Pokémon Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures (S21)


Season	Season 21 of the English dub · the second season of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, covering episodes SM044–SM092 of Japan’s Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon
Series	Sun & Moon series (ポケットモンスターサン&ムーン Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon in Japan, episodes 44–92 of its run), dubbed as Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon
Region	Alola — Melemele, Akala, Ula’ula and Poni islands, the Aether Foundation’s Aether Paradise and Ultra Space, from the Ultra Deep Sea to Poipole’s home world
Episodes	49 in Japan · 48 dubbed and on English home video — SM064 was never dubbed
First episode	A Dream Encounter! (SM044) · Japan 5 October 2017 · US 24 March 2018
Last episode	Turning the Other Mask! (SM092) · Japan 14 October 2018 · US 23 February 2019
Japanese opening themes	Alola!! – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) (SM044–SM060) · Future Connection – ЯeaL (SM061–SM090) · Your Adventure – Taiiku Okazaki (SM091–SM092)
Japanese ending themes	Pose – Taiiku Okazaki (SM044–SM060) · Twerp, Twerpette – Taiiku Okazaki (SM061–SM092) · Breath – Porno Graffitti (first TV airings of SM082–SM086)
English opening theme	Under the Alolan Moon – Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon (all 48 episodes; its instrumental is the English ending theme)
Travelling companions	Ash Ketchum & Pikachu with Rotom Dex, living with Professor Kukui (and, from SM055, his wife Professor Burnet); classmates Lillie, Mallow, Lana, Kiawe and Sophocles; Nebby (SM044–SM055) and Poipole (SM067–SM090)
Z-Crystals won	Lycanium Z (Nanu’s Ula’ula grand trial, SM077 — Ash’s third grand trial) · also the Solganium Z with the Z-Power Ring (SM052) and the Pikashunium Z (SM054)
Other events	The rescue of Lusamine in the Ultra Deep Sea (SM053–SM054) · Kukui and Burnet’s wedding and the founding of the Ultra Guardians (SM055) · the Necrozma arc (SM087–SM090)
Related movies	The Power of Us (Japan 13 July 2018, between SM081 and SM082 · US cinemas 24 November – 1 December 2018 · Disney XD 8 December 2018) · I Choose You! (US home video 13 February 2018; Japanese TV premiere 12 July 2018)
Previous season	Season 20: Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon
Following season	Season 22: Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends

Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures key art

Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures is the twenty-first season of the English-language Pokémon anime and the second of the Sun & Moon series, set in the Alola region. It covers episodes SM044 to SM092 of Japan’s Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon, broadcast by TV Tokyo from 5 October 2017 to 14 October 2018 — 49 episodes in Japan but 48 in English, because SM064, in which Ash wears dark face paint to imitate a Passimian, was never dubbed. Disney XD premiered it on Saturday 24 March 2018 with A Dream Encounter! and a new episode every day for a week, ran it on Saturdays and, for seven weeks in the summer, on Monday evenings, and closed it with Turning the Other Mask! on 23 February 2019. Along the way the anime passed two official milestones: Japan celebrated SM049 as its 1,000th episode, and The Pokémon Company International counted SM055 as the 1,000th dubbed one.

Ash dreams that the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala entrust him with a promise, and the next day Tapu Koko leads him to a sleeping Cosmog that Lillie names Nebby. Lillie’s mother, Lusamine, president of the Aether Foundation, lets him look after it; Gladion warns him about the Ultra Beasts, one of which attacked Lillie as a child; and Faba, the Foundation’s ambitious branch chief, uses Nebby to open an Ultra Wormhole, through which a Nihilego carries Lusamine away. Lillie and Gladion set out for Poni Island, the class follows, and at the Altar of the Sunne Nebby evolves into Solgaleo, the guardian deities turn Ash’s Z-Ring into a Z-Power Ring, and in the Ultra Deep Sea Pikachu’s new 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt frees Lusamine. Back on Melemele, Professors Kukui and Burnet marry on the beach and Lusamine founds the Ultra Guardians, with the class as its members.

The Guardians send Buzzwole, Blacephalon, Xurkitree and Stakataka home and watch Celesteela launch into space, and Ash catches the little Ultra Beast Poipole. Litten evolves into Torracat battling the mysterious Masked Royal — Kukui in disguise — and on Ula’ula Island Ash loses to the kahuna Nanu before winning his third grand trial, and a Lycanium Z, with Lycanroc alone; Mallow’s Steenee evolves into Tsareena. In the climactic Necrozma arc Nebby returns, the Guardians follow the Blinding One to Poipole’s dark home world, and Ash and Gladion restore it as Ultra Necrozma before Poipole stays behind to protect its home. After the anime moved to Sunday evenings in Japan, the season closes in Pikachu Valley and back in the Battle Royal ring. Our complete episode guide below has a synopsis, both titles and the air dates for all 49 episodes, including the undubbed SM064.

48episodes dubbed, of the 49 TV Tokyo aired — SM064 was never shown in English
1,000the official milestone twice over: Japan’s 1,000th episode (SM049) and the 1,000th dubbed (SM055)
5Ultra Beasts caught by the Ultra Guardians — Buzzwole, Poipole, Blacephalon, Xurkitree and Stakataka
3rdgrand trial for Ash: Nanu’s, won with Lycanroc alone for a Lycanium Z (SM077)
8new episodes in eight days to launch the season on Disney XD (24–31 March 2018)
10,000,000volts in Pikachu’s new Z-Move, which frees Lusamine from Nihilego (SM054)

When Ash sees the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala in a dream, he makes a promise to them. But when he wakes up, he can’t remember what it was! Will the strange Pokémon called Nebby help jog his memory? Along with their new friend and the rest of the students at the Pokémon School, Ash and Pikachu explore the Aether Foundation, an organization dedicated to Pokémon conservation and care. But it may not be as innocent as it seems, and Ash and his friends will have to work together to protect the people and Pokémon they care about as they face a mysterious power like nothing they have ever seen.

— Official description

Quick Answers

How many episodes are in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures?

48 in English, 49 in Japan. TV Tokyo broadcast SM044 to SM092 from 5 October 2017 to 14 October 2018, with SM071 and SM072 together as a one-hour special on 26 April 2018; Disney XD aired 48 of them from 24 March 2018 to 23 February 2019. The missing episode is SM064, Satoshi and Passimian! A Touchdown of Friendship!!, which was never dubbed, so Bulbapedia, Disney XD, English Wikipedia and every English DVD number the season 1 to 48, with SM063 as episode 20 and SM065 as 21. There is no clip show or special inside the season, and no episode aired out of order.

Why was SM064 never dubbed?

In the second half of Satoshi and Passimian! A Touchdown of Friendship!! (Japan 1 March 2018), Ash wears dark face paint to imitate a Passimian while helping the Melemele Greens win back their leadership fruit, and Bulbapedia and Dogasu’s Backpack both say that it resembles blackface. No official statement has been found, but the episode was skipped by Disney XD and left off every English DVD. It is the first and only banned Sun & Moon episode, the first episode banned outside Asia since EP250, the first non-clip-show episode The Pokémon Company International ever skipped, and the first banned episode without Team Rocket. It did air in Japan and in other Asian markets, including South Korea.

Who is Nebby?

Nebby is the Cosmog that Tapu Koko leads Ash to after his dream of Solgaleo and Lunala, named by Lillie and entrusted to Ash by Lusamine (SM044) — Ash’s first Legendary Pokémon, though it is never formally caught. It teleports everyone to wherever they are thinking of (SM045), evolves into Cosmoem when Faba’s machine drains its power (SM050) and into Solgaleo at the Altar of the Sunne, giving Ash a Solganium Z (SM052); it then carries the class through an Ultra Wormhole to rescue Lusamine (SM053–SM054) and returns to the wild before the wedding (SM055). It comes back in the Necrozma arc, is fused into Dusk Mane Necrozma and freed, and joins Ash in Searing Sunraze Smash once more (SM088–SM090).

What are the Ultra Guardians?

A task force that Lusamine founds at Kukui and Burnet’s wedding party (SM055) to send stray Ultra Beasts home, with Ash and his five classmates as its members. Their secret base lies beneath the Pokémon School, and they fly to missions on Ride Pokémon — Garchomp for Ash, Altaria for Lillie, Flygon for Mallow, Dragonair for Lana, Metang for Sophocles and Kiawe’s own Charizard (SM061). They catch Buzzwole (SM061), Blacephalon and Xurkitree (SM078) and Stakataka (SM085) in Beast Balls and send them home, watch Celesteela blast back into space (SM069) and, with Gladion as a new member, follow Necrozma to Poipole’s world (SM087–SM090). The launch sequence parodies Thunderbirds.

Does Ash complete a grand trial in Ultra Adventures?

Yes — his third, on Ula’ula Island. Kahuna Nanu, a reluctant police officer in Po Town, first beats him in a pre-trial when Lycanroc goes berserk against his Krookodile (SM074). After training with Tapu Bulu, where Lycanroc masters its temper and learns Stone Edge (SM075), and beating Team Rocket’s Mimikyu at the abandoned Thrifty Megamart as Nanu’s condition (SM076), Ash takes on Nanu’s Krookodile, Sableye and Alolan Persian with Lycanroc alone. Lycanroc learns Counter, turns its red-eyed rage into strength, and Continental Crush meets Black Hole Eclipse before Accelerock wins; instead of a Darkinium Z, Nanu gives Ash a Lycanium Z (SM077). It is the first official match in which Ash uses fewer Pokémon than his opponent.

How does Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures end?

With the Necrozma arc and two lighter episodes. A tiny Ultra Wormhole drains Alola’s Ultra Aura, Gladion joins the Ultra Guardians and Necrozma — “UB Black” — fuses with Lunala and then with the returning Nebby (SM087–SM088). In Poipole’s dark home world a Naganadel explains that Necrozma once gave it light; with energy from all of Alola, Ash and Gladion’s Searing Sunraze Smash and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom restore it as Ultra Necrozma, and Poipole stays behind to protect its home (SM089–SM090). After the move to Sunday evenings in Japan, Pikachu wins a tail-biting duel in Pikachu Valley (SM091), and in the finale Faba’s turn as a fake Masked Royal nearly exposes Kukui’s secret (SM092). Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends followed.

Story Arcs

Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures runs for 48 dubbed episodes, plus the undubbed SM064, and follows Ash and his classmates from Nebby’s arrival and the rescue of Lusamine to the Ultra Guardians’ missions, Nanu’s grand trial and the battle for Necrozma’s light. Here is how the season breaks down, with stills from our episode guide below.

Nebby & the Aether FoundationSM044–SM049

After a dream in which Solgaleo and Lunala entrust him with something, Ash is led by Tapu Koko to a sleeping Cosmog, which Lillie names Nebby; her mother Lusamine, president of the Aether Foundation, meets him with Professor Burnet, Wicke and Faba and lets him look after it (SM044). Nebby teleports everyone wherever they are thinking of (SM045), and the class tours Aether Paradise, where Faba has secretly hired Team Rocket (SM046). Nebby takes Ash to Gladion, who reveals that an Ultra Beast attacked Lillie as a child and beats Lycanroc with Type: Null (SM047); a sleepover ends with Lillie unable to touch Pokémon again (SM048); and when Faba steals Type: Null to erase her memories, it breaks its mask, evolves into Silvally, and Lillie remembers the Nihilego attack and overcomes her fear (SM049).

Lusamine & the Ultra Deep SeaSM050–SM055

Faba kidnaps Nebby to open an Ultra Wormhole; Nebby evolves into Cosmoem, and a Nihilego carries Lusamine away (SM050). Lillie, in a new outfit, sets out with Gladion for Poni Island, and the class follows them past a Totem Kommo-o to the Altar of the Sunne, where the four guardian deities gather (SM051). Nebby evolves into Solgaleo, and the guardians turn Ash’s Z-Ring into a Z-Power Ring holding a Solganium Z (SM052). In the Ultra Deep Sea Lusamine has fused with Nihilego; the class battles her Pokémon one by one and Lillie wins back Clefable with a hug (SM053), and Ash’s Electrium Z becomes a Pikashunium Z for the 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt that frees her (SM054). At home Kukui marries Burnet, Gladion leaves for his island challenge and Lusamine founds the Ultra Guardians, as a Poipole slips through a wormhole (SM055).

Interlude across the islandsSM056–SM060

Samson Oak tells how the school’s sleepy Komala arrived, and the class teaches it to sing back at a face-doodling Jigglypuff (SM056); Rotom swaps bodies with a Wash Rotom and tours Melemele’s appliances (SM057); James tries to release his Mareanie to a suitor that evolves into Toxapex, but after a fistfight on the beach she chooses James (SM058); and Lana and Mallow remember how they met, and how a Drampa they call Grandpa Forest saved them (SM059). On Ash’s first visit to Ula’ula Island, Snowy learns Aurora Veil at the Pokémon Sled Jump Games on Mount Lanakila, which Hala wins after his Crabrawler evolves into Crabominable (SM060).

The Ultra Guardians & new rivalsSM061–SM069

The Ultra Guardians’ first mission takes the class from a secret base under the school to a flexing Buzzwole, which Ash catches in a Beast Ball and sends home (SM061); an Alolan Meowth wins over Jessie and James and becomes Matori’s assistant (SM062); and the Masked Royal — Kukui in disguise — beats Ash in the first Battle Royal, then beats Litten again after it evolves into Torracat (SM063). In Japan only, Ash helps the Melemele Greens Passimian win back their fruit (SM064). Trial captain Ilima returns from Kalos with an Eevium Z (SM065) and wins a Poké-Ping Pong tournament (SM066); Poipole follows Pikachu home and catches itself in a Beast Ball (SM067); the class runs the Pokémon Center for a day (SM068); and the Guardians dig up Celesteela and watch it blast back into space (SM069).

Families & friendsSM070–SM072

Kiawe’s Marowak masters Inferno Overdrive to save his family’s Paniola Ranch from the developer Viren, whom Officer Jenny arrests (SM070); a young Dewpider leaves its Araquanid parent, falls for Lana’s bubble helmet and wins a pond of its own from a Surskit, which evolves into Masquerain (SM071); and Mallow’s brother Ulu wins the Alola Bread Festival with a sour-Berry jam before sailing off to keep training (SM072).

