EP052

← EP051 : Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden

Original series

EP053 : The Purr-fect Hero →

Princess vs. Princess

EP052   げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり Fierce Fighting! Pokémon Girls' Festival!

First broadcast Japan July 9, 1998 United States September 4, 1999

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ポケットにファンタジー

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 横田和 Kazu Yokota Assistant director 大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi Animation director 武田優作 Yūsaku Takeda Additional credits

Before this episode re-aired on Kids Station, the scenario credit given was 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka.

Princess vs. Princess (Japanese: げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり Fierce Fighting! Pokémon Girls' Festival!) is the 52nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 9, 1998 and in USA on September 4, 1999.

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

Synopsis

The episode opens with Misty and Jessie getting excited about The Princess Festival, a holiday with events, shopping sales and discounts, festivals, and games that are exclusively for women. The narrator explains this over Misty going on a shopping spree, making Ash, Brock, and even Pikachu carry her purchases. After the title screen, Misty and Jessie are shown enjoying the perks of The Princess Festival, which leads to Jessie capturing a Lickitung. Jessie then drags James and Meowth with her to do more shopping, where she encounters Misty. The two fight over a piece of clothing, only to have another shopper grab it while they aren't looking. They quickly forget about it when an announcement is made over the store's intercom about the Queen of the Princess Festival contest. Jessie and Misty decide to enter, fueled by their desire for the prize; Pokémon Princess Dolls. The other prize is a picture with a movie star named Fiorello Cappucino, but they don't show interest in that.

The next scene is the competition, where we see Fiorello, an announcer, and a line of pretty girls dressed in kimonos on a stage, including Jessie and Misty! The announcer then brings everyone's attention to the prize, a one of a kind set of Pokémon Princess Dolls. Fiorello, who is also an announcer for the competition, adds that he is part of the prize, too, causing an uproar in the crowd. Then, a startling announcement is made; the contest isn't just a beauty pageant... it's a Pokémon battle competition! The contestants are split into divisions, and they must use four Pokémon to battle.

Misty then begs Ash and Brock to let her use their Pokémon for the contest. They reluctantly agree. Misty's team of four is Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Vulpix, and her Starmie. Then, Ash gets confused to why Misty wants to meet Fiorello, thinking Misty wants to win the contest to meet him. Misty explains that she just wants the dolls, because her sisters all had their own dolls sets, but she only got their hand-me-down dolls, which were broken by the time she got them. So she has always wanted a Pokémon doll set of her own.

The next scene is a montage of Misty and Jessie winning several matches. During this scene, Jessie's team consists of Arbok, Weezing, and Meowth. Misty and Jessie then face off in the finals, but not until after Jessie has a sad flashback. She talks about being a little girl, and how she, like Misty, never had a Pokémon Princess Doll of her own, while all the other little girls did. The story brings the emotional trio to tears, and James and Meowth give her support. When they're done with this, Misty and Jessie proceed with the match. Pikachu makes quick work of Arbok, Weezing, and Meowth. At first, Jessie and James lose hope that she will win the contest, but then Meowth reminds her that she caught a Lickitung earlier, and the battle continues! Lickitung easily defeats Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Vulpix with Lick! Then, when Misty tries to send out Staryu (Earlier, she said she planned on using her Starmie), but her Psyduck pops out instead! At first, Misty is in despair, thinking that she can never win now! But in an unexpected turn of events, Lickitung's attacks give Psyduck a headache, triggering it's potent psychic powers! Misty then wins the match with Psyduck's Confusion, blasting off Team Rocket in the process!

In the end, Misty sends the dolls to the Cerulean Gym to make her sisters jealous. As for Team Rocket, James, Meowth, Arbok, Weezing, and Lickitung dressed up as Pokémon Dolls to make her feel better. Jessie was moved to tears, and pretended to be a Pokémon Doll along with them.

Major events

• Jessie catches a Lickitung.
• Misty wins the Princess Contest.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Lickitung (Jessie's)

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Daisy (flashback)
• Lily (flashback)
• Violet (flashback)
• Fiorello Cappucino
• Announcer
• Crowd

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Butterfree

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Psyduck (Misty's)
• Vulpix (Brock's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Lickitung (Jessie's; new; debut)
• Weezing (James's)

Pokémon seen at the tournament:

• Raticate
• Fearow
• Parasect
• Primeape
• Machoke
• Graveler
• Kingler
• Cubone
• Tangela
• Pinsir

Trivia

• This is the first episode ordered by American networks as part of season 2. However, the Pokémon: Indigo League title remains for this and the remaining twenty-seven episodes of the Kanto saga.
• Chronologically, this episode takes place prior to So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd, since Jessie's Lickitung is mentioned in that episode, as well as Who Gets to Keep Togepi?, in which Togepi (who is absent here) is hatched.
• This episode was originally scheduled to air on Girls' Day itself, on March 3, 1998, but was rescheduled in the aftermath of EP038.
• This marks one of the few occasions where Meowth is seen in battle.
• The original airing schedule suggests that this episode takes place between Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon and A Chansey Operation (which aired in Japan on May 28, 1998 and June 4, 1998 respectively), which explains why Jessie's Lickitung is mentioned in So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd.
• This episode and the following air after The Breeding Center Secret in the dub.
• This is the first episode to play Pikachu's Jukebox.
• The book Splashdown in Cerulean City is based on this episode.
• The billboard Ash points out is for the movie filmed in the episode Lights, Camera, Quack-tion!, 17 episodes later.
• In the billboard behind Jessie at the beginning of the episode, the letters "PMS" are written.

Errors

• When Misty is planning for the competition, she says she is going to use Starmie. But later in the episode, she tries to use Staryu (her Psyduck comes out instead).
• Jessie's Lickitung uses Lick multiple times in this episode; however, Lickitung was unable to actually learn the move until Generation II.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		激鬥！！神奇寶貝娃娃節
Czech		Princezna proti princezně
Dutch		Princess tegen princess!
Finnish		Prinsessat nokakkain
European French		La guerre des princesses
German		Das Prinzessinenfest
Hebrew		יום הנסיכה yom hanesicha
Hungarian		A hercegnők csatája
Italian		Una festa principesca
Portuguese	Brazil	Princesa contra princesa
	Portugal	Princesa contra princesa
Russian		Принцесса против принцессы
Spanish	Latin America	¡Princesa contra princesa!
	Spain	Princesa versus princesa
Swedish		Prinsess festival tävlingen

← EP051 : Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden

Original series

EP053 : The Purr-fect Hero →

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