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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · The Masters Eight: semifinals arc (JN121–JN128) |
| Episode | Never dubbed · Japanese episode 1207 · Bulbapedia code JN121 |
| English title | The Climax Begins! Satoshi’s Masters Tournament Experience!! |
| Japanese title | 最高潮始動！サトシのマスターズトーナメント！！ Saikōchō Shidō! Satoshi no Masutāzu Tōnamento!! — “The Climax Begins! Satoshi’s Masters Tournament Experience!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 12 August 2022 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | Never aired |
| Screenplay | Not credited (clip show) |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Satoshi & Go (Rica Matsumoto and Daiki Yamashita) · Batsugun Taipu (Supereffective Type) – Pokémon Music Club |
| Previous episode | Infinite Possibilities! (JN120) |
| Next episode | It’s… Champion Time! (JN122) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeClip show, never dubbedMasters Eight recap
The Climax Begins! Satoshi’s Masters Tournament Experience!! is the 31st Japanese episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and Japanese episode 1207 overall (Bulbapedia code JN121). It has never been dubbed into English. It first aired in Japan on 12 August 2022. It falls within the season’s The Masters Eight: semifinals stretch (EP121–EP128).
Never dubbed or released in English: a Japan-only clip show (TV Tokyo, 12 August 2022), skipped like all four of the season’s clip shows, so Netflix goes straight from JN120 to JN122. Outside Japan it aired only in South Korea. Read more about the four undubbed clip shows.
Synopsis
In this Japan-only clip show, aired between the quarterfinals and the semifinals, a “Pokémon World Coronation Series News” programme recaps the Masters Eight Tournament so far and analyses its four semifinalists, Leon, Diantha, Cynthia and Ash. The narrator reads the title card, and, as in the two preceding numbered episodes, no main character appears in person outside the clips: it is the third numbered episode in a row without the main characters present, making it the longest stretch in which Ash and Pikachu do not physically appear as protagonists. It is also the first time since Diamond and Pearl that two regular clip shows have aired in the same series, only two weeks apart. After summarising the four first-round battles, in which Leon beat Alain, Diantha beat Lance, Cynthia beat Iris and Ash beat Steven, the programme turns to the most surprising moments of Ash’s own World Coronation Series campaign.
The countdown features three highlights. The first is the combination Pikachu used in Ash’s Ultra Class rematch against Bea (JN086), slamming its Iron Tail into the ground and balancing on it while using Quick Attack to create vibrations that blunted the Sky Attack of Bea’s Hawlucha. The second is the moment in Ash’s battle against the Unova Champion Iris at Opelucid City (JN065) when Dragonite used Hurricane to redirect Haxorus’s Dragon Pulse into the sky and gathered its energy into a brand-new move, Draco Meteor, winning Ash his promotion to the Ultra Class. The third is the enormous Aura Sphere with which Lucario toppled Raihan’s Gigantamax Duraludon in the entrance battle for the Masters Eight (JN109). Each clip is introduced as a turning point in Ash’s climb from the bottom of the rankings to a place among the world’s eight strongest Trainers.
The narrator’s radio show then reads letters from two listeners. Allister’s letter introduces a recap of how Ash first befriended Gengar (JN016), the abandoned Pokémon that had attached itself to Ash’s shadow, helped him fight off Team Rocket and nodded its agreement to be caught after Ash recovered from a fever. Wikstrom’s letter leads into the battle against Rinto’s Gallade in which Ash’s Farfetch’d, its leek cut short, used the pieces as sword and shield and evolved into Sirfetch’d (JN060). The episode closes with a storybook tale narrated by Dracovish, which describes waking in an unfamiliar world after a long sleep and gradually growing fond of the friends it has made and the things it can bite into. Team Rocket narrate the next-episode preview, followed by a special preview of the Ash versus Cynthia semifinal; the episode was never dubbed and aired only in Japan and South Korea.
Major Events
- World Coronation Series News. A news programme recaps the quarterfinals and three highlights of Ash’s campaign from JN086, JN065 and JN109
- The narrator’s radio show reads letters from Allister, recalling JN016, and Wikstrom, recalling JN060
- A storybook told by Dracovish
- No main character appears in person
- Aired only in Japan and South Korea
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Not credited (clip show).
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto, Galar & beyond story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Never dubbed: a Japan-only clip show, also aired in South Korea
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.