It is the Queen of the Princess Festival and Misty and Jessie are going all out for it. After hours of shopping, they both decide to enter the Queen of the Princess Festival Battle Tournament to win the dolls they both coveted when they were children. Episode 52 Princess vs. Princess It is the Hinamatsuri Princess Festival and Misty and Jessie are going all out for it. Later, they both decide to enter the. It explains that the Queen of the Princess contest about begin. It explains that the winner will get a collection of Princess dolls and get a picture taken with movie star Fiorella Cappuccino. Ash, Brock, and James are all run over by the many women who want to enter. Jessie and Misty agree to use this contest to settle their dispute.

← EP051: Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden

Original series

EP053: The Purr-fect Hero →

Princess vs. Princess

EP052 げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり Fierce Fight! Pokémon Girls' Festival

Japan July 9, 1998 United States September 4, 1999

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme

Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ポケットにファンタジー

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 横田和 Kazu Yokota Assistant director 大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi Animation director 武田優作 Yūsaku Takeda Additional credits

Before this episode re-aired on Kids Station, the scenario credit given was 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka.

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 first aired in Japan on July 9, 1998 and in the United States on September 4, 1999. It was initially intended to air in Japan on March 3, 1998, but was rescheduled following the EP038 incident.

• 3Major events
  • 3.1Debuts
• 4Characters
• 6Trivia

Blurb

Misty and Jessie compete against one another for Queen of the Princess Festival, a day where women rule and the guys have to do whatever the girls tell them. Misty finds out how important friends are when Ash and Brock allow her to use their Pokémon in the tournament. But Jessie manages to lick her competition with a surprise Pokémon of her own.

Plot

Pokemon Episode 52 Princess Vs Princess Beatrice

While in O-Hina Town, Misty and Jessie enjoy the perks of the Princess Festival, a holiday with events, shopping sales and discounts, festivals, and games that are exclusively for women. Misty goes on a shopping spree, making Ash, Brock, and even Pikachu carry her purchases. At a local park, Jessie shows off her expensive finds, including food and clothing, and hopes the Team Rocket company credit card can handle the pressure. Just then, a Lickitung appears and swallows Jessie's food. Irritated, Jessie throws a Poké Ball and abruptly catches it, much to Meowth and James's surprise. Jessie then drags James and Meowth with her to do more shopping.

At a store, Jessie encounters Misty, and they fight over a dress, 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, a set of Pokémon Princess Dolls. The other prize is a picture with a movie star named Fiorella Cappuccino, but they don't show interest in that.

During the competition, Fiorella, an announcer, and a line of pretty girls dressed in kimonos and crowns, including Jessie and Misty, stand on a stage. The announcer reveals that the contest isn't just a beauty pageant, it is also a Pokémon battle competition. The contestants are split into divisions, and they must use four Pokémon to battle. Misty then begs Ash and Brock to let her use their Pokémon for the contest, and they reluctantly loan Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Vulpix to her. When Ash is confused as to why Misty wants to meet Fiorella, she explains that she just wants the dolls, because her sisters all had their own doll sets, while she only got their hand-me-down dolls, which were broken by the time she got them.

Misty wins several matches with Ash and Brock's Pokémon, as well as Staryu. Jessie also wins matches with Arbok, Weezing, and Meowth. Misty and Jessie then face off in the finals, but not until after Jessie reminisces about her hatred of the Princess Festivals because, like Misty, she never had a Pokémon Princess Doll of her own, while all of the other girls did. The story brings the emotional trio to tears, and James and Meowth give her support. During 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 Meowth reminds her that she caught a Lickitung earlier, and the battle continues. Lickitung easily defeats Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Vulpix with a confusion-inducing Lick. Then, Misty tries to send out Staryu, but her Psyduck pops out instead. At first, Misty is in despair, thinking that she can never win now. Just then, in an unexpected turn of events, Lickitung's attacks give Psyduck a headache, triggering its potent Psychic powers. Misty wins the match and the Queen of the Princess Festival Contest with Psyduck's Confusion, while blasting off Team Rocket in the process.

In the end, Misty has a courier service deliver the dolls to the Cerulean Gym to make her sisters jealous. As for Team Rocket, James, Meowth, Arbok, Weezing, and Lickitung are all dressed up as Pokémon dolls to make Jessie feel better. Jessie is moved to tears, and pretends to be a Pokémon doll along with them.

Major events

• Jessiecatches a Lickitung.
• Misty and Jessie enter the Queen of the Princess Festival, with Misty being the winner.

