BW111

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Pokémon the Series: Black & White

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There's a New Gym Leader in Town!

BW111   EP768 新ジムリーダー・チェレン！ The New Gym Leader - Cheren!

First broadcast Japan January 31, 2013 United States May 4, 2013

English themes Opening It's Always You and Me Ending

Japanese themes Opening やじるしになって！2013 Ending サクラ・ゴーラウンド

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 面出明美 Akemi Omode Storyboard 尼野浩正 Hiromasa Amano Assistant director 牧野吉高 Yoshitaka Makino Animation director 篠原隆 Takashi Shinohara No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGf Closed Original review thread on BMGf Dub review thread on BMGf

There's a New Gym Leader in Town! (Japanese: 新ジムリーダー・チェレン！ The New Gym Leader - Cheren!) is the 111th episode of Pokémon the Series: Black & White, and the 768th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on January 31, 2013 and in the United States on May 4, 2013.

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

Blurb

Our heroes have finally arrived in Aspertia City, and on Professor Juniper’s advice, they want to visit the new Gym—which doubles as a schoolhouse where Trainers-to-be can learn all about Pokémon! They meet a young teacher named Cheren, who also happens to be the brand-new Gym Leader. Ash wastes no time in challenging Cheren to a battle, but it has to be an exhibition match because the battlefield isn’t finished yet.

They make plans to battle later that afternoon, and in the meantime, Cheren shows our heroes around the school. During the tour, Axew wanders off to explore on its own, and when Pikachu goes after it, they both get into some very noisy trouble—which is broadcast through the school’s speaker system. The sudden loud noise frightens the Pokémon living in the school’s Pokémon house, and they escape through an open door! Everyone splits up to look for them, and after a few complications, Ash rounds up some well-camouflaged Sunflora, Iris retrieves several mischievous Minccino from the school’s kitchen, and Cilan and Pansage manage to get a reluctant flock of Ducklett out of the pool.

Cheren takes a head count of the Pokémon as they are returned to the Pokémon house, and realizes there’s still one Shinx missing. Our heroes track it down, but the Shinx is frightened, and when two students corner it in an attempt to bring it back, it attacks them! Cheren dives in to protect them and calm the startled Shinx, and the two students tearfully confess that they were trying to catch it because they’re the ones who left the door to the Pokémon house open.

All’s well that ends well, and it’s time for Ash and Cheren’s battle! With the students cheering him on, Cheren demonstrates formidable skill with his Herdier, and though Ash and Oshawott get in some powerful attacks, the battle goes to the new Gym Leader. Cheren thanks Ash for helping him to bolster his confidence, and resolves to stop overthinking his many jobs as a Gym Leader, teacher, and role model for his students. And saying goodbye, our heroes are off once again to the White Ruins!

Plot

Ash and his friends finally arrive at Aspertia City. Stepping off the cruise ship, Ash suggests they go over to the Gym for a battle, but when Cilan attempts to locate it on his map, he finds it is not listed. Determined to find it, Ash goes off to ask the locals where the gym is. When they arrive where they said the gym would be, the group is doubtful because it looks to be a school. Ash and Iris begin arguing about Ash's directions but a teacher stops them when he says the school also functions as a Gym.

As the teacher escorts the group through the school, he explains that the school is designed to prepare aspiring young Trainers for their journeys. The addition of a Gym now allows the school to assist their graduates further. Cilan empathizes with the teacher because of his experience as a Gym Leader and the duties the job entails.

The group sees Cheren, the Gym Leader, talking with a group of students. He comes over and introduces himself, revealing he has only been the Gym Leader for a short time. Ash asks for a battle, but Cheren apologizes, explaining they can't because the battlefield hasn't been built yet, meaning the Gym is not officially open yet. This explains why Cilan was unable to find the Gym on his map. Ash is devastated, so the teacher comes up with the idea of an exhibition match, although Cheren appears apprehensive at first.

While waiting for class to end, Cheren offers them a tour of the school. During the tour, Iris asks if Cheren even wants to battle. The teacher replies Cheren is new and tends to overthink his actions. On the tour, the group walks through a library, although Iris laments she'd rather be outside. Cheren explains they also have outdoor field projects, much to Iris's delight. As they continue their tour, Axew wanders into a room filled with electrical equipment and starts to play with it. Pikachu tries to convince Axew to stop and go back to Iris, but Axew is having too much fun to listen. As Axew starts running across the control panel, turning things on in the process, Pikachu gets in his way and they fall. In the process, the intercom is turned up to full blast, scaring people and Pokémon alike. Ash and Iris both apologize for their Pokémon's actions and Cheren quickly forgives them.

All of a sudden, a group of the school's Minccino are seen running through the campus because they were scared by the intercom. Cheren doesn't know how the Minccino could have escaped, but fears other Pokémon may have escaped as well. As Cheren and the group run off, two schoolchildren are seen ducking into the classroom in fear. Arriving at the Pokémon House, Cheren is dismayed to find out all the Pokémon are missing. Cheren and the group agree to split up to locate all the Pokémon.

Ash is seen looking in the school's garden. In the sunflowers, a Sunflora can be seen camouflaging itself. Ash walks by at first but suspects a Pokémon could be in the vegetation. He pulls out his Pokédex to be sure and it reveals that Sunflora is hiding in the flowers. Having been found out, the Sunflora starts running away. The lone Sunflora leads Ash to a whole group of them which all start to run off as well.

