Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond (Season 16)


Season	Season 16 of the English dub · the third and last season of Pokémon the Series: Black & White, covering the last 11 episodes of Japan’s Best Wishes! Season 2 (BW098–BW108), all 14 of Season 2: Episode N (BW109–BW122) and the 20 regular episodes of Season 2: Decolora Adventure! (BW123–BW142)
English title	Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova (BW098–BW122) · Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova and Beyond from BW123 (US 27 July 2013), when the story leaves Unova — the first season whose subtitle changed during its run
Series	Best Wishes! series (ポケットモンスターベストウイッシュシーズン2 Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2, BW098–BW108; シーズン2 エピソードN Season 2: Episode N, BW109–BW122; シーズン2 デコロラアドベンチャー！ Season 2: Decolora Adventure!, BW123–BW142)
Region	Unova & the Decolore Islands — from Cynthia’s villa in Undella Town via the Village of Dragons and Opelucid City to Vertress City, back to Nuvema Town, by sea to Aspertia City, Floccesy Town and Virbank City and on to the White Ruins near Dragonspiral Tower, then by cruise ship through the Decolore Islands to Vermilion City and Pallet Town in Kanto
Episodes	45 produced, 45 aired in Japan (BW098–BW142) and 45 dubbed, on TV and on video — nothing skipped, banned or shown out of order, and numbered 1–45 straight through despite the change of title at BW123
First episode	Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige! (BW098) · Japan 11 October 2012 · US 2 February 2013
Last episode	The Dream Continues! (BW142) · Japan 26 September 2013 · US 7 December 2013
Japanese opening themes	Yajirushi ni Natte! (やじるしになって！ Be an Arrow!) – Rica Matsumoto (BW098–BW108) · Yajirushi ni Natte! 2013 (Be an Arrow! 2013) – Rica Matsumoto (BW109–BW122) · Natsumeku Sakamichi (夏めく坂道 Summerly Slope) – Daisuke (BW123–BW142)
Japanese ending themes	Mite Mite☆Kotchitchi (みてみて☆こっちっち Look Look☆Here) – Momoiro Clover Z (BW098–BW108) · Sakura Gō Raundo (サクラ・ゴーラウンド Sakura Go-Round) – Shiritsu Ebisu Chūgaku (BW109–BW122) · Te o Tsunagō (手をつなごう Let’s Join Hands) – Shiritsu Ebisu Chūgaku (BW123–BW142)
English opening theme	It’s Always You and Me – Neal Coomer & Kathryn Raio (all 45 episodes, in three versions: BW098–BW109, BW110–BW122 and BW123–BW142; its instrumental plays under the end credits)
Travelling companions	Ash Ketchum & Pikachu, Iris and Cilan (BW098–BW141); N (BW114–BW118); Alexa (BW134–BW142), who goes on to Kalos with Ash
Badges won	None — the first season in which Ash wins no Badge or Frontier Symbol; he enters the Vertress Conference with the eight Unova Badges won in the previous two seasons
Tournaments	Vertress Conference, Vertress City (BW103–BW108): won by Virgil, Ash in the Top 8 · Marine Cup aboard the Decolore Queen (BW125): won by Ash · Scalchop King Competition, Scalchop Island (BW126): won by Oshawott, then disqualified · Pokémon Sumo Tournament, Harvest Island (BW134): won by Ash’s Pignite
Related movies	Genesect and the Legend Awakened (Japan 13 July 2013, between BW133 and BW134 · US TV 19 October 2013, the day of BW135) · Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening (TV special, Japan 11 July 2013 · English 11 January 2014)
Previous season	Season 15: BW Rival Destinies
Following season	Season 17: Pokémon the Series: XY

Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond key art

Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond is the sixteenth season of the English-language Pokémon anime and the third and last season of Pokémon the Series: Black & White. It covers Japanese episodes BW098 to BW142, which TV Tokyo broadcast from 11 October 2012 to 26 September 2013, and all 45 ran on Cartoon Network, in the same order and on 45 consecutive Saturdays, from 2 February to 7 December 2013. It began in English as Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova and gained “and Beyond” with Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures! (BW123), when the story left Unova — the first season to change its subtitle in mid-run. In Japan the same episodes span three sub-series: the last eleven of Best Wishes! Season 2, all fourteen of Season 2: Episode N and the twenty of Season 2: Decolora Adventure!. Nothing was lost on the way: every episode was broadcast, dubbed and released on video.

With his eight Badges already won, Ash travels by way of Iris’s home, the Village of Dragons — where she loses a rematch to Drayden, who hopes she will succeed him at the Opelucid Gym — to the Vertress Conference. He finally beats Trip in the first round and Stephan in the fourth, but Cameron’s Riolu evolves into Lucario in their quarter-final Full Battle and knocks him out in the Top 8, and the Eevee specialist Virgil wins the title. Back in Nuvema Town the group meets N, who hears the voices of Pokémon, and is drawn into Episode N: Team Plasma’s scientist Colress uses EM waves to control Pokémon, Pikachu included, N travels with the group and learns that he was raised by Ghetsis, and at the White Ruins Ghetsis awakens Reshiram with the Light Stone until Pikachu and Reshiram destroy Colress’s machine and Looker arrests Team Plasma’s leaders.

Ash then sails home to Kanto with Iris and Cilan through the Decolore Islands, where Professor Oak catches a Rotom, a sleepy Caterpie evolves twice in one episode, Jirachi grants a wish and Clair returns. In BW134 they meet Alexa, a journalist from Kalos whose Helioptile and Gogoat are the first Generation VI Pokémon in an episode; Iris and Cilan leave for Johto from Vermilion City, and in Pallet Town Ash leaves every Pokémon but Pikachu at Oak’s lab and flies to Kalos with Alexa. It is the first season in which Ash wins no Badge, and he catches no new Pokémon either, though Charizard rejoins him in BW116. Ten species make their TV debut, Japan’s Dare da? and the dub’s Who’s That Pokémon? differ in 22 episodes, and our complete episode guide below has a synopsis, both titles and the air dates for all 45 episodes.

45episodes — every one aired in Japan, dubbed and shown in order on 45 consecutive Saturdays
0Badges for Ash — the first season in which he wins no Badge or Symbol
Top 8Ash’s finish at the Vertress Conference, after his first and only win over Trip
3Japanese sub-series in one dub season: Season 2, Episode N and Decolora Adventure!
14episodes of Episode N, from N’s first appearance to Team Plasma’s arrest (BW109–BW122)
10Pokémon species make their TV debut, three of them from Generation VI

Ash and his friends Iris and Cilan have foiled Team Rocket’s latest evil plan, but a new danger lurks on the horizon! But first, with eight Gym badges in hand, Ash is ready to take on the region’s ultimate challenge: the Unova League, where he’ll face familiar rivals and new opponents in his ongoing quest to become a Pokémon Master! Meanwhile, Iris has been having some trouble connecting with her powerful and stubborn Dragonite—can a visit home to the Village of Dragons help sort things out for the aspiring Dragon Master? And what exciting new adventures await our heroes beyond the Unova League? The answers to come, as the journey continues!

— Official description

Quick Answers

How many episodes are in Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond?

45, in every count. TV Tokyo broadcast BW098 to BW142 from 11 October 2012 to 26 September 2013, and Cartoon Network showed all 45 in the same order on consecutive Saturdays from 2 February to 7 December 2013, as do the VIZ Media DVDs, the Australian sets and streaming services; nothing was banned or skipped. The dub calls the last 20 episodes …and Beyond but keeps one season numbered 1 to 45. Japan never had a “season 16”: the episodes are the end of Best Wishes! Season 2 (BW098–BW108), Season 2: Episode N (BW109–BW122) and Season 2: Decolora Adventure! (BW123–BW142). Three specials of the same period, Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening and the Japan-only BWS01 and BWS02, are not counted as episodes.

Does Ash win the Unova League?

No. At the Vertress Conference (BW103–BW108), a 128-Trainer tournament, Ash finally beats Trip — Pikachu’s combined Iron Tail and Electro Ball knock out Serperior in the first round, his first and only win over his rival (BW104) — and then Stephan, three-on-three, when Krookodile’s new Aerial Ace beats Sawk (BW106). In the quarter-final Full Battle Cameron, who has brought only five Pokémon because he thought a Full Battle was five-on-five, falls 4–3 behind until his Riolu evolves into Lucario and beats Snivy and Pikachu with Aura Sphere (BW107–BW108). Ash finishes in the Top 8, the only one of his League results to drop from the one before, and Virgil wins, beating Cameron with Flareon and Dino’s Druddigon with Eevee’s Trump Card.

Why does the title change to “Adventures in Unova and Beyond”?