Ula’ula Island & Nanu’s grand trialSM073–SM077

Giovanni sends Team Rocket to the kahuna Nanu, who gives them a Z-Power Ring, and Acerola’s ghostly Mimikins gives Jessie a Mimikium Z (SM073). Ash sails to Ula’ula, meets Nanu and Acerola in Po Town, hears the legend of the Blinding One and loses a pre-trial when Lycanroc goes berserk against Krookodile (SM074); training with Tapu Bulu, Lycanroc controls its rage and learns Stone Edge, and Rowlet learns Razor Leaf (SM075). At the abandoned Thrifty Megamart Pikachu learns Electroweb and beats Jessie’s Mimikyu (SM076), and in the grand trial Lycanroc alone beats Krookodile, Sableye and Alolan Persian to win the Lycanium Z (SM077).

SM073 Why Not Give Me a Z-Ring Sometime?

Ultra Beasts & everyday AlolaSM078–SM086

A fireworks display of the Guardians’ own moves draws out Blacephalon and Xurkitree, and Lillie and Lana catch them (SM078); Sophocles relives a lost friendship with a Minior at the Hokulani Observatory (SM079); Lillie helps a giant Alolan Sandshrew win a Double Battle and receives an Icium Z (SM080); and Ash becomes “Ash Royal” as Torracat learns Revenge in a tag match against the Revengers (SM081). Mallow’s Steenee evolves into Tsareena (SM082), Faba’s shrink ray miniaturises three students (SM083), the painter Mina reads Poipole’s homesickness (SM084), Ash rides Stakataka to calm it (SM085) and the Ride Pokémon relax at a spa resort (SM086).

The Blinding OneSM087–SM090

A tiny Ultra Wormhole drains Alola’s Ultra Aura, leaving the adults listless; the Matori Matrix arrives, Gladion joins the Ultra Guardians, and Lunala and Necrozma — “UB Black” — emerge (SM087). Necrozma fuses with Lunala and then with the returning Nebby, slipping away from Team Rocket’s special force (SM088). In Poipole’s home world a Naganadel tells how Necrozma once lit their world, while Kukui and Faba fight Gozu’s Mega Aggron (SM089); all Alola shares its light, Ash and Gladion use Searing Sunraze Smash and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom, Necrozma becomes Ultra Necrozma, Faba learns Kukui’s Masked Royal secret, and Poipole stays home (SM090).

After the slot changeSM091–SM092

In Japan the anime moved to Sunday evenings with A Plethora of Pikachu!, in which Pikachu wins a tail-biting duel in Pikachu Valley (SM091). In the finale, Molayne and Faba help keep the Masked Royal’s identity secret from Burnet — once Faba has lost a match in the mask himself (SM092).

Episode Guide

All 49 episodes of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures are listed below in production order, which is also the Japanese broadcast order and, without SM064, the order Disney XD, Bulbapedia and the DVDs follow. The # column is the dub season number, 1 to 48, and the orange code is the Bulbapedia number used by most fan sites; SM064, which was never dubbed, keeps its place between SM063 and SM065 with a dash for a number and Bulbapedia’s translation of its Japanese title. Every episode has its own page with our full synopsis, both titles, air dates, major events, Pokémon debuts, trivia and dub changes — click the title or the screenshot. US dates are the Disney XD premieres, from the launch week of 24–31 March 2018 through a summer of Monday evenings to the finale on 23 February 2019; Japanese dates are TV Tokyo’s, on Thursdays until SM090 and on Sundays for the last two episodes.

Who’s That Pokémon? continues in the English dub, read each week by the episode’s characters — Togedemaru, with Sophocles, became the first Pokémon to read it (SM069) — and each episode page gives the answer. Japan runs its own silhouette quiz at the ad break, and the two answers differ in 21 episodes, often because the Japanese quiz shows a particular individual, such as Ash’s Pikachu in his cap (SM054), Wash Rotom (SM057) or Pikala’s Curly (SM091). The dub’s first answer, Nebby (SM044), is only the second ever given as a nickname. Japan’s other quiz, the data-broadcast Poké Problem, is asked before the opening and answered after the ending; the dub drops it.

#	Episode	First aired	In short
1SM044	A Dream Encounter!サトシとほしぐも！不思議な出会い！！	Japan 5 Oct 2017 US 24 Mar 2018	Ash dreams that the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala entrust him with a promise, and the next day Tapu Koko leads him to a sleeping… · Nebby debuts Episode guide →
2SM045	Now You See Them, Now You Don’t!ほしぐもパニック！テレポートは突然に！！	Japan 12 Oct 2017 US 25 Mar 2018	Nebby reveals that it can use Teleport, whisking Ash and his classmates to wherever they happen to be thinking about and eventually delivering Ash… · Nebby’s Teleport Episode guide →
3SM046	Deceiving Appearances!変身メタモン、探すんだモン！	Japan 19 Oct 2017 US 26 Mar 2018	Ash and his classmates tour Aether Paradise, the Aether Foundation’s artificial conservation island, and help catch a runaway Ditto while Team… · Aether Paradise tour Episode guide →
4SM047	A Masked Warning!グラジオとシルヴァディ！戒めの仮面！！	Japan 26 Oct 2017 US 27 Mar 2018	Nebby accidentally teleports Ash to Ten Carat Hill, where Gladion warns him about Ultra Beasts, reveals that one attacked Lillie when she was small,… · Gladion beats Ash Episode guide →
5SM048	Night of a Thousand Poses!ゼンリョクポーズでお泊まり会！	Japan 2 Nov 2017 US 28 Mar 2018	A sleepover at Professor Kukui’s house brings the whole class together with Professor Burnet, but a chance meeting with Gladion’s Type:… · Class sleepover Episode guide →
6SM049	Mission: Total Recall!リーリエとシルヴァディ、よみがえる記憶	Japan 9 Nov 2017 US 29 Mar 2018	Faba steals Gladion’s Type: Null and tries to erase Lillie’s memories beneath Aether Paradise, until Type: Null breaks free of its mask,… · Type: Null evolves into Silvally Episode guide →
7SM050	Faba’s Revenge!ザオボーの逆襲！さらわれたほしぐも！！	Japan 16 Nov 2017 US 30 Mar 2018	Faba kidnaps Nebby to open an Ultra Wormhole and win back Lusamine’s favour, and when Nebby evolves into Cosmoem the portal reopens and a… · Nebby evolves into Cosmoem Episode guide →
8SM051	Family Determination!がんばリーリエ！決意の家出！！	Japan 23 Nov 2017 US 31 Mar 2018	Determined to rescue their mother, Lillie and Gladion set out for the Altar of the Sunne on Poni Island, and Ash, Professor Kukui and the class… · Lillie’s new outfit Episode guide →
9SM052	Revealing the Stuff of Legend!日輪の祭壇！ソルガレオ降臨！！	Japan 30 Nov 2017 US 7 Apr 2018	At the Altar of the Sunne, Alola’s guardian deities help Nebby evolve into Solgaleo, which gives Ash a Solganium Z and carries the group… · Nebby evolves into Solgaleo Episode guide →
10SM053	Rescuing the Unwilling!急げ！ルザミーネ救出大作戦！！	Japan 7 Dec 2017 US 14 Apr 2018	In the Ultra Deep Sea, Ash and his friends find Lusamine fused with a Nihilego and battle her controlled Pokémon one by one, until Lillie… · Ultra Deep Sea Episode guide →
11SM054	10,000,000 Reasons to Fight!輝けＺパワーリング！超ゼンリョクの１０００まんボルト！！	Japan 14 Dec 2017 US 21 Apr 2018	Ash’s Electrium Z transforms into a Pikashunium Z, and Pikachu’s 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt frees Lusamine from the Nihilego after… · 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt Episode guide →
12SM055	The Professors’ New Adventure!ありがとうソルガレオ！俺たちのほしぐも！！	Japan 21 Dec 2017 US 28 Apr 2018	Professor Kukui proposes to Professor Burnet, Ash’s classmates secretly stage a beach wedding for them, and Lusamine invites the class to… · Kukui and Burnet marry Episode guide →
13SM056	Let Sleeping Pokémon Lie!寝る子は強い、ネッコアラの秘密！	Japan 28 Dec 2017 US 5 May 2018	Samson Oak tells how the school’s sleepy bell-ringer Komala came to the Pokémon School, and the class teaches it to sing so that it can… · Komala’s story Episode guide →
14SM057	The Dex Can’t Help It!ロトム、フォルムチェンジが止まらない！	Japan 11 Jan 2018 US 12 May 2018	A delivery mix-up knocks Rotom out of Ash’s Pokédex and sends it on a tour of household appliances around Melemele Island, while a… · Rotom swaps bodies Episode guide →
15SM058	Fighting Back the Tears!泣かないでヒドイデ！	Japan 18 Jan 2018 US 19 May 2018	James decides to release his lovestruck Mareanie to a Toxapex that adores her, but after a fistfight with her suitor ends in a draw, Mareanie chooses… · Mareanie stays with James Episode guide →
16SM059	Tasting the Bitter with the Sweet!マオとスイレン、にがあまメモリーズ！	Japan 25 Jan 2018 US 2 Jul 2018	Lana and Mallow remember how they first met as small children and take Ash into the forest to thank the giant Pokémon they call Grandpa… · Lana and Mallow’s first meeting Episode guide →
17SM060	Getting a Jump on the Competition!リーリエ飛びます！ポケゾリジャンプ大会！！	Japan 1 Feb 2018 US 9 Jul 2018	On snowy Mount Lanakila, the PokéSled Jump champion Cerah helps Lillie overcome her fear of speed, and Snowy learns Aurora Veil just before… · Sled Jump Games Episode guide →
18SM061	A Mission of Ultra Urgency!出動！ぼくらのウルトラガーディアンズ！！	Japan 8 Feb 2018 US 16 Jul 2018	On the Ultra Guardians’ first mission, the class suits up in a secret base beneath the Pokémon School and flies out on Ride… · First Ultra Guardians mission Episode guide →
19SM062	Acting True to Form!悪のニャースはアローラニャース！？	Japan 15 Feb 2018 US 23 Jul 2018	A smooth-talking Alolan Meowth wins over Jessie and James, uses Team Rocket’s own Meowth as bait against Ash, and then leaves the trio to… · Alolan Meowth Episode guide →
20SM063	Pushing the Fiery Envelope!燃え上がれニャビー！打倒ガオガエン！！	Japan 22 Feb 2018 US 30 Jul 2018	Ash’s Litten challenges the Masked Royal’s Incineroar in a Battle Royal and loses, but in a rematch it masters Flame Charge and evolves… · Litten evolves into Torracat Episode guide →
–SM064	Satoshi and Passimian! A Touchdown of Friendship!!サトシとナゲツケサル！友情のタッチダウン！！	Japan 1 Mar 2018 US never aired	Ash helps the Melemele Greens, a troop of Passimian, win back their leadership fruit from the rough Red Buns of Akala Island, and ends up as the… · Never dubbed Episode guide →
21SM065	Turning Heads and Training Hard!イリマとイーブイまイリマす！！	Japan 8 Mar 2018 US 6 Aug 2018	The Pokémon School’s celebrated graduate Ilima returns from Kalos with an Eevium Z, and before Ash can battle him, Ilima and his Eevee… · Ilima returns Episode guide →
22SM066	Smashing with Sketch!スケッチでスマッシュ！激闘ポケピンポン！	Japan 15 Mar 2018 US 13 Aug 2018	Ilima teaches the class Poké-Ping Pong and then wins a tournament final against his intense rival Ikari, showing that empathy between a… · Poké-Ping Pong Episode guide →
23SM067	Love at First Twirl!ピカピカだいすき！くるくるベベノム！！	Japan 22 Mar 2018 US 25 Aug 2018	A playful Ultra Beast called Poipole falls for Pikachu’s electricity and follows Ash home, and after the Aether Foundation identifies it,… · Ash catches Poipole Episode guide →
24SM068	Real Life…Inquire Within!お仕事体験！ポケモンセンター24時！！	Japan 5 Apr 2018 US 1 Sep 2018	Ash and his classmates run the Hau’oli City Pokémon Center for a day when Nurse Joy falls ill, and their work culminates in saving Team… · Pokémon Center work experience Episode guide →
25SM069	Rise and Shine, Starship!輝け星舟テッカグヤ！	Japan 12 Apr 2018 US 8 Sep 2018	Sophocles digs up a buried Ultra Beast that he believes is the starship from an old moon legend, and the Ultra Guardians must free Celesteela before… · Celesteela mission Episode guide →
26SM070	The Young Flame Strikes Back!牧場を守れ！逆襲の蒼き炎！！	Japan 19 Apr 2018 US 15 Sep 2018	When the resort developer Viren tries to force Kiawe’s family off Paniola Ranch, Kiawe’s Marowak finally masters Inferno Overdrive to… · Marowak’s Inferno Overdrive Episode guide →
27SM071	Dewpider Ascending!シズクモ、スイレンゲットだぜ！	Japan 26 Apr 2018 US 22 Sep 2018	A young Dewpider leaves its home lake in search of a territory of its own, falls head over heels for Lana’s bubble-shaped diving helmet, and… · Dewpider finds a home Episode guide →
28SM072	Sours for the Sweet!パンパカパーン！燃えよマオファミリー！！	Japan 26 Apr 2018 US 29 Sep 2018	Mallow’s travelling brother Ulu comes home to enter the Alola Bread Festival, and when his sweet Grepa Berries are lost, Mallow’s idea… · Alola Bread Festival Episode guide →
29SM073	Why Not Give Me a Z-Ring Sometime?ロケット団の島めぐり！？Zリングをゲットせよ！！	Japan 3 May 2018 US 6 Oct 2018	Sent to Ula’ula Island by Giovanni, Team Rocket rescue Acerola from a legendary Gengar and are rewarded with a Z-Power Ring by the kahuna Nanu,… · Team Rocket’s Z-Power Ring Episode guide →
30SM074	Tough Guy Trials!ちょーワルおやじはしまキング！？	Japan 10 May 2018 US 13 Oct 2018	Arriving on Ula’ula Island for his third grand trial, Ash meets the reluctant kahuna Nanu and his young friend Acerola, but loses a pre-trial… · Ash loses Nanu’s pre-trial Episode guide →
31SM075	Some Kind of Laziness!カプ・ブルル！ぐーたらモー特訓！！	Japan 17 May 2018 US 20 Oct 2018	Training with Ula’ula’s lazy guardian Tapu Bulu, Ash helps Lycanroc overcome its rage at getting dirty, and Lycanroc learns Stone Edge… · Training with Tapu Bulu Episode guide →
32SM076	A Battle Hand-Off!スーパー決戦！ピカチュウVSミミッキュ！！	Japan 24 May 2018 US 27 Oct 2018	To earn his grand trial, Ash must win a battle at the abandoned Thrifty Megamart, where his opponent turns out to be Jessie’s Mimikyu—and… · Pikachu learns Electroweb Episode guide →
33SM077	Guiding an Awakening!クチナシの大試練！ルガルガン覚醒！！	Japan 31 May 2018 US 3 Nov 2018	Ash wins his third grand trial when Lycanroc, fighting alone against three of Nanu’s Pokémon, learns to channel its red-eyed rage into… · Lycanium Z Episode guide →
34SM078	Twirling with a Bang!激突ウルトラビースト！ドンドンバチバチ大作戦！！	Japan 7 Jun 2018 US 10 Nov 2018	Two Ultra Beasts, the explosive Blacephalon and the electric Xurkitree, turn Melemele Island into a battleground of light, until the Ultra Guardians… · Lillie and Lana catch Ultra Beasts Episode guide →
35SM079	Showering the World with Love!メテノとベベノム、星空に消えた約束！	Japan 14 Jun 2018 US 17 Nov 2018	At the Hokulani Observatory on Ula’ula Island, a Minior shower helps Sophocles recover a forgotten childhood memory of the Minior he befriended… · Minior Episode guide →
36SM080	Not Caving Under Pressure!サンドの嵐！氷穴のダブルバトル！！	Japan 28 Jun 2018 US 24 Nov 2018	Separated in an ice cave on the way home from the observatory, Lillie leads a group of Alolan Sandshrew to victory over a Tyranitar in a Double… · Lillie’s Icium Z Episode guide →
37SM081	A Young Royal Flame Ignites!アローラの若き炎！ロイヤルサトシ誕生！！	Japan 5 Jul 2018 US 1 Dec 2018	When a gang of cheating wrestlers called the Revengers, secretly backed by Viren, gangs up on the Masked Royal, Ash and Torracat join him as… · Ash Royal Episode guide →
38SM082	All They Want to Do is Dance Dance!ダンスダンスで進化せんか！？	Japan 19 Jul 2018 US 8 Dec 2018	During a Pokémon dance recital at the school, Mallow’s Steenee learns Stomp and evolves into Tsareena to break the class free from Team… · Steenee evolves into Tsareena Episode guide →
39SM083	Dummy, You Shrunk the Kids!サトシ、ちいさくなる	Japan 26 Jul 2018 US 15 Dec 2018	A malfunctioning shrink ray built by guest teacher Faba reduces Ash, Lillie and Sophocles to the size of insects, and they must cross Hau’oli… · Faba’s shrink ray Episode guide →
40SM084	The Shape of Love to Come!家族のカタチ、ベベノムのキモチ！	Japan 2 Aug 2018 US 22 Dec 2018	A painter named Mina and her Ribombee discover that Poipole’s playful drawings hide homesickness and a heavy sense of mission, and that night… · Mina Episode guide →
41SM085	The Long Vault Home!トンデノボッテ、ツンデツンデ！	Japan 9 Aug 2018 US 29 Dec 2018	A block-shaped Ultra Beast, Stakataka, lands at the Pokémon School in the middle of a vaulting craze and ends up as the base of a statue of… · Ash catches Stakataka Episode guide →
42SM086	I Choose Paradise!ココにきめた！ポケモン湯けむりパラダイス！！	Japan 16 Aug 2018 US 12 Jan 2019	Lusamine rewards the Ultra Guardians’ hard-working Ride Pokémon with a trip to the Pokémon Paradise Resort on Akala Island, where… · Pokémon Paradise Resort Episode guide →
43SM087	Filling the Light with Darkness!アローラの危機！かがやきを喰らう闇！！	Japan 23 Aug 2018 US 19 Jan 2019	A mysterious darkness drains Alola’s Ultra Aura and its adults’ energy, and when the Ultra Guardians, now joined by Gladion, trace it to… · Necrozma arc, part 1 Episode guide →
44SM088	Full Moon and Many Arms!ルナアーラ対UB:BLACK！満月の戦い！！	Japan 30 Aug 2018 US 26 Jan 2019	Necrozma, code-named “UB Black,” fuses with Lunala and then with the returning Nebby before escaping into Ultra Space, leaving the Ultra… · Necrozma arc, part 2 Episode guide →
45SM089	The Prism Between Light and Darkness!光と闇のプリズム、その名はネクロズマ！	Japan 6 Sep 2018 US 2 Feb 2019	Following Lunala into Poipole’s dark home world, the Ultra Guardians learn from an ailing Naganadel that UB Black is Necrozma, the Blinding One… · Necrozma arc, part 3 Episode guide →
46SM090	Securing the Future!未来へつなげ！かがやきさまの伝説！！	Japan 13 Sep 2018 US 9 Feb 2019	With the light of all Alola, Ash and Gladion restore Necrozma to its radiant Ultra form and free Nebby, Faba discovers Professor Kukui’s secret… · Necrozma arc, part 4 Episode guide →
47SM091	A Plethora of Pikachu!大量発生チュウ！ピカチュウのたに！！	Japan 7 Oct 2018 US 16 Feb 2019	On a trip to Pikachu Valley with Kiawe and his sister Mimo, Ash’s Pikachu wins a tail-biting duel against the valley’s Shiny leader, and… · Pikachu Valley Episode guide →
48SM092	Turning the Other Mask!ククイ絶体絶命！もう一人のロイヤルマスク！！	Japan 14 Oct 2018 US 23 Feb 2019	When the Masked Royal announces a meet-and-greet tour, Professor Kukui and Molayne scheme to keep his identity secret from Professor Burnet, but… · Season finale Episode guide →

