DP011

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Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl

DP012 : Arrival of a Rival! →

Mounting a Coordinator Assault!

DP011   EP477 ヒカリ！コンテストデビュー！！ Hikari! Contest Debut!!

First broadcast Japan December 7, 2006 United States June 20, 2007

English themes Opening Diamond and Pearl Ending

Japanese themes Opening Together Ending 君のそばで 〜ヒカリのテーマ〜

Credits Animation Team Iguchi Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Mounting a Coordinator Assault! (Japanese: ヒカリ！コンテストデビュー！！ Hikari! Contest Debut!!) is the 11th episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the 477th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 7, 2006 and in the United States on June 20, 2007.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

Dawn's mother Johanna has sent her a special outfit to wear for her first Pokémon Contest, which is just a day away! While Dawn tries on out her new Contest outfit, she meets another Coordinator, Zoey, who has a Glameow. Then Dawn is due for some friendly training with Ash and Pikachu, and Dawn's Piplup looks good until Ash's Aipom interrupts the battle to show off its moves. It seems that Aipom doesn't want to watch a Contest, it wants to be in one! So for Aipom's sake, Ash decides he'll enter the Contest too.

As Ash soon finds out, not only do Coordinators in Sinnoh like to dress up for their Contests, they use some special effects as well. In Sinnoh Pokémon Contests, each Pokémon's Poké Ball is put into a Ball Capsule and decorated with seals that create quite a showy entrance! Ash and Dawn aren't the only ones hoping to make a big entrance in the Jubelife Contest; Team Rocket is around, and Jessie has her sights set on a big victory while James and Meowth have settled on starting a seal-selling scam.

As the Contest begins, Dawn is backstage trying to fix her hair. Zoey shows up to help her out and as the two Coordinators talk, Dawn learns that Zoey already has her first Contest Ribbon. Zoey also has a Misdreavus which she shows off in the first round with some spectacular moves. Jessie borrows James' Carnivine to make her Sinnoh debut as Jessilina, and Ash and Dawn pull off their first round appeals without a hitch. All four Coordinators—well, three Coordinators and one Trainer—will move on to the next round!

Plot

Inside the Jubilife Pokémon Center, Dawn shows off her new dress to Ash, Brock, and Pikachu, while her mother is on the video phone. Dawn thanks her mom for the dress, who reveals that she is missing the matching choker. A Glameow comes up to the group and Ash scans it with his Pokédex, before Johanna notices that it has Dawn's choker on its tail. Glameow's Trainer, Zoey, soon approaches and tells Dawn that she found the choker in the dressing room. Dawn thanks Zoey, before turning to tell her mother not to worry, which, of course, makes her worry more. Dawn notices that Zoey is gone.

On a practice battlefield outside, Dawn and Piplup square off against Ash and Pikachu. Pikachu launches into a Quick Attack, which Dawn counters with Bubble Beam. Pikachu stops and dodges, before deflecting it with Iron Tail. Dawn tells Piplup to use Peck and Piplup's beak glows, before extending, which surprises Ash. Dawn tells him that they have been practicing storing energy for Peck as Piplup charges for Pikachu. Ash calls for an Iron Tail, but before the attacks can connect, Aipom jumps in front of Pikachu and uses Focus Punch, knocking Piplup back. Everyone is surprised, and when Ash asks Aipom why she jumped in, Aipom performs a Double Team and Swift combination to create a large glowing star and then lands on her tail. Brock suggests that Aipom might want to compete in the Contest, which Aipom confirms. With the support of his friends and Aipom, Ash eventually agrees to compete in the Jubilife Contest. Brock reminds them that they need to register for the Contest before they can continue training, and Dawn realizes that she had forgotten to enter as well.