Because the story leaves Unova. The Pokémon Company International advertised the first 25 episodes as Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova and, from Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures! (BW123, US 27 July 2013), when Ash decides to sail home to Kanto through the Decolore Islands, as …Adventures in Unova and Beyond; the new title appears on the Who’s That Pokémon? card from BW125, and the opening moves to its third version. The numbering does not restart — Cartoon Network, VIZ Media and Bulbapedia count one season of 45 — but the DVDs split there, Set 1 holding BW098–BW122 and Set 2 BW123–BW142. In Japan the same break marks the start of Season 2: Decolora Adventure!

Who is N, and what happens to Team Plasma?

N is a young man who hears the voices of Pokémon and dislikes battles. Glimpsed in BW109 and introduced on a ship in The Name’s N! (BW110), he frees a Braviary from Team Plasma Grunts and travels with Ash’s group (BW114–BW118) until his foster sisters, Anthea and Concordia, reveal that he was raised by Team Plasma’s leader, Ghetsis, who used him to summon Reshiram two years earlier. Team Plasma’s scientist, Colress, controls Pokémon with EM waves (BW112, BW117, BW119); at the White Ruins Cedric Juniper uncovers the Light Stone, N surrenders it to free Pikachu (BW120–BW121), and Ghetsis awakens and controls Reshiram until Pikachu and Reshiram destroy the machine. Looker of the International Police arrests Ghetsis, Colress and their followers, and N leaves with Anthea and Concordia (BW122).

Does Ash catch any Pokémon this season?

No — it is a season without a capture or a Badge for Ash, and his attempt on a Dunsparce fails (BW131). Instead his team moves around: Professor Juniper sends Palpitoad for the League (BW103); Unfezant goes to Professor Oak’s lab when Charizard returns from the Charicific Valley (BW116); Juniper sends his other Unova Pokémon on to Oak when he decides to sail home (BW123); Krookodile swaps places with Leavanny (BW130); and in Pallet Town he leaves every Pokémon except Pikachu at the lab before setting off for Kalos (BW142). Iris and Cilan catch nothing either — Iris’s Gible comes in the Japan-only special BWS02 — while Professor Oak catches a Rotom (BW128) and Clair a Shiny Druddigon (BW136).

How does the season end?

In Kanto. After a last airborne heist by Team Rocket, the Decolore Queen reaches Vermilion City, where Iris leaves to train with Clair in Blackthorn City and Cilan for Mr. Briney’s Old Rod Fishing Rally (BW141). In Pallet Town Ash is reunited with all his Pokémon at Professor Oak’s lab, decides to take on the Kalos League after Alexa — the journalist from Lumiose City who joined the group in BW134 — describes it, and flies to Kalos with her and Pikachu, while Jessie and James hand their Unova Pokémon to Giovanni and get Wobbuffet back (BW142). Japan followed it with two specials for Cilan and Iris, BWS01 and BWS02, and Pokémon the Series: XY began there on 17 October 2013 (US 18 January 2014, after a sneak preview on 19 October 2013).

Story Arcs

Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond runs for 45 episodes and follows Ash, Iris and Cilan from Cynthia’s villa in Undella Town to Pallet Town. Here is how the season breaks down, with stills from our episode guide below.

On the road to VertressBW098–BW102

Cynthia tells the group that the Unova League will be held in Vertress City, and they set off from her villa by way of Iris’s home. Filler stops — an all-female theatre troupe that Ash and Cilan infiltrate in disguise, a Tag Battle with the brothers Soren and Rocko — give way to Iris’s own story: in the Village of Dragons she calms Shannon’s newly evolved Hydreigon and meets her old teacher, Drayden, and in Opelucid City she revisits the academy she ran away from, loses a two-on-two Gym rematch to Drayden and learns that he wants her to succeed him. A dam rescue with Virgil’s Team Eevee, all eight Eeveelutions strong, introduces a future League entrant.

BW098 Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige!

The Vertress ConferenceBW103–BW108

Ash, Trip, Bianca, Stephan, Virgil and the forgetful Cameron, registered at the last minute, enter a 128-Trainer tournament. Pikachu beats Trip’s Serperior in the first round and the rivals make peace; Cameron eliminates Bianca; Scraggy wins the third round while Axew gets lost in the festival crowds; and Krookodile’s new Aerial Ace beats Stephan’s Sawk. In the quarter-final Full Battle Pignite beats Cameron’s secret weapon, Hydreigon, and Ferrothorn, and Pikachu beats Samurott and Swanna, but Riolu evolves into Lucario and knocks out Snivy and Pikachu: Ash is out in the Top 8, and Virgil beats Cameron and then Dino to win.

Return to Nuvema & the coming of NBW109–BW113

Back at Professor Juniper’s lab Ash helps the new Trainer Nanette choose Tepig, Team Rocket return to chasing Pikachu with a new Frillish and Amoonguss, and Cedric Juniper’s discovery of the White Ruins sets the group’s course. On the ship to Aspertia City they meet N, who hears the voices of Pokémon and sees battles as forcing friends to fight; Ash loses an exhibition to Cheren, Aspertia’s new Gym Leader; and in Floccesy Town Looker returns, disguised as a Hiker, as the group first clashes with Team Plasma and its scientist Colress, whose EM waves turn wild Pokémon, and Pikachu, against them. At Floccesy Ranch a timid Ampharos earns its flock’s respect.

N on the roadBW114–BW119

N frees a Braviary from the Team Plasma Grunts Schwarz and Weiss and joins the group, and in Virbank City he comes to accept Pokémon working in rescues. At a Kanto Fair Ash recalls Charizard from the Charicific Valley, sending Unfezant to Oak, in an episode of reanimated Kanto flashbacks. Colress’s improved machine turns a Haxorus and Iris’s Dragonite against them and N is hurt; his foster sisters, Anthea and Concordia, carry him to a hidden refuge and reveal that he was raised by Ghetsis, who used him to summon Reshiram, and N leaves to protect them. Team Rocket fail to recruit Colress, and N learns of the Genesect Army.

The White RuinsBW120–BW122

Escorted by Looker, disguised as one of Cedric Juniper’s assistants, the group reaches the White Ruins, where Cedric uncovers the Light Stone and N takes it; Ash and N fall into a sealed chamber as Team Plasma attack. Ash’s team tunnels out, but Colress takes control of Pikachu, who shocks Ash unconscious, and N trades the Light Stone and himself for Pikachu’s freedom. Ghetsis awakens Reshiram under Colress’s control until Pikachu’s resistance and Reshiram’s own power destroy the machine; N calms the dragon, Looker arrests Ghetsis, Colress and Team Plasma with Team Rocket’s help, and N leaves with Anthea and Concordia, ending Episode N.

BW121 Team Plasma and the Awakening Ceremony!

Farewell to UnovaBW123–BW128

Ash decides to go home to Kanto by cruise ship through the Decolore Islands; Iris and Cilan come too, Juniper sends his Unova Pokémon to Oak, and the English title becomes …and Beyond. With the cruise guide Porter they meet a swarm of Beedrill on Honey Island, Cilan solves a shipboard jewel theft as Ash wins the Marine Cup, Oshawott wins the Scalchop King crown only to lose it to heartbreak, a Zoroark keeps an abandoned Pokémon Center running out of loyalty to an old Nurse Joy, and on Torom Island Iris and Cilan meet Professor Oak in person as he catches a Rotom.

BW123 Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures!

Island hoppingBW129–BW133

Pignite and Snivy turn a gang of abandoned Pokémon pirates into the Decolore Coast Guard; Ash swaps Krookodile for Leavanny to train a sleepy Caterpie that evolves into Metapod and Butterfree in one episode and leaves with its flock; misunderstandings split Ash and Iris on Capacia Island until they make up; Jirachi grants a girl’s wish in its seven waking days; and a crashed Beheeyem UFO hypnotises a town until Ash, in a truce with Team Rocket, finds the Amulet Coin it needs.

Alexa and the road to KalosBW134–BW140

On Harvest Island the Kalos journalist Alexa joins the group with Helioptile and Gogoat, the first Generation VI Pokémon in an episode, as Pignite wins a Pokémon Sumo Tournament. A pirate’s treasure of Evolution Stones turns three Eevee into Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon; Clair returns in her new look and catches a Shiny Druddigon; Alexa’s Noivern appears under the Conley Comet; Gogoat carries a boy to his father; Emolga pretends to join Team Rocket; and Cilan’s Pansage defends the Striaton Gym against Morana.

BW134 The Journalist from Another Region!

HomecomingBW141–BW142

After Team Rocket lift the ship into the sky with balloons for a last airborne heist, the group lands in Vermilion City, and Iris and Cilan leave for Johto. In Pallet Town Ash is reunited with all his Pokémon, Jessie and James hand their Unova Pokémon to Giovanni and get Wobbuffet back, and Ash, in a new outfit made by his mother, flies to Kalos with Alexa and Pikachu — “Next time… a new beginning!”