Characters & Travelling Companions

Ash dreams of Solgaleo and Lunala and makes them a promise, and Tapu Koko leads him to the sleeping Cosmog he will raise as Nebby (SM044). Gladion’s Type: Null beats his Lycanroc (SM047); at the Altar of the Sunne the guardian deities turn his Z-Ring into a Z-Power Ring and Solgaleo gives him a Solganium Z (SM052), and in the Ultra Deep Sea his Electrium Z becomes a Pikashunium Z to free Lusamine (SM054). As an Ultra Guardian from SM055, riding a Garchomp, he catches Buzzwole (SM061), Poipole (SM067) and Stakataka (SM085). Litten evolves into Torracat in his losing battles with the Masked Royal (SM063); on Ula’ula he loses Nanu’s pre-trial (SM074) and wins the grand trial and a Lycanium Z with Lycanroc alone (SM077); he fights as “Ash Royal” (SM081), cross-dresses at the Pokémon Center (SM068), is shrunk by Faba’s ray (SM083) and lets Poipole stay in its home world (SM090). Pikachu fires 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt in Ash’s cap (SM054, SM076), learns Electroweb — its last new move in the series (SM076) — and wins a tail-biting duel in Pikachu Valley (SM091). Rotom Dex swaps bodies with a Wash Rotom (SM057) and is silent for the first time in SM073. Ash is voiced by Sarah Natochenny in English and Rica Matsumoto in Japanese, Pikachu by Ikue Ōtani, and Rotom by Roger Callagy and Daisuke Namikawa.

Lillie names Nebby (SM044), loses the ability to touch Pokémon after meeting Type: Null (SM048) and regains it when she remembers the Nihilego attack (SM049); in a new outfit she leaves with Gladion to rescue their mother (SM051), wins back Lusamine’s Clefable with a hug in the Ultra Deep Sea (SM053) and stands up to Lusamine herself (SM054), and her diary narrates SM045 to SM055. Her Snowy learns Aurora Veil (SM060); she catches Blacephalon (SM078) and receives an Icium Z from an Alolan Sandslash, though Snowy refuses to evolve (SM080). Kiawe wins the first battle in the Ultra Deep Sea (SM053), and his Marowak’s Inferno Overdrive saves his family’s ranch from Viren (SM070). Lana remembers meeting Mallow and Grandpa Forest (SM059), wins a Dewpider’s heart (SM071) and catches Xurkitree (SM078). Mallow invents “Rowlaunch” with Steenee (SM054), sees her brother Ulu win the Alola Bread Festival (SM072) and sees Steenee evolve into Tsareena (SM082). Sophocles digs up Celesteela (SM069) and relives his childhood friendship with a Minior with his cousin Molayne (SM079). They are voiced by Laurie Hymes, Marc Swint, Rosie Reyes, Jessica Paquet and Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld in English and by Kei Shindō, Kaito Ishikawa, Hitomi Kikuchi, Reina Ueda and Fumiko Takekuma in Japanese.

Professor Kukui reveals a Braviary (SM052), proposes to Professor Burnet with a ring in a Poké Ball and marries her on the beach at a wedding his students organise in secret (SM055), and plans an Alola League (SM065, SM074). He is also the Masked Royal, the Battle Royal star whose Incineroar beats Ash twice (SM063), teams up with “Ash Royal” (SM081), defeats Gozu’s Mega Aggron (SM090) and survives Faba’s impersonation (SM092) — Faba learns the secret (SM090) and Molayne already knows (SM092), but Burnet, one of his biggest fans, never suspects. Burnet, introduced as the “Alola Woman of the Year” for her research on Ultra Wormholes (SM044), moves in with Kukui and Ash, briefs the Ultra Guardians and deciphers the mural that explains the Blinding One (SM089–SM090). Kukui is voiced by Abe Goldfarb and Keiichi Nakagawa, Burnet by Melissa Hope and Sachi Kokuryū.

Lillie, who names Nebby (SM044), remembers the Nihilego attack (SM049) and wins back her mother in the Ultra Deep Sea (S

Team Rocket

Jessie, James and Meowth call Nebby “Proto-Koffing”, work for Faba at Aether Paradise (SM046) and walk out when he orders them to bring him Lillie (SM049). An Alolan Meowth wins over Jessie and James, uses Meowth as bait and leaves to become Matori’s assistant (SM062); James tries to give his lovestruck Mareanie, confirmed female, to a Toxapex and brawls with it on the beach before she chooses him (SM058), and turns up alone at the Pokémon Center (SM068). On Ula’ula Nanu gives the trio a Z-Power Ring, Mareanie learns Knock Off and performs Black Hole Eclipse, and Acerola’s Mimikins gives Jessie a Mimikium Z (SM073); Jessie’s Mimikyu, as Nanu’s stand-in “Trainers”, hits Pikachu with Let’s Snuggle Forever at the Thrifty Megamart and still loses (SM076). Jessie competes in the Sled Jump Games as “Jessicle” (SM060), and the trio host the Battle Royals in disguise. Bewear carries them home in nearly every episode, wrestles Buzzwole (SM061), smashes out of its den when their decoy dummies fail (SM076) and makes them share their light with Necrozma (SM090).

Giovanni calls for reports (SM062, SM073, SM087) and turns out to be an old acquaintance of Nanu, whom he asks about the Blinding One (SM074). His secretary Matori arrives in Alola in a Team Rocket uniform for the first time at the head of the Matori Matrix (SM087–SM090), whose Gozu — the first new named Team Rocket member since Dr. Zager — Mega Evolves his Aggron to beat Kukui’s Braviary and Faba’s Pokémon (SM089) before the Masked Royal’s Incineroar beats it and Tapu Koko drives the helicopter off (SM090). Matori’s name is spoken in the dub for the first time in SM088, some 347 episodes after its Japanese reveal. Jessie is voiced by Michele Knotz, who also voices Bewear, James and Meowth by James Carter Cathcart, Wobbuffet by Erica Schroeder and Matori by Emily Jenness; in Japanese they are Megumi Hayashibara, Shin-ichiro Miki, Inuko Inuyama, Yūji Ueda, Mika Kanai (Bewear) and Kiyomi Asai (Matori).

The Aether family, kahunas & friends

Lusamine, Lillie and Gladion’s mother and president of the Aether Foundation, fusses over Lillie on her first visit (SM044), is carried off by a Nihilego when she shields her children (SM050) and is found fused with it in the Ultra Deep Sea, commanding Clefable, Salazzle, Milotic, Mismagius, Lilligant and Absol (SM053), until Lillie’s words and Pikachu’s Z-Move free her (SM054); she then founds the Ultra Guardians (SM055) and directs their missions. Gladion warns Ash about Ultra Beasts and beats him with Type: Null (SM047), which evolves into Silvally to save Lillie (SM049); after the rescue he leaves to take the island challenge (SM055) and returns to join the Ultra Guardians on a Noivern, receiving a Lunalium Z from Lunala (SM087–SM090). Faba, the Foundation’s branch chief, hires Team Rocket (SM046), steals Type: Null (SM049) and kidnaps Nebby (SM050), and is demoted to work under the assistant branch chief Wicke (SM055); he later shrinks three students as a guest teacher (SM083), discovers that Kukui is the Masked Royal — and that he is a fan (SM090) — and impersonates him (SM092). Lillie’s butler Hobbes flies the group to Aether Paradise (SM050).

On Ula’ula Island, Nanu is both kahuna and the only police officer in Po Town, feeding a gang of Alolan Meowth; he gives Team Rocket a Z-Power Ring (SM073), beats Ash in a pre-trial (SM074), sets the Thrifty Megamart condition (SM076) and, after losing his grand trial with Krookodile, Sableye and Alolan Persian, gives Ash a Lycanium Z instead of a Darkinium Z (SM077). Acerola, the Malie City librarian whose Shiny Mimikyu Mimikins is a real ghost, tells the legend of the Blinding One, carries Ash across the Haina Desert on her Ride Mudsdale and referees his trials (SM073–SM077). Melemele’s kahuna Hala recounts the legend of the Altar of the Sunne (SM051) and wins the Sled Jump Games (SM060), Akala’s Olivia catches the bouquet (SM055), and the kahunas pray for Alola (SM088) and gather its people’s light for Necrozma (SM090). Principal Samson Oak officiates the wedding (SM055) and tells Komala’s story (SM056); Unshō Ishizuka, his Japanese voice and the narrator since EP001, died during the Japanese run, and SM088 is his last episode in the role.

