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| Season | Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl (Season 10) · Hearthome City: the Contest & the Tag Battle arc (DP048–DP052) |
| Episode | Season 10, episode 50 · English episode 514 · Japanese episode 518 · Bulbapedia code DP051 |
| English title | Glory Blaze! |
| Japanese title | ヒコザルＶＳザングース！運命のバトル！！ Hikozaru Tai Zangūsu! Unmei no Batoru!! — “Hikozaru VS Zangoose! Destined Battle!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 18 October 2007 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 1 February 2008 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Tēma~ (By Your Side ~Hikari’s Theme~), Winter Version – Grin |
| English opening | Diamond and Pearl – Chris “Breeze” Barczynski |
| Previous episode | Tag! We’re It…! (DP050) |
| Next episode | Smells Like Team Spirit! (DP052) |
Plot episodePaul releases ChimcharWinter Version ending
Glory Blaze! is the 50th episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the tenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 514th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 518, Bulbapedia code DP051). It first aired in Japan on 18 October 2007 and in the United States on 1 February 2008. It falls within the season’s Hearthome City: the Contest & the Tag Battle stretch (EP48–EP52).
Premiered on Friday 1 February 2008 as the middle part of the 90-minute season finale.
Synopsis
All three teams have reached the next round of the Tag Battle Competition. That night Ash trains his Pokémon, with Aipom, Turtwig and Pikachu dodging Staravia’s Aerial Ace with the spinning technique Dawn taught them, while Brock helps Nurse Joy with the flood of Trainers at the Pokémon Center. Staravia senses a burst of energy, and Ash finds Paul putting Chimchar through a brutal drill: Elekid’s Thunder, Murkrow’s Shadow Ball, Torterra’s Hyper Beam and Ursaring’s Focus Blast all at once. Chimchar answers with a Flame Wheel and a Flamethrower that knocks Ash off his feet. When Ash and Dawn object, Paul explains that he wanted Chimchar hit by Rhydon’s Surf and that strengthening weak points is how Pokémon grow, while Team Rocket, watching, decide that Chimchar would win them the Soothe Bell.
The training grows harsher, until Torterra’s Leaf Storm and Murkrow’s Sky Attack leave Chimchar unable to stand, and when Paul orders Elekid to wake it with Thunder, Pikachu’s Volt Tackle stops it. At the Pokémon Center, Brock treats Chimchar and asks Paul, for Chimchar’s sake, to explain himself. Paul recalls how, just after catching a Ninjask, he saw a Chimchar chased to a cliff edge by a pack of Zangoose, only for its Blaze Ability to erupt into a Flame Wheel that set the area ablaze and drove them away. He caught it to harness that power, and his training is meant to recreate that pressure until it can use Blaze at will. Under pressure from Nurse Joy, he appears to agree to let it rest.
The next day Dawn and Conway and Brock and Holly win their matches, and in the final match of the day Paul sends out Chimchar anyway, having only pretended to agree. Ash pairs it with Turtwig and asks Turtwig to protect it, and the opponents’ Metagross and Zangoose leave Chimchar paralysed with fear. Turtwig bites down on Zangoose’s Crush Claw, but Paul, fed up with Ash’s interference, forces Chimchar to use Flame Wheel straight through Turtwig to separate the opponents. When Chimchar shields the fallen Turtwig from Fire Blast on its own, Paul decides that even recreating the original moment has failed and turns his back. Ash orders Flamethrower himself, and Chimchar knocks out Metagross before Turtwig defeats Zangoose. At sunset Paul releases Chimchar, and as it turns to go, Ash kneels and invites it to join his team.
Major Events
- Tag Battle Competition, part 2. Chimchar’s backstory and Paul’s brutal training
- Ash commands Chimchar himself
- Paul releases Chimchar and Ash invites it to join him
- The Winter Version of the ending begins
- Yuriko Yamaguchi returns as Nurse Joy in Japanese
Trivia
- The English title plays on "a blaze of glory", for Chimchar’s Blaze.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- “friendship” instead of “love” as the key to growing stronger
- Zangoose’s Detect becomes “Do it!”
- The Winter Version of By Your Side begins
- Pokémon Symphonic Medley as background music
Part of our Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.