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| Princess vs. Princess
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げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり
Fierce Fighting! Pokémon Girls' Festival!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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July 9, 1998
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| United States
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September 4, 1999
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Before this episode re-aired on Kids Station, the scenario credit given was 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka.
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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.
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! 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
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who’s That Pokémon?: Butterfree
Pokémon seen at the tournament:
Trivia
- 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 A Chansey Operation and Holy Matrimony!.
- 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 the movie based on in the episode, Lights, Camera, Quack-tion!, which does not appear until 17 episodes later.
- This episode hints that Pikachu's gender is male, as the Narrator says that the males have to carry the girls' packages and Pikachu is seen holding a few of Misty's bags.
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).
Dub edits
In other languages
- Dutch: Princess tegen princess!
- Finnish: Prinsessat nokakkain
- French: La guerre des princesses
- German: Das Prinzessinenfest
- Hebrew: יום הנסיכה yom hanesicha
- Hungarian: A hercegnők csatája
- Italian: Una festa principesca
- Mandarin: 激鬥！！神奇寶貝娃娃節
- Portuguese Brazilian and European: Princesa contra princesa
- Russian: Принцесса против принцессы
- Spanish
- Iberian Spanish: Princesa versus princesa
- Latin American Spanish: ¡Princesa contra princesa!
- Swedish: Prinsess festival tävlingen