Episode Guide

All 45 episodes of Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond are listed below in Japanese broadcast order, which is also the order of the English dub, the DVDs and streaming. The # column is the season number used by Cartoon Network, VIZ Media and streaming services — one run from 1 to 45, although the dub added “and Beyond” to the title from Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures! (No. 26, BW123) — and the orange code is the Bulbapedia BW number used by most fan sites. Every episode has its own page with our full synopsis, both titles, air dates, major events, Pokémon debuts, trivia and dub changes — click the title or the screenshot. US dates are the Cartoon Network premieres on 45 consecutive Saturday mornings, from 2 February to 7 December 2013; Japan’s Thursday run had no new episode on 27 December 2012 or 3 January 2013, between BW107 and BW108, and lost a few more weeks to specials and films. Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening and the two Japan-only specials are not episodes and are covered under Movies and Side Stories.

Who’s That Pokémon? continues in the English dub as its mid-episode break, the silhouette shown before the adverts and the answer just before the end credits, and each episode page gives its answer. Japan’s own quiz, Dare da?, ran all season too, and the two versions show different Pokémon in 22 of the 45 episodes, starting with the first — Roserade in English, Cinccino in Japanese (BW098). In Capacia Island UFO! (BW133) the dub, which had already used Beheeyem in BW045, showed Team Rocket’s Meowth instead, its first talking Pokémon, and Japan’s quiz in The Dream Continues! (BW142) shows a Zekrom that never appears in the episode. Japan closed each episode with Professor Oak’s Pokémon Live Caster, often replaced on first broadcast by trailers for Episode N, the sixteenth movie or X and Y; the Rotom lecture of To Catch a Rotom! (BW128) is part of the episode itself and was kept in English.