Both run up to the entry desk, frantic to enter the Contest. The concierge orders the pair to place their Pokédexes into the slots in front of them. Their details come up on the screen, and afterwards they receive their Contest Passes. They are also given a Ribbon case, rule book, Ball Capsule, and Seals. Ash and Brock are perplexed by the Seals, so Dawn demonstrates by placing a Heart Seal on Piplup's Poké Ball, making for a spectacular entrance. Outside, Jessie is standing in her Jessilina disguise: an orange dress, pigtails, and yellow and orange glasses. Though James is complaining that they are broke, while Meowth and Mime Jr. stick Seals onto Carnivine's face. Jessie angrily snatches away the Seals, explaining that they go on the Ball Capsules, not the Pokémon. James realizes that they could make money from selling fake Seals.

At the Pokémon Center that night, Dawn is unable to sleep. Eventually, she walks out onto the balcony of their room and calls out Piplup and Buneary. Dawn comments on the scenic cityscape at night, so Piplup and Buneary run over to the edge of the balcony to see for themselves. Dawn takes out her lucky charm, her mother’s first Ribbon, and shows it to her Pokémon to inspire them to do their best. She admits that she is nervous and just wants to show everyone how special they are. Piplup and Buneary chirp their support, easing some of Dawn’s nerves.

The next day, Marian welcomes the crowd to the Jubilife Contest. Brock tells Ash that he can't find Dawn anywhere, so Ash runs off to find her. In the changing room, Dawn is struggling with her hair, when Zoey walks up and helps her. Dawn and Zoey officially exchange introductions. Zoey says that she has entered three Contests and won one before showing Dawn her Ribbon to admire. With her hair fixed, Dawn tells Zoey that it was now her turn to win a Contest and that she is confident she will do so. Zoey replies that in that case she will be seeing her in the Jubilife Contest's final round and tells her to break a leg. Dawn realizes she was overconfident in her statement, but keeps it to herself. Soon, Ash and Dawn meet up in the backstage corridors and both run off to the waiting room. Marian introduces the panel of judges, formed by the Chief of the Pokémon Activities Committee, Raoul Contesta; the President of the Pokémon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo; and the operator of the local Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy. Marian is ready to kick off the Performance Stage and Dawn is worried as she can't see Zoey anywhere. However, Marian introduces Zoey as the first contestant. Zoey calls out her Misdreavus, which appears in the middle of a cloud from a Smoke Seal. Its silhouette can be seen as Zoey tells it to use Double Team, before dispersing the doubles and the smoke with Confuse Ray. Dawn checks Misdreavus on her Pokédex, before Zoey finishes the appeal with Misdreavus using Shock Wave to create large waves of electricity spreading outwards towards the edge of the Hall.

Outside the Contest Hall James and Meowth are approached by a crowd of angry people with their fake Seals, and so they run off into the distance. Inside the Contest Hall, it is Jessie's turn. She calls out Carnivine, which appears from behind her with a Heart Seal. Jessie throws her "lollipop", which splits into many smaller ones, before Carnivine breaks them all with Bullet Seed. Jessie tells it to use Bite, and it does, on her head. Jessie shrieks from the pain, making for a truly dedicated and unique performance.

Ash is up next. He calls out Aipom, which uses Swift to break the stars from the Star Seal on her Poké Ball. Aipom follows up with Double Team, before using a spinning Focus Punch to hit all the doubles. She finishes by landing on her tail.

Dawn is called to do her appeal. Zoey wishes her good luck, and Ash gives Dawn a high five as she makes her way onto the stage. When the curtain rises, Dawn is initially nervous, but gets her act together and calls out Piplup. Piplup uses Bubble Beam to keep the bubbles from the Foamy Seal suspended in the air and stores up energy for a powerful Peck, before proceeding to pop all the bubbles. The judges commend Dawn on showcasing Piplup’s talents and speed. Johanna, who is watching on TV, comments that it wasn't bad. Backstage, Ash and Brock congratulate Dawn, who says she is relieved it is over. Zoey reminds Dawn that it is too early to be relieved, as they are going to meet in the finals. Ash, Dawn, Zoey, and Jessie all look on expectantly as the results are about to be announced.

