Original series • Advanced Generation • Diamond & Pearl • Best Wishes! • XY • Sun & Moon • New series Writers: Hideki Sonoda , Junki Takegami , Yukiyoshi Ohashi , Shinzô Fujita , Satoshi Tajiri , Atsuhiro Tomioka During the 4th Round, Gary ends up losing to a trainer named Melissa after Gary's Nidoking is defeated by Melissa's Golem. Meanwhile, Ash faces against his toughest opponent yet, a trainer named Jeanette Fisher ( カオルコ, Kaoruko), who uses a Beedrill, a Scyther, and a Bellsprout. After a hard-fought battle with Bulbasaur, Pikachu and Muk, the match ends with Ash victorious, and he moves on to the 5th round, becoming one of the final sixteen members of the tournament. Note: This episode was controversial due to a scene with red and blue strobe lights causing a wave of seizures and other ill effects in viewers; [1] as a result of the controversy, the show took a broadcast hiatus for four months. The episode has since been pulled from rotation worldwide.

Ash and his friends finally arrive in Saffron City, but he is warned by a strange man not to go into the Gym. Ash enters anyway to discover a strange training facility for people with psychic powers. Ash challenges and loses to Sabrina, the emotionless Saffron City gym leader, and her Abra, who evolves into Kadabra. Ash and his friends are transported into a toy box set and forced to play with a dangerous little girl. The group is rescued by the strange man who, after failing to convince Ash to give up on defeating Sabrina, gives him a tip: He may be able to beat Sabrina with a Ghost Pokémon from Lavender Town. Ash goes to a large greenhouse called the Xanadu Nursery ( ムラサメ植物園, Murasame shokubutsu-en, Murasame Botanical Garden) to get some fertilizer for his mother, but Bulbasaur sniffs the flowers and becomes paralyzed. Directors: Kunihiko Yuyama , Masamitsu Hidaka , Jim Malone , Tony Salerno , Jason Bergenfeld , Eric Stuart Note 2: Originally scheduled to air in Japan on December 23, 1997, the week after Cyber Soldier Porygon, but was preempted due to the broadcast hiatus that followed the airing of that episode.When the egg Ash found hatches into a brand-new Pokémon, Togepi, everyone wants to own it. They decide to have a small Pokémon Tournament. Ash, who found it, claims he should be the one to keep it. In the end, Ash wins the tournament, but since Misty was the first person Togepi saw when he hatched, he thinks she is his mother and stays with her. Ash enters his first match of the tournament on the water field, pitting his Krabby against Mandi the Astounding ( コーム, Kōmu). During the battle, Krabby evolves into Kingler, who gives Ash the advantage to win the match and move onto the next preliminary round.

Ash and his friends take some time off to go surfing. While surfing, however, Ash passes out, but is thankfully rescued by a surfer named Victor ( ビンセント, Bincento, Vincent) and his blue-eyed Pikachu, Puka ( マイケル, Maikeru, Michael). Victor then reveals his plans to surf a tsunami called Humungadunga ( ビッグ・チューズデー, Biggu Chūzudē, Big Tuesday) and become a surfing legend. Note: The English dub for this episode was initially banned because James was crossdressing with inflatable breasts, among other sexual themes. It did not air until June 24, 2000 on Kids' WB, albeit with all suggestive scenes edited. The episodes of this season were originally released as a collection of 26 individual DVDs and VHS released by Viz Video and Pioneer Entertainment between December 13, 1998, and January 23, 2001. [3] [4] After losing to Ritchie in the fifth round, Ash is moping around, annoyed that he lost. He is convinced by Misty that he should support Ritchie who is now in the quarterfinals. However, when Ritchie loses, they both have to look inside themselves to see if they are good trainers.The Season 1 disc set was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Manga Entertainment in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2017. Both sets contain a total of 52 episodes. The DVD set contains eight discs across 2 volumes, while the Blu-ray set contains five discs in one volume. Its discs are designed to resemble a Poké Ball. The set doesn't include English closed captioning. Note: Originally scheduled to air in Japan on January 6, 1998, but was also preempted due to the hiatus.