At the pool, Cilan is attempting to coax a flock of Ducklett to come back to the Pokémon house. They ignore him at first. Cilan plods on and tries to reason with them. A lone Ducklett swims up to Cilan, apparently listening to him, but blasts him in the face with a Water Gun instead. Cilan gets angry and calls out his Pansage to round up the Ducklett, but Pansage just falls into the water and is attacked by the Ducklett

Iris is seen in the kitchen searching for some of the lost Pokémon. She initially believes no Pokémon are in the kitchen. However, she hears a pot fall in the back and goes to investigate. There, she finds the same group of Minccino as before. The Minccino seem to think it's a game and evade all of Iris's attempts to catch them.

Eventually, the group manages to herd most of the Pokémon back into the Pokémon House. However, Cheren is dismayed to find one Pokémon is still missing: a Shinx. Running through the school, Ash spots the missing Pokémon cornered by two students and it seems very scared. Shinx tries to use Discharge on the students, but Cheren manages to get them away before they are hurt. Ash has Pikachu use Thunderbolt to deflect the attack. Cheren picks up Shinx, only to be attacked by another Discharge. Cheren keeps calm and assures Shinx everything is going to be alright. Finally, Shinx calms down. Cheren talks with the two students as to why they approached Shinx, and the students reveal they let the Pokémon out when they were trying to have a Pokémon battle with them. When the intercom went off, the Pokémon ran out the open door, which they had forgotten to close. Cheren forgives them and assures the students they will be great Pokémon Trainers one day.

Afterwards, the exhibition battle begins with the students watching in excitement. Cheren calls out his Herdier. As Ash is about to choose his Pokémon, Oshawott comes out of his Poké Ball, so Ash decides use it in the match. Ash starts off with a Hydro Pump, but Herdier expertly dodges the attack. Oshawott follows up with a Tackle, but Herdier responds with Take Down. When the two attacks collide, Herdier's Take Down appears to have had the upper hand and Oshawott is dazed. Next, Herdier attacks with Thunder Fang, but Oshawott manages to deflect the attack with a quick Razor Shell. Herdier attacks with Thunder Fang again. Oshawott prepares to block it again with Razor Shell, but Herdier jumps behind Oshawott and kicks Oshawott's scalchop away, causing Oshawott to chase after it before Herdier appears behind Oshawott and knock him out with a third Thunder Fang, giving Cheren the win. Ash and Cheren congratulate each other. Cheren still seems unsure of himself, but when Cilan points out how motivated the battle made the schoolchildren, Cheren realizes he needs to remain more confident in his actions.

Major events

• Ash and his friends arrive in Aspertia City and meet Cheren, the Aspertia Gym Leader.
• Ash has an unofficial battle with Cheren and loses.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Humans

• Cheren

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Iris
• Cilan
• Cheren
• Professor Juniper (flashback)
• N (flashback)
• Teacher
• Youngster (flashback)
• Students

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Sunflora (US and international) Shinx (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Axew (Iris's)
• Oshawott (Ash's)
• Pansage (Cilan's)
• Herdier (Cheren's)
• Pawniard (Youngster's; flashback)
• Shinx (×2)
• Minccino (multiple)
• Sunflora (multiple)
• Ducklett (multiple)
• Stunfisk (monitor)
• Conkeldurr (monitor)
• Audino (monitor)
• Watchog (monitor)
• Tepig (book)
• Vanillite (book)
• Snivy (book)
• Pansage (book)

Trivia

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Volcarona
• As of this episode, all of the official Generation V Gym Leaders have appeared and been battled in their respective Gyms in the anime.
  • The only exception is Iris, who is not a Gym Leader in the anime. She did, however, battle once in the Opelucid Gym.
• This is the first time Ash has battled a region's Gym Leader after participating in the region's Pokémon League, excluding Giovanni, who Ash did not battle as a Gym Leader, and his Gym Leader friends.

Errors

• In the Finnish dub, Cheren says Ash was a semifinalist (top 4) in the Vertress Conference. He instead finished in the quarterfinals (top 8).

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		新道館訓練家·黑連！
Danish		Der er en ny Sal-leder i byen!
Dutch		Er is een nieuwe gym leader in de stad!
Finnish		Uusi salijohtaja saapuu kaupunkiin!
European French		Un tout nouveau champion d'arène !
Greek		Νέος Αρχηγός Σταδίου στην Πόλη!
Italian		C'è un nuovo Capopalestra in città!
Korean		새로운 체육관 관장 체렌!
Norwegian		Det er en ny gym-leder i byen!
Polish		Mamy nowego Lidera w mieście!
Portuguese	Brazil	Um Novo Líder de Ginásio na Cidade!
	Portugal	Há Um Novo Líder de Ginásio na Cidade!
Russian		В городе новый гим‐лидер!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Un nuevo Líder de Gimnasio en el pueblo!
	Spain	¡Hay un nuevo Líder de Gimnasio en la ciudad!
Swedish		Det finns en ny Gym-ledare i stan!
Thai		ยิมลีดเดอร์คนใหม่ เชอเรน!

← BW110 : The Name's N!

Pokémon the Series: Black & White

BW112 : Team Plasma's Pokémon Power Plot! →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.