S09
| Pokémon: Battle Frontier Season 9 | ||
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 Battle Frontier logo | ||
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Pokémon: Battle Frontier is the ninth season of the Pokémon anime and the final season of the Advanced Generation English-language dub. It is comprised of episodes 146-192 of the original Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation series. It follows Ash Ketchum as he continues to collect Symbols from the Kanto Battle Frontier while May participates in Pokémon Contests. It began with Fear Factor Phony, which originally aired on September 8, 2006 in the United States, and ended with Home is Where the Start Is!, which originally aired on March 3, 2007.
The English dub underwent many changes at the start of the season. 4Kids Entertainment's licensing rights to the dub expired and in an agreement with Pokémon USA they decided not to renew. Meanwhile, Kids' WB! (a broadcast network) dropped all anime from its lineup leading to Cartoon Network (a cable network) picking up the series. It begins broadcasting on CITV/Action Stations! on October 30th 2008 in the UK, this is the first time this series has been shown on Freeview.
It is preceded by Pokémon: Advanced Battle and is succeeded by Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the first season of the dub of the Diamond & Pearl series, which is based on the Generation IV games.
See the list of Pokémon: Battle Frontier episodes for a list of episodes aired this season.
Important events
- Ash and his friends run into Pokémon Ranger Solana, who is searching for an injured Celebi. (AG155)
- Brock enters his first Pokémon Contest at Gardenia Town. (AG167)
- Ash and company runs into Solana again, as they encounter a wild Deoxys. (AG171 - AG172)
- May participates in the Kanto Grand Festival located at Indigo Plateau. She ends up in the top four after defeating Harley and Drew, and then losing to Solidad. (AG180-AG182)
- Ash and his friends learn from Professor Oak about Sinnoh, a region located north of Kanto. (AG187)
- May learns that Drew, Harley, and Solidad plan to enter Pokémon Contests in the Johto region. (AG187)
- Ash calls for his Charizard, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur for his match against Brandon. (AG189)
- Ash completes the Battle Frontier with his victory at the Battle Pyramid. He is offered a position as a Frontier Brain, but he declines. (AG190)
- Ash enters his first Pokémon Contest at Terracotta Town. (AG191)
- The group parts ways. Brock goes back home in Pewter City. May plans to compete in Pokémon Contests in the Johto region after leaving Kanto. Ash returns to Pallet Town (AG192)
- Ash meets up with Gary, who came from Sinnoh. Ash and Gary battle, with Ash's Pikachu losing to Gary's Electivire.
- Ash decides to follow Gary back into Sinnoh, and leaves all his Pokémon, except Pikachu, at Professor Oak's ranch. However, Aipom quickly follows Ash and rejoins him. (AG192)
- Team Rocket continues to follow Ash into Sinnoh. (AG192)
Party changes
Additions
The following Pokémon are obtained:
Evolutions
The following Pokémon evolve:
- Brock's Mudkip → Marshtomp
- Ash's Phanpy → Donphan
- Ash's Grovyle → Sceptile
- Brock's Onix → Steelix (while under Forrest's care; debut in AG177)
- May's Combusken → Blaziken
Releases
Other
- James's Chimecho (left with the caretakers of James's summer home; AG147)
- Ash's Sceptile (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
- Ash's Corphish (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
- Ash's Swellow (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
- Ash's Donphan (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
Pokémon Contests
May wins Pokémon Contests in these locations:
- Silver Town (AG151)
- Chrysanthemum Island (AG162)
- Gardenia Town (AG167)
- Mulberry City (AG175)
- Terracotta Town (AG192) (tied with Ash)
Battle Frontier
Ash defeats the following Frontier Brains:
North American DVD Releases
Australian DVD Releases
- Pokémon Season 9: Battle Frontier (AG146-AG192)
- The 2009 release of season 9 included the redubbed version of The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon on a bonus disc, the 2011 re-release did not.
Trivia
- Battle Frontier is the only English season to have its own ending theme, instead of just a shortened version of the opening theme.
- In Flanders (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), this season was skipped, and the broadcast of the Diamond & Pearl series started immediately after AG145 with the Dutch dub. However, in the Netherlands, Battle Frontier was broadcasted. Eventually it also aired in Flanders though.
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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 Dutch
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Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Strijd der Grenzen) | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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Pokémon: Batalha da Fronteira |
 Portugal
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Pokémon: Fronteira de Batalha | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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Pokémon: Batalla de la Frontera |
 Spain
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Pokémon: Frente de Batalla | |
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