Ilima, the Verdant Cavern trial captain, returns from Kalos with an Eevium Z, beats Team Skull with Extreme Evoboost (SM065) and wins a Poké-Ping Pong tournament with Smeargle before sailing back (SM066). Molayne, Sophocles’s cousin at the Hokulani Observatory, debuts in SM079 and helps Kukui keep his secret (SM092); the trial captain and painter Mina reads Poipole’s feelings through her Ribombee (SM084). The developer Viren of Rainbow Happy Resorts is arrested for damming Paniola Ranch’s river (SM070), backs the Revengers, Mad Magmar and Mr. Electric (SM081, SM092), and has his statue set on Stakataka (SM085). Team Skull’s Tupp, Rapp and Zipp return (SM065, SM068, SM084), Cerah, Alola’s top PokéSled Jumper, gives an exhibition (SM060), Mallow’s brother Ulu wins the Bread Festival (SM072), the fruit-seller Anela is finally named (SM082), and Pikala, Pikachu Valley’s biggest fan, uses a Pikanium Z (SM091).

Nebby as Solgaleo, after it evolves at the Altar of the Sunne in Revealing the Stuff of Legend! (SM052)

Lusamine, president of the Aether Foundation, who founds the Ultra Guardians in The Professors’ New Adventure! (SM055)

Voice cast

Character	English voice actor	Japanese voice actor
Ash Ketchum	Sarah Natochenny	Rica Matsumoto
Pikachu	Ikue Ōtani	Ikue Ōtani
Rotom Pokédex	Roger Callagy	Daisuke Namikawa
Lillie	Laurie Hymes	Kei Shindō
Kiawe	Marc Swint	Kaito Ishikawa
Lana	Rosie Reyes	Hitomi Kikuchi
Mallow	Jessica Paquet	Reina Ueda
Sophocles	Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld	Fumiko Takekuma
Professor Kukui / the Masked Royal	Abe Goldfarb	Keiichi Nakagawa
Professor Burnet	Melissa Hope (Melissa Schoenberg)	Sachi Kokuryū
Poipole	Lisa Ortiz	Rikako Aikawa
Lusamine	Bobbi Hartley	Sayaka Kinoshita
Gladion	Eddy Lee	Nobuhiko Okamoto
Faba	Daniel J. Edwards	Mitsuaki Madono
Wicke	Riley Joseph	Chika Fujimura
Nanu	Michael McMillan	Masaki Aizawa
Acerola	Lauren Kammerling	Sumire Morohoshi
Ilima	Mike Liscio	Yudai Chiba
Molayne	Barrett Leddy	Kōsuke Kuwano
Samson Oak	Marc Thompson	Unshō Ishizuka (his last episode is SM088)
Jessie	Michele Knotz	Megumi Hayashibara
James	James Carter Cathcart	Shin-ichiro Miki
Meowth	James Carter Cathcart	Inuko Inuyama
Wobbuffet	Erica Schroeder	Yūji Ueda
Bewear	Michele Knotz	Mika Kanai
Matori	Emily Jenness	Kiyomi Asai
Gozu	Oliver Wyman (as Pete Zarustica)	Keikou Sakai
Narrator	Rodger Parsons	Unshō Ishizuka (his last narration is SM091)

Pokémon: Captures, Changes, Encounters & Evolutions

In brief:

Ash starts the season with Pikachu, Rowlet, Litten and Lycanroc in its Dusk Form, and ends it with Pikachu, Rowlet, Lycanroc and Torracat. In between he looks after Nebby, the Cosmog Tapu Koko leads him to (SM044) — his first Legendary Pokémon, never formally caught — which evolves into Cosmoem as Faba drains its power (SM050) and into Solgaleo at the Altar of the Sunne (SM052) before returning to the wild (SM055). Litten learns Flame Charge and evolves into Torracat in the middle of its rematch with the Masked Royal’s Incineroar (SM063), then learns Revenge as half of the Double Royals (SM081). Lycanroc, which flies into a rage whenever its fur is dirtied (SM047, SM074), learns to control it and Stone Edge while training with Tapu Bulu (SM075) and Counter in the grand trial (SM077), and first uses Splintered Stormshards in SM078; Rowlet learns Razor Leaf from Tapu Bulu’s energy (SM075); and Pikachu gains 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt (SM054) and learns Electroweb (SM076), its first new move since BW020, 338 episodes earlier.
Ash also catches three Ultra Beasts, all in Beast Balls: Buzzwole on the Ultra Guardians’ first mission, sent home the same day (SM061); Poipole, which presses the Beast Ball’s button itself (SM067), learns Fury Attack and fights for the first time (SM084) and chooses to stay in its home world (SM090); and Stakataka, caught after Ash rides it and released through a wormhole that evening (SM085). Lillie catches Blacephalon and Lana Xurkitree in the same mission, and both are sent home the next day (SM078). On missions the class flies Ride Pokémon: Garchomp for Ash, Altaria for Lillie, Flygon for Mallow, Dragonair for Lana, Metang for Sophocles and Kiawe’s own Charizard, with Gladion on a Noivern (SM087).
Among the classmates, Mallow’s Steenee learns Stomp and evolves into Tsareena, learning Trop Kick (SM082), and teams with Rowlet for “Rowlaunch” (SM054); Lillie’s Snowy reveals Hail and learns Aurora Veil (SM060) and turns down an Ice Stone (SM080), while Lillie receives an Icium Z (SM080); Lana’s Popplio unleashes Hydro Vortex (SM054); Kiawe’s Alolan Marowak reveals Bonemerang (SM053) and performs Inferno Overdrive (SM070), and his Turtonator’s Shell Trap launches Ash onto Stakataka (SM085); and Sophocles’s Togedemaru and Charjabug do not evolve. Gladion’s Type: Null breaks its mask and evolves into Silvally (SM049), changing type with its Fairy (SM051), Fire and Steel (SM054) Memories.
Team Rocket gain a Z-Power Ring from Nanu: James’s Mareanie, confirmed female (SM058), learns Knock Off and performs Black Hole Eclipse, and Jessie’s Mimikyu receives a Mimikium Z for Let’s Snuggle Forever (SM073, SM076). Elsewhere, Hala’s Crabrawler evolves into Crabominable (SM060), a wild Mareanie into Toxapex (SM058), a Surskit into Masquerain (SM071) and a giant Alolan Sandshrew, with an Ice Stone, into an Alolan Sandslash (SM080); Kukui’s Braviary appears for the first time (SM052), and Gozu Mega Evolves his Aggron (SM089).

New Pokémon captured or hatched

Cosmog#0789 · Ash · Nebby, found asleep and entrusted to him, never formally caught · SM044
Buzzwole#0794 · Ash · in a Beast Ball on the first Ultra Guardians mission, then sent home · SM061
Poipole#0803 · Ash · it presses the Beast Ball’s button itself · SM067
Blacephalon#0806 · Lillie · in a Beast Ball, sent home the next day · SM078
Xurkitree#0796 · Lana · in a Beast Ball, sent home the next day · SM078
Stakataka#0805 · Ash · after riding it to calm it down; sent home that evening · SM085

Evolutions

Type: Null → Silvally#0773 · Gladion · breaking its mask to save Lillie from Faba · SM049
Cosmog → Cosmoem#0790 · Ash (Nebby) · as Faba’s machine draws on its power · SM050
Cosmoem → Solgaleo#0791 · Ash (Nebby) · at the Altar of the Sunne, with the guardian deities’ help · SM052
Mareanie → Toxapex#0748 · wild · the male Mareanie courting James’s Mareanie · SM058
Crabrawler → Crabominable#0740 · Hala · on Mount Lanakila, before winning the Sled Jump Games · SM060
Litten → Torracat#0726 · Ash · learning Flame Charge in the rematch with the Masked Royal’s Incineroar · SM063
Surskit → Masquerain#0284 · wild · the Surskit that fights Dewpider for its pond · SM071
Steenee → Tsareena#0763 · Mallow · learning Stomp before and Trop Kick after evolving · SM082

Releases, departures and returns

Ash says goodbye to two Pokémon. Nebby, which has carried the class home from the Ultra Deep Sea, returns to the wild before Kukui and Burnet’s wedding and races across the sky as the class waves (SM055) — Bulbapedia lists it as released — and comes back through a wormhole for the Necrozma arc (SM088–SM090). Poipole, sent to find a new home by its hive’s ailing Naganadel, decides to stay and protect its world once Necrozma’s light returns, and draws Ash and Pikachu in the sand before the wormhole closes (SM090); Bulbapedia records it as released there. The other Ultra Beasts caught by the Ultra Guardians — Buzzwole (SM061), Blacephalon and Xurkitree (SM078) and Stakataka (SM085) — are sent home through Ultra Wormholes, and Celesteela, too deeply rooted for a Beast Ball, launches itself back into space (SM069).

James decides to give Mareanie up to the Toxapex that adores her, but after he fights her suitor to a draw she runs back to him (SM058). The Alolan Meowth that tricks Team Rocket leaves to become Matori’s assistant (SM062), the young Dewpider that falls for Lana settles in a Hau’oli pond rather than joining her (SM071), and the trial captain Ilima (SM066) and Mallow’s brother Ulu (SM072) sail away to continue their training.

Teams at the end of the season (SM092)

Trainer	Pokémon	Changes this season
Ash	Pikachu, Rowlet, Lycanroc (Dusk Form), Torracat; Rotom Dex	Nebby joined (SM044), evolved into Cosmoem (SM050) and Solgaleo (SM052) and returned to the wild (SM055); Litten evolved into Torracat (SM063); Buzzwole (SM061) and Stakataka (SM085) caught and sent home; Poipole caught (SM067) and left in its home world (SM090)
Lillie	Snowy (Alolan Vulpix)	Snowy learned Aurora Veil (SM060) and refused an Ice Stone (SM080); Blacephalon caught and sent home (SM078); Icium Z (SM080)
Mallow	Tsareena	Steenee evolved into Tsareena (SM082)
Lana	Popplio	Hydro Vortex (SM054); Xurkitree caught and sent home (SM078)
Kiawe	Turtonator, Alolan Marowak; Charizard (Ride Pokémon)	Marowak performed Inferno Overdrive (SM070)
Sophocles	Togedemaru, Charjabug	No changes
Gladion	Silvally, Umbreon, Lycanroc; Noivern (Ride Pokémon)	Type: Null evolved into Silvally (SM049); Normalium Z (SM089) and Lunalium Z (SM090)
Jessie	Wobbuffet, Mimikyu	Mimikium Z (SM073)
James	Mareanie	Knock Off and Black Hole Eclipse (SM073)

Ultra Beasts this season

Ultra Beast	What happens	Episodes
Nihilego	Attacked Lillie as a child (flashback); takes Lusamine through a wormhole, fuses with her in the Ultra Deep Sea and flies off once she is freed; never caught	SM047, SM049–SM050, SM053–SM054
Poipole	Glimpsed slipping into Alola; follows Pikachu; caught by Ash; stays in its home world	SM055, SM061, SM067–SM090
Buzzwole	First Ultra Guardians mission, on Mahalo Trail; caught by Ash and sent home	SM061
Celesteela	Dug up on Bamboo Hill; too deeply rooted for a Beast Ball; launches back into space	SM069
Blacephalon, Xurkitree	Duel on Route 3; caught by Lillie and Lana and sent home	SM078
Stakataka	Lands at the Pokémon School and becomes the plinth of Viren’s statue; caught by Ash and sent home	SM085
Necrozma (“UB Black”)	Drains Alola’s Ultra Aura; fuses with Lunala, then Nebby; restored as Ultra Necrozma in Poipole’s world	SM087–SM090
Naganadel	In Poipole’s dream; the ailing elder of Poipole’s hive, which tells Necrozma’s story	SM084, SM089–SM090

Rivals’, villains’ and others’ Pokémon this season

Trainer	Pokémon	Episodes
Lusamine	Clefable, Salazzle, Milotic, Mismagius, Lilligant, Absol	SM050, SM053–SM054
Faba	Hypno, Alakazam	SM049–SM050, SM089
Kukui / the Masked Royal	Braviary; Incineroar (Incinium Z)	SM052, SM063, SM081, SM089–SM090, SM092
Professor Burnet	Munchlax	throughout
Nanu	Krookodile, Sableye, Alolan Persian; a gang of Alolan Meowth	SM073–SM077
Acerola	Mimikins (Shiny Mimikyu), Mudsdale	SM073–SM077
Ilima	Eevee (Eevium Z), Smeargle	SM065–SM066
Hala	Crabrawler, later Crabominable	SM060
Gozu	Aggron (Mega Aggron)	SM087–SM090
Viren / the Revengers	Electivire, Pangoro / Magmortar, Electivire, Poliwrath, Alolan Muk, Alolan Golem	SM070, SM081, SM092
Molayne	Magneton	SM079, SM092
Mina	Ribombee	SM084
Cerah	Alolan Ninetales	SM060
Ulu	Lickitung	SM072
Pikala	Pikachu, among them the Shiny “Boss” and Curly; Pikanium Z	SM091
Samson Oak	Komala (the school’s), Alolan Vulpix	SM056

Pokémon making their anime debut this season

Ultra Adventures brings the Legendary and Ultra Beast side of Generation VII to the anime. Cosmog, Solgaleo, Lunala, Tapu Bulu and Tapu Fini all debut in A Dream Encounter! (SM044), which features eight Legendary Pokémon, the most of any episode, and Cosmoem (SM050) and Necrozma (SM087) follow, with Necrozma’s Dawn Wings and Dusk Mane forms in SM088 and Ultra Necrozma in SM090. Nihilego, in a flashback, is the first Ultra Beast in the anime (SM047), and Buzzwole, Celesteela, Blacephalon, Xurkitree, Stakataka, Poipole and its evolution Naganadel join it — Poipole, Stakataka and Blacephalon being the new Ultra Beasts of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The Jangmo-o line, Salazzle, Drampa, Crabominable, Torracat, Primarina, Decidueye, Passimian, Dewpider, Araquanid, Mudsdale, Minior and Tsareena make their anime debuts, and Marshadow, Toxapex and Incineroar their TV-episode debuts. Several Alolan forms appear for the first time too — Alolan Ninetales and Sandshrew (SM060), Grimer in a flashback (SM065), Sandslash (SM080) and Golem (SM081) — with Oricorio’s Pa’u Style (SM082) and Mega Aggron (SM089). Passimian debuts in the undubbed SM064, so English viewers first see it in A Young Royal Flame Ignites! (SM081).

