The Pendant That Starts It All
Part One
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はじまりのペンダント 前編
The Pendant of Beginning, Part 1
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First broadcast
| Japan
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April 14, 2023
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| United States
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July 20, 2023 (Sneak peek; first 11 minutes)
March 7, 2024 (Official release)
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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The Pendant That Starts It All (Part One) (Japanese: はじまりのペンダント 前編 The Pendant of Beginning, Part 1) is the first episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, and the 1,233rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on April 14, 2023 as a one-hour special alongside HZ002, in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2023, in Australia on February 27, 2024, in Canada on March 2, 2024, and in the United States on March 7, 2024. It was initially intended to air in the United States on February 23, 2024, but was rescheduled. The first 11 minutes of the English dub of the episode were shown as a special preview at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2023, and were subsequently uploaded to YouTube the same day.
Blurb
Leaving her home in Paldea, Liko travels to Kanto to enroll in Indigo Academy and become a Pokémon Trainer. She’s nervous but also excited to learn new things about herself and the world. After Liko meets her roommate, Ann, both girls receive their partner Pokémon: Ann is overjoyed to get Oshawott, but Liko seems disappointed when her partner is Sprigatito, a Pokémon from Paldea. Still, Liko attempts to befriend the Pokémon, and they eventually begin to bond. But one day, a mysterious young man approaches Liko, claiming to have a letter from her grandma. He also seems interested in Liko’s pendant, but Liko is suspicious…
Plot
A young girl named Liko arrives at a bus stop on Route 22, but her shyness keeps her from talking with the other girls waiting there. Even as she boards the bus and sees other girls watching a video by the internet celebrity known as Nidothing, whom she's a fan of, she finds herself incapable of finding the right words to talk with them. Instead, she opts to looking out of the window and marveling at all the Kanto Pokémon she's seeing for the first time.
Liko and Ann at Indigo Academy
The bus eventually arrives at Indigo Academy. Liko goes to her room and meets her roommate, a girl named Ann, in the middle of turning the room upside down to find her missing toothbrush, adding to the awkwardness of the situation. The two introduce themselves to each other, with Liko revealing she's from the Paldea region, having come to study at Indigo Academy because her parents had once studied here as well. Ann feels jealous of her, having never been outside of Kanto herself. As they later watch a Pokémon battle outside, Ann expresses her excitement at receiving her own first partner Pokémon during the entrance ceremony, though Liko has been too nervous to think about it. That night, Liko, too nervous to sleep, writes a diary entry on her Rotom Tablet, describing her first day at school and expressing her anticipation at getting to meet her partner Pokémon.
The entrance ceremony takes place the next day. Following the headmistress giving a welcoming speech, the new students gather in a classroom, where each of them gets a Pokédex installed on their Rotom Phone, before being allowed to come in front of the class in turns to pick up their partner Pokémon. Ann eagerly chooses Oshawott as her partner, while Liko nervously picks Sprigatito. She finds her new partner cute, but Sprigatito simply scratches her when she tries to pet it and runs off. Liko chases after Sprigatito, following its sweet scent to a rooftop. Sprigatito hops towards her, but when she tries to catch it, they both end up falling down. Fortunately, their landing is softened by a Snorlax. While following Sprigatito to a lake, she stops to look at the beautiful sunset. However, Sprigatito still refuses to be held by her, shattering Liko's expectations of meeting a perfect partner.
After an unsuccessful attempt at having her first battle with Ann, Liko secretly sneaks out at night to try to train Sprigatito's Leafage by the lake, though without success. Upon returning, she takes out a box from underneath her bed and opens it to reveal a pendant. Ann, having woken up without her noticing, approaches her and asks her about the pendant. Liko explains that it's a gift from her grandmother, meant to work as a good-luck charm to keep her safe, though she doesn't feel old enough to wear it yet. The next day, Liko is too distracted by her own thoughts to notice Ann pointing out an airship in the distance, instead expressing her envy towards how well Ann and Oshawott are coming along. Following Ann's advice, Liko starts trying to learn more about Sprigatito in order to understand it better and hopefully learn what both she and it want to do. On the roof, Liko tries to catch Sprigatito in her hands again and succeeds, although she, having a tendency to lose her footing on occasion, falls down onto the ground. They also continue their secret nightly training, though Sprigatito's fickle nature isn't making them easy. Meanwhile, a group of people searches around the school for her, with little success.
Eventually, a school break arrives. Ann heads home to show off her Oshawott, while Liko plans to stay at the school. After seeing Ann off, she encounters a young man named Amethio, who hands her a letter, saying it's from her grandmother and asking for her to bring her her precious pendant. Liko, feeling suspicious about the man, goes to her room to supposedly get ready. Feeling that something isn't right, she takes her pendant and climbs out the window to escape. Entering the room only moments later, Amethio sees that Liko is gone and alerts his comrades to be on the lookout for her. One of them, Onia, notices her, while a man named Zirc confronts her and calls out his Rhydon. Since Sprigatito isn't strong enough to fight Rhydon, Liko instead has it blind Rhydon with Leafage and then use its relaxing scent to put it to sleep. She flees onto a rooftop, but is cornered by Amethio, who demands her hand over her pendant. Suddenly, a man swoops down from the sky on his Charizard, saying that he also has business with Liko. Amethio decides to settle things with a Pokémon battle, sending out his Ceruledge to confront Charizard and telling his comrades to stand back.
As the battle between the two Fire Pokémon commences, Liko, while thoroughly confused by everything that's going on, decides to get away in order to prevent the school from being caught in the crossfire. During her escape, she needs to jump over a gap between rooftops. She gathers her courage and takes the leap of faith, just as a Psycho Cut from Ceruledge misses Charizard and heads towards her. Suddenly, her pendant starts to glow brightly, and she's surrounded by a green, hexagon-patterned sphere of energy, protecting her and suspending her mid-air.
Major events
Liko choosing Sprigatito as her first Pokémon
- For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.
Debuts
Humans
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Trivia
- This is the first episode of the Liko and Roy's Departure chapter.
- The title text for this episode is shown over the background directly, instead of a separate title card segment. Hence, no one reads the title card for this epsiode.
- This is the first main series episode:
- Where Ash and Pikachu are not listed as protagonists, and the first main series episode where the Team Rocket trio are not listed as antagonists.
- To not feature a male protagonist in any capacity.
- Since Securing the Future! to not have a separate title card segment.
- Liko's capture of Sprigatito marks the first time:
- This episode marks the first time that a female main character has obtained a Pokédex since Serena received her second one in All Eyes on the Future!, 341 episodes earlier.
- This episode introduces 11 named recurring characters, the most such characters introduced in a single episode since Showdown in Pewter City, 1,228 episodes earlier, which also introduced 11 named recurring characters.
- This and the next episode are the first two-part episode since Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 1 and Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 2, aired almost 11 years earlier.
- This episode marks the first time that a recurring character, who isn't a rival, has officially obtained a Water-type first partner Pokémon outside its native region, not counting temporary captures.
- This episode marks the first appearance of a Surskit in the anime since Dewpider Ascending!, 223 episodes earlier.
- As of this episode, a Grass, Fire, and Water-type first partner Pokémon has been obtained in the first episode of a new series by a main character at least once.
- The relationship of Liko and her Sprigatito throughout the episode is reminiscent of Ash and Pikachu's during the very first episode of the anime, as both Trainers struggle to deal with their first partner Pokémon.
- The backpacks the other students are wearing are designed after the ones from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
- During the initial airing of this episode, due to it airing as a one-hour special with the next episode, the end credits, the "To Be Continued" text, and the next episode preview were not present at the end of the episode. In addition, the title didn't include "Part 1".
- Charizard's voice is dubbed for the first time in this episode.
- Starting from this episode until HZ044, Nidothing and Quaxly narrate the next episode previews.
Errors
- Before leaving Liko's dorm room, the white portion of Amethio's hair is missing some of its triangle shapes.
Missing triangles on Amethio's hair
Dub edits
- The BBC release removes the shot of Liko and Sprigatito jumping from the roof.
In other languages
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
European French
Italian
Norwegian
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Latin American Spanish
Swedish
