Grin to Win! – Pokémon Season 3, Episode 19

Filler / stand-alone episodeSunflora FestivalSunflora debut

Grin to Win! is the 19th episode of Pokémon: The Johto Journeys, the third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 135th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 137, Bulbapedia code EP135). It first aired in Japan on 17 February 2000 and in the United States on 10 February 2001. It falls within the season’s Between the Gyms stretch (EP135–EP140).

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

Synopsis

Once again our heroes are heading to the Azalea Gym, with Ash hot on the trail of his next Johto league badge; however they are still a way off and haven’t had a drink in a while. They discover a pipe leaking water and think it’s a mirage, they then see a woman called Sonrisa fixing the pipe but she lets them get a drink of water from it first.

Sonrisa then escorts the group to Bloomingvale, her home and the nearest town. When they reach Sonrisa’s home they see that she has a network of pipes leading down from the mountains to deliver fresh spring water to her garden; this helps her raise her favourite Pokemon effectively she says. It’s revealed that she’s a Sunflora trainer and she uses the water to ensure optimal growth. Sonrisa tells the group that every year there is a Sunflora Festival at Bloomingvale which has a competition to see who has the best Sunflora.

Although Sonrisa has never won the competition she thinks she might have a shot this year. A neighbour named Cyrus speaks to Sonrisa and tells her that Lester has hired a comedian to make his sunflora’s smiles even brighter, and Sonrisa tells the group that all the trainers have their own different weird and wonderful methods but she traditionally just provides fresh air, pure water and tries to keep hers happy. Sonrisa has a problem though, her prize Sunflora; the one she was going to enter into the competition tomorrow is really sad, and she can’t work out why.

Ash and friends volunteer to try and help Sonrisa’s Sunflora smile again. The sun begins to set and the Sunflora head back inside their greenhouse to go to sleep. Ash and friends head to the local Pokemon Center to spend the night. Team Rocket are nearby and break into a greenhouse immediately finding themselves surrounded by Sunflora. Although in this situation Team Rocket would do their best to simply steal as many of these as possible, Meowth has other ideas; he notes that the prize for winning in the annual Sunflora festival is a years supply of instant noodles… so they decide to inspect the Sunflora and steal the best one to enter into the competition for themselves.

Meowth pulls out a daylight simulator to wake up the Sunflora for inspection when Jessie and Meowth realise they don’t know what they’re actually looking for, James however learned all about Sunflora from the gardener on his estate when he was just a tot and begins inspecting them all, unfortunately as the inspection is taking place Meowth trips over a pipe and sets off an alarm. Cyrus (the owner of the greenhouse) comes running out and Team Rocket flee, except for Meowth who gets caught. The commotion wakes up Ash and co who were at the Pokemon Center nearby and they go over to Cyrus to check what was happening when they see Meowth. Misty convinces Cyrus that Meowth was just corrupted by the other two and asks if Meowth could go into their custody; promising to keep him from any further trouble. Cyrus agrees and Meowth leaves with Ash and co; although they didn’t rescue him out of the kindness of their hearts, they want Meowth to speak to Sonrisa’s sad Sunflora to find out what’s wrong with it. Meowth explains that Sonny the Sunflora is sad because he hasn’t seen his friend (another Sunflora) in a long time. It turns out the Sunflora in question was one of Cyrus’s but he’d traded it with Nurse Joy for something else.

The group head to the Pokemon Center again accompanied by Sonrisa and Sonny the Sunflora; where they find Nurse Joy’s newest Pokemon; Grindela and the two have a happy reunion; Sonny’s smile has been restored. The next day it’s time for the annual competition; Team Rocket are there in disguise, with Meowth actually in a Sunflora costume. The competitors are introduced on the stage and Ash and friends are watching on from the crowds. The judges begin discussing the pros and cons of each competitor when proceedings are interrupted; the Snubble from the posh ladies house earlier on in the Season then turns up, recognising Meowth’s smell and biting his tail. Meowth bursts out of his costume in shock and his true identity is revealed. Team Rocket then smoke bomb the stage and begin their motto before throwing Snubble off into the distance. They then deploy solar panels all around the stadium to intensify the sunlight so much that the Sunflora’s heads grow quicky, causing them to wilt and become unable to attack.

Ash and co confront Team Rocket and battle them to try and stop them making off with the years supply of noodles. Pikachu is about to shock Team Rocket but Chikorita barges him out of the way, wanting to win the battle itself… this results in Pikachu’s attack hitting Team Rocket’s mirrors instead of Team Rocket; meaning the Sunflora are no longer incapacitated. Sonrisa’s Sunflora; Sonny then uses its Solar Beam attack to send Team Rocket blasting off.

The judges announce Sonrisa and Sonny the winners of Sunflora of the year, partly on the merit of how powerful its solar beam was. Sonrisa thanks Ash and friends for their help and continue on their way to Azalea town. The Snubble meanwhile is following a trail (and scent) of its own.

Major Events

• Sunflora debut
• First of Meowth’s seven Sunflora disguises
• Snubbull returns
• Dub WTP Ho-Oh gives no cry (no voice yet)

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Sunflora#0192 · EP135

Trivia

• The English title plays on "spin to win", for the smiling Sunflora contest.
• The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Johto story.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Sunflora in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Ho-Oh in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Dub inserts an instrumental of “Together Forever”.
• Pokémon Karaokémon: “All We Wanna Do” (Élan Rivera & Jamily Gray).

Part of our Pokémon: The Johto Journeys guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.