Cosmog#0789 · SM044 · anime debut; Nebby
Solgaleo#0791 · SM044 · anime debut, in Ash’s dream
Lunala#0792 · SM044 · anime debut, in Ash’s dream
Tapu Bulu#0787 · SM044 · anime debut
Tapu Fini#0788 · SM044 · anime debut
Stufful#0759 · SM044 · anime debut
Nihilego#0793 · SM047 · anime debut, in a flashback — the first Ultra Beast in the anime
Silvally#0773 · SM049 · anime debut; Gladion’s Type: Null evolves
Cosmoem#0790 · SM050 · anime debut; Nebby evolves
Jangmo-o#0782 · SM051 · anime debut
Hakamo-o#0783 · SM051 · anime debut
Kommo-o#0784 · SM051 · anime debut, as a Totem Pokémon
Salazzle#0758 · SM053 · anime debut; Lusamine’s
Poipole#0803 · SM055 · anime debut, glimpsed slipping through an Ultra Wormhole
Marshadow#0802 · SM057 · TV-episode debut, after the twentieth movie
Toxapex#0748 · SM058 · TV-episode debut
Drampa#0780 · SM059 · anime debut; Grandpa Forest
Crabominable#0740 · SM060 · anime debut; Hala’s Crabrawler evolves
Buzzwole#0794 · SM061 · anime debut, with the Beast Ball
Torracat#0726 · SM063 · anime debut; Ash’s Litten evolves
Primarina#0730 · SM063 · anime debut, in a Battle Royal
Decidueye#0724 · SM063 · anime debut, in a Battle Royal
Incineroar#0727 · SM063 · TV-episode debut; the Masked Royal’s
Passimian#0766 · anime debut in the undubbed SM064; dub debut in SM081
Celesteela#0797 · SM069 · anime debut
Dewpider#0751 · SM071 · anime debut
Araquanid#0752 · SM071 · anime debut
Mudsdale#0750 · SM075 · anime debut, as Acerola’s Ride Pokémon
Blacephalon#0806 · SM078 · TV-episode debut
Xurkitree#0796 · SM078 · TV-episode debut
Minior#0774 · SM079 · anime debut, in its Meteor Form and its cores
Tsareena#0763 · SM082 · anime debut; Mallow’s Steenee evolves
Naganadel#0804 · SM084 · anime debut, in Poipole’s dream
Stakataka#0805 · SM085 · anime debut
Necrozma#0800 · SM087 · anime debut, as “UB Black”

Key Events, Island Trials, Ultra Guardians & Battle Royals

Events of note

Ash meets Nebby; Lusamine, Burnet, Wicke and Faba debut (SM044 – A Dream Encounter!)
The class tours Aether Paradise; Faba has hired Team Rocket (SM046 – Deceiving Appearances!)
Gladion reveals that an Ultra Beast attacked Lillie; Type: Null beats Lycanroc (SM047 – A Masked Warning!)
Lillie can no longer touch Pokémon (SM048 – Night of a Thousand Poses!)
Type: Null evolves into Silvally; Lillie remembers the Nihilego attack (SM049 – Mission: Total Recall!)
Nebby evolves into Cosmoem; a Nihilego takes Lusamine (SM050 – Faba’s Revenge!)
Lillie and Gladion set out for Poni Island; the four guardian deities gather (SM051 – Family Determination!)
Nebby evolves into Solgaleo; Ash’s Z-Power Ring and Solganium Z (SM052 – Revealing the Stuff of Legend!)
The class enters the Ultra Deep Sea; Lillie wins back Clefable (SM053 – Rescuing the Unwilling!)
The Pikashunium Z’s 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt frees Lusamine (SM054 – 10,000,000 Reasons to Fight!)
Kukui and Burnet marry; the Ultra Guardians are founded; Nebby returns to the wild (SM055 – The Professors’ New Adventure!)
Mareanie chooses James over Toxapex (SM058 – Fighting Back the Tears!)
Hala wins the Sled Jump Games; Snowy learns Aurora Veil (SM060 – Getting a Jump on the Competition!)
The first Ultra Guardians mission; Ash catches Buzzwole (SM061 – A Mission of Ultra Urgency!)
An Alolan Meowth becomes Matori’s assistant (SM062 – Acting True to Form!)
Litten evolves into Torracat; the first Battle Royal (SM063 – Pushing the Fiery Envelope!)
The never-dubbed Passimian episode (SM064 – Satoshi and Passimian! A Touchdown of Friendship!!)
Ilima returns with an Eevium Z (SM065 – Turning Heads and Training Hard!)
Ash catches Poipole (SM067 – Love at First Twirl!)
Celesteela launches back into space (SM069 – Rise and Shine, Starship!)
Kiawe’s Marowak performs Inferno Overdrive (SM070 – The Young Flame Strikes Back!)
Team Rocket get a Z-Power Ring and a Mimikium Z; Nanu and Acerola debut (SM073 – Why Not Give Me a Z-Ring Sometime?)
Ash loses Nanu’s pre-trial (SM074 – Tough Guy Trials!)
Lycanroc learns Stone Edge; Rowlet learns Razor Leaf (SM075 – Some Kind of Laziness!)
Pikachu learns Electroweb (SM076 – A Battle Hand-Off!)
Ash wins his third grand trial and the Lycanium Z (SM077 – Guiding an Awakening!)
Lillie catches Blacephalon and Lana Xurkitree (SM078 – Twirling with a Bang!)
Lillie receives an Icium Z (SM080 – Not Caving Under Pressure!)
Ash becomes “Ash Royal”; Torracat learns Revenge (SM081 – A Young Royal Flame Ignites!)
Steenee evolves into Tsareena (SM082 – All They Want to Do is Dance Dance!)
Poipole learns Fury Attack (SM084 – The Shape of Love to Come!)
Ash catches Stakataka (SM085 – The Long Vault Home!)
Gladion joins the Ultra Guardians; Lunala and Necrozma appear (SM087 – Filling the Light with Darkness!)
Nebby returns; Necrozma fuses with Lunala, then Nebby (SM088 – Full Moon and Many Arms!)
The Ultra Guardians reach Poipole’s world (SM089 – The Prism Between Light and Darkness!)
Necrozma is restored as Ultra Necrozma; Poipole stays home; Faba learns the Masked Royal’s secret (SM090 – Securing the Future!)
Pikachu wins the tail-biting duel in Pikachu Valley (SM091 – A Plethora of Pikachu!)
Faba’s fake Masked Royal; the season finale (SM092 – Turning the Other Mask!)

Trials, missions & battles

Lycanroc v Gladion’s Type: Null (Type: Null wins) — SM047
Gladion v Faba (Faba wins); Silvally v Faba’s Hypno and Alakazam (Silvally wins with Multi-Attack) — SM049
Lillie and Gladion (Snowy, Silvally) v Totem Kommo-o, Jangmo-o and Hakamo-o (Lillie and Gladion win) — SM051
Kiawe (Turtonator, Marowak) v Lusamine’s Salazzle (Kiawe wins); Lana, Mallow and Sophocles v Milotic, Mismagius and Lilligant; Lillie v Clefable (Clefable freed) — SM053
Gladion and Ash’s Lycanroc v Absol (Continental Crush wins); Popplio v Mismagius (Hydro Vortex wins); Pikachu v Lusamine and Nihilego (10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt wins) — SM054
Ash (Litten) and Kiawe (Turtonator) v Komala (interrupted) — SM056
James v Toxapex, a fistfight on the beach (draw) — SM058
Pokémon Sled Jump Games (Hala wins with Crabominable) — SM060
Ultra Guardians v Buzzwole (Ash catches it) — SM061
Battle Royal: the Masked Royal v Ash, Kiawe and Sophocles (Masked Royal wins); Litten, then Torracat, v Incineroar (Masked Royal wins) — SM063
Melemele Greens v Red Buns, Japan only (the Greens win) — SM064
Ilima’s Eevee v Team Skull (Ilima wins with Extreme Evoboost) — SM065
Poké-Ping Pong: Mallow beats Ash, Lillie beats Sophocles; tournament final Ilima’s Smeargle v Ikari’s Mienshao (Ilima wins) — SM066
Ultra Guardians v Celesteela (not caught; it launches into space) — SM069
Kiawe’s Marowak v Viren’s Electivire (Marowak wins with Inferno Overdrive) — SM070
Dewpider v Surskit (Dewpider wins the pond) — SM071
Team Rocket’s Mareanie v Gengar (Black Hole Eclipse; Team Rocket win) — SM073
Pre-trial: Lycanroc v Nanu’s Krookodile (Nanu wins) — SM074
Lycanroc v Tapu Bulu (training battle, ended by Tapu Bulu) — SM075
Pikachu v Jessie’s Mimikyu at the Thrifty Megamart (Pikachu wins) — SM076
Ula’ula grand trial: Lycanroc v Nanu’s Krookodile, Sableye and Alolan Persian (Ash wins the Lycanium Z) — SM077
Ultra Guardians v Blacephalon and Xurkitree (caught by Lillie and Lana) — SM078
Lillie and a giant Alolan Sandshrew v Tyranitar, a Double Battle (Lillie wins) — SM080
The Double Royals (Masked Royal and Ash Royal) v the Revengers and Viren’s Pangoro (Double Royals win) — SM081
Mina v Team Skull, an art battle; Pikachu, Poipole and Ribombee v Team Skull (Ash and Mina win) — SM084
Ultra Guardians v Stakataka (Ash catches it) — SM085
Gozu’s Mega Aggron v Kukui’s Braviary and Faba’s Pokémon (Gozu wins); the Masked Royal’s Incineroar v Mega Aggron (Incineroar wins) — SM089–SM090
Ultra Guardians v Dusk Mane Necrozma (restored as Ultra Necrozma) — SM088–SM090
Pikachu v the Shiny “Boss” Pikachu, a tail-biting duel (Pikachu wins) — SM091
The fake Masked Royal (Faba) v Mad Magmar (Mad Magmar wins); the real Masked Royal v Mad Magmar (Masked Royal wins) — SM092

Trials & the Z-Crystal won this season

Z-Crystal	Trial & opponent	Opponent’s Pokémon	Challenger’s Pokémon	Result	Episode
Totem battle · no Z-Crystal	Vast Poni Canyon · Totem Kommo-o (challengers Lillie and Gladion)	Totem Kommo-o, Jangmo-o, Hakamo-o	Snowy, Silvally	Win — on their way to the Altar of the Sunne, the siblings reach a chamber guarded by a Jangmo-o, a Hakamo-o and a towering Totem Kommo-o and defeat them with Snowy and Silvally, now a Fairy type; the ceiling starts to cave in, and Ash and the class arrive just in time to smash the falling debris	SM051
Darkinium Z · not won	Pre-trial, Po Town · Nanu	Krookodile	Lycanroc	Loss — Acerola persuades the reluctant kahuna to hold a pre-trial and referees it. Krookodile weakens Lycanroc with Intimidate, traps it in Sand Tomb and dirties it with Mud-Slap; Lycanroc’s eyes turn red and it ignores Ash, until Counter and Crunch end the match. Nanu tells Ash to go home, and Ash stays to train with Tapu Bulu	SM074
Nanu’s condition · no Z-Crystal	Abandoned Thrifty Megamart · Nanu’s “Trainers” (Team Rocket)	Jessie’s Mimikyu	Pikachu	Win — Nanu agrees to the grand trial if Ash first beats the Trainers waiting at the Megamart, with Acerola judging. Mimikyu’s Disguise absorbs Iron Tail and Let’s Snuggle Forever pummels Pikachu, but Pikachu has unknowingly shielded itself with its new Electroweb; trapping Mimikyu in another Electroweb, it wins with 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt — the first non-grand trial with no Totem and no Z-Crystal	SM076
Lycanium Z	Ula’ula Island grand trial · kahuna Nanu	Krookodile, Sableye, Alolan Persian	Lycanroc (alone)	Win — one Pokémon against three. Lycanroc shakes off Krookodile’s Sand Tomb and Mud-Slap, beats it with Accelerock and Rock Throw, defeats Sableye with Stone Edge after Tapu Bulu drops it a Sitrus Berry, and learns Counter against Alolan Persian as Ash realises that its red eyes mean growing power, not blind rage; Continental Crush cancels out Black Hole Eclipse and Accelerock wins. Instead of a Darkinium Z, Nanu gives Ash a Lycanium Z — Ash’s third grand trial and the first official match in which he uses fewer Pokémon than his opponent	SM077

The Ultra Guardians

Lusamine founds the Ultra Guardians at Kukui and Burnet’s wedding party (SM055), recruiting the class to return stray Ultra Beasts to their own worlds. Their first mission (SM061) reveals a secret base beneath the Pokémon School — its launch sequence, with an Alolan Exeggutor turning its heads, parodies Thunderbirds — along with suits, Beast Balls and Ride Pokémon, and Ash catches a flexing Buzzwole on Mahalo Trail before it is sent home. On Bamboo Hill (SM069) Sophocles digs up Celesteela, which is too deeply rooted for a Beast Ball; the Guardians build an ice-and-stone blast wall and watch it launch back into space. On Route 3 (SM078) a fireworks display of the team’s own moves distracts Blacephalon and Xurkitree, and Lillie and Lana catch them — the only Ultra Beasts in the season caught by someone other than Ash. Ash rides Stakataka, which has landed at the school and become the plinth of Viren’s statue, and catches it (SM085). Poipole, which Ash catches so that he can look after it (SM067), was never a mission.

The last mission is the biggest. A tiny Ultra Wormhole drains Alola’s Ultra Aura, Gladion joins the team with a Ride Noivern, and Lunala and Necrozma emerge (SM087); Necrozma fuses with Lunala and then with the returning Nebby (SM088), and the Guardians follow it to Poipole’s dark home world, where Ash, Lana, Kiawe and Gladion combine four Z-Moves into a single beam (SM089). The power only feeds Necrozma, so the kahunas gather Alola’s light, the guardian deities, Aether staff and even Team Rocket’s Pokémon send it through the wormhole, and Ash and Gladion’s Searing Sunraze Smash and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom restore Necrozma as Ultra Necrozma (SM090).