#	Episode	First aired	In short
1BW098	Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige!世界一華麗なポケモン！？チラチーノVSツタージャ！	Japan 11 Oct 2012 US 2 Feb 2013	On the way to the Unova League in Vertress City, Ash, Iris and Cilan disguise themselves as girls to infiltrate an all-female theatre troupe whose… · Dub season premiere Episode guide →
2BW099	A Surface to Air Tag Battle Team!大空と大地のタッグバトル！	Japan 18 Oct 2012 US 9 Feb 2013	Ash and Cilan defeat Soren and Rocko, two brothers who boast of being the world’s greatest Tag Battle team, and then help them catch the… · Tag Battle with Soren & Rocko Episode guide →
3BW100	A Village Homecoming!アイリス、竜の里へ帰る！	Japan 25 Oct 2012 US 16 Feb 2013	Iris returns to the Village of Dragons, where she calms a newly evolved, panicking Hydreigon and is challenged by her former teacher, Drayden, to… · Village of Dragons Episode guide →
4BW101	Drayden Versus Iris: Past, Present, and Future!ソウリュウジム！アイリスVSシャガ！！	Japan 8 Nov 2012 US 23 Feb 2013	Iris faces her past at Opelucid Academy and loses a rematch against Gym Leader Drayden, who then reveals he hopes she will succeed him one day. · Iris loses to Drayden Episode guide →
5BW102	Team Eevee and the Pokémon Rescue Squad!チーム・イーブイ出動せよ！ポケモンレスキュー隊！！	Japan 15 Nov 2012 US 2 Mar 2013	Ash and his friends join Virgil, a rescue worker who owns an Eevee and all seven of its evolutions, to save workers trapped in a dam frozen by… · Virgil debuts Episode guide →
6BW103	Curtain Up, Unova League!開幕イッシュリーグ・ヒガキ大会！サトシ対シューティー！！	Japan 22 Nov 2012 US 9 Mar 2013	The Vertress Conference opens in Vertress City, and Ash is drawn against his rival Trip in the very first round. · Vertress Conference, part 1 Episode guide →
7BW104	Mission: Defeat Your Rival!熱闘！ライバルバトルを勝ちぬけ！！	Japan 29 Nov 2012 US 16 Mar 2013	Ash finally defeats Trip when Pikachu overcomes Serperior, and Cameron beats Bianca to advance in the Vertress Conference. · Vertress Conference, part 2 Episode guide →
8BW105	Lost at the League!キバゴ迷子になる！	Japan 6 Dec 2012 US 23 Mar 2013	On a rest day at the Vertress Conference, Iris’s Axew gets lost in the festival crowds and Ash’s Pokémon must find him before… · Vertress Conference, part 3 Episode guide →
9BW106	Strong Strategy Steals the Show!ダゲキ登場！サトシ対ケニヤン！！	Japan 13 Dec 2012 US 30 Mar 2013	Ash wins his three-on-three battle against Stephan to reach the Vertress Conference quarter-finals, where Cameron awaits him in a Full Battle. · Vertress Conference, part 4 Episode guide →
10BW107	Cameron’s Secret Weapon!サトシ対コテツ！秘密兵器サザンドラ！！	Japan 20 Dec 2012 US 6 Apr 2013	Ash and Cameron trade knockouts in their six-on-six Full Battle until Cameron’s last Pokémon, Riolu, begins to evolve into Lucario. · Vertress Conference, part 5 Episode guide →
11BW108	A Unova League Evolution!決着イッシュリーグ！ピカチュウ対ルカリオ！！	Japan 10 Jan 2013 US 13 Apr 2013	Cameron’s newly evolved Lucario defeats Snivy and Pikachu to knock Ash out of the Vertress Conference in the Top 8, and Virgil goes on to win… · Ash out in the Top 8 Episode guide →
12BW109	New Places…Familiar Faces!アララギ研究所！新たなる旅立ち！！	Japan 17 Jan 2013 US 20 Apr 2013	Back at Professor Juniper’s lab, Ash helps a nervous new Trainer named Nanette choose her first partner and rescue it from Team Rocket, who… · Episode N* begins* Episode guide →
13BW110	The Name’s N!トモダチ…その名はＮ！	Japan 24 Jan 2013 US 27 Apr 2013	On a ship bound for Aspertia City, Ash meets N, a mysterious young man who calls all Pokémon his friends and claims he can hear their voices. · N debuts Episode guide →
14BW111	There’s a New Gym Leader in Town!新ジムリーダー・チェレン！	Japan 31 Jan 2013 US 4 May 2013	In Aspertia City, Ash meets Cheren, a newly appointed Gym Leader who also teaches at the local Trainers’ School, and loses an exhibition battle… · Cheren debuts Episode guide →
15BW112	Team Plasma’s Pokémon Power Plot!アクロマVSハンサム！プラズマ団の陰謀！！	Japan 7 Feb 2013 US 11 May 2013	In Floccesy Town, Ash reunites with Looker of the International Police and has his first clash with Team Plasma and its scientist Colress, who is… · Team Plasma & Colress debut Episode guide →
16BW113	The Light of Floccesy Ranch!霧のサンギ牧場！デンリュウのあかり！！	Japan 14 Feb 2013 US 18 May 2013	At Floccesy Ranch, Ash’s group helps a timid Ampharos earn the respect of the Mareep it is supposed to lead while Team Rocket lure the flock… · Ampharos learns Thunder Punch Episode guide →
17BW114	Saving Braviary!N再び！ウォーグル救出作戦！！	Japan 21 Feb 2013 US 25 May 2013	N rescues an injured Braviary from two Team Plasma Grunts, Schwarz and Weiss, and after Ash’s group helps him protect it, he agrees to travel… · N joins the group Episode guide →
18BW115	The Pokémon Harbor Patrol!急げ！ポケモン湾岸救助隊！！	Japan 28 Feb 2013 US 1 Jun 2013	In Virbank City, Ash’s group helps Halsey’s Pokémon Harbor Patrol fight a fire at an industrial complex, and N comes to accept… · Harbor Patrol Episode guide →
19BW116	The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!燃えよリザードン！VSカイリュー！	Japan 7 Mar 2013 US 8 Jun 2013	A Kanto Fair reminds Ash of his Charizard, which he calls back from the Charicific Valley in exchange for Unfezant and then battles against… · Charizard returns Episode guide →
20BW117	Team Plasma’s Pokémon Manipulation!プラズマ団の野望！操られたポケモンたち！！	Japan 14 Mar 2013 US 15 Jun 2013	Team Plasma use Colress’s improved EM device to turn a gentle Haxorus and Iris’s Dragonite against Ash’s group, and the battle… · Anthea & Concordia debut Episode guide →
21BW118	Secrets From Out of the Fog!Nの秘密…霧の彼方に！	Japan 21 Mar 2013 US 22 Jun 2013	In a hidden forest refuge, N’s foster sisters Anthea and Concordia reveal that he was raised by Team Plasma’s leader, Ghetsis, and N… · N’s past revealed Episode guide →
22BW119	Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry!ロケット団VSプラズマ団！ニャースとアクロマ！！	Japan 28 Mar 2013 US 29 Jun 2013	Team Rocket try to recruit Colress, but he turns Meowth into a test subject for his control machine, while N discovers that Team Plasma has built the… · Genesect debuts Episode guide →
23BW120	Ash and N: A Clash of Ideals!白の遺跡！サトシ対Ｎ！！	Japan 4 Apr 2013 US 6 Jul 2013	At the White Ruins, Cedric Juniper uncovers the Light Stone, N snatches it, and Team Plasma attack while Ash and N are trapped underground. · White Ruins, part 1 Episode guide →
24BW121	Team Plasma and the Awakening Ceremony!プラズマ団襲撃！復活の儀式！！	Japan 11 Apr 2013 US 13 Jul 2013	Ash and N dig their way out of the White Ruins, but N must surrender the Light Stone to Team Plasma to free Pikachu from Colress’s control, and… · White Ruins, part 2 Episode guide →
25BW122	What Lies Beyond Truth and Ideals!レシラム対Ｎ！理想と真実の彼方へ！！	Japan 18 Apr 2013 US 20 Jul 2013	Ghetsis awakens and controls Reshiram, but Pikachu’s resistance and Reshiram’s own power destroy Colress’s machine, and Looker… · White Ruins, part 3 Episode guide →
26BW123	Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures!さらばイッシュ！新たなる船出！！	Japan 25 Apr 2013 US 27 Jul 2013	Ash decides to return to Kanto by cruise ship through the Decolore Islands with Iris and Cilan, but first the group must escape Team Rocket’s… · …and Beyond* begins* Episode guide →
27BW124	Danger, Sweet as Honey!甘いハニーミツには危険がいっぱい！	Japan 2 May 2013 US 3 Aug 2013	On Honey Island, the first stop in the Decolore Islands, Pikachu, Oshawott and Axew get lost with Meowth after Team Rocket’s rigged lottery… · Honey Island Episode guide →
28BW125	Cilan and the Case of the Purrloin Witness!ソムリエ探偵デント！大海原の密室！！	Japan 9 May 2013 US 10 Aug 2013	When a famous gem is stolen during a shipboard tournament, Cilan plays detective and, with help from a Purrloin he fears, exposes a master thief. · Detective Cilan Episode guide →
29BW126	Crowning the Scalchop King!さらばミジュマル！？ホタチキングへの道！	Japan 16 May 2013 US 17 Aug 2013	Oshawott wins Scalchop Island’s Scalchop King Competition, but losing the island’s queen to his rival leaves him free to keep travelling… · Scalchop King Episode guide →
30BW127	The Island of Illusions!幻影の島！霧の中のゾロアーク！！	Japan 23 May 2013 US 24 Aug 2013	On a fog-shrouded island sanctuary, the group discovers that a Zoroark has been secretly running an abandoned Pokémon Center out of loyalty to… · Zoroark debuts Episode guide →
31BW128	To Catch a Rotom!ロトムVSオーキド博士！	Japan 30 May 2013 US 31 Aug 2013	On Torom Island, Professor Oak meets Iris and Cilan in person for the first time and catches a Rotom after the group rescues it from Team Rocket. · Professor Oak catches Rotom Episode guide →
32BW129	The Pirates of Decolore!デコロラ諸島の海賊王！	Japan 6 Jun 2013 US 7 Sep 2013	A gang of Pokémon pirates, made up of Croconaw, Octillery, Azumarill and Ducklett, raids the group’s cruise ship, and Ash’s… · Pokémon pirates Episode guide →
33BW130	Butterfree and Me!サトシとバタフリー！また会う日まで！！	Japan 13 Jun 2013 US 14 Sep 2013	On Wayfarer Island, Ash helps a sleepy Caterpie that was left behind by its migrating flock evolve into Butterfree and rejoin the others. · Caterpie evolves twice Episode guide →
34BW131	The Path That Leads to Goodbye!サトシとアイリスが絶交！？別れの１本道！！	Japan 20 Jun 2013 US 21 Sep 2013	A string of misunderstandings on Capacia Island leads Ash and Iris to quarrel and split up, until worry for each other and their Pokémon… · Ash and Iris fall out Episode guide →
35BW132	Searching for a Wish!ジラーチに願いを！七日間の奇跡！！	Japan 27 Jun 2013 US 28 Sep 2013	On Capacia Island, the group helps a girl named Gemma find Jirachi so she can wish for her mountain’s lost spring to return. · Jirachi debuts Episode guide →
36BW133	Capacia Island UFO!光る円盤！オーベムたちの街！！	Japan 4 Jul 2013 US 5 Oct 2013	A crashed Beheeyem spaceship hypnotises a Capacia Island town into believing everyone is a Beheeyem, and Ash teams up with Team Rocket to find the… · Beheeyem UFO Episode guide →
37BW134	The Journalist from Another Region!パンジー登場！エリキテルとゴーゴート！！	Japan 18 Jul 2013 US 12 Oct 2013	On Harvest Island, Ash meets Alexa, a journalist from the Kalos region, and wins a Pokémon Sumo Tournament with Pignite before she joins the… · Alexa debuts Episode guide →
38BW135	Mystery on a Deserted Island!お宝の謎！無人島アドベンチャー！！	Japan 25 Jul 2013 US 19 Oct 2013	Alexa leads the group on a hunt for a pirate captain’s treasure on a deserted island, which turns out to be guarded by the pirate’s… · Three Eevee evolve Episode guide →
39BW136	A Pokémon of a Different Color!イブキとアイリス！色ちがいクリムガン！！	Japan 1 Aug 2013 US 26 Oct 2013	On Cave Island, Ash reunites with Blackthorn Gym Leader Clair, who calms and catches a rampaging Shiny Druddigon with help from Iris’s insight. · Clair returns Episode guide →
40BW137	Celebrating the Hero’s Comet!オンバーン登場！彗星と勇者の伝説！！	Japan 15 Aug 2013 US 2 Nov 2013	As the once-a-decade Conley Comet passes over an island, Ash’s group wins the trust of the Ghost-type Pokémon that once followed the… · Noivern debuts Episode guide →
41BW138	Go, Go Gogoat!ゴーゴーゴーゴート！	Japan 22 Aug 2013 US 9 Nov 2013	Alexa’s Gogoat carries off a boy named Tony, and the group follows them up a mountain to the observatory where Tony hopes to surprise his… · Gogoat Episode guide →
42BW139	Team Rocket’s Shocking Recruit!エモンガ、ロケット団に入る！	Japan 5 Sep 2013 US 16 Nov 2013	Wrongly blamed for Axew’s injury, Iris’s Emolga pretends to join Team Rocket until Iris learns the truth and apologises. · Emolga joins Team Rocket Episode guide →
43BW140	Survival of the Striaton Gym!デントＶＳ氷の挑戦者！サンヨウジムの危機！！	Japan 12 Sep 2013 US 23 Nov 2013	On Paladin Island, Cilan defends the Striaton Gym against Morana, a Sinnoh Trainer who has already beaten Chili and Cress and wants to take the Gym… · Cilan saves the Striaton Gym Episode guide →
44BW141	Best Wishes Until We Meet Again!ベストウイッシュ！また会う日まで！！	Japan 19 Sep 2013 US 30 Nov 2013	After foiling Team Rocket’s attempt to steal every Pokémon aboard their ship, the group reaches Kanto, where Iris and Cilan say goodbye… · Iris & Cilan leave Episode guide →
45BW142	The Dream Continues!オレの夢、ポケモンマスター！！	Japan 26 Sep 2013 US 7 Dec 2013	Ash returns to Pallet Town, reunites with all his Pokémon at Professor Oak’s lab, and sets off with Alexa for the Kalos region. · Series finale Episode guide →

Characters & Travelling Companions

Ash enters the Vertress Conference with eight Badges and leaves it in the Top 8: he beats Trip for the first and only time (BW104) and Stephan (BW106), then loses the quarter-final Full Battle to Cameron’s newly evolved Lucario (BW108). He loses an exhibition to Aspertia City’s new Gym Leader, Cheren (BW111), fights Team Plasma at Floccesy Town and the White Ruins (BW112–BW122), calls Charizard back from the Charicific Valley in exchange for Unfezant (BW116) and, after deciding to go home by sea, wins the Marine Cup (BW125) and, with Pignite, a Pokémon Sumo Tournament and its Focus Band (BW134). He wins no Badge and catches nothing — a Dunsparce escapes him (BW131), and the Caterpie he trains leaves with its flock as a Butterfree (BW130). In Pallet Town he decides to take on the Kalos League, receives a new outfit from his mother and leaves for Kalos with Alexa and Pikachu (BW142). Pikachu beats Trip’s Serperior and Cameron’s Samurott and Swanna before falling to Lucario (BW104–BW108), is twice taken over by Colress’s machine (BW112, BW121) and fights off its control to free Reshiram (BW122). Ash is voiced by Sarah Natochenny in English and Rica Matsumoto in Japanese, and Ikue Ōtani remains Pikachu in both.

