Last Call—First Round!

DP174   EP640 グランドフェスティバル開幕！炎と氷のアート！！ The Grand Festival Begins! The Art of Flame and Ice!!

First broadcast Japan April 29, 2010 United States September 18, 2010

English themes Opening We Will Carry On! Ending

Japanese themes Opening サイコー・エブリディ！ Ending ドッチ～ニョ？

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 冨岡淳広Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard まついひとゆきHitoyuki Matsui Assistant director 大庭秀昭Hideaki Ōba Animation director 志村泉Izumi Shimura No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de

Last Call—First Round! (Japanese:グランドフェスティバル開幕！炎と氷のアート！！The Grand Festival Begins! The Art of Flame and Ice!!) is the 174th episode ofPokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the 640th episode of thePokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on April 29, 2010 and in the United States on September 18, 2010.

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

Blurb

The Grand Festival is finally under way, and the air is crackling with excitement! We join our heroes at a meet-and-greet to kick off the event. Many of Dawn's fellow Coordinators are in attendance, and they're all excited to show off their skills. Nando, Zoey, Ursula, and Kenny have all come to compete, as well as Jessilina (who is, of course, Team Rocket's Jessie in disguise). But the real surprise comes when the judges announce Nurse Joy from the Hoenn region and Hearthome City Gym Leader Fantina!

The first round begins with three stages running at once! The girls and Nando all turn in splendid performances, but Kenny tries out a risky combination move that doesn't go so well...

When the final tabulation is revealed, everyone but Kenny has moved on to the second round. Vowing to begin training at once for the next Grand Festival, Kenny cheerfully bids goodbye to Dawn and her friends. He also advises Dawn to make sure she beats "that girl with the Plusle and Minun"—her old rival Ursula, of course!

We leave the Grand Festival as it wraps up its first day. But the second round is coming up quickly!

Plot

The group have reachedValor Lakefront whereDawn is set to compete in theSinnoh Grand Festival. The night before hosts a meet-and-greet event for the participatingCoordinators.Brock starts flirting with the many girls at the event beforeCroagunk usesPoison Jab to end the embarrassment. MeanwhileRhonda and the crew ofSinnoh Now are interviewing Coordinators at the party. Rhonda is seen interviewingNando before turning her camera to Dawn for a scoop.

After being interviewed, Nando tells the group that he has won sevenGymBadges and thanks theTrainers for encouraging him to pursue both Gym battles andPokémon Contests. Then,Kenny appears from behind Dawn and teases her, calling her "Dee Dee". She brushes off his comment saying that she has gotten over her nickname. Dawn says that she isn't even afraid ofPlusle andMinun anymore. At that moment, a Plusle and Minun appear and leap onto Dawn's shoulders, giving Dawn a diamond dandruff frizz. Dawn assures Kenny she is unfazed and simply fixes up her hair. She recognizes the two asUrsula's Pokémon, and sure enough Ursula approaches the group and snidely remarks that she is "counting on Dawn to look bad". After Ursula walks away, Dawn hearsZoey call out to her from across the room. Dawn rushes up to Zoey. Clasping her hand, the two exchange greetings and talk about fulfilling their promise to meet in the final round of the Grand Festival.Jessilina is equally determined to win, though her mere presence irritates Ursula.

Later that night, Dawn stands on a balcony withher Pokémon. She thanks them for their hard work until this point, and also thanksAsh and Brock. She shows them all theRibbonher mother gave herthe day she started herjourney and says that she wants to honor her mother's Ribbon by winning the next day.

In the morning, Ash and hisGiblepracticeDraco Meteor outside. Kenny approaches them and is almost hit by Gible's wayward attack. He asks where Dawn is and Ash tells him that Dawn was in their room, apparently freaking out about the performance and her appearance. In the room, Dawn sits in front of a mirror trying to tame her bedhead. Brock walks into the room with Zoey, whom he brought to help Dawn. Zoey immediately goes to help Dawn brush her hair and tells her to remember to stay calm. Dawn sighs, confessing to Zoey that she envies Zoey's ability to always seem so calm and collected. Zoey reassures Dawn that she too feels nervous, but she instead tries to think of her Pokémon, since they are the stars.

Fireworks announce the beginning of the Sinnoh Grand Festival.Marian appears on stage, introducing theContest Judges:Raoul Contesta from thePokémon Activities Committee,Mr. Sukizo from thePokémon Fan Club, threeNurse Joy, who are also sisters, from thePokémon Centers ofJubilife,Pastoria, andLilycove City, and special guestFantina, theHearthome CityGym Leader and aTop Coordinator. Marian explains that there are 108 Coordinators competing, and therefore thePerformance Stage will take place on three stages: red, blue, and green. There are two judges per stage. After Fantina gives a brief comment, theDouble Performances begin.