Battle Royals

The Battle Royal Dome on Akala Island, with Team Rocket as its disguised hosts, is the Masked Royal’s stage. In the first Battle Royal of the season (SM063) the Masked Royal’s Incineroar beats three Trainers’ Machamp, Primarina and Decidueye with Malicious Moonsault, then beats Ash’s Litten, Kiawe’s Marowak and Sophocles’s Charjabug with Darkest Lariat and Throat Chop; in the single-battle rematch Litten evolves into Torracat but still loses. In SM081 the Revengers, Mad Magmar and Mr. Electric, challenge the Masked Royal — Mr. Electric is disqualified and a new match is set for the next day — and the Masked Royal and “Ash Royal”, as the Double Royals, beat the Revengers’ Magmortar, Electivire, Poliwrath, Alolan Muk and Alolan Golem and Viren’s Pangoro, Torracat learning Revenge. The finale (SM092) opens with the Masked Royal beating Mad Magmar’s Magmortar and an exhibition against dolls of Poliwrath, Alolan Golem and Muk; when Faba takes the stage as a fake Masked Royal, Magmortar flings Incineroar out of the ring, before, after a blackout, the real Masked Royal returns to win with Malicious Moonsault.

The Pokémon Sled Jump Games

On Ash’s first visit to Ula’ula Island (SM060), the class enters the Pokémon Sled Jump Games on Mount Lanakila, where Alola’s top PokéSled Jumper, Cerah, and her Alolan Ninetales give an exhibition. Kiawe, Jessie as “Jessicle”, Ash — with Gigavolt Havoc — and Lillie, whose Snowy reveals Hail and learns Aurora Veil, all compete, but the winner is the kahuna Hala, whose Crabrawler evolves into Crabominable; the prize is a 99-year-old Slowpoke sled.

Ash vs Gladion

Nebby teleports Ash to Ten Carat Hill (SM047), where Gladion rescues him from a group of Pinsir, warns him about Ultra Beasts and agrees to battle. Type: Null counters Lycanroc’s Rock Throw, powers up with Swords Dance and deflects Bite; a fall into a muddy pool sends Lycanroc into a rage until Nebby’s cries calm it, and Type: Null wins with Crush Claw. They fight side by side afterwards — Gladion passes Z-Power to Ash’s Lycanroc for Continental Crush in the Ultra Deep Sea (SM054), and Ash promises him a rematch when Gladion leaves for his island challenge (SM055) — and close the Necrozma arc with Searing Sunraze Smash and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom (SM090).

The battle in the Ultra Deep Sea

Solgaleo carries the class through an Ultra Wormhole into the Ultra Deep Sea, a gloomy world of floating stone islands where Lusamine, fused with a Nihilego, refuses to give up her Ultra Beast (SM053). Kiawe stays behind to beat her Salazzle with Turtonator’s Inferno Overdrive and Marowak’s Bonemerang; Lana, Mallow and Sophocles hold off Milotic, Mismagius and Lilligant, whose Sweet Scent keeps luring Rowlet; Gladion takes on Absol; and Lillie faces Clefable and wins it back by embracing it through Dazzling Gleam. In SM054 Silvally’s Fire Memory melts the ice on its legs, Gladion passes Z-Power to Ash’s Lycanroc for Continental Crush, Mallow’s Steenee and Rowlet invent “Rowlaunch” and Popplio defeats Mismagius with Hydro Vortex. When Lillie breaks through to her mother, Ash’s Electrium Z becomes a Pikashunium Z, and Pikachu, wearing Ash’s cap, fires a rainbow-coloured 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt that brings down the Nihilego and frees Lusamine.

Movies & Specials Released During the Season

The twenty-first movie, Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us (劇場版ポケットモンスターみんなの物語, “Everyone’s Story”), opened in Japanese cinemas on Friday 13 July 2018 — the first Pokémon film to open on a Friday — between A Young Royal Flame Ignites! (SM081) and All They Want to Do is Dance Dance! (SM082), and was second at the box office on 364 screens. It stars the Mythical Pokémon Zeraora and Lugia and has no Pikachu short. To promote it, TV Tokyo’s first airings of SM082 to SM086 replaced the ending with its theme, Porno Graffitti’s Breath, over clips from the film; in English the song became “The Power of Us”, sung by Haven Paschall. The English version was premiered in Singapore on 12 November 2018 and shown in US cinemas by Fathom Events from 24 November to 1 December 2018, grossing $789,170, and in UK cinemas from 24 November; Disney XD premiered it on 8 December 2018, the same day as SM082, and CITV on 1 January 2019. It came out on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia on 5 December 2018 (New Zealand 12 December), in Japan on 19 December 2018, in the UK on 18 February 2019 and in the US on 19 March 2019, and Canada’s YTV showed it on 10 May 2019.

The Power of UsMovie 21 · Japan 13 July 2018 · US cinemas 24 November – 1 December 2018 · Disney XD 8 December 2018

I Choose You!Movie 20 · US home video 13 February 2018 · Japanese TV premiere 12 July 2018

The twentieth movie, I Choose You!, which had premiered on Disney XD in November 2017 at the end of the previous season, came out on home video in the US on 13 February 2018, about six weeks before this season began there. In Japan it had its television premiere on Thursday 12 July 2018 inside a three-hour Pokémon special that took the anime’s slot and counted down to the new film the next day.

Side Stories, Specials & Crossovers

Side-story tie-ins

SM064 and the Japanese specials. The season’s only episode never dubbed, Satoshi and Passimian! A Touchdown of Friendship!! (Japan 1 March 2018), written by Jun’ichi Fujisaku, is part of the Japanese run and keeps its row in our episode guide; see Dub Edits for why it was skipped. Outside the episodes, pocketmonsters.net lists a two-hour special, 2018年もポケモン好きあつまれ！2時間スペシャル, on 28 December 2017, the day SM056 aired, and on 12 July 2018 TV Tokyo gave the anime’s slot to a three-hour special, ポケモンみんなの3時間スペシャル!!, with the television premiere of I Choose You! and a countdown to The Power of Us.
Japan’s quizzes and Poké-nchi. Every Japanese episode carries two quizzes the dub drops or replaces: the data-broadcast Poké Problem, asked by a main character before the opening and answered in a short bonus scene after the ending — which leaves the English SM047 without its last scene, in which Ash finds his way home — and a silhouette “Who’s that?” at the ad break, whose answer differs from the dub’s in 21 episodes. Japanese previews are narrated by guest characters, among them a Nihilego (SM049) and a Blacephalon (SM077). On Sunday mornings the variety show Poké-nchi ran segments such as Abareru-kun’s Pokémon trade journeys, “Pokémon Science” and Detective Pikachuei quizzes; Taiiku Okazaki performed Twerp, Twerpette there on 11 February 2018, and from 21 October 2018, after the season, it carried the Eevee, Where Are You Going? shorts.
Shorts and online series. Three Meltan reveal shorts — “Profile 01: New Pokémon Discovered”, “02: Meltan and the Mystery Box” and “03: The Final Mystery of Meltan” — were released in Japan and in English on 25 September, 8 October and 24 October 2018, tying in with Pokémon GO and Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!; the nursery-rhyme channel Pokémon Kids TV began in Japan in January 2019 and in English on 29 January 2019, during the last month of the US run. No Pikachu short accompanied the twenty-first movie.

Characters from the games, manga and specials

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon came out on 17 November 2017, between SM050, the last episode before them, and SM051, the first after, and the season follows them closely: Ash’s Z-Power Ring, already on the title card of SM044, Necrozma’s Dusk Mane, Dawn Wings and Ultra forms, Ultra Wormholes and the games’ new Ultra Beasts Poipole, Stakataka and Blacephalon all come from them, and the Searing Sunraze Smash text of SM052 is styled as in the games. The games sold 7.51 million copies by 31 March 2018. Event distributions in the season’s window included a Shiny Silvally (October 2017), an alternate-coloured Poipole campaign in Japan (16 February 2018) and a Shiny Poipole (7 September 2018), the twenty-first movie’s Zeraora, and Ash’s Pikachu wearing his cap (9 November 2018).
Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! came out on 16 November 2018, after the Japanese run but during the US one; the partner Pikachu’s hairstyles appear in SM090 and SM091. Detective Pikachu for the Nintendo 3DS (23 March 2018) and Pokémon Quest (May–June 2018) also came out during the season.
Nods and homages. Jessie’s setting-sun trick against Ash recreates the legendary duel of Musashi and Kojirō (SM045); Gladion and Lillie cross an invisible sand bridge borrowed from Indiana Jones (SM051); the Ultra Guardians’ launch sequence parodies Thunderbirds (SM061); Rise and Shine, Starship! draws on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (SM069); the Manalo Festival’s eclipse, every 21 years, is a nod to the anime’s 21 years (SM087); the mother and daughter from the XY050 short make their main-series debut (SM090); and A Plethora of Pikachu! (SM091), the first Sunday episode, echoes the Yokohama “Pikachu Outbreak” street event in its Japanese title and, like EP039 after the 1997 schedule change, is set in a valley full of Pikachu.

Opening & Ending Themes

Both Japanese themes changed during the season. Alola!!, sung by Rica Matsumoto as Satoshi with Ikue Ōtani’s Pikachu, returned unchanged in SM044 — the first opening to come back unchanged after being replaced — with updated animation, and gave way in SM061 to ЯeaL’s Future Connection, which opens every episode to SM090; after the move to Sunday evenings Taiiku Okazaki’s Your Adventure opened SM091 and SM092. Okazaki also wrote both endings: Pose, which closes SM044 to SM060, and Twerp, Twerpette, from SM061 to the end of the season — except on TV Tokyo’s first airings of SM082 to SM086, which used Porno Graffitti’s Breath, the ending of the twenty-first movie. In English, Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon’s “Under the Alolan Moon”, written by the dub’s composer, Ed Goldfarb, opens all 48 episodes, and an instrumental of it plays over the closing credits.

Opening · Alola!! (アローラ!! Arōra!!) — **Opening · *Alola!!* (アローラ!! *Arōra!!*)**Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) · SM044–SM060Lyrics and music by Tomohisa Sako, arranged by Saku. Its return in SM044 replaced the 20th-anniversary arrangement of *Aim to Be a Pokémon Master* (SM030–SM043), and overall it opens SM001–SM029 and SM044–SM060. The second version of its animation, storyboarded and unit-directed by Daiki Tomiyasu with animation direction by Satoshi Nakano, swaps in Steenee and Lycanroc’s Dusk Form, gives Ash a Z-Power Ring and Lana her Z-Ring, has Ash pick up Nebby instead of Litten, puts Team Rocket in front of Aether Paradise and the Altar of the Sunne, adds Lusamine, Wicke, Faba and Professor Burnet, shows Type: Null evolving into Silvally and Lillie’s new outfit, and replaces Gigavolt Havoc with 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt. It is an insert song in SM063, during Litten’s Flame Charge training.

Opening · Future Connection (未来コネクション Mirai Konekushon) — **Opening · *Future Connection* (未来コネクション *Mirai Konekushon*)**ЯeaL · SM061–SM090Lyrics by Ryoko, Kisuke and Takuya Watanabe, music by Ryoko, arranged by Takuya Watanabe — ЯeaL’s fourth single. The animation, again by Daiki Tomiyasu and Satoshi Nakano, has three variants, with Ash’s Litten (SM061–SM063), Torracat (SM064–SM082) and Tsareena (SM083–SM090), and shows Ash catching Poipole before the episodes do. SM090 has no televised opening: the song plays near the end over flashbacks of Poipole, with the credits, and the DVD version uses it as the opening. The TV-size version was streamed from its debut day, 8 February 2018, and the CD single followed from SME Records on 2 May 2018, in a regular edition and a limited edition with a DVD of the creditless opening. It is an insert song in SM071, SM072, SM075, SM076, SM078, SM079 and SM082.

Opening · Your Adventure (キミの冒険 Kimi no Bōken) — **Opening · *Your Adventure* (キミの冒険 *Kimi no Bōken*)**Taiiku Okazaki · SM091–SM092Lyrics and music by Taiiku Okazaki, arranged by Yoichiro Nomura; storyboarded and unit-directed by Daiki Tomiyasu. It arrived with the move to Sunday evenings and opens every episode from SM091 to SM145. The full version was released digitally on 7 October 2018, the day SM091 aired.

Ending · Pose (ポーズ Pōzu) — **Ending · *Pose* (ポーズ *Pōzu*)**Taiiku Okazaki · SM044–SM060Lyrics, music and arrangement by Taiiku Okazaki; the ending of every episode from SM001 to SM060. Ash, Pikachu and Rotom dance and strike Z-Move poses with the classmates and their partners; this season shows the variant used since SM037, with Lycanroc’s Dusk Form and the second verse’s Ice, Poison, Psychic and Normal poses. It is an insert song in SM069, as the Ultra Guardians dig up Celesteela.

Ending · Twerp, Twerpette (ジャリボーイ・ジャリガール Jarī Bōi Jarī Gāru) — **Ending · *Twerp, Twerpette* (ジャリボーイ・ジャリガール *Jarī Bōi Jarī Gāru*)**Taiiku Okazaki · SM061–SM092 (first TV airings of SM082–SM086 excepted)Lyrics and music by Taiiku Okazaki, arranged by Satori Shiraishi; storyboarded and unit-directed by Yūji Asada. Ash’s Pikachu, Lycanroc, Torracat and Rowlet ride the clouds with Team Rocket, Jigglypuff, the Ultra Guardians and the guardian deities, ending in a group pose; Torracat replaces Litten from SM063 and Tsareena replaces Steenee from SM082, and SM091 brings new scenes and new TV-size lyrics. Announced at the World Hobby Fair and released digitally on 7–8 February 2018, it is on Okazaki’s album *OT WORKS* (25 April 2018), and Bulbapedia calls it the only Japanese song in *Sun & Moon* not used as an insert song.

TV ending · Breath (ブレス Buresu) — **TV ending · *Breath* (ブレス *Buresu*)**Porno Graffitti · first TV Tokyo airings of SM082–SM086Lyrics by Haruichi Shindō, music by Akihito Okano, arranged by tasuku and Porno Graffitti. The ending theme of the twenty-first movie, *The Power of Us*, it closed five episodes over clips from the film to promote it; their DVDs use *Twerp, Twerpette*. Released digitally on 6 July 2018 and as a CD single on 25 July 2018 in three editions, one of them an Anime Edition with a promo card of the film’s Risa and Eevee.

