EP052

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

Synopsis
The episode begins with 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, , and even carry her purchases. After the title screen, Misty and Jessie are shown enjoying the perks of The Princess Festival, which leads to Jessie capturing a. Jessie then drags James and 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; Pokémon Princess Dolls. The other prize is a picture with a movie star named Fiorello Cappucino, but they don't show interest in that.

The next scene is the competition, where we see Fiorello, an announcer, and a line of pretty girls dressed in kimonos on a stage, including Jessie and Misty! The announcer then brings everyone's attention to the prize, a one of a kind set of Pokémon Princess Dolls. Fiorello, 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 Pokémon battle competition! The contestants are split into divisions, and they must use four to.

Misty then begs Ash and Brock to let her use their Pokémon for the contest. They reluctantly agree. Misty's team of four is Pikachu,, , and her. Then, Ash gets confused to why Misty wants to meet Fiorello, thinking Misty wants to win the contest to meet him. 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, , 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 Pokémon 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. 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 lose hope that she will win the contest, but then Meowth reminds her that she caught a Lickitung earlier, and the battle continues! Lickitung easily defeats Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Vulpix with ! Then, when Misty tries to send out (because earlier, she said she planned on using her Starmie), but her  pops out instead! At first, Misty is in despair, thinking that she can never win now! But in an unexpected turn of events, Lickitung's attacks give Psyduck a headache, triggering its potent psychic powers! Misty then wins the match with Psyduck's, while blasting off 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 Lickitung dressed up as Pokémon dolls to make her feel better. Jessie was moved to tears, and pretended to be a Pokémon doll along with them.

Major events

 * Jessie catches a.
 * wins the Princess Contest.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * Violet (flashback)
 * Fiorello Cappucino
 * Announcer
 * Crowd
 * Fiorello Cappucino
 * Announcer
 * Crowd

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


 * (new; debut)
 * (new; debut)
 * (new; debut)
 * (new; debut)
 * (new; debut)
 * (new; debut)
 * (new; debut)

Trivia

 * Chronologically, this episode takes sometime prior to So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd, since Jessie's Lickitung is mentioned in that episode. The correct order is somewhat a mystery because of the episodes airing out of order due to the EP038 incident.
 * This episode and the following air after The Breeding Center Secret in the dub.
 * It aired between A Chansey Operation and Holy Matrimony! on Pocket Monsters Encore.
 * This episode was originally scheduled to air on Girls' Day itself, on March 3, 1998, but was rescheduled in the aftermath of EP038.
 * This is the first episode to be part of the second dub season in broadcast order. However, the Pokémon: Indigo League title remains for this and the remaining twenty-seven episodes of the Kanto saga. The introduction of Pikachu's Jukebox, replacing the Pokérap does not help matters.
 * The book Splashdown in Cerulean City is partially based on this episode.
 * The billboard Ash points out is for the movie filmed in the episode Lights, Camera, Quack-tion!, seventeen episodes later.
 * The Jynx princess doll displays the old color design before the skin color was changed to purple due to the surrounding the issue.

Errors

 * When Misty is planning for the competition, she says she is going to use . But later in the episode, she tries to use (her Psyduck comes out instead).
 * Jessie's Lickitung uses multiple times in this episode; however, Lickitung was unable to actually learn the move until Generation II.
 * Jessie's Lickitung's yellow eyebrows turned to a shaded pink many times throughout the episode.

Dub edits

 * Numerous signs throughout the episode were edited in place of the original text for English speaking audiences.