The Bells Are Singing! – Pokémon Season 11, Episode 18

Filler / stand-alone episodeFrancesca’s ChinglingBuneary’s heart vest

The Bells Are Singing! is the 18th episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 533rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 537, Bulbapedia code DP070). It first aired in Japan on 13 March 2008 and in the United States on 16 August 2008. It falls within the season’s Veilstone: Maylene, Reggie & Team Galactic stretch (EP66–EP70).

In the US this episode was followed directly by Crossing Paths (DP073) on 23 August 2008, as the Ranger two-parter was held back until November.

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

Synopsis

Ash trains Gligar to turn in mid-air, but it keeps turning the wrong way and crashing. Dawn reads Poké Chic, a fashion magazine for Pokémon stylists, and shows Buneary a vest she designed and her mother Johanna sewed; Buneary loves it, and blushes when Pikachu likes it too. A Chingling then pops out of the bushes and hugs Buneary, Pikachu, Ash and Dawn in turn, and Gligar starts copying it until Ash recalls it. Its Trainer, a Pokémon Magician named Francesca, arrives looking for it, and Brock is smitten until Croagunk’s Poison Jab drags him away. Francesca performs a magic act, producing three Chingling and a Pidgey from a tablecloth, but her spoiled Chingling ruins her flower trick. Watching from hiding, Jessie wants to steal the “enchanted” tablecloth until James and Meowth explain that it is only a trick, so the trio decide to steal the Chingling instead, picturing them as handy alarm clocks.

Hoping to teach the clingy Chingling some discipline, Ash and Dawn stage an exhibition battle for it to watch. Gligar dodges Buneary’s Dizzy Punch and hits back with X-Scissor, and its Sand Attack dirties Buneary’s new vest, so Dawn takes it off. Buneary’s Ice Beam freezes Gligar, Gligar retaliates with Steel Wing, and Brock stops the match, judging that Chingling has seen enough. In its own battle, though, Chingling fails to use Astonish and Turtwig’s Razor Leaf knocks it out. As everyone rushes to it, they fall into a pit trap, and Team Rocket seize Chingling in a net. Turtwig’s Razor Leaf cannot cut the net, but Buneary’s Ice Beam snaps the ropes and Happiny catches the falling Chingling; then Buneary launches Happiny into the air, and its Pound sends the trio flying. Ash thinks Chingling has grown up, but it immediately goes back to hugging everyone in sight.

Francesca attempts her Three Part Harmony routine, but Chingling still keeps hugging people, and Team Rocket attack with a “Tone Deaf Mecha Chingling” that releases smoke and steals all three Chingling. James, reminded of the Chimecho he left with Nanny and Pop-Pop, takes one Chingling for himself, since it can evolve into Chimecho. Staravia spots the stolen Pokémon and leads Ash and Dawn to them; Ash throws a smokescreen at Jessie and Meowth, and Chimchar’s Flame Wheel blasts them off. James has Mime Jr. use Teeter Dance on his Chingling to win it over, but Francesca arrives in time, and her Chingling uses Hidden Power and Confusion to blast James away on his own, maturing at last in the process. Now Chingling politely asks for a hug, and Francesca happily embraces it. She thanks the group and sends them on their way with a harmonious Chingling performance before her upcoming show. The episode also introduces Buneary’s heart vest, which it wears in many later episodes.

Major Events

• A clingy Chingling learns to perform in harmony
• Gligar shown using X-Scissor, Sand Attack and Steel Wing
• Buneary’s heart vest, designed by Dawn and sewn by Johanna
• James remembers Chimecho
• Chingling’s TV debut

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Chingling#0433 · DP070

Trivia

• The English title plays on the sound of bells ringing, for a Chingling learning to sing in harmony.
• The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.

Changes in the English Dub

• The Japanese magazine PokéCan is renamed Poké Chic, and the text in one shot is altered
• The Japanese Battle Frontier as background music

Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.