English opening · Under the Alolan Moon — English opening · *Under the Alolan Moon*Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon · all 48 episodesLyrics and music by Ed Goldfarb, with guitars by James Harman and additional vocals by Charity Goodin and James Mosely. The animation reuses clips from the second version of the *Alola!!* opening and from the episodes, revealing Ash’s Z-Power Ring and Lillie’s “Z-Powered form” early; the shot of Ash using his Z-Ring comes from an earlier cut of SM052. Its lyrics name all four Tapu guardians and end on a Pokémon name, which Bulbapedia says makes it “the only opening theme in both English and Japanese with Pokémon names in the lyrics”. An instrumental plays over the ending credits, set to clips from the Japanese *Pose* ending because Japan had no new ending when the dub was made, and the instrumental is an insert in SM051, SM055 and SM061. It follows “Under the Alolan Sun” and precedes “The Challenge of Life”.

Besides the themes, Team Rocket’s Team Song plays as James fights Toxapex (SM058) and with Black Hole Eclipse, when the trio also sing its opening on landing (SM073), and Bulbapedia lists it in SM076 as well; Aim to Be a Pokémon Master -20th Anniversary- accompanies Continental Crush in the grand trial (SM077); and Mendelssohn’s Wedding March plays twice at the wedding (SM055), twice as Dewpider meets Lana and faces Surskit (SM071) and once for Nina’s fiancé (SM072). The background music borrows from the games — the Sun & Moon Champion battle theme (SM063, SM064, SM066, SM090) and Elite Four theme (SM090) and the X & Y rival (SM066) and wild battle (SM070) themes — and Deceiving Appearances! (SM046) is the first episode with music from Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel; SM090’s Who’s That Pokémon? solution uses alternate music and SM091’s preview Pikachu’s Song. In Japan the season’s window brought the CD of Aim to Be a Pokémon Master -20th Anniversary- (29 November 2017), the Pokémon Movie Music Collection (23 December 2017), Okazaki’s OT WORKS (25 April 2018), the Future Connection single (2 May 2018), Breath and the twenty-first movie’s score (both 25 July 2018) and the digital Your Adventure (7 October 2018).

Under the Alolan Moon — Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon’s English opening, used for all 48 episodes, starts 30 seconds into this compilation of the Alola-era themes, the video Bulbapedia’s page for the song embeds. Video: The Official Pokémon YouTube channel.

TV Broadcasts & Original Airing Dates

Japan. TV Tokyo broadcast the second year of Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon on Thursdays at 6:55 p.m., beginning with A Dream Encounter! (SM044) on 5 October 2017. Mission: Total Recall! (SM049) on 9 November was celebrated as the anime’s official 1,000th episode, and Faba’s Revenge! (SM050) on 16 November was the last before Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon came out the next day. There was no new episode on 4 January, 29 March or 21 June 2018, SM071 and SM072 aired together as a one-hour special on 26 April, and on 12 July a three-hour special with the television premiere of I Choose You! took the slot, the day before The Power of Us opened; the first airings of SM082 to SM086 then ended with the film’s theme. Securing the Future! (SM090) on 13 September was the last episode in the Thursday 6:55 p.m. slot. After two empty Thursdays the anime moved to Sundays at 6 p.m. from A Plethora of Pikachu! (SM091) on 7 October 2018 — its first change of day since the EP038 incident of 1997, and the end of TV Tokyo’s 7 p.m.-hour anime slot. TV Tokyo’s programming chief said its research showed that children at home on Sunday evenings were often not watching television and that the network wanted to offer them another option. Turning the Other Mask! (SM092) closed the season on 14 October, and SM093 began the next a week later. No ratings for the season’s episodes have been found.

The US run. The Pokémon Company International announced on 8 March 2018 that the season would premiere on Disney XD on Saturday 24 March at 9:00 a.m. (ET/PT), with more new episodes “throughout the week”: A Dream Encounter! opened the run, and SM045 to SM051 followed one a day until 31 March. The episodes then aired on Saturdays from 7 April (SM052) to 19 May (SM058); after a six-week gap, seven episodes ran in a summer line-up on Monday evenings, from SM059 on 2 July to SM066 on 13 August 2018, with SM064 skipped between SM063 (30 July) and SM065 (6 August). Saturdays resumed on 25 August with SM067; All They Want to Do is Dance Dance! (SM082) shared 8 December with the Disney XD premiere of The Power of Us, there was no new episode on 5 January 2019, and Turning the Other Mask! (SM092) ended the season on 23 February 2019. Apart from SM064 nothing was skipped or moved, and no US viewing figures have been found.

Ahead of Disney XD. Prime Video sold several episodes before their broadcasts — SM052 on 6 April, SM054 on 17 April, SM060 on 5 July, SM063 on 26 July, SM067 on 22 August and SM073 on 2 October 2018 — and SM084 went up on Prime Video and Google Play on 16 December. From SM086 iTunes, Google Play and Amazon released every episode two to thirteen days early, SM086 on iTunes on 30 December 2018 and SM092 on Amazon on 21 February 2019. Bulbapedia lists some of these as starred US dates; our guide gives the Disney XD premieres.

New Zealand, Canada and elsewhere. The first English release anywhere was New Zealand’s: TVNZ OnDemand put SM044 to SM051 online on 1 March 2018 and added the rest in batches until SM092 on 18 January 2019, sometimes showing wrong dates and, for SM071, the wrong title, Catching Lana!, which some other dubs later used. Canada’s Teletoon began the season on 10 March 2018, two weeks before the US, and ran it to 2 February 2019. In the UK, Bulbapedia’s overview gives the CITV premiere as 26 April 2018, although some episode pages list UK dates earlier that month; episodes stayed on ITV Hub for 30 days, BBC iPlayer added the season on 11 November 2022 and CBBC showed it from 31 December 2022. Australia’s 9Go! began it on 27 April 2018. South Korea aired the season two episodes a week, SM064 included (22 May 2018), and Cartoon Network in Brazil and Latin America skipped SM092 on its first run and in reruns, for no stated reason.

The numbering. Disney XD, Bulbapedia, English Wikipedia and the DVDs number the 48 dubbed episodes 1 to 48: SM044 to SM063 are 1 to 20 and SM065 to SM092 are 21 to 48. The Pokémon Company International’s dub production codes run from 2101 (SM044) to 2120 (SM063) and continue with 2121 for SM065, leaving no code for SM064. In Japan the episodes are simply numbers 44 to 92 of Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon, with no gaps; Bulbapedia’s overall codes run from EP983 to EP1031, while English Wikipedia’s overall numbers, which this site’s English count follows, run from 979 to 1026 in English (SM064 has none) and from 985 to 1033 in Japanese.

Dub Edits & the Banned Episode

SM064: the Passimian episode that was never dubbed

Satoshi and Passimian! A Touchdown of Friendship!! (サトシとナゲツケサル！友情のタッチダウン！！), written by Jun’ichi Fujisaku and broadcast by TV Tokyo on 1 March 2018 after a preview the week before, was never dubbed. In it Ash helps the Melemele Greens, a troop of Passimian, win back their special fruit from the rough Red Buns in a football-style match — and in the second half he wears dark face paint to imitate a Passimian. Bulbapedia says the makeup resembles blackface, “seen in the United States as a negative racial stereotype of African Americans”, and links the case to the Jynx controversies of Holiday Hi-Jynx, Stage Fight!, The Mandarin Island Miss Match and EP250. No official statement has been found. Disney XD went straight from SM063 to SM065, The Pokémon Company International’s dub production codes skip it, and no English DVD includes it, so Passimian’s first appearance in the dub came in SM081.

SM064 set several records: the first main-series episode aired in Japan to go undubbed since DP120, 417 episodes earlier; the first and only banned Sun & Moon episode; the first episode banned outside Asia since EP250, 753 episodes earlier; the first episode other than a clip show that The Pokémon Company International ever skipped; and the first banned episode without Team Rocket. It is on the Japanese rental DVD Vol. 22 and aired in other Asian markets — South Korea showed it on 22 May 2018, and its Korean dub is on Netflix Korea under the unofficial English title A Touchdown for the Team!

Dogasu’s Backpack, in a page updated on 7 August 2018, argued that the face paint “still looks like blackface”, that The Pokémon Company International’s small crew could not redraw moving scenes — complex edits are done by OLM — and that Disney XD had no reason to take the risk after the cancellation of Roseanne; it called the episode itself boring but praised its animation.

Changes in the English version

Who made the dub. The Pokémon Company International produced the English version, with Lisa Ortiz as voice director, Ed Goldfarb’s music and Rodger Parsons narrating — except from SM045 to SM055, where Lillie’s diary takes the narrator’s place (SM045 is the first dub episode since AG145 without Rodger Parsons, and SM048 has no narration at all). Apart from SM064 no episode was skipped or moved. Dogasu’s Backpack has no comparison pages for the rest of the season, so the changes below come from the “Dub edits” and trivia sections of Bulbapedia’s episode pages.

Content edits. Wobbuffet’s soul leaving its mouth is removed (SM052); Kukui’s and Burnet’s wine glasses at the wedding become orange juice (SM055); Tupp’s grudge against Ilima is rewritten so that Ilima stole his “glory days” of popularity with girls (SM065); Ash alone reads the title card of SM068, which has five readers in Japanese, and one of the photos of him cross-dressed is replaced in its closing montage; Tsareena’s stomp is frozen, with the stomping sound kept (SM082, SM085); Kukui’s closing narration in SM085 is given to the narrator; and in SM090, which has no title card, Ash reads the title aloud.

On-screen text. The Japanese captions naming Z-Moves are erased in almost every Z-Move episode — Inferno Overdrive and Pulverizing Pancake (SM048), Searing Sunraze Smash (SM052), Inferno Overdrive (SM053, SM066, SM070), Continental Crush, Hydro Vortex, 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt and the “Rowlaunch” caption (SM054), Gigavolt Havoc (SM060, SM062), Malicious Moonsault (SM063, SM081), Extreme Evoboost (SM065), Hydro Vortex (SM066), Black Hole Eclipse (SM073), Let’s Snuggle Forever and 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt (SM076), the Inferno Overdrive Ball and Gigavolt Havoc Swing (SM079) and Let’s Snuggle Forever, Catastropika and the “Z-Pose” caption (SM091, whose sound effect is left in). The grand-trial kanji on the VS screen of SM077 becomes “VS”.

Segments and music. The dub drops Japan’s Poké Problem and its bonus scene after the ending — so the English SM047 never shows how Ash gets home while Nebby sleeps — and replaces Japan’s silhouette quiz with its own Who’s That Pokémon?, whose answers differ in 21 episodes; the dub’s captions for SM077 wrongly add “(Alolan Form)” to Sableye. An instrumental of “Under the Alolan Moon” plays over the closing credits, set to clips from the Japanese Pose ending, and serves as an insert in SM051, SM055 and SM061; in SM090 an instrumental replaces Future Connection over the Poipole flashbacks, and the Japanese credits shown there are removed. Neither use of the Wedding March at the wedding is kept (SM055).

Names. Hoshigumo becomes Nebby, Sauboh Faba, Kuchinashi Nanu, the Royal Mask the Masked Royal and Royal Satoshi “Ash Royal”; Bevenom is Poipole, UB:BLACK “UB Black” and Kagayaki-sama “the Blinding One”, Team Rocket call Nebby “Proto-Koffing”, and the Gengar of Acerola’s legend is “the Greedy Rapooh”. Kukui’s foes become the Revengers and Viren’s company Rainbow Happy Resorts. Matori’s name, removed from every earlier English episode, is first spoken in SM088 — some 347 episodes after its Japanese reveal — and in SM063 Team Rocket’s aliases use the Japanese names of the Legendary birds.

Slips. Jessie calls Matori “Bobcat” instead of “Bob Cut” (SM045), and Mad Magmar is called “Mad Magma” (SM081); in SM074 the dub corrects an error in Rotom’s Japanese description of Krookodile’s types. Giovanni’s Persian is voiced in English for the first time (SM062), and SM047 is the first episode whose English cast includes no voice actor from EP001.

Episode titles explained

Many of this season’s English titles play on films, songs and familiar phrases:

Now You See Them, Now You Don’t! — the magician’s patter “now you see me, now you don’t”, for Nebby’s Teleport
Night of a Thousand Poses! — possibly the song “On This Night of a Thousand Stars”, for a sleepover of Z-Move poses
Mission: Total Recall! — the films Mission: Impossible and Total Recall (1990), as Lillie recovers her memories
Let Sleeping Pokémon Lie! — the saying “let sleeping dogs lie”, for the ever-drowsy Komala
The Dex Can’t Help It! — the film The Girl Can’t Help It (1956), as Rotom is thrown out of the Pokédex
Getting a Jump on the Competition! — the phrase “a leg up on the competition”, for the Sled Jump Games
Love at First Twirl! — “love at first sight” (as in AG042), for Poipole’s crush on Pikachu
The Young Flame Strikes Back! — The Empire Strikes Back and Mewtwo Strikes Back, for Kiawe’s Marowak
Dewpider Ascending! — the film Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Why Not Give Me a Z-Ring Sometime? — “give me a ring sometime”, as Team Rocket get a Z-Power Ring
Some Kind of Laziness! — Grand Funk Railroad’s “Some Kind of Wonderful”, for the lazy Tapu Bulu
All They Want to Do is Dance Dance! — Don Henley’s “All She Wants to Do Is Dance”
Dummy, You Shrunk the Kids! — the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
The Shape of Love to Come! — H. G. Wells’s The Shape of Things to Come, also behind DP015 and XY021
The Long Vault Home! — the film The Long Walk Home (1990), for a vaulting class
Full Moon and Many Arms! — the 1945 song “Full Moon and Empty Arms”, for Lunala and the many-armed Necrozma
Turning the Other Mask! — the phrase “turn the other cheek”, for the Masked Royal’s double

DVD & Blu-ray / Streaming

Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures came out in North America from VIZ Media, distributed by Warner Home Video, as a single six-disc Complete Collection on DVD and on Blu-ray on 21 May 2019, three months after the US finale; Australia and New Zealand got two three-disc Collections from Beyond Home Entertainment — the first while the US run was still on — and a six-disc DigiPack. Every English release holds the 48 dubbed episodes: SM064 is on none of them, and the disc that holds SM063 goes straight on to SM065. No UK DVD of the season has been found.