Major events

Ash and Dawn's Contest Passes

• Ash, Dawn, and Brock meet Zoey, Dawn's first rival.
• Ash and Dawn are issued a Sinnoh Contest Pass and obtain a Ribbon case, Ball Capsule, and Seals.
• Jessie adopts a persona by the name of Jessilina to participate in Pokémon Contests in the Sinnoh region.
• Ash, Dawn, Zoey, and Jessilina enter the Jubilife City Pokémon Contest and compete in the Performance Stage.
  • In the process, Dawn makes her debut as a Coordinator and Ash participates in an official Pokémon Contest for the first time.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Humans

• Zoey
• Marian (in person)

Pokémon debuts

• Zoey's Glameow

TV episode debuts

• Buizel

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Zoey
• Johanna
• Marian
• Raoul Contesta
• Mr. Sukizo
• Nurse Joy
• Coordinators
• Customers
• Receptionist

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Mime Jr. (James's)
• Aipom (Ash's)
• Starly (Ash's)
• Buneary (Dawn's)
• Bonsly (Brock's)
• Croagunk (Brock's)
• Carnivine (James's)
• Glameow (Zoey's)
• Misdreavus (Zoey's)
• Glameow (Johanna's)
• Buizel (Coordinator's)
• Rapidash (Coordinator's)
• Scyther (Coordinator's)
• Beautifly (Coordinator's)
• Bidoof (Coordinator's)

Trivia

• Dawn reads the title card of the episode.
• Music from Jirachi: Wish Maker, as well as both the instrumental version and the ballad instrumental version of By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~, are used as background music.
• Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia: Pokémon Contest Appeal Round
  • Pokémon senryū: ポケモンが　かれいにまわるよ　コンテスト Pokémon ga, kare inima neru yo, Kontesuto "Pokémon, oh they spin beautifully; that is a Contest."
• Ash narrates the preview for the next episode.
• In the dub, Misdreavus's name is pronounced "Mis-DREE-vus". It had been pronounced "MIS-dri-vus" while 4Kids was dubbing the series.
• The outfit Zoey wears for the Contest somewhat resembles Butler's.
• The eyecatches are updated in this episode, with Dawn now having the Pokétch around her wrist and the logo in the first eyecatch being moved from the bottom right of the screen to the bottom left, and the logo in the second eyecatch being moved from the bottom left to the bottom right.
• Team Rocket doesn't recite their motto or blast off in this episode, making it the first time they did not in the Sinnoh region.

Errors

• In one scene, Ash's shirt is not showing underneath his jacket.
• In the scene where Zoey's Misdreavus appears from the smoke, the black layer of its eyes is white.

• 

  Ash's missing shirt

• 

  Misdreavus's miscolored eyes

Dub edits

• In the English dub, Dawn tells Johanna not to worry, and her mother says that is when she worries the most. They then notice that Zoey is no longer there. In the original Japanese version, her mother scolds her for not thanking Zoey.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		小光！首次的華麗大賽！！
Czech		První koordinátorský zápas
Danish		I Gang Som Koordinator!
Dutch		Vliegende Start van een Coördinator
Finnish		Koordinaattorit kilpakentällä
European French		Premier Concours Pokémon !
German		Lucias allererster Wettbewerb
Hebrew		מתאמת עולה להתקפה
Italian		Che lo spettacolo abbia inizio! & Una parata di emozioni
Korean		빛나, 포켓몬 콘테스트에 데뷔하다
Polish		Koordynatorzy przypuszczają atak
Portuguese	Brazil	Montando Um Ataque de Coordenador!
	Portugal	Preparar o Ataque de um Coordenador!
Romanian		Atacul unui Coordonator
Russian		Как сложно быть координатором!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Coordinadores en Entrenamiento!
	Spain	Preparando el debut de una coordinadora.
Swedish		Sekunda varor
Thai		ฮิคาริ! การประกวดครั้งแรก!

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Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl

DP012 : Arrival of a Rival! →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.