Ursula is the first Coordinator to appear. In her portion on the blue stage she starts out with twoEevee. She usesSong Seals and it causes musical notes to shoot upward out of thePoké Balls, revealing the Eevee. Dawn has never seen Eevee before, so she checks herPokédex. Ursula starts with having the two useIron Tail repeatedly with each other. She tells them both to useHidden Power. Then she tosses aWater Stone and aFire Stone at each, causing them toevolve intoVaporeon andFlareon. During Evolution each has a cluster of silver bubbles around it and then as theEvolution stones are caught, one Eevee is caught in a whirl of flames and the small silver bubbles become red bubbles and it evolves into Flareon, whereas the other is covered in a wave of water and its silver bubbles come blue bubbles as it evolves into Vaporeon. The two then fly together and they swirl in the air then fire the bubbles and they land softly on the ground as the bubbles land softly and pop into shimmering light. Again, Dawn checks the Pokédex. Kenny remarks that he never thought of using Evolution in an Appeal, though Zoey notes that while it looked impressive and Ursula will get high marks, it will only work once.

Nando, on the green stage, usesKricketot andAltaria. The two start by floating through the air and spinning together. Altaria flies upward usingPerish Song in synchronization with Kricketot’s ownSinging. The twocombine and make the music notes glow. The judges compliment Nando musical performance.

Jessilina takes her position on the red stage, calling outSeviper andYanmega. She has Seviper useHaze to create a circular spiral of smoke around it. She then jumps and flips onto its head without disturbing the Haze. Yanmega usesSilver Wind and aims it directly at Jessilina, causing a brilliant glow. This attack sheds her original Contest outfit, revealing a brand new one beneath it. Fantina stands from her seat, applauding Jessilina’s fun performance.

After several otherCoordinators perform, it'sZoey's turn on the blue stage, of which the center opens up to reveal a pool for a water stage. She hasLumineon useAqua Ring and then herGastrodon emerge from the water. Gastrodon usesWater Pulse, colliding with and Lumineon’s Aqua Ring which bursts into a brilliant light. The lights form into three rings that float over the water's surface, which Lumineon jumps through, as well as Gastrodon. The rings then float closer to the surface and flatten out and shoot up into water spouts. Zoey jumps onto the center and her two Pokémon next to her for their finishing pose.

InKenny's performance on the red stage he chooses to use hisFloatzel andEmpoleon. Floatzel starts by usingAqua Jet straight up into the air. Empoleon blasts three shots ofHydro Cannon at the Aqua Jet trail and it turns into a large waterfall. Floatzel fires offRazor Wind into the water around itself, which disperses into many beautiful flying discs around the stage. Empoleon then usesMetal Claw and shatters the discs, creating a large colorful mist. To finish, Floatzel usesWhirlpool and Empoleon usesFlash Cannon. While Floatzel turns the Whirlpool sideways to face Empoleon, the Flash Cannon blasts into the center, breaking up into droplets of rainbow energy. However, the Flash Cannon is too powerful for Floatzel to hold back; the Whirlpool quickly collapses and Floatzel is thrown back. Kenny grits his teeth, realizing his chances of winning the Festival have likely been dashed.

The final Coordinator is Dawn. On the green stage, she usesCyndaquil andBuneary withLine Seals that sets off a large blue ribbon for a shimmering effect. Buneary bounces into position while letting off anIce Beam. The twirling and Ice Beam combination creates a large, rollercoaster type ice path. Cyndaquil then usesFlame Wheel and rolls down the path, melting a trench and creating a slide for Buneary, who follows just behind. Buneary then charges an Ice Beam and Cyndaquil usesSmokescreen in order to cloak themselves above a large center ice spike. The glow is seen through the Smokescreen. The smoke is blown away, revealing Buneary to be inside a large Poké Ball of ice with Cyndaquil standing on top. She bows as Cyndaquil, having used its back flames to form flapping wings of fire to clear the smoke, continues to fan, the flames illuminating the ice to give off a brilliant glow and causing sparkling snow to fall.

Marian announces the show of Coordinators that made it through to the second round. It is revealed that Dawn, Nando, Ursula, Zoey, and Jessilina are amongst the 32 hopefuls that will all advance to theContest Battles. Kenny, however, will not: he has been eliminated.

Now out of the Grand Festival, Kenny decides to leave. Dawn is concerned about Kenny leaving so soon, but he says he has to get ready for the next Grand Festival. He says he'll be rooting for Dawn and wishes everyone else luck with their ventures. They say goodbye to him and he walks off.

Major events

• Dawn enters theSinnoh Grand Festival alongsideZoey andJessilina.
• Nando,Kenny, andUrsula are revealed to have earned their fifthContestRibbons and enter the Grand Festival as well.
• Nando is revealed to have earned six moreGymBadges and to have obtained aKricketot and anAltaria.
• Zoey'sShellos is revealed to have evolved into aGastrodon while herFinneon is revealed to have evolved into aLumineon.
• Kenny is revealed to have obtained aFloatzel and hisPrinplup is revealed to have evolved into anEmpoleon.
• Ursula is revealed to have obtained twoEevee, which she evolves into aVaporeon and aFlareon during her appeal.
• Dawn, Nando, Ursula, Zoey, and Jessilina successfully clear thePerformance Stage.
• Kenny fails to make it through to theBattle Stage and is eliminated from the Grand Festival.