North America (Region 1)

Release	Date	Contents
Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures – The Complete Collection (VIZ Media, DVD, 6 discs)	21 May 2019	48 episodes: SM044–SM051; SM052–SM059; SM060–SM063, SM065–SM068; SM069–SM076; SM077–SM084; SM085–SM092 — 1,104 minutes, rated 7+, with the clean opening and ending as extras; UPC 782009245810, list price $44.98 (Canada $52.99)
The Complete Collection (Blu-ray, 6 discs)	21 May 2019	The same 48 episodes (Bulbapedia assumes the DVD’s disc split); list price $49.99 (Canada $57.99)
Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!	13 February 2018	The twentieth movie on home video, about six weeks before the season’s US premiere
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us (Blu-ray and DVD)	19 March 2019	The twenty-first movie from VIZ Media, premiered on Disney XD on 8 December 2018

Australia & New Zealand (Region 4)

Release	Date	Notes
Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures – Collection 1 (3 discs, BHE8053)	5 December 2018 (New Zealand 12 December 2018)	24 episodes: SM044–SM051; SM052–SM059; SM060–SM063, SM065–SM068 — released during the US run
Collection 2 (3 discs, BHE8094)	6 February 2019 (New Zealand 20 February 2019)	24 episodes: SM069–SM076; SM077–SM084; SM085–SM092
Pokémon Season 21 DigiPack (6 discs, BHE8136)	3 April 2019 (New Zealand 15 May 2019)	All 48 episodes on discs 21.1–21.6, themed on Cosmog, Salandit, Poipole, Bewear, Tsareena and Komala; promoted as the “Ultra Adventures Complete Collection”
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us (DVD and Blu-ray)	5 December 2018 (New Zealand 12 December 2018)	The twenty-first movie, out in Australia before its US television premiere
Multi-season set	—	The season is also in the Pokémon Seasons 1–21: Mega Collection

Japan

In Japan the episodes were released only as rental DVDs from Shogakukan, three episodes each, from Vol. 15 (SM043–SM045, 25 April 2018) to Vol. 31 (SM091–SM093, 26 June 2019): Vol. 16 on 23 May 2018, Vols. 17–18 on 27 June, Vol. 19 on 25 July, Vol. 20 on 22 August, Vols. 21–22 on 26 September — Vol. 22, SM064–SM066, includes the banned episode — Vol. 23 on 24 October, Vol. 24 on 21 November 2018, Vol. 25 on 23 January 2019, Vol. 26 on 27 February, Vols. 27–28 on 27 March, Vol. 29 on 24 April and Vol. 30 on 22 May 2019. The twenty-first movie followed on DVD, Blu-ray and a limited Blu-ray on 19 December 2018.

Streaming

Prime Video, iTunes and Google Play sold the season by the episode in the US, often days before the Disney XD broadcasts, and New Zealand’s TVNZ OnDemand carried it from 1 March 2018, the world’s first English release. Netflix added it in the US on 1 April 2019 as “Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon: S2”; Netflix in Latin America added SM092, which Cartoon Network there had skipped, on 1 June 2019, and Netflix Korea carries the Korean dub, SM064 included. In the UK, episodes were on ITV Hub for 30 days after each CITV broadcast, and BBC iPlayer has carried the season since 11 November 2022. Check your local service, as availability changes often.

Covers

The Complete Collection on DVD (Region 1, 2019)

The Complete Collection on Blu-ray (Region 1, 2019)

Where to Watch & Buy

Availability changes constantly, so treat this as a snapshot (October 2026) and check your local service. Links will be added here once we have settled on referral partners.

NetflixAdded the season in the US on 1 April 2019 as “Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon: S2”; availability varies by region and over time.
BBC iPlayer (UK)Has carried the season since 11 November 2022; CBBC showed it from 31 December 2022.
DVD & Blu-ray – North AmericaThe Complete Collection (VIZ Media, 2019) has all 48 dubbed episodes on six DVDs or six Blu-rays.
DVD – Australia & New ZealandCollections 1 and 2 and the Season 21 DigiPack (Beyond Home Entertainment, 2018–2019), and the Seasons 1–21: Mega Collection.
Digital purchaseSold by the episode on Prime Video, iTunes and Google Play since 2018; check current availability in your region.

Trading Cards Released During the Season

Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures aired in the US alongside the trading card game’s Sun & Moon era, and six expansions came out from just before the Disney XD premiere to the end of the run:

Ultra Prism — 2 February 2018 — seven weeks before the US premiere, the English version of Japan’s Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon sets, with the Prism Star mechanic and 156 cards plus secret rares: Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX, Turtonator, Alolan Sandshrew and Sandslash, Alolan Vulpix, Electivire, Lillie and Lusamine
Forbidden Light — 4 May 2018 — six days after The Professors’ New Adventure! (SM055), with 131 cards plus secret rares from Japan’s Forbidden Light and Ultra Force: Poipole, Naganadel-GX, Ultra Necrozma-GX, Dewpider, Araquanid, Lycanroc and the Beast Ring
Celestial Storm — 3 August 2018 — between Pushing the Fiery Envelope! (SM063) and Turning Heads and Training Hard! (SM065), with 183 cards from Sky-Splitting Charisma and Champion Road
Dragon Majesty — 7 September 2018 — the day before Rise and Shine, Starship! (SM069), including a gold Ultra Necrozma-GX, 78/70
Lost Thunder — 2 November 2018 — the day before Guiding an Awakening! (SM077), with 214 cards, among them Zeraora-GX and, from Japan’s Super-Burst Impact, Blacephalon-GX and the Supporter Faba
Team Up — 1 February 2019 — the day before The Prism Between Light and Darkness! (SM089), with Zeraora and Lugia from the twenty-first movie’s promotions

In Japan the cards came out first: Ultra Prism adapts Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (8 December 2017), Forbidden Light the Japanese Forbidden Light (2 March 2018) and Ultra Force, and Celestial Storm Sky-Splitting Charisma (1 June 2018) and Champion Road. Japan also had a Shiny Poipole promo, 202/SM-P, in its Shining Ultra Beast campaign, and the Anime Edition of the Breath single came with a promo card of Risa and Eevee from the twenty-first movie.

Our TCG section has a full card list, print variations and the most valuable cards for every one of them.

Cards with a link to the season

Three cards from those sets follow the season’s Ultra Beasts and its Legendary story:

Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX · Ultra Prism 90/156

Firsts & Lasts

First and only banned Sun & Moon episode, the first banned outside Asia since EP250 and the first non-clip-show episode The Pokémon Company International skipped: SM064.
First wedding in the anime outside flashbacks and fantasies: Professors Kukui and Burnet (SM055).
First Ultra Beast in the anime: Nihilego (SM047); first Ultra Beast owned by a Trainer for more than one episode: Ash’s Poipole (SM067).
First Legendary Pokémon obtained by a main character, unofficially: Nebby (SM044), and the first main character’s Psychic type seen evolving (SM050).
First main-series episode with no narration at all: Night of a Thousand Poses! (SM048).
First episode whose English cast includes no voice actor from EP001: A Masked Warning! (SM047).
First opening theme to return unchanged after being replaced: Alola!! (SM044).
First Pokémon to read Who’s That Pokémon?: Togedemaru, with Sophocles (SM069).
First official match in which Ash uses fewer Pokémon than his opponent: Nanu’s grand trial (SM077); first non-grand trial with no Totem and no Z-Crystal (SM076).
First Sunday episode, and the anime’s first change of day since 1997: A Plethora of Pikachu! (SM091).
First new named Team Rocket member since Dr. Zager: Gozu (SM087); first English episode to say Matori’s name (SM088).
First Pokémon film to open on a Friday: The Power of Us (13 July 2018).
Last new move for Ash’s Pikachu, Electroweb (SM076); last episode in the Thursday 6:55 p.m. slot (SM090); last narration by Unshō Ishizuka (SM091).

Trivia & Facts

One banned episode. SM064 is the first and only banned Sun & Moon episode, the first non-clip-show episode The Pokémon Company International ever skipped and the first episode banned outside Asia since EP250 — which is why the season has 49 episodes in Japan and 48 in English.
Two 1,000th episodes. Japan celebrated Mission: Total Recall! (SM049, 9 November 2017) as the anime’s 1,000th episode, with a commemorative website launched on 12 October 2017; The Pokémon Company International counts The Professors’ New Adventure! (SM055), the Kukui–Burnet wedding, as the 1,000th dubbed episode.
A change of day. SM090 was the last episode in TV Tokyo’s Thursday 6:55 p.m. slot; from SM091 the anime aired on Sundays at 6 p.m., its first change of day since the EP038 incident — and SM091, like EP039 after the 1997 move, is set in a valley full of Pikachu.
A narrator’s farewell. Unshō Ishizuka, the Japanese narrator since EP001, died on 13 August 2018; SM048 was his last episode as Professor Oak, SM088 his last as Samson Oak and SM091 his last narration.
Lillie’s diary. From SM045 to SM055 Lillie’s diary replaces the narrator, and Night of a Thousand Poses! (SM048) is the first main-series episode with no narration at all; the narrator returns in SM056.
The first anime wedding. Professors Kukui and Burnet marry in SM055 — the first wedding in the anime outside flashbacks and fantasies — with Samson Oak officiating, Ash as ring bearer and Olivia catching the bouquet.

Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet on their wedding day in The Professors’ New Adventure! (SM055) — the anime’s first wedding outside flashbacks and fantasies. Screenshot: Pokémon anime, SM055 “The Professors’ New Adventure!” · via Bulbapedia
Eight Legendaries in one episode. A Dream Encounter! (SM044) features eight Legendary Pokémon, the most of any episode; Nebby is the first Legendary Pokémon obtained, unofficially, by a main character, and its evolution in SM050 is the first time a main character’s Psychic type is seen evolving.
Pikachu’s last new move. Electroweb in A Battle Hand-Off! (SM076) is Pikachu’s first new move since Electro Ball in BW020, 338 episodes earlier — and the last it learns in Pokémon the Series; SM076 is also the last time it uses Electro Ball.
A launch week and a summer of Mondays. Disney XD premiered the season with eight episodes in eight days (24–31 March 2018) and later ran seven on Monday evenings (2 July – 13 August 2018), while New Zealand’s TVNZ OnDemand had the first eight online three weeks before the US premiere.
Ultra Guardians, go! The class’s secret base and launch sequence parody Thunderbirds, down to the Alolan Exeggutor turning its heads (SM061), and Twirling with a Bang! (SM078) is the only mission in which someone other than Ash catches an Ultra Beast; Poipole is the first Ultra Beast owned by a Trainer for more than one episode.
A 21-year eclipse. The Manalo Festival’s eclipse, which comes round every 21 years (SM087), is a nod to the anime’s 21-year run.
Who’s That Pokémon? Read each week by the episode’s characters, the dub’s quiz got its first Pokémon reader in Rise and Shine, Starship! (SM069), Togedemaru with Sophocles, and its answer differs from Japan’s in 21 episodes.
No title card, no opening. Securing the Future! (SM090) is the only Sun & Moon episode without a title card and has no televised opening — Future Connection plays with the credits over the Poipole flashbacks near the end; its Japanese title quotes the song.
One songwriter, three themes. Taiiku Okazaki wrote both of the season’s endings, Pose and Twerp, Twerpette, and the opening of its last two episodes, Your Adventure; the twenty-first movie’s Breath briefly replaced his ending on television.
Voice-cast milestones. A Masked Warning! (SM047) is the first episode whose English cast includes nobody from EP001; Eileen Stevens’s last episode as a full-time member of the dub cast is SM062 and Kate Bristol’s, before she moved back to Texas, SM080.
Ash’s grand-trial first. At Nanu’s grand trial (SM077) Ash uses one Pokémon against three, the first official match in which he uses fewer Pokémon than his opponent, and is given a Lycanium Z instead of a Darkinium Z.

Ash’s Dusk Form Lycanroc against Nanu’s Alolan Persian in Guiding an Awakening! (SM077) — the grand trial in which Ash sends out one Pokémon against three and earns a Lycanium Z. Screenshot: Pokémon anime, SM077 “Guiding an Awakening!” · via Bulbapedia
The Masked Royal. Kukui’s secret identity runs through the season (SM063, SM081, SM090, SM092): Faba learns it and turns out to be a fan, Molayne already knows, and Burnet, his wife and one of the Masked Royal’s keenest admirers, never finds out.
Ash in a dress, for the last time. Running the Pokémon Center in Real Life…Inquire Within! (SM068), Ash cross-dresses for the first time in 252 episodes and the last time in the series.
Games and cards. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (17 November 2017) launched between SM050 and SM051, and the season introduces their Z-Power Ring, Necrozma’s forms and new Ultra Beasts; the trading card expansions from Ultra Prism to Team Up followed the same story, with Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX, Poipole, Naganadel-GX, Ultra Necrozma-GX and Blacephalon-GX among them — see our TCG section.

Reception

Ratings and box office. No viewing figures for the season’s episodes have been found in Japan or the US; the only ratings in the sources are TV Tokyo’s channel-wide averages for April to early September 2018, 6.5% in golden time and 6.0% in prime time, quoted by Modelpress in its report on the slot move. The twenty-first movie, released during the Japanese run, opened second at the Japanese box office, and its Fathom Events run in US cinemas took $789,170.

Fan scores. MyAnimeList has no separate entry for the season: its Pokemon Sun & Moon entry, covering all 146 Japanese episodes, scored 7.04 with some 134,000 members in October 2026. IMDb’s episode ratings could not be checked for this page.

Commentary. The season’s most discussed episode is the one English audiences never saw: Dogasu’s Backpack’s page on SM064 (August 2018) defended the decision not to dub it while calling the episode boring and praising its animation. Dogasu has no comparison pages for the season’s other episodes, no named reviews of the episodes or of the VIZ DVD and Blu-ray have been found — Anime News Network’s release page for the DVD links none — and the season won no known awards.

Continue the journey with Season 22: Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends, go back to Season 20: Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, or browse every season of the Pokémon anime.