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| Season | Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension (Season 11) · Chimchar’s fresh start & the road to Solaceon arc (DP053–DP059) |
| Episode | Season 11, episode 1 · English episode 516 · Japanese episode 520 · Bulbapedia code DP053 |
| English title | Tears For Fears! |
| Japanese title | ヒコザルの涙！ Hikozaru no Namida! — “Hikozaru’s Tears!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 8 November 2007 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 12 April 2008 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Tēma~ (By Your Side ~Hikari’s Theme~), Winter Version – GRIN |
| English opening | We Will Be Heroes – Kirsten Price |
| Next episode | Once There Were Greenfields (DP054) |
Plot episodeDub season premiereFirst DuArt episode
Tears For Fears! is the 1st episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 516th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 520, Bulbapedia code DP053). It first aired in Japan on 8 November 2007 and in the United States on 12 April 2008. It falls within the season’s Chimchar’s fresh start & the road to Solaceon stretch (EP53–EP59).
Premiered on Cartoon Network on Saturday 12 April 2008, in the channel’s Saturday-morning line-up — the first episode recorded at DuArt Film and Video, with the new opening We Will Be Heroes, which viewers had already heard at the start of The Rise of Darkrai on 24 February 2008.
Synopsis
On the road to Veilstone City, Ash, Dawn and Brock stop for lunch and let all their Pokémon out to eat. Chimchar, which joined Ash after Paul released it, hangs back from the cheerful scene, remembering how Paul fed it straight from a tin and hurried it along, and Ash has to coax it into eating. Nearby, Team Rocket’s picnic ends abruptly when Jessie’s Seviper senses three wild Zangoose and charges at its natural enemies. Outnumbered, Seviper keeps bursting out of its Poké Ball to fight on, and the Zangoose send the trio flying, separating Meowth from Jessie and James. Back at camp, Ash and Dawn enjoy a friendly sparring match between Pikachu and Buizel, then pit Chimchar against Piplup. Chimchar fights hard and loses, and it braces for the scolding it always got from Paul, recalling the day it was released at the Hearthome Tag Battle Competition for failing to unlock Blaze.
Instead, everyone praises Chimchar for pushing so hard against a type disadvantage, and the overwhelmed Fire Pokémon bursts into tears. Brock suggests that Chimchar never had a chance to show its feelings while it was with Paul, and Ash holds it while it sobs; Meowth, watching from the bushes, is touched and quietly wanders off. That night Chimchar dreams of Paul ordering it to stand firm against a Graveler’s Rock Throw and of the Zangoose attack that led to its capture. Unable to sleep, it meets Meowth, who insists he does not want to fight. Meowth talks about his own worries and his dream of finally catching Pikachu, and tells Chimchar to stop dwelling on the past: it is lucky to have new friends who would do anything for it. The next morning Chimchar still hesitates while the others make breakfast, until Ash asks it to help fetch water and it happily agrees.
Team Rocket return, hook Meowth back aboard with a plunger and trap the group’s Pokémon in canisters while they are outside their Poké Balls, where Piplup’s Bubble Beam and Croagunk’s Poison Sting cannot break them out. Seviper escapes again to challenge the Zangoose, which shred the balloon and bring it crashing down, then batter the canister the trio are hiding in towards a cliff edge. Ash arrives with Chimchar, which freezes in fear until Ash reminds it that its friends need it and that it does not need Blaze to win, only belief in itself. Remembering its new friends’ kindness and Meowth’s advice, Chimchar uses Dig again and again to confuse the Zangoose and drives them off with Flamethrower. When Team Rocket break free and try to sneak away, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, Chimchar’s Flamethrower, Turtwig’s Razor Leaf, Piplup’s Bubble Beam and Buneary’s Ice Beam blast them off, and Chimchar cheers with everyone else, ready to leave its past behind.
Major Events
- Chimchar overcomes its fear of Zangoose. Dub season premiere and the first episode recorded at DuArt Film and Video, with the new English opening We Will Be Heroes
- Kayzie Rogers returns as Wobbuffet and Mime Jr.
- Chimchar bursts into tears when it is praised after losing a sparring match
- Meowth’s midnight pep talk
- Chimchar drives off the Zangoose with Dig and Flamethrower
- The Japanese opening and ending now show Chimchar on Ash’s side
Trivia
- The English title plays on the band Tears for Fears, for a Chimchar crying over its fears — the second title to borrow the name, after Hocus Pokémon.
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The narrator calls the next Contest the “Eterna City Contest”
- Kayzie Rogers returns as the English voice of Wobbuffet and Mime Jr.
- New English opening We Will Be Heroes (Kirsten Price), with its instrumental under the end credits
- In Japan, an instrumental Meowth’s Song and an instrumental cut of Together
Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.