Home / News Articles / Pokémon Smash 77
Mar 25 2012 Pokémon Smash 77
The latest episode of Pokémon Smash, Lucky's Clinical Records / The PokéSma Members Start their Training for the World Championships, Joined by New Members! / Misaki the Fighting-user Takes the Stage in the Elite Four Battle! (ラッキーのカルテ / 世界大会を目指してポケスマメンバーが特訓を始動、新メンバーも参加! / 四天王バトルはかくとう使いのミサキ!) aired this Sunday in Japan.

The show's announcer started the episode off with the words "Hello, boys and girls! We're back to get you the latest Pokémon news! It's time for Pokémon Smash!" TIM and Shoko-tan walked onto the set as Maria was flipping one of the giant coins used in the PokéSma Card Battles, and they asked what she was doing. Robert explained she was testing her luck in getting heads on the coin, and that this tied into the special project the Adventure Division and the International Division were working on. Golgo asked if it was time to reveal the project soon, and Misaki told him they were just about done with their preparations, and they could reveal it afterwards.

This prompted Golgo to introduce the Pokémon Library segment. Today's episode was selected and presented by Yamamoto, who explained its moral as "Show kindness towards all kinds of people" (どんな人にも優しくしよう). The episode was Lucky's Clinical Records (ラッキーのカルテ) from the original series. A full summary of that episode is available in the episode guide. Professor Red said his go-to line 'OK! Pokémon Library!' to start the repeat episode.

Thumbnail

After the rerun episode had ended, Golgo finally came forward and revealed the mysterious, secret project they had been talking about earlier: The Adventure Division and the International Division will be participating in the video game tournament Japan Cup 2012 Spring and the card game tournament Battle Carnival 2012 Spring, attempting to become Japan representatives at the world championships in Hawaii. Shoko-tan asks which members will participate in which cup, and they reveal that Robert and Misaki will be entering the video game tournament, while Hana and Maria will go to the card game tournament. Shoko-tan asks if two members isn't a bit too little for the card game tournament, but Hana assures her that's "No problem" , and Red starts saying the new members will take care of that, before getting interrupted by Yamamoto, who launches today's VTR segment.

Thumbnail

The segment starts by explaining the layout of the video game tournament. Participants start out by registering for the May 2012 wi-fi tournament Japan Cup 2012 Spring, which is open for everyone, but has a limited number of positions. The highest ranking players here continue on to the Japan Representative Election Tournament to be held in June, and the winners in each division get to travel to Hawaii as Japan representatives in the Pokémon World Championships 2012, which takes place in August.

Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

In order to "level up" their skills before the tournament, the four PokéSma representatives head to Game Freak, where they get another private lecture with Battle Director Shigeki Morimoto (森夲茂樹) himself.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

Akiyama is the one most concerned about his own battling abilities (and about the possibilities of sleeping on the plane to Hawaii), and requests a lecture on combo moves similar to the Water Absorb combo he's already familiar with.

The first combo he explains is the one of Yadon's "Own Tempo" Ability and Dredear's "Teeter Dance" move. Teeter Dance is a move that always hits and confuses all other Pokémon on the field, while "Own Tempo" prevents Confusion, so if Dredear uses it with Yadon as its partner, both opponents get confused without any negative effects to your own team.

Next, he describes a combo of Nyorotono's "Drizzle" Ability, which can only be found on Nyorotono acquired through the PGL, and Tornelos "Hurricane" move. The Drizzle Ability automatically changes the current weather to rain, and Tornelos' very powerful but not particularly accurate Hurricane move gets a 100% hit rate when used during rain.

The next combo is that of Nyorotono's Drizzle and Voltolos' Thunder move. Like Hurricane, Thunder is a very powerful but inaccurate move that gains a 100% hit rate during rain.
Next, he describes the combo of Yukinooh's "Snow Warning" Ability and Yukimenoko's "Blizzard" move. Working similarly to the above combos, Snow Warning automatically changes the weather to a hailstorm, while Blizzard is a similarly strong, but inaccurate move that gains a 100% hit rate during hail.

Another, different type of weather combo is Bangiras' Ability "Sand Stream" and Doryuzu's Ability "Sand Rush". Like the earlier Abilities, Sand Stream automatically changes the weather to a sandstorm, while Doryuzu's Sand Rush Ability doubles its Speed in such weather, in addition to preventing the automatic damage caused by sandstorm weather.

ThumbnailThumbnailThumbnailThumbnailThumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution


Next, the segment focuses on Hana and Maria's card game tournament, and Baba reveals what Red hinted at earlier - since their video game team of Robert and Misaki has four members, and Hana and Maria's card game team only has two, they'll have to recruit a pair of new members for it. The two are asked what kind of members they would want on their team; Hana says she wants someone knowledgeable about the card game, and Maria says she wants someone lucky. Baba says they'll then gather up a group of kids, and select the most knowledgeable and the luckiest among them to join the Hana/Maria team.

15 kids between the ages 6-11, all experienced with the card game, are assembled to participate in the selection.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

The first selection is for the most knowledgable among the group. The 15 kids are gathered into one room and given a set of 20 true/false questions on various aspects of the card game. Three examples of questions from the test are given:

At present, there are 10 different Pokémon types in the card game?
A Pokémon can not be evolved immediately after playing it from the hand?
Your resistance reduces damage inflicted by Pokémon of that type?

After time is up, Robert announces the correct results - the answer to every single question on the test was "True". This shocks all the kids, and when Robert asks all who answered True on all 20 questions to raise their hands, not a single hand is raised. When everyone who had 19 "True" answers are asked to raise their hands, two kids raise their, though: 8-year-old Tsubasa Funasaki (船崎飛翼) and 6-year-old Isshin Osawa (大澤一心).

The two are picked out and put through a final quiz to determine which is the most knowledgable. They'll be given True/False questions to answer by jumping to the right for "True" and to the left for "False" until only one remains.
Some of the following questions were asked:
# Question Answer
1 A Confused Pokémon can not retreat?
(X) False
Spoiler: Click to show!
4 A Pokémon affected by the special condition Paralysis is not cured of the condition if the coin flip during the condition check phase is not heads.
(X) False - Paralysis is cured automatically without any coin flips
Spoiler: Click to show!

Tsubasa gets the fourth question wrong, which means Isshin is declared a member of the PokéSma card game team.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

The second selection is for the luckiest of the kids present. This selection starts with a contest where, after spinning around for 10 seconds and getting dizzy, the kids are to run over to one of several face-down energy cards and select one. Those who selected the same cards as the ones Hana, Maria and Isshin are revealed to be holding. The three cards were revealed to be Psychic, Steel and Lightning Energy, which were held by 6 kids total: 10-year-old Masayuki Haruhara (春原雅之), 10-year-old Tomoya Shikano (鹿野智哉), 8-year-old Taiyo Sugino (杉野大陽), 8-year-old Sakura Kobayashi (小林さくら), 7-year-old Yume Kobayashi (小林ゆめ) and 8-year-old Yuto Oya (大矢悠人).

The six continue on to the next part, where they will each flip a giant coin at the same time, trying to get heads. Three of the participants will continue to the next stage; Yume and Taiyo are the only two to get heads on the first flip, so the four remaining kids get to flip again. Sakura and Yuto get heads this time and face off against each other, where Sakura gets heads again and get to join Yume and Taiyo in the finals.

In the finals, the three members of Robert are each seated under a metal tray held up by a string, and the kids play rock-paper-scissors to determine which order they get to choose a string in. After choosing one string each, they are then given a pair of cissors to cut it with at the count of three. Only one string is actually connected to the tray so cutting it will cause the tray to fall onto the Robert member's head, and the one to select this string will be deemed the luckiest of the contestants. When the strings are cut, the tray above Yamamoto's head falls onto him, and Taiyo, who chose that string, wins the contest and gets to join Isshin as a member of the card game team.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

We are then given an explanation as to how the card game works. The Pokémon Card Game Battle Carnival 2012 Spring tournament will be held in May and June 2012, and the winners of this go on to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships 2012 in Hawaii.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

Wanting further instructions on how the card game is played, Hana and Maria head to The Pokémon Company to see Teacher Takashima, though he tells them that since he'll be acting as a judge during the tournament, he's not allowed to give them any coaching. The group decides to go elsewhere for help, seeing Shigeru Kanda (神田繁), one of the developers at Creatures, who design the card game, and who has represented Japan in the World Championships as a card game player several times in the past.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

Kanda explains that the tournament is played with a 60-card deck, and that they will have to learn how to construct a deck to win at a tournament-level. He brings out the two recently released half deck sets, the "Sazandora Deck 30" and the "Gablias Deck 30", which he'll use as the basis of his lecture.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

He explains that, like these decks, one has to build a deck with a specific theme that can lead to victory, like a "Pokémon EX deck" that focuses on using a Pokémon EX to win, a "combo deck" that creates a combo using the powers of multiple cards to support each other, or a "coin toss deck" that focuses on luck with the coin. Either way, one should focus on a theme for the deck. As an example, one can replace the Tamagetake card from the Sazandora Deck 30 with the Giratina EX card from the newly released Dragon's Blast explansion pack to strengthen that deck.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

Kanda asks Hana and Maria what kind of decks they would like to build; Hana says she has enjoyed combining moves in her earlier card game sessions and would like to make a combo deck, while Maria trusts her good luck and wants to create a coin deck. They're then told to start creating such decks, and we're told one should aim at having roughly 20 Pokémon cards, 20 Trainer's cards and 20 Energy cards in a 60 card deck.

As we cut back to the studio, the crew reveals that the two new members of the card game team, Knowledge King Isshin and Super Luck King Taiyo, are right there in the studio, and they are brought onto the set to introduce themselves properly. Golgo dubs the two full teams the "PokéSma 8", and tells them to combine their forces and head for Hawaii!

Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

This episode's Elite Four challenger is 10-year-old Rito Wakatsuki (若月莉都), who challenges Misaki. Yamamoto reveals that she ranked best 8 in the Saitama Preliminaries for the Pokémon World Championships 2010, and Golgo says the medal for beating an Elite Four member might find itself an owner now. And true enough, Rito wins easily, only losing a single Pokémon, and becomes the first challenger to win the Battle Master Gold Medal.
Thumbnail
Click on image for higher resolution

Related Articles