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| Season | Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles (Season 12) · South through Twinleaf Town arc (DP134–DP142) |
| Episode | Season 12, episode 33 · English episode 600 · Japanese episode 605 · Bulbapedia code DP138 |
| English title | Strategy Begins at Home! |
| Japanese title | ヒカリVSママ！親子対決！！ Hikari Tai Mama! Oyako Taiketsu!! — “Hikari VS Mama! Parent-Child Showdown!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 13 August 2009 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 2 January 2010 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | High Touch! 2009 – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) & Hikari (Megumi Toyoguchi) · Moeyo Gizamimi Pichū! (Get Fired Up, Spiky-eared Pichu!) – Shōko Nakagawa |
| English opening | Battle Cry – (Stand Up!), Version 2 – Erin Bowman |
| Previous episode | Three Sides to Every Story! (DP137) |
| Next episode | A Faux Oak Finish! (DP139) |
Plot episodeDawn vs JohannaTwinleaf Festival, part 1
Strategy Begins at Home! is the 33rd episode of Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles, the twelfth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 600th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 605, Bulbapedia code DP138). It first aired in Japan on 13 August 2009 and in the United States on 2 January 2010. It falls within the season’s South through Twinleaf Town stretch (EP134–EP142).
Announced as The Mother of All Battlers!, the title Cartoon Network Video’s listing kept.
Synopsis
Back in her home of Twinleaf Town, Dawn challenges her mother Johanna to a Contest Battle and loses to her Glameow and Umbreon. Ash and Brock meet Johanna in person for the first time, along with Noelle and her Bellossom, and learn that Professor Oak will attend the festival, while festival organisers Izzy and Cara struggle with the preparations.
Team Rocket, broke as usual, fish for Goldeen for Sayer, the festival’s manager. Over lunch Ash talks to Professor Oak and his mother by videophone, and while Dawn plans her strategy he meets Nathaniel, a boy who dreams of training Bug-type Pokémon, and tells him about his own Heracross.
In the two-on-two battle, Dawn’s Piplup and Pachirisu create an electrified Whirlpool, which Glameow and Umbreon destroy with Shadow Ball. Pachirisu lands Super Fang from behind a Bubble Beam wall, but Johanna’s double Attract and Swift knock them out while Dawn celebrates too early. Johanna praises her daughter’s strategy and bond with her Pokémon, and an angry Gyarados blasts Team Rocket away.
Major Events
- Dawn loses a Contest Battle to Johanna. Twinleaf Festival, part 1: Dawn’s home town
- Johanna’s Umbreon is revealed
- Sayer, Izzy and Cara debut
- Ash talks to Professor Oak and his mother by videophone
Trivia
- The English title plays on “charity begins at home”, for Dawn’s battle with her mother.
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The title card is read by Ash, Dawn and Johanna in Japanese but by one narrator in English
- The episode was announced as The Mother of All Battlers!, the title Cartoon Network Video’s listing kept
- Daisuke Sakaguchi is credited for Brock’s Sudowoodo, which does not appear
- A remix of the FireRed and LeafGreen Underground Path theme, in the dub only
Part of our Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.