Iris goes home to the Village of Dragons, calms a rampaging Hydreigon and revisits Opelucid Academy, where she loses a two-on-two rematch to its principal and Gym Leader, Drayden, who hopes she will one day succeed him (BW100–BW101). She comes to Kanto “to learn about Dragon types from other regions” (BW123), helps Clair catch a Shiny Druddigon (BW136), wrongly blames Emolga until she hears Axew’s heart (BW139) and leaves from Vermilion City to train with Clair in Blackthorn City (BW141). Her team is unchanged — Axew, Emolga, Excadrill and Dragonite, confirmed as male in BW136 — and her Gible is caught only in the Japan-only special BWS02. She is voiced by Eileen Stevens in English and Aoi Yūki in Japanese.

Cilan partners Ash in a Tag Battle (BW099), turns detective aboard the Decolore Queen with the help of a Purrloin, the Pokémon he fears (BW125), and defends the Striaton Gym on Paladin Island when Morana, having beaten Chili and Cress, comes to claim it — his Pansage, revealed to have Gluttony, breaks out of a Blizzard to win with Solar Beam and Rock Tomb (BW140). He leaves for Johto and Mr. Briney’s Old Rod Fishing Rally (BW141) and meets Brock there in the Japan-only special BWS01. His team — Pansage, Stunfisk and Crustle — is unchanged. He is voiced by Jason Griffith in English and Mamoru Miyano in Japanese.

Alexa (Japanese: Pansy), a journalist for the Lumiose Press from Lumiose City in Kalos, meets the group on Harvest Island and travels with them from BW134 with Helioptile and Gogoat, later revealing her Noivern (BW137); in Pallet Town she mentions that her younger sister is a Gym Leader in Kalos, and she leaves with Ash (BW142). She is voiced by Jessica Paquet in English and Aya Endō in Japanese. N, glimpsed at a port in BW109 and introduced on the ship to Aspertia (BW110), travels with the group from Saving Braviary! (BW114) to Secrets From Out of the Fog! (BW118), takes and surrenders the Light Stone and calms Reshiram at the climax of Episode N (BW120–BW122); he is voiced by Nicholas DiMichele in English and Yūichi Nakamura in Japanese.

Team Rocket

Jessie, James and Meowth, their Unova mission over, return in New Places…Familiar Faces! (BW109) with their original motto, their Meowth balloon and a new pair of Pokémon — Jessie’s Frillish and James’s Amoonguss, obtained off screen and next to each other in the Pokédex — to chase Pikachu again. In the dub the motto is revised (“to unite the people”, “It’s Jessie! And James!”) and from BW110 gains “You know the drill” and “You’ll get your fill”. They fail to recruit Colress, who turns Meowth into a test subject for his machine (BW119), help Looker destroy it at the White Ruins (BW122) and are praised directly by Giovanni, likely for the first time (BW123). On the Decolore Islands Meowth guides a lost Pikachu, Oshawott and Axew back to their Trainers (BW124), the trio make a truce with Ash against a Beheeyem UFO (BW133), and Jessie and James use all four of their Unova Pokémon together for the only time (BW139); Jessie’s Woobat had revealed Hidden Power, its first new move since BW002, in BW115.

In the finale they report to headquarters, where Giovanni and Matori, in their XY outfits, take charge of Woobat, Yamask, Frillish and Amoonguss and Jessie gets Wobbuffet back — the first time a Team Rocket Pokémon that had left the party rejoined it, 142 episodes after it was last seen — before the trio follow Ash to Kalos (BW142). Among the episodes they miss are Saving Braviary! (BW114), the only Team Plasma episode without them, and Survival of the Striaton Gym! (BW140), the last Black & White episode without them. Jessie is voiced by Michele Knotz, James and Meowth by James Carter Cathcart, Wobbuffet by Kayzie Rogers and Giovanni by Ted Lewis.

League rivals, Team Plasma & recurring characters

Virgil of the Pokémon Rescue Squad’s Team Eevee, who owns an Eevee and all seven of its evolutions, helps free a frozen dam (BW102) and wins the Vertress Conference with Flareon and Eevee (BW108) — the first League Conference winner introduced before his League arc; he returns in Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening. Cameron, who registers at the last minute and thinks a Full Battle is five-on-five, beats Bianca and Ash before Virgil beats him in the semi-final; his Riolu becomes Lucario (BW107), making him the only Unova rival to use a Pokémon from outside Generation V, and BW108 is his last appearance. Trip, beaten by Ash at last, makes peace with him and leaves to train for a battle with Alder (BW104); Bianca loses to Cameron and keeps knocking Ash into fountains (BW103–BW108); and Stephan, delighted that Ash finally says his name right, reveals a Liepard before losing to him in the fourth round (BW103–BW106). Freddy O’Martian skydives into the stadium to commentate, and he and Don George make their last appearances as judges of the Scalchop King Competition (BW126). Cynthia sends the group on its way from her villa (BW098).

Ghetsis, Team Plasma’s leader and N’s foster father, appears by hologram in BW112 and in person from BW117, only ever in his Black 2 and White 2 design; his scientist, Colress, controls Pokémon with EM waves — from wild Galvantula and Beartic to Pikachu, Dragonite, Meowth and finally Reshiram — and is already planning “a new project” when he is arrested; with them are the officers Aldith, with her Liepard, and Barret (from BW118), and the Grunts Schwarz and Weiss (BW114). Anthea and Concordia, N’s foster sisters, who can also hear Pokémon, shelter him in a hidden forest and leave with him (BW117–BW122). Looker of the International Police returns disguised as a Hiker (BW112) and as one of Cedric Juniper’s assistants (BW120) and arrests Team Plasma’s leaders in his last on-screen appearance in Pokémon the Series (BW122). Cedric Juniper discovers the White Ruins and the Light Stone (BW109, BW120–BW122), and Professor Juniper sends Palpitoad to the League and, in her last main-series appearance, Ash’s Unova Pokémon to Professor Oak (BW103, BW109, BW123).

Drayden, Opelucid’s Gym Leader and the academy’s principal, appears in person for the first time (BW100–BW101); Cheren, a teacher at Aspertia City’s Trainers’ School, takes over the city’s new Gym (BW111) — with him, every official Generation V Gym Leader has now been shown; and Clair, the Blackthorn Gym Leader, appears in person for the first time in her new design (BW136). The Decolore cruise is guided by Porter, one of a family of identical Porters (BW123–BW141), and Professor Oak meets Iris and Cilan in person on Torom Island (BW128). In Pallet Town Delia Ketchum and Mimey, back after 333 episodes, welcome Ash home (BW142). Cilan’s brothers, Chili and Cress, make their last appearance (BW140), and the Japan-only specials bring Brock together with Cilan (BWS01) and Clair with Iris (BWS02).

Virgil, champion of the Vertress Conference, in A Unova League Evolution! (BW108)

Cameron’s Lucario, evolved from Riolu in the quarter-final Full Battle against Ash, in Cameron’s Secret Weapon! (BW107)

Voice cast

Character	English voice actor	Japanese voice actor
Ash Ketchum	Sarah Natochenny	Rica Matsumoto
Pikachu	Ikue Ōtani	Ikue Ōtani
Iris	Eileen Stevens	Aoi Yūki
Cilan	Jason Griffith	Mamoru Miyano
Alexa	Jessica Paquet	Aya Endō
N	Nicholas DiMichele	Yūichi Nakamura
Jessie	Michele Knotz	Megumi Hayashibara
James	James Carter Cathcart	Shin-ichiro Miki
Meowth	James Carter Cathcart	Inuko Inuyama
Wobbuffet	Kayzie Rogers	Yūji Ueda
Giovanni	Ted Lewis	Kenta Miyake
Ghetsis	Bill Rogers	Masaki Aizawa
Colress	Eli James	Hiroki Tōchi
Aldith	Lori Gardner	Akeno Watanabe
Barret	Darren Dunstan	Kensuke Satō
Anthea	Lianne Marie Dobbs	Saki Fujita
Concordia	Haven Paschall	Miho Arakawa
Looker	Jason Griffith	Masaki Terasoma
Virgil	Tom Wayland	Yūki Kaji
Cameron	Rory Max Kaplan	Kōki Uchiyama
Trip	Jamie McGonnigal	Akeno Watanabe
Bianca	Erica Schroeder	Shizuka Itō
Stephan	Darren Dunstan	Tomohiro Waki
Drayden	Mike Pollock	Masaki Terasoma
Cheren	Todd Haberkorn	Takuya Eguchi
Clair	Eva Christensen	Yūko Mita
Cedric Juniper	Stuart Zagnit	Kenyu Horiuchi
Professor Juniper	Khristine Hvam	Naomi Shindō
Professor Oak	James Carter Cathcart	Unshō Ishizuka
Porter	Francis Kelly	Masayuki Katō
Cynthia	Emily Jenness	Tomo Sakurai
Freddy O’Martian	Tom Wayland	Mitsuaki Madono
Matori	Emily Jenness	Kiyomi Asai
Narrator	Rodger Parsons	Unshō Ishizuka