For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the timeline of events.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Lickitung (Jessie's)

Characters

Humans

• Daisy (flashback)
• Lily (flashback)
• Violet (flashback)
• Announcer
• Crowd

Pokémon

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

• 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)
• Primeape (Yumi's)
• Jynx (announcer briefly morphs into Jynx; doll)
• Jigglypuff (announcer briefly morphs into Jigglypuff; doll)
• Oddish (announcer briefly morphs into Oddish)
• Chansey (doll)
• Pikachu (doll)
• Clefairy (doll)
• Squirtle (doll)
• Charmander (doll)
• Bulbasaur (doll)
• Poliwhirl (doll)
• Slowpoke (doll)

Scheduling conflict

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 schedule was as follows:

Code	English title	Japanese title	Planned broadcast	Actual broadcast
*	Holiday Hi-Jynx	ルージュラのクリスマス	December 23, 1997	October 5, 1998
*	Snow Way Out!	イワークでビバーク	January 6, 1998	October 5, 1998
EP040	The Battling Eevee Brothers	イーブイ４きょうだい	January 13, 1998	April 16, 1998
EP041	Wake Up, Snorlax!	おきろ！カビゴン！	January 20, 1998	April 23, 1998
EP042	Showdown at Dark City	たいけつ！ポケモンジム！	January 27, 1998	April 30, 1998
EP043	March of the Exeggutor Squad	ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！	February 3, 1998	May 7, 1998
EP044	The Problem with Paras	パラスとパラセクト	February 10, 1998	May 14, 1998
EP052	Princess vs. Princess	げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり	March 3, 1998	July 9, 1998
EP053	The Purr-fect Hero	こどものひだよ！ぜんいんしゅうごう！	May 5, 1998	July 9, 1998

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.

Due to being originally intended to be aired after Holiday Hi-Jynx, Meowth alluding to the events of that episode in the Japanese version (specifically, when comparing Jessie's melancholy for the overall holiday to her hating Christmas). The episode takes place sometime prior to So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd, since Jessie's Lickitung is mentioned in that episode. Airing out of order also explains the absence of Misty's Togepi from this episode.

Trivia

• For unclear reasons, this episode's title card is written in all caps, unlike most of the other title cards from the original series.
• This episode's title is formatted as Princess Vs Princess on the DVD menu of Australian DVDs.
• This episode was partially adapted into the book Splashdown in Cerulean City.
• The Jynx princess doll uses Jynx's old design, before its skin color was changed to purple due to the controversy surrounding the design.
• This was one of the few episodes hinting at Pikachu's gender before it being officially confirmed in Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, as Pikachu was shown holding one of the bags after the narrator mentioned that the males carry packages during the Princess Festival.
• This is the only episode where Brock's Vulpix retains its Japanese voice.
• This episode slightly confirms that Ash is an only child, with Misty stating so. This would be further confirmed in the third movie.
• Due to it being rescheduled after the EP038 incident, this episode is considered the season premiere of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands. The DVD releases of that season correct this, given the title to Pallet Party Panic.
  • Because of this, Pikachu's Jukebox replaces the Pokérap starting in this episode.
• In the Japanese version, this episode is one of the few to assign its events a specific date (March 3).

Errors

• When Misty is planning for the competition, she says she is going to use Starmie. Later in the episode, however, she tries to send out Staryu, but her Psyduck comes out instead.
• Jessie's Lickitung's yellow eyebrows turn into a shaded pink many times throughout the episode.
• Due to being dubbed out of order, Ash's Pokédex is voiced by Eric Stuart in this episode, despite it taking place before Who Gets to Keep Togepi?, where Ash's Pokédex is upgraded, meaning the Pokédex should still have the voice of Nicholas James Tate at this point.

