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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Battle (Season 8) · On to Saffron City: May’s first Kanto Ribbon arc (AG137–AG145) |
| Episode | Season 8, episode 50 · English episode 415 · Japanese episode 419 · Bulbapedia code AG143 |
| English title | The Saffron Con |
| Japanese title | ポケモンコンテスト・ヤマブキ大会！（前編） Pokemon Kontesuto, Yamabuki Taikai! (Zenpen) — “Pokémon Contest – Yamabuki Conference! (Part One)” |
| First aired (Japan) | 15 September 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 17 June 2006 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Battle Frontier – Akina Takaya · Pokémon Kazoe Uta (Pokémon Counting Song) – Akiko Kanazawa |
| English opening | Unbeatable – David Rolfe |
| Pokémon Trainer’s Choice | Which is the tallest? (Regirock / Registeel / Regice) → Registeel |
| Previous episode | Caterpie’s Big Dilemma (AG142) |
| Next episode | A Hurdle for Squirtle (AG144) |
Plot episodeSaffron ContestSquirtle learns Ice Beam
The Saffron Con is the 50th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Battle, the eighth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 415th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 419, Bulbapedia code AG143). It first aired in Japan on 15 September 2005 and in the United States on 17 June 2006. It falls within the season’s On to Saffron City: May’s first Kanto Ribbon stretch (EP137–EP145).
Synopsis
May lines up her Pokémon for a pep talk about the Kanto Contest circuit, though Munchlax and Squirtle look less than interested; it will be their first Contest. At the Saffron City Contest Hall a rehearsal is under way, run by a woman who looks just like Vivian Meridian but turns out to be her younger sister Lilian, Kanto’s Contest master of ceremonies. When Lilian’s Espeon performs a Swift and Psychic routine, an excited Squirtle runs on stage and sprays Bubble, and Lilian realises it wants to perform, so May decides to enter Squirtle and Combusken. At the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy’s helpful new assistant turns out to be Harley, who tells May that Kanto rules let Coordinators switch Pokémon between rounds and that her Hoenn Contest Pass can be exchanged until eleven o’clock the next morning.
Meanwhile, determined to compete as well, Jessie, disguised as “Jessiebelle” with James and Meowth as assistants, obtains a Kanto Contest Pass of her own, then borrows James’s Cacnea, which clings to her hair and lands her at the Pokémon Center; there Nurse Joy’s Scizor threatens to cut her hair and Jessie faints. The trio decide to steal every other contestant’s Pokémon instead, and their balloon cage snatches May’s Squirtle and Pikachu. Harley’s new Ariados webs the balloon, Combusken’s Sky Uppercut breaks the cage, and as James and Meowth try to flee, Squirtle learns Ice Beam and freezes the balloon, sending them off without Jessie. May and Harley shake hands, and May begins to believe that her old rival has genuinely changed his ways.
The next morning May arrives at the registration desk only to find that registration closed at ten, an hour before the time Harley gave her: he has tricked her again, and his apparent kindness at the Pokémon Center was part of the plan. Lilian intervenes, telling the concierge how May saved the contestants’ Pokémon from Team Rocket, and the concierge admits she already has May’s paperwork ready and hands her a Kanto Contest Pass and a new Ribbon case. Harley, furious that his scheme has failed, vows that he will stop May from winning the Saffron Ribbon, and May heads into her first Kanto Contest with an old rival as determined as ever to see her lose. It is the first Contest for both Squirtle and Munchlax.
Major Events
- Saffron Contest, part 1. Lilian Meridian debuts
- Harley returns with an Ariados and tricks May over the registration deadline
- May’s Squirtle learns Ice Beam
- May and Jessie receive Kanto Contest Passes
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Jessie’s cleavage erased
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Battle guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.