EP135
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Grin to Win!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Grin to Win! (Japanese: だいパニック！キマワリコンテスト！！ Big Panic! Kimawari Contest!!) is the 135th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on February 17, 2000 and in the United States on February 10, 2001.
Blurb
The annual Sunflora contest is only a day away and yet our hero's new friend and Sunflora Trainer is unable to convince her star Pokémon to compete. Complicating things further, Team Rocket enters under pseudonyms, planning to win by whatever means are required.
Plot
Ash, Misty, and Brock are on the trail again, headed for Azalea Town so Ash can challenge the local Gym and earn his second Johto League Badge. Thirsty, Ash and Misty eye a pipe to drink from, but a woman appears and begins to fix the dripping pipe. Before she fixes it, she fills their canteens by request. She introduces herself as Sonrisa, and escorts them to Bloomingvale, the nearest town.
At her home, she shows the trio her system of pipes that brings fresh water down from the mountains so she can raise her favorite Pokémon. She calls her Pokémon out from the greenhouse, and they happen to be Sunflora, a sunflower Pokémon. She explains that she waters them so they're happy when the Sunflora Festival occurs, and many Sunflora Trainers do different types of training to make their Sunflora the best, but all she does is water them and keep them happy. Two of her Sunflora seem exuberant, but one seems rather gloomy.
Brock tries to cheer the depressed Sunflora up, but it's just no use. Sonrisa says that that was the Sunflora she was planning on entering in the contest, but lately, it had been really depressed. Ash promises to help cheer the Sunflora up, but the sun was about to set, so the Sunflora went to sleep. Ash and his friends found a Pokémon Center to rest at for the night.
Back at Sonrisa's neighbor's greenhouse, Team Rocket pick the lock and take a look at all of the Sunflora. Meowth suggest that they take one Sunflora and enter it in the Sunflora Festival so they can win a years supply of instant noodles. As James examines each of the Sunflora, Meowth accidentally runs into an alarm button, which traps him in a net. Jessie and James are able to escape, but Meowth is left trapped in the net.
Ash and his friends hear the sound of the alarm and run to investigate. Once they are there, Misty suggests to the Sunflora breeder that he let Meowth go since he didn't steal anything, which he agrees to. Back at the Pokémon Center, Misty says that in exchange for getting set free, he has to translate for the depressed Sunflora to find out what's wrong. Meowth says that he's depressed because a Sunflora belonging to Cyrus that he used to play with wasn't around anymore. Then, Meowth is lassoed by Jessie and James and 'saved'.
Sonrisa then goes looking for her Sunflora's old friend, and Cyrus said he traded it to Nurse Joy. The two Sunflora are then reunited together and Sonrisa's Sunflora becomes happy again.
The same day, the Sunflora Festival occurs, and Team Rocket, stripped of a Sunflora, have to dress up Meowth as one. As the judging commences, one judge likes Cyrus's Sunflora, one likes Sonrisa's, and the last one is on the fence. As Meowth is being examined, Snubbull appears and catches a glimpse at Meowth in the costume, but she suspects his real identity, and sniffs him, and then bites down on his tail. Meowth comes out of his costume and then Team Rocket reveal themselves.
They activate mirrors that raise up all around the stadium and shine light in on everyone, blinding them, but the Sunflora grow with the bright light, but eventually, they collapse and are immobilized, as their heads grew big after being exposed to the bright light, but Team Rocket isn't interested in the Sunflora, they just want to steal the instant noodles. Jessie sends out Arbok, Ash sends out Chikorita, and Misty sends out Poliwag. As their Pokémon battle, James controls the Meowth Balloon to pick up the instant noodles. Chikorita uses Razor Leaf to cut the net of noodles down. James sends out his Weezing to battle, but Ash commands Pikachu to use ThunderShock on it. Out of jealously, Chikorita shoves Pikachu while he is getting ready to attack, and his shock ricochets off Team Rocket's mirrors, breaking them, and in the process, mobilizes the Sunflora.
Sonrisa orders her Sunflora to use SolarBeam on Team Rocket, sending them blasting off again. The judges, amazed by this display, crown Sonrisa's Sunflora as the winner of the festival.
The episode ends with Sonrisa thanking Ash and his friends for helping her, and the trio hitting the road again for Azalea Town.
Major events
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Ho-Oh (U.S. and international), Sunflora (Japan)
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Togepi (Misty's)
- Chikorita (Ash's)
- Poliwag (Misty's)
- Arbok (Jessie's)
- Weezing (James's)
- Snubbull (Madame Muchmoney's)
- Sunflora (The citizens of Bloomingvale's, multiple; debut)
Trivia
- This is the first time Meowth disguises himself as a Sunflora. He dresses up as a Sunflora six more times in the Pokémon anime - once more during the original series (The Grass Route), twice in the Advanced Generation series (A Bite to Remember and Pacifidlog Jam), and three times in the Diamond & Pearl series (All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go!, A Secret Sphere of Influence!, and Three Sides to Every Story!).
- The book Prize Pokémon is based on this episode.
- A rare case of a non-Pokémon animal can be seen as there is a stand selling fried chicken at the festival.
- This episode's English name is a play on Spin to Win.
- When Ho-Oh is named in this episode's Who's That Pokémon?, it does not give its cry in response.
Errors
- When Ash is finding their own place to sleep, Pikachu's voice isn't here when its mouth moves.
Dub edits
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 向日花怪會場大恐慌 | |
 Czech
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Vítězství za úsměv | |
 Dutch
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Glimmen om te Winnen! | |
 Finnish
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Hymysuin voittoon | |
 European French
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Sourira bien qui sourira le dernier | |
 German
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Sonnflora des Jahres | |
 Hebrew
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חיוך הניצחוןchiyuch hanitsachon | |
 Hindi
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जीत की आशा Jeet ki Asha * | |
 Hungarian
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Arccal a nap felé | |
 Italian
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Un sorriso per vincere* Un sorriso per la vittoria!* | |
 Polish
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Uśmiech zwycięzcy | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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Sorrir para Vencer |
 Portugal
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Sorria para Vencer! | |
 Romanian
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Făcut Pentru a Câștiga | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Sonríe para ganar! |
 Spain
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Sonreíd para ganar | |
 Swedish
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En solig historia | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
