, though Clavell makes her give a school tour before any battle. On the tour they meet the art teacher Hassel and Rika, both members of the Paldean Elite Four; Rika notices Liko’s Indigo uniform and wishes her luck as that school’s representative. In Battle Studies, Dendra and her Hariyama put them through exhausting drills and explain the rules: each student takes a basics test and an implementation test from an assigned Gym Leader, and students may not have Terastal battles with one another. Biology teacher Jacq sends a curriculum app, asks for photos and videos for a later report, and reveals the assignments: Liko faces Katy in Cortondo, Roy faces Brassius in Artazon, and Dot faces her idol Iono in Levincia. Heading inside, Liko spots Ann, who has come to Naranja as an exchange student for the same course; both their partners have evolved, and Ann challenges her to a rematch.

With Dendra refereeing and Poppy, Rika, Hassel, Larry and Penny watching, Floragato’s Magical Leaf meets Dewott’s Water Pulse; Dewott’s thrown scalchop loops back to strike Floragato from behind before a super-effective Aerial Ace. Liko has Floragato hurl her flower bud to pin Dewott down, and when Dewott dodges it with Detect, the bud swings back, knocks the scalchop away and leaves Dewott open to a flurry of Magical Leaf that wins the match. The two friends promise to keep growing while Geeta and the Elite Four look on with approval. As the trio collect camping gear and choose Cortondo as their first stop, Coral and Sidian rush in claiming to be late students under silly fake names; Clavell cannot find them on his list, but Chalce, posing as a teacher, blames a database error and takes charge of them, leaving the trio uneasy. In Levincia, Orla begins repairing the damaged Brave Olivine, and Friede, after reading the students’ message, leaves the ship in her care to follow a hunch, opening a briefcase that holds Lucius’s belt.

Major Events

• Season and Terastal Debut premiere. Liko, Roy and Dot enrol at Naranja Academy, receive Tera Orbs from Geeta and are assigned to Katy, Brassius and Iono
• Nemona shows off her newly evolved Pawmot
• Liko beats Ann, her Indigo classmate, now an exchange student with a Dewott
• Coral and Sidian enrol as fake students and Chalce poses as a teacher
• Orla begins repairing the Brave Olivine, and Friede sets off with Lucius’s belt
• The first episode by OLM Team Kumemura and the first time a whole regional Elite Four appears together
• A new title card, with Will and Let me battle as the new Japanese opening and ending

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Pawmot#0923 · HZ046
• Dachsbun#0927 · HZ046

Captures and evolutions

• Pawmo → Pawmot#0923 · Nemona · off screen, revealed at the academy
• Oshawott → Dewott#0502 · Ann · off screen, revealed in her rematch with Liko

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Dai Satō.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Paldea, Kitakami and Johto storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• CBBC’s first UK broadcast, which showed HZ046 and HZ047 back to back, cut the opening
• Nemona calls Geeta “chairwoman” rather than by her title, La Primera
• Debut of the English opening My Favorite Pokémon (Isaiah Tyrelle Boyd and Haven Paschall), in version 1, cut from Will footage; its instrumental is the international ending
• Debut of the Japanese opening Will (IVE) and ending Let me battle (Giga & TeddyLoid feat. 9Lana)
• The Asian English release uses IVE’s Korean Will and NCT WISH’s Make You Shine (English Ver.) instead

Part of our Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.