For a list of all major events inPokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, please see thetimeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Kenny's Empoleon
• Zoey's Gastrodon

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Nurse Joy (×3)
• Zoey
• Ursula
• Nando
• Kenny
• Fantina
• Johanna
• Sinnoh Now staff
  • Rhonda
  • Jack
  • Cameraman
  • Assistant
• Marian
• Mr. Contesta
• Mr. Sukizo
• Coordinators
• Audience

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Gible (Ash's)
• Buneary (Dawn's)
• Pachirisu (Dawn's)
• Mamoswine (Dawn's)
• Cyndaquil (Dawn's)
• Togekiss (Dawn's)
• Croagunk (Brock's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Yanmega (Jessie's)
• Lumineon (Zoey's)
• Gastrodon (Zoey's)
• Plusle (Ursula's)
• Minun (Ursula's)
• Eevee (Ursula's; ×2; both evolve)
• Flareon (Ursula's; newly evolved)
• Vaporeon (Ursula's; newly evolved)
• Kricketot (Nando's)
• Altaria (Nando's)
• Empoleon (Kenny's)
• Floatzel (Kenny's)
• Glameow (Johanna's)
• Blaziken (Coordinator's)
• Sceptile (Coordinator's)
• Rapidash (Coordinator's)
• Steelix (Coordinator's)
• Cleffa (Coordinator's)
• Girafarig (Coordinator's)
• Lickilicky (Coordinator's)
• Rattata (Coordinator's)
• Toxicroak (Coordinator's)
• Skuntank (Coordinator's)

Trivia

• Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Examination:Hitmonlee
• This episode begins the four-partSinnoh Grand Festival arc.
• The names of the three stages of the Performance Stage are the same as that of the three original games,Red, Green andBlue.
• Despite the fact thata main character and tworecurringcharacters have each owned anEevee that has gone on toevolve, this episode marks the first time an Eevee is shown evolving onscreen in theanimated series, with two Eevee undergoing separate Evolutions.
• This episode marks the first time a Pokémon is seen evolving in the middle of anAppeal, discounting the illusoryJohanna evolving herFeebas inMalice In Wonderland!.
• Not marking his brief, non-speaking cameo inA Breed Stampede!, this episode marks the first appearance ofNando sinceDawn's Early Night!, 125 episodes ago.
  • This is also the first in-person appearance of Nando that is not animated by木下和栄 Kazue Kinoshita.
• Background music fromMewtwo Strikes Back,Spell of the Unown: Entei,Jirachi: Wish Maker,Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, andThe Rise of Darkrai, as well as the instrumental ofBy Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~, are used.
• DespitePerish Song having existed in thegames sinceGeneration II, this is thefirst time it is used in theanimated series.
• This episode marks the final animated series appearance ofRhonda.
• Team Rocket isn't seen in their regular uniforms throughout this episode.
• The English version of this episode aired on the same dayPokémon Black and White came out in Japan.
• Team Rocket doesn't blast off or recite themotto during the entire arc.
• One act of the Performance Stage involves aToxicroak and aSkuntank, similar toSaturn's Toxicroak andJupiter's Skuntank.

Errors

• Nando'sKricketot usesSing in this episode, a move that Kricketotcannot legally learn (although itsevolved form can).
• WhenZoey's Gastrodon first appears, the top of its head is pink instead of brown.
• Zoey's necklace changes from emerald green to yellow in a few scenes.
• In the Englishdub, Zoey says that she hasn't seen Nando since theHearthome Gym. This is incorrect; she should have said she hasn't seen him since the Hearthome CityPokémon Contest, which took place inDawn's Early Night!.
• In theBrazilian Portuguese dub,Silver Wind is referred to asAsa Vento de Prata, which means "Silver Wind Wing".

Dub edits

• During theperformances of everyone beforeDawn, different pieces of music were used instead of thewild Pokémon theme fromPokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire and an instrumental from aPokémon movie.
• In the original Japanese version, while talking about the Grand Festival,Marian says the winner will be given the title ofTop Coordinator and a trophy. She also mentions that theHoenn region was where Contests originated. In the English dub, the trophy and Contest origins are not mentioned.
• In the English dub, aNurse Joy says that the other two Nurse Joys are her sisters fromJubilife City andPastoria City. In the original Japanese version, she doesn't mention that they are sisters.

In other languages

This episode article is part ofProject Anime, aBulbapedia project that covers all aspects ofPokémon animation.

• Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl episodes
• Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
• Episodes storyboarded by Hitoyuki Matsui
• Episodes directed by Hideaki Ōba
• Episodes animated by Izumi Shimura
• Grand Festival episodes
• Episodes focusing on Dawn
• Episodes focusing on Jessie
• Episodes focusing on Zoey
• Episodes focusing on Kenny
• Episodes focusing on Nando