Pokémon: Captures, Changes, Encounters & Evolutions

In brief:

Ash catches no Pokémon this season — the Dunsparce he chases escapes (BW131) and the Caterpie he trains leaves with its flock (BW130) — and ends it with the team he started with — Pikachu, Oshawott, Pignite, Snivy, Scraggy, Leavanny, Palpitoad, Boldore, Krookodile and Unfezant — plus Charizard. Professor Juniper sends Palpitoad for the Vertress Conference, where Ash uses only the Pokémon he has with him (BW103); Unfezant goes to Professor Oak’s lab when Charizard rejoins the team from the Charicific Valley (BW116); his Pokémon at Juniper’s lab follow to Oak’s when he leaves Unova (BW123); Krookodile swaps places with Leavanny on Wayfarer Island (BW130); and before Kalos he leaves every Pokémon but Pikachu with Oak (BW142).
None of his Pokémon evolves. New moves are Palpitoad’s Sludge Wave, Leavanny’s X-Scissor and its Ability, Swarm, and Krookodile’s Aerial Ace against Stephan (BW106) and Pignite’s Brick Break against Cameron (BW107), and Charizard shows Wing Attack, Slash and Dragon Tail in its first battle back (BW116). The season brings the last official battles of Scraggy (BW105), Leavanny, Palpitoad and Krookodile (BW106), Unfezant and Boldore (BW107), Snivy (BW108), Charizard (BW116), Oshawott (BW126) and Pignite (BW134), which wins a Focus Band at the Pokémon Sumo Tournament. Ash also finds an Amulet Coin (BW133).
Iris’s and Cilan’s teams do not change: Iris has Axew, Emolga, Excadrill and Dragonite, confirmed as male in BW136, which makes her the first main character whose Pokémon all have confirmed genders, and Cilan has Pansage, Stunfisk and Crustle, with Pansage’s Ability, Gluttony, revealed in BW140. Iris catches a Gible only in the Japan-only special BWS02. Alexa brings Helioptile and Gogoat (BW134) and Noivern (BW137).
Team Rocket return with Jessie’s Frillish and James’s Amoonguss (BW109); Frillish shows Shadow Ball (BW110) and Woobat Hidden Power (BW115), and Woobat and Yamask are confirmed male (BW139). In the finale the four Unova Pokémon are left with Giovanni at headquarters and Wobbuffet rejoins Jessie (BW142).
Elsewhere, Shannon’s Zweilous evolves into Hydreigon (BW100), Cameron’s Riolu into Lucario in mid-battle (BW107), wild Kakuna into Beedrill on Honey Island (BW124), a wild Caterpie into Metapod and Butterfree in a single episode (BW130) and three Eevee into Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon with a pirate’s Evolution Stones (BW135); Rocko and Soren catch Corphish and Buizel (BW099), Nanette chooses Tepig as her first Pokémon (BW109), Professor Oak catches a Rotom (BW128) and Clair a Shiny Druddigon (BW136).

New Pokémon captured or hatched

Corphish#0341 · Rocko · caught with the help of a Drill Wing, to give the brothers a Water type · BW099
Buizel#0418 · Soren · caught the same afternoon · BW099
Frillish#0592 · Jessie · obtained off screen, first seen · BW109
Amoonguss#0591 · James · obtained off screen, first seen · BW109
Tepig#0498 · Nanette · her first Pokémon, chosen on Cilan’s advice at Professor Juniper’s lab · BW109
Rotom#0479 · Professor Oak · caught on Torom Island after the group rescues it · BW128
Druddigon#0621 · Clair · a Shiny, caught on Cave Island with Iris’s help · BW136

Evolutions

Zweilous → Hydreigon#0635 · Shannon · panicked by its reflection, it rampages until Iris calms it · BW100
Riolu → Lucario#0448 · Cameron · in mid-battle in the Full Battle against Ash · BW107
Kakuna → Beedrill#0015 · wild Kakuna on Honey Island · BW124
Caterpie → Metapod#0011 · the straggler Caterpie Ash trains on Wayfarer Island · BW130
Metapod → Butterfree#0012 · the same Pokémon, in the same episode, before it migrates · BW130
Eevee → Jolteon#0135 · one of three wild Eevee, with a pirate’s Thunder Stone · BW135
Eevee → Flareon#0136 · with a Fire Stone from the same chest · BW135
Eevee → Vaporeon#0134 · with a Water Stone from the same chest · BW135

Releases, departures and returns

No Pokémon is released or traded by a main character this season. Ash’s departures are all to Professor Oak’s lab — Unfezant (BW116), the Unova Pokémon held by Professor Juniper (BW123), Krookodile (BW130) and finally everyone but Pikachu (BW142), with Charizard staying at the lab for good — and Charizard (BW116) and Leavanny (BW130) are the season’s returns. The Caterpie Ash trains on Wayfarer Island, which reminds him of his own Butterfree, flies off with its migrating flock, so that he says goodbye to a Butterfree for the second time (BW130).

Among the guests, N releases the Braviary he rescued (BW114), Halsey’s Watchog joins the rescues it longed for (BW115), the Pokémon pirates join the Decolore Coast Guard (BW129), Zoroark stays to run the reopened Pokémon Center with the older Nurse Joy (BW127), Jirachi returns to its thousand-year sleep (BW132), and the Ghost-type Pokémon of the Conley Comet island perform their Comet Dance (BW137). Jessie and James leave their Unova Pokémon at Team Rocket headquarters and get Wobbuffet back (BW142).

Teams at the end of the season (BW142)

Trainer	Pokémon	Changes this season
Ash	Pikachu, with him to Kalos; at Professor Oak’s lab Charizard, Oshawott, Pignite, Snivy, Scraggy, Leavanny, Palpitoad, Boldore, Krookodile and Unfezant	No captures or evolutions; Charizard rejoined (BW116); everyone but Pikachu left at Oak’s lab (BW142)
Iris	Axew, Emolga, Excadrill, Dragonite	No change (Gible caught in the Japan-only BWS02)
Cilan	Pansage, Stunfisk, Crustle	No change; Pansage’s Gluttony revealed (BW140)
Alexa	Helioptile, Gogoat, Noivern	Joined the group (BW134); Noivern revealed (BW137)
Jessie	Wobbuffet	Frillish obtained (BW109); Woobat learned Hidden Power (BW115); Woobat and Frillish left with Giovanni, Wobbuffet back (BW142)
James	None for the moment	Amoonguss obtained (BW109); Yamask confirmed male (BW139); Yamask and Amoonguss left with Giovanni (BW142)

The Vertress Conference: leading contenders

Trainer	Pokémon used	Result
Virgil	Vaporeon, Glaceon, Umbreon, Flareon, Eevee	Champion: beat Ultimo, Flora, Russet, Cameron and, in the final, Dino (BW103–BW108)
Dino	Druddigon	Finalist, beaten by Eevee’s Trump Card (BW108)
Cameron	Ferrothorn, Samurott, Riolu → Lucario, Hydreigon, Swanna	Top 4: beat Kendrick, Bianca, Kenton and Ash, lost to Virgil’s Flareon (BW103–BW108)
Ash	Pikachu, Scraggy, Krookodile, Palpitoad, Leavanny, Boldore, Oshawott, Pignite, Unfezant, Snivy	Top 8: beat Trip and Stephan, lost the quarter-final Full Battle to Cameron (BW103–BW108)
Stephan	Zebstrika, Sawk, Liepard	Last 16: beat Radley, lost to Ash three-on-three (BW103–BW106)
Bianca	Emboar, Escavalier	Beat Mikael, lost to Cameron in the second round (BW103–BW104)
Trip	Serperior	Lost to Ash in the first round (BW103–BW104)

Pokémon making their anime debut this season

Ten species make their first appearance in the TV series this season, and three of them belong to the next generation: Alexa’s Helioptile and Gogoat (BW134) are the first Generation VI Pokémon in an episode, and her Noivern follows in BW137; a Sylveon had already been glimpsed in the Japanese ending Let’s Join Hands from BW123. Of the others, Braviary (BW099), Zoroark (BW127) and Jirachi (BW132) had been seen in movies first; Liepard, glimpsed only in a photograph in BW054, finally debuts with Stephan in BW105, after the unaired BW023 that was to introduce it was shelved; and the Genesect Army, in every Drive form and with one Shiny, debuts in BW119, almost four months before the sixteenth movie. By BW119 every Generation V Pokémon had appeared in the anime or the films, and Klang, by BW127 the only non-Legendary one not yet seen in the TV series, debuted in Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening, which also brought the anime its first Mega Evolution. Reshiram, counted from its introduction in BW001, makes its first full TV appearance in N’s flashback in BW110.