Dub edits

• Pikachu's Jukebox: My Best Friends
• Numerous signs throughout the episode were edited in place of the original text for English audiences.
• In the original Japanese version, the Princess Festival was actually called Hinamatsuri (literally 'doll festival'), an actual holiday in Japan. In addition, the Japanese version specifically lists the date as being March 3, while the English dub omits this at various points:
  • In the beginning of the episode, Misty specifically mentions March 3 is occurring, while in the English dub, she simply states it is her favorite holiday.
  • The narrator also mentions the March 3 date when explaining what the holiday is about, something that is omitted in the English dub. On a related note, the same narration also gives the name of the town as O-Hina Town, while the setting is left unnamed in the English dub. He also mentions that the women are allowed to do whatever they please during the holiday due to the money they bring in, something that was left unsaid in the English dub.
  • Jessie, when monologuing about her motives, also mentions the March 3 date. The Japanese version also reveals her personal motives for doing the contest were similar to those from Holiday Hi-Jynx.
• The English dub implies that only men have to pay while women can get their items for free. The Japanese version, however, makes clear that the girls simply got a discount, while the men are implied to have to pay the full price.
• Brock's prince statement when flirting with the waitress was originally the emperor figure in various Hina dolls during Hinamatsuri in the Japanese version.
• Jessie's request to put the items on the Team Rocket account was actually a request to gift-wrap them in the Japanese version.
  • In addition, the gifting for the Boss was originally to show their appreciation for Giovanni instead of an attempt to make up for not capturing Pikachu. Meowth's line about 'a half-price Pikachu' was likewise simply stating that it was nice that Giovanni was a salaryman.
• Jessie's exclamation about 'genuine designer fakes' was originally her yelling at Lickitung and demanding to know what it just did.
• In the scene where Jessie and Misty fight for the outfit mentioned in the Japanese version, Jessie says that the outfit can't fit Misty because it is too big for her (while also calling her a jari-girl), with Misty simply replying she'll grow into it, and refers to Jessie as Rocket-dan (the Japanese name for Team Rocket). They also referred to the large woman who took the dress they had been fighting over as 'old woman' in the Japanese version (which explains her glaring at them after their shouting at her).
• The announcer's statement that the winner must be 'poised as a Jynx, sit as serenely as a Jigglypuff, and possess the charm and grace of an Oddish' was originally a Pokémon-ized version of a Japanese proverb on how to be a lady.
• Misty originally mentioned that she's 'the most beautiful woman in the world' and thus will win, while Jessie commented that a true beauty wouldn't boast like that before stating she'll win for that reason in the Japanese version.
• The Pokémon Princess Doll Set was specified in the Japanese version to be a three-tiered Hina doll set. In addition, the 'Batteries sold separately' quip was dub-added.
• Ash's reference to Misty's status as the runt of the Cerulean sisters was replaced with his claiming that her desiring the doll set was simply 'a Misty thing.'
• Misty's comment about using Starmie when reviewing her team was actually referring to Staryu.
• James's reaction about Jessie taking Weezing was originally him expressing shock that Jessie had managed to take it without his even noticing.
• Meowth's threat to Primeape was originally his boasting that he'll take it down in one hit due to being all fired up.
• Jessie's two outbursts to the announcer was originally due to anger at being addressed as 'san' instead of 'chan'.
• Misty's warning to Pikachu about Lickitung was originally her deducing that Lickitung was lazy due to its using its tongue to grab things.
• Meowth's comment about Lickitung getting tongue tied was originally commenting that Pikachu didn't taste good and it spit him out.
• Brock's concern for Misty was originally his stating that Lickitung was more concerned about tasting his victims than actually battling.
• Fiorella Cappuccino's comment about Psyduck not being affected by Lickitung's tongue being 'just like in the movies' was originally him expressing some minor surprise at Lickitung's tongue not affecting Psyduck at all.
• In the Japanese version, Lickitung's stomach is heard rumbling when it disobeys Jessie, strongly implying that it wasn't willing to continue because it can't eat. The English dub doesn't make this clear because of the music obscuring the gurgling sound effects.
• Jessie, when discovering James and Meowth dressed up as dolls for her, only said Ī-kanji! (This feels nice!) in the Japanese version.

Pokemon Episode 52 Princess Vs Princess Bride

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		激鬥！！神奇寶貝娃娃節
Princezna proti princezně
Prinsessen Mod Prinsessen
Prinses tegen Prinses
Prinsessat nokakkain
La guerre des princesses
Das Prinzessinenfest
יום הנסיכה Yom ha'nesikha
प्रिंसेस वेरसस प्रिंसेस Princess Vs. Princess*
A hercegnők csatája
Una festa principesca
이슬과 로사! 숙명의 대결!
Prinsesse mot prinsesse
Księżniczka kontra księżniczka
Portuguese	Princesa Contra princesa
	Princesa contra princesa
Prințesă Versus Prințesă
Принцесса против принцессы
Spanish	¡Princesa contra princesa!
	Princesa versus princesa Princesa contra princesa*
Prinsessfestivaltävlingen

← EP051: Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden

Original series

EP053: The Purr-fect Hero →

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

It is the Hinamatsuri Princess Festival and Misty and Jessie are going all out for it. After hours of shopping, they both decide to enter the Princess Festival Battle Tournament.

Note: 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.(Or)
It is Princess Day, the day when there are incredible discounts in the malls, and all sorts of events and activities. But, only for girls. Just after having gone shopping and buying a present to get on the boss’ good side, Jessie encounters a Lickitung. The Lickitung eats everything Jessie had bought, and so she captures it. When Jessie and Misty hear about a competition where girls can enter to win a set of Pokémon dolls they both get very excited. They have to participate in a Pokémon tournament and Misty and Jessie both win one battle after another, until the final match which Jessie versus Misty. Pikachu beats all of Jessie’s Pokémon, except for Lickitung. Lickitung beats Pikachu, then all of Misty’s other Pokémon. Just as Misty is about to call Staryu, Psyduck comes out. Lickitung’s attacks don’t effect Psyduck, but do give it a big headache. Through some psychic attacks, Lickitung loses. Misty becomes the winner of the dolls. Jessie is terribly disappointed, but then James and Meowth bought larger versions of the clothes the dolls wore, and so Jessie was happy again pretending to be the dolls on the stand with James and Meowth.

Pokemon Princess Key

Pokemon Episode 52 Princess Vs Princess Bubblegum