Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode DP 174:  "The Curtain Rises on the Grand Festival!  The Art of Flame and Ice!!"
American Episode 1317:  "Last Call - First Round!"
Japanese Air Date:  April 29th, 2010
American Air Date:  September 18th, 2010
Important Places:  Minamo City (Lilycove City)

It's the day before the start of the Shin'ou Grand Festival!  At the welcoming party for the tournament, Hikari meets with her rivals Nozomi, Kengo, Naoshi, Urara, and Candy Musalina!  Later that night, Hikari thanks her pokemon for helping her get this far and tells them that she'll do her best to become the Top Coordinator.  The next day, the first round of the Grand Festival begins.  Throughout the day, the 108 Coordinators who had qualified to compete in the competition show off their Appeals to make it to the battle round.  Urara surprises the judges by having her two Eevee evolve into Booster and Showers on-stage, while Naoshi's Tyltalis and Koroboshi impress everyone with a musical Appeal.  Candy Musalina's Habunake and Megayanma combine their attacks to make a new dress for their trainer, and Nozomi's Toritodon and Neorant impress with a water-based Appeal.  Kengo's performance is going smoothly until his Flowsel is knocked back by one of Empärt's attacks.  Finally, Hikari takes the stage with her Mimirol and Hinoarashi and commands the two to use a combination of flame and ice attacks.  After the first round comes to an end, Momoan announces the results.  Much to his dismay, Kengo didn't make it to the second round!  That evening, Hikari's childhood friend wishes her good luck before leaving Lake Risshi to train for his next Grand Festival.   As Hikari bids her friend farewell, she eagerly looks ahead with the knowledge that the real competition has only just begun.

---

Thoughts
It seems weird that we've finally arrived at the final Grand Festival.

But, we're here.  And while I'm not too thrilled with the way things will eventually pan out, the beginning, at least, does the thing justice.  It's always great seeing all the old rivals come together and to see faces we haven't seen in a while (Naoshi hasn't had a speaking role in what?  A hundred and twenty-five episodes?) and to be reminded of how far things have come since Hikari's journey started.  This episode is filled to the brim with continuity nods, and I love it.

It also features Hikari in a dress that isn't that ugly pink thing she's been wearing throughout the Shin'ou Region.

The Appeals were pretty entertaining, I guess.  I thought Urara's evolution tactic was remarkably fresh, but I found Candy Musalina's to be less interesting than usual.  And Hikari's?  Well...I don't know what to think.  It's kind of entertaining, I guess, but a) I'm tired of ice-based Appeals, and b) it seems like she just pulled this Appeal out of her ass.  When have we ever, ever seen Hikari training her Mimirol to make a freaking ice roller coaster like that?  I understand the writers wanted to leave some things a surprise, but come on!  At least give us something that resembles an actual set-up!

I'm also puzzled at the whole idea that there are a whopping 108 Coordinators participating in the Shin'ou Grand Festival.  Momoan mentions it rather casually, but if you think about it, it doesn't make too much sense.  If 108 Coordinators entered the Grand Festival, that means that all 108 of them got five ribbons each.  108 x 5 = 540, so there have been at least that many Pokémon Contests since the last Grand Festival.  That number is actually probably much higher when you consider all the people who tried to get five ribbons but failed.  Doesn't all that seem rather impossible?  Just how often are Pokémon Contests held, anyway?  Is this year's Grand Festival filled with people who took two or three years to collect their five ribbons?  Is there a reason the writers decided on the number 108 instead of a lower, more believable number?

The thing for which I'll remember the English version of this episode is the music.  TPCI does a pretty decent job with the first half of the episode, but the second half is absolutely abysmal.  The music from the Darkrai movie (Track 18, "Darkrai Risks Its Life") practically made the Appeals round, yet it got chucked out for a bunch of shorter clips that I honestly can't recall anymore.  This episode also features a new voice actor for Kenny, apparently, so...yay?  Boo?  I don't actually care because it's been so long since Kenny's appeared that I've actually forgotten what his old voice sounded like.

Urara's two Eevee, Naoshi's Koroboshi, and Kengo's Flowsel keep their Japanese voices.

Dialogue Edit
We get past the title screen for a second episode in a row without any major dialogue edits!  Amazing!

The first line of dialogue I'm going to bring up occurs during Team Rocket's TV interview.


Jessilina has eternal youth now?

(I'm actually not sure what the first part of Meowth's line here is, but you can clearly hear him say "eternal youth" at the end).

Originally, Nyasu states that they're have great expectations for her performance in the competition.

Outside,


Satoshi is a little clearer in Japan, stating that the attack always hits Hikari's Potchama.


The final winner will also be awarded a trophy, according to Momoan.  Everything Marion's saying is done off-camera, so TPCI didn't have to worry about mouth flaps or anything like that.  So why the omission?


This time, Marion omits the fact that the Houen Region is where Pokémon Contests came from in the first place.


The Minamo City Joi doesn't say anything about the other two Joi being her "sisters." 

This episode also features Fantina, so all the stuff that usually happens with the character (changing English to French) happens here as well.


Momoan also adds that the reason they're even having three stages in the first place is because of the sheer number of Coordinators performing.  Again, Marion isn't actually on-screen during this line, so there's really no reason that couldn't have been added.

During Ursula's appeal:


Satoshi's line in the original is a more "Are those...?" which makes it actually seem like he recognizes what they are.  Ash sounds comparatively clueless in the dub.

The Pokédex entry states that Flareon's body temperature can reach up to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit.  In the Japanese version, the temperature is 1700 degrees Celsius (about 3,092 degrees Fahrenheit).

During Jessie's Appeal, she actually seems happy to be hit by Megayanma's Silver Wind.  Musashi, on the other hand, sounds like she's in pain.

Finally, during Kenny's Appeal:


In the Japanese version, Satoshi comments on how great Kengo is for pulling off so many combination attacks, one after the other.

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