Braviary#0628 · BW099 · Soren’s; seen first in the fourteenth movie
Zweilous#0634 · BW100 · Shannon’s pair, one of which evolves
Liepard#0510 · BW105 · Stephan’s; its debut had been planned for the cancelled Team Plasma two-parter
Genesect#0649 · BW119 · the Genesect Army, in every Drive form and one Shiny, almost four months before the sixteenth movie
Eelektrik#0603 · BW125 · in the Marine Cup
Zoroark#0571 · BW127 · seen first in Zoroark: Master of Illusions
Jirachi#0385 · BW132 · seen first in Jirachi: Wish Maker
Helioptile#0694 · BW134 · Alexa’s; with Gogoat, the first Generation VI Pokémon in an episode
Gogoat#0673 · BW134 · Alexa’s
Noivern#0715 · BW137 · Alexa’s

Key Events, Gym Battles & Tournaments

Events of note

Cynthia reveals that the Unova League will be held in Vertress City, and the group leaves Undella Town (BW098 – Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige!)
Shannon’s Zweilous evolves into Hydreigon; Ash and Cilan meet Drayden (BW100 – A Village Homecoming!)
Iris loses a Gym rematch to Drayden, who wants her as his successor (BW101 – Drayden Versus Iris: Past, Present, and Future!)
Virgil and Team Eevee debut (BW102 – Team Eevee and the Pokémon Rescue Squad!)
The Vertress Conference opens (BW103 – Curtain Up, Unova League!)
Ash beats Trip for the first time; Cameron eliminates Bianca (BW104 – Mission: Defeat Your Rival!)
Ash reaches the last 16; Liepard debuts (BW105 – Lost at the League!)
Ash beats Stephan as Krookodile learns Aerial Ace (BW106 – Strong Strategy Steals the Show!)
Cameron’s Riolu evolves into Lucario (BW107 – Cameron’s Secret Weapon!)
Ash is out in the Top 8, and Virgil wins the Vertress Conference (BW108 – A Unova League Evolution!)
Team Rocket return with Frillish and Amoonguss; Episode N begins in Japan (BW109 – New Places…Familiar Faces!)
N debuts (BW110 – The Name’s N!)
Ash loses an exhibition to Cheren (BW111 – There’s a New Gym Leader in Town!)
The first clash with Team Plasma and Colress; Looker returns (BW112 – Team Plasma’s Pokémon Power Plot!)
N joins the group (BW114 – Saving Braviary!)
Charizard rejoins Ash, and Unfezant goes to Professor Oak (BW116 – The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!)
Anthea and Concordia debut, and Ghetsis appears in person (BW117 – Team Plasma’s Pokémon Manipulation!)
N’s past is revealed, and he leaves the group (BW118 – Secrets From Out of the Fog!)
The Genesect Army debuts (BW119 – Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry!)
Cedric Juniper uncovers the Light Stone, and N takes it (BW120 – Ash and N: A Clash of Ideals!)
N surrenders the Light Stone to free Pikachu; Ghetsis begins the awakening ceremony (BW121 – Team Plasma and the Awakening Ceremony!)
Reshiram awakens, and Looker arrests Team Plasma’s leaders (BW122 – What Lies Beyond Truth and Ideals!)
Ash sets sail for Kanto, and the English title becomes …and Beyond (BW123 – Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures!)
Ash wins the Marine Cup (BW125 – Cilan and the Case of the Purrloin Witness!)
Oshawott wins the Scalchop King crown and is disqualified (BW126 – Crowning the Scalchop King!)
Professor Oak catches a Rotom (BW128 – To Catch a Rotom!)
Krookodile swaps with Leavanny, and a Caterpie evolves twice (BW130 – Butterfree and Me!)
Jirachi’s seven-day miracle (BW132 – Searching for a Wish!)
Alexa joins the group; Pignite wins the Pokémon Sumo Tournament (BW134 – The Journalist from Another Region!)
Clair catches a Shiny Druddigon (BW136 – A Pokémon of a Different Color!)
Alexa’s Noivern is revealed (BW137 – Celebrating the Hero’s Comet!)
Cilan’s Pansage saves the Striaton Gym (BW140 – Survival of the Striaton Gym!)
Iris and Cilan leave for Johto (BW141 – Best Wishes Until We Meet Again!)
Wobbuffet returns to Team Rocket, and Ash and Alexa leave for Kalos (BW142 – The Dream Continues!)

Gym battles & the League

Ash & Cilan v Soren & Rocko, Tag Battle (win) — BW099
Iris v Drayden, Opelucid Gym, two-on-two (Iris loses) — BW101
Vertress Conference, first round: Ash v Trip (Ash wins) — BW103–BW104
Vertress Conference, second round: Cameron v Bianca (Cameron wins); Ash advances off screen — BW104–BW105
Vertress Conference, third round: Ash’s Scraggy v a Darumaka (win) — BW105
Vertress Conference, fourth round: Ash v Stephan, three-on-three (Ash wins) — BW105–BW106
Vertress Conference, quarter-final Full Battle: Ash v Cameron (Ash loses) — BW106–BW108
Vertress Conference, semi-final and final: Virgil v Cameron and Virgil v Dino (Virgil wins) — BW108
Ash v Cheren, Aspertia Gym exhibition (Ash loses) — BW111
Ash & Iris v Schwarz & Weiss (win) — BW114
Charizard v Iris’s Dragonite (stopped by N) — BW116
Ash v Teaque, Marine Cup final (Ash wins) — BW125
Oshawott v Caesar, Scalchop King final (Oshawott wins, then is disqualified) — BW126
Pignite & Snivy v the pirates’ Croconaw & Azumarill (win) — BW129
Pignite v Rodney’s Golurk, Pokémon Sumo Tournament final (Ash wins) — BW134
Cilan v Morana, defending the Striaton Gym (Cilan wins) — BW140

The Vertress Conference

The Vertress Conference (Japanese: Isshu League Higaki Conference), Unova’s League tournament in Vertress City (BW103–BW108), has 128 competitors and opens with Freddy O’Martian skydiving into the stadium and Officer Jenny lighting the torch. The first round is one-on-one: Stephan’s Zebstrika beats Radley’s Braviary with Giga Impact, Bianca’s Emboar, Virgil’s Vaporeon and Cameron’s Ferrothorn beat Mikael’s Watchog, Ultimo’s Crustle and Kendrick’s Eelektross, and Ash, drawn against Trip, sees Pikachu cushion Serperior’s Dragon Tail with Iron Tail and win with Iron Tail and Electro Ball combined — the earliest Ash has faced his main rival in a Conference, the first time it was not a Full Battle, and his only win over Trip (BW103–BW104). In the two-on-two second round Cameron’s Samurott falls to Emboar’s Attract and Hammer Arm before Riolu’s Vacuum Wave knocks Emboar out (BW104); Scraggy’s Headbutt beats a Darumaka to put Ash in the last 16 (BW105); and in the three-on-three fourth round Krookodile beats Stephan’s Liepard, Palpitoad and Zebstrika knock each other out, Sawk’s Karate Chop beats Leavanny, and Krookodile’s new Aerial Ace beats Sawk (BW105–BW106).

The quarter-final against Cameron is a six-on-six Full Battle — or would be, had Cameron not brought only five Pokémon, thinking a Full Battle was five-on-five. His secret weapon, Hydreigon, beats Boldore and Oshawott before Pignite’s new Brick Break, Flame Charge and Fire Pledge beat it and Ferrothorn; Samurott’s Aqua Jet ends Pignite’s run, and Pikachu beats Samurott and Swanna to lead 4–3. Cameron’s last Pokémon, Riolu, beats Unfezant, evolves into Lucario and beats Snivy and Pikachu with Aura Sphere, so Ash goes out in the Top 8 — the only one of his League results to drop from the one before, after his Top 4 in Sinnoh (BW106–BW108). Virgil beats Russet in the quarter-finals and, three Pokémon against one, Cameron’s Lucario with Flareon’s Double Team and Fire Blast in the semi-final; in the final his young Eevee escapes Dino’s Druddigon with Dig and wins with Iron Tail and Trump Card, a move no other Pokémon in the anime series has used (BW108).

Gym battles without a Badge

Nobody wins a Badge this season — the first in which Ash earns neither a Badge nor a Frontier Symbol — but three Gyms see battles. In Opelucid City Iris challenges Drayden again, two-on-two: Haxorus turns Excadrill’s Focus Blast aside with Rock Smash, Drill Run and Giga Impact end in a double knockout, and Druddigon catches Dragonite during Dragon Rush and finishes it with Dragon Tail; Drayden then says he wants her to succeed him as Gym Leader, as she is in Pokémon White (BW101). In Aspertia City Cheren’s unfinished Gym is not yet open, so his Herdier beats Ash’s Oshawott in an exhibition — Take Down against Tackle, the scalchop kicked away and a third Thunder Fang — the first time Ash battles a region’s Gym Leader after its League (BW111). And on Paladin Island Cilan defends the Striaton Gym against Morana, whose Mamoswine and Glalie had beaten Chili’s Pansear and Cress’s Panpour: her Abomasnow summons hail with Snow Warning and freezes Pansage with Blizzard, but Solar Beam breaks out of the ice and Rock Tomb wins, so the Gym stays with the brothers (BW140). In the Japan-only special BWS02 Iris finally has her battle with Clair, and loses to her Shiny Druddigon.

Competitions on the Decolore Islands

The cruise home has its own contests. Aboard the Decolore Queen the Marine Cup sees Teaque’s Vanillite beat Iris’s Axew, while Ash beats a Gurdurr and an Eelektrik and wins the final with Pikachu’s Iron Tail against Teaque’s Galvantula — whose blackout, it turns out, covered Teaque’s jewel theft (BW125). On Scalchop Island Oshawott wins the Scalchop King Competition, run by Freddy O’Martian, Don George and Nurse Joy, with a torpedo-like Aqua Jet against Cadbury’s Dewott, Caesar, but is disqualified when his scalchop breaks from heartbreak, and Caesar takes the crown (BW126). At Harvest Island’s Grand Harvest Festival the Pokémon Sumo Tournament allows no moves and is lost by a ring-out or by anything but feet touching the ground: Morgan’s Beartic beats Iris’s Dragonite when its tail touches down, a Hariyama pushes out Cilan’s Pansage, Rodney’s Golurk pushes out a disguised Team Rocket, and Ash’s Pignite throws Golurk in the final to win a Focus Band and a pile of berries (BW134).

Movies & Specials Released During the Season

The sixteenth movie, Genesect and the Legend Awakened (劇場版ポケットモンスターベストウイッシュ神速のゲノセクトミュウツー覚醒, “ExtremeSpeed Genesect: Mewtwo Awakens”), opened in Japanese cinemas on Saturday 13 July 2013, between Capacia Island UFO! (BW133) and The Journalist from Another Region! (BW134). The last Black & White film and the last made by Team Koitabashi, it opened second at the Japanese box office, took about $30.9 million by 8 September and was the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2013 in Japan. It is the first movie of a series not to feature Pokémon from the following generation, and it debuted no new species in the anime: the Genesect Army had already appeared in Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry! (BW119), almost four months earlier, after being trailed as “Project G” in BW117. The Japanese version opens with Summerly Slope and ends with Ikimonogakari’s “Egao”, the English one opens with the full-length “It’s Always You and Me” and ends with “We’re Coming Home”, and N appears in the credits. Japanese players received a Mewtwo with advance tickets (15 June – 1 September 2013) and a Genesect at cinemas (13 July – 30 September 2013). Cartoon Network premiered it on Saturday 19 October 2013, the day of Mystery on a Deserted Island! (BW135) and the XY sneak preview — CITV in the UK and Italy the same day, YTV in Canada on 7 December — Hoyts cinemas in Australia screened it from 16 November, and it came out on DVD in the US on 3 December and in Japan on 18 December 2013.

Genesect and the Legend AwakenedMovie 16 · Japan 13 July 2013 · US TV 19 October 2013 · US DVD 3 December 2013

Kyurem vs. the Sword of JusticeMovie 15 · US DVD 2 April 2013 · Japanese TV premiere 11 July 2013

Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening (ミュウツー～覚醒への序章～), written by Hideki Sonoda, led into the film. It premiered on 11 July 2013, in a two-hour movie special between BW133 and BW134 that also gave Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice its Japanese TV premiere, and it was dubbed — the only Black & White special to be — for an English release on 11 January 2014. Virgil and his Eevee team find an injured Mewtwo hunted by Dirk, a Pokémon hunter hired by the scientists who created it, and it Mega Evolves to protect them, the anime’s first Mega Evolution; the special also debuts Klang, is the first time music from a movie was used in the series before that movie’s release, and ends with Ash, Iris and Cilan hearing from Professor Oak about New Tork City. The fifteenth movie itself, with its short Meloetta’s Moonlight Serenade, reached US DVD on 2 April 2013, during the run; the short had premiered in English on 15 February 2013 and was shown on Japanese TV on 8 August 2013.

Eevee & Friends (PK25), the Pikachu short shown with the sixteenth movie from 13 July 2013, debuted Sylveon and ended with an extended Let’s Join Hands (“World of Wonder” in English), promoted by the live-action version of the TV ending from BW127 to BW138; Pokémon TV premiered it in English on 6 December 2013. TV Tokyo gave the anime’s slot on 1 November 2012 to a two-part animated special for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, released in English on 26 March 2013, and on 2 October 2013, between the series finale and BWS01, Japan saw Pokémon Origins, a four-part adaptation of the first games outside the anime’s continuity, which Pokémon TV released in English from 15 to 22 November 2013. The two Japan-only Decolora Adventure! specials, BWS01 and BWS02, are described under Side Stories.

Side Stories, Specials & Crossovers

Side-story tie-ins

Three Japanese series, one dub season. In Japan the season’s first eleven episodes close Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2 (BW085–BW108); New Places…Familiar Faces! (BW109, 17 January 2013) opens Season 2: Episode N, with a new opening and ending and the whole Team Plasma story, which ends with What Lies Beyond Truth and Ideals! (BW122, 18 April 2013) and a trailer instead of a preview; and Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures! (BW123, 25 April 2013) opens Season 2: Decolora Adventure!, the fourth and last arc of the Best Wishes series. Bulbapedia numbers each arc separately, Japanese Wikipedia counts Season 2 straight through to 58; the English dub marked only the last break, by adding “and Beyond” to the title.
The Japan-only specials. After the finale TV Tokyo showed two more Decolora Adventure! episodes that were never dubbed. Dento to Takeshi! Gyaradosu no Gekirin!! (デントとタケシ！ギャラドスのげきりん！！, “Dent and Takeshi! Gyarados’s Imperial Rage!!”, BWS01, 3 October 2013) has Cilan, travelling alone in Johto, meet Brock — neither learns that the other is Ash’s friend — and help him save a lake’s Gyarados from the hunter Amer; it drew 5.5% in Japan, and Bill Rogers, Brock’s English voice, has said it was “passed over in the transition to X&Y in the US”. Airisu Tai Ibuki! Doragon Masutā e no Michi!! (アイリスVSイブキ！ドラゴンマスターへの道！！, “Iris VS Ibuki! The Road to Become a Dragon Master!!”, BWS02, 27 March 2014, in a one-hour block with XY021) has Iris lose to Clair’s Shiny Druddigon in Blackthorn City, catch a Gible — the first special in which a main character catches a wild Pokémon — and set off after a Rayquaza.
A dubbed special. Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening (11 July 2013), the only Black & White special to be dubbed, brings back Virgil and his Eeveelutions for a prelude to the sixteenth movie in which Mewtwo Mega Evolves for the first time in the anime; it reached English-speaking viewers on 11 January 2014, a month after the season ended (see Movies & Specials).
Japan’s quiz and end segment. Japan’s silhouette quiz, Dare da?, ran all season, its answer card listing the Pokémon’s weaknesses as Pikachu lights up the silhouette with Thunderbolt; its Seviper (BW114) was the first Generation III Pokémon in the segment and its Shiny Druddigon (BW136) the first Shiny since EP235. Each episode still closed with Professor Oak’s Pokémon Live Caster, but its slot was often given to promotions — the Eevee Cup Wi-Fi tournament (BW102), a teaser and trailers for Episode N after BW104, BW105, BW107 and BW108, the Extreme Speed Genesect (BW106), the sixteenth movie’s Mewtwo event (BW131) and, after BW133, a preview of Alexa’s episodes with images of Helioptile, Gogoat and Noivern from X and Y. In To Catch a Rotom! (BW128) Oak’s Rotom lecture is part of the episode, which makes it the first episode with two Live Casters and the first lecture to air internationally.
Specials and companion shows. TV Tokyo replaced the episode of 1 November 2012 with the Gates to Infinity special and those of 27 December 2012 and 3 January 2013 with its year-end break and a New Year special, and gave 11 July 2013 to the two-hour movie special; there was also no new episode on 8 August 2013, when the Meloetta short was shown, or on 29 August 2013. