EP052

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Princess Versus Princess (Japanese: げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり Fierce Fighting! Pokémon Girls' Festival!) is episode 52 of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 9, 1998 and in USA on September 4, 1999.

While enjoying Princess Day, Misty and Jessie get into a rivalry. They enter the "Queen of the Princess Festival" contest with both sides having sad childhood memories driving them to refuse to lose.

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

Synopsis

The episode opens with Misty and Jessie getting excited about The Princess Festival, a holiday with events, shopping sales and discounts, festivals, and games that are exclusively for women. The narrator explains this over Misty going on a shopping spree, making Ash, Brock, and even Pikachu carry her purchases. After the title screen, it shows Misty and Jessie enjoying the perks of The Princess Vestival, which leads into Jessie capturing a Lickitung. Jessie then drags James and Meowth with her to do more shopping, where she encounters Misty. The two fight over a piece of clothing, only to have another shopper grab it while they aren't looking. They quickly forget about it when an announcement is made over the store's intercom about the Queen of the Princess Festival contest. Jessie and Misty decide to enter, fueled by their desire for the prize; Pokemon Princess Dolls. The other prize is a picture with a movie star named Vierello, but they don't show interest in that.

The next scene is the competition, where we see Vierello, an announcer, and a line of pretty girls dressed in kimonos on a stage, including Jessie and Misty! (This is one of the rare times we see Misty's hair down, though some say that her hair looks much longer than her ponytail, and that she must be wearing a wig.) The announcer then brings everyone's attention to the prize, a one of a kind set of Pokémon Princess Dolls. Vierello, who is also an announcer for the competition, adds that he is part of the prize, too, causing an uproar in the crowd. Then, a startling announcement is made; the contest isn't just a beauty pageant... it's a Pokemon battle competition! The contestants are split into divisions, and they must use 4 Pokémon to battle.

Misty then begs Ash and Brock to let her use their Pokemon for the contest. They reluctantly agree. Misty's team of four is Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Vulpix, and her Starmie . Then, Ash gets jealous of Vierello, thinking Misty wants to win the contest to meet him. (This is a PokéShipping moment.) Misty explains that she just wants the dolls, because her sisters all had their own dolls sets, but she only got their hand-me-down dolls, which were broken by the time she got them. So she has always wanted a Pokémon doll set of her own.

The next scene is a montage of Misty and Jessie winning several matches. During this scene, Jessie's team consists of Arbok, Weezing, and Meowth. Misty and Jessie then face off in the finals, but not until after Jessie has a sad flashback. She talks about being a little girl, and how she, like Misty, never had a Pokemon Princess Doll of her own, while all the other little girls did. The story brings the emotional trio to tears, and James and Meowth give her support. (This is a RocketShipping moment.) When they're done with this, Misty and Jessie proceed with the match. Pikachu makes quick work of Arbok, Weezing, and Meowth. At first, Jessie and James loose hope that she will win the contest, but then Meowth reminds her that she caught a Likitung earlier, and the battle continues! Likitung easily defeats Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Vulpix! Then, when Misty tries to send out Staryu (Earlier, she said she planned on using her Starmie), but her Psyduck pops out instead! At first, Misty is in despair, thinking that she can never win now! But in an unexpected turn of events, Likitung's attacks give Psyduck a headache, triggering it's potent psychic powers! Misty then wins the match with Psyduck's Confusion, blasting off Team Rocket in the process!

In the end, Misty sends the dolls to the Cerulean Gym to make her sisters jealous. As for Team Rocket, James, Meowth, Arbok, Weezing, and Likitung dressed up as Pokemon Dolls to make her feel better. Jessie was moved to tears, and pretended to be a Pokemon Doll along with them.

Major events

• Jessie catches a Lickitung.

Debuts

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Daisy (flashback)
• Lily (flashback)
• Violet (flashback)
• Fiorello Cappucino
• Announcer
• Crowd

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Butterfree

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Psyduck (Misty's)
• Vulpix (Brock's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Lickitung (Jessie's; new, debut)
• Weezing (James's)

Pokémon seen at the tournament:

• Raticate
• Fearow
• Parasect
• Primeape
• Machoke
• Graveler
• Kingler
• Cubone
• Tangela
• Pinsir

Trivia

• Chronologically, this episode takes place prior to EP049, since Jessie's Lickitung is mentioned in that episode, as well as EP050, in which Togepi (who is absent here) is hatched.
• This episode was originally scheduled to air on Girls' Day itself, on March 3, 1998, but was rescheduled in the aftermath of EP038.
• The original airing schedule suggests that this episode takes place between EP047 and EP048.
• This episode and the following air after The Breeding Center Secret in the dub.
• This is the first episode to play Pikachu's Jukebox.
• Misty borrows Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Vulpix while Jessie borrows Weezing and also uses Meowth.
• Misty wins her own one-of-a-kind "Pokémon Princess doll set" that she sends to the Cerulean City Gym.
• The contest that takes place in this episode is similar in many aspects to Pokémon Contests that were introduced in Generation III and Advanced Generation. Similarly, both Jessie and the girl who is traveling with Ash at the time enter it.
• The Pokemon featured in this episode's "Who's that Pokemon?" guessing game is Butterfree

Errors

Dub edits

In other languages

• French: La guerre des princesses
• Italian: Una festa principesca
• Latin American Spanish: ¡Princesa contra princesa!
• Spanish: Princesa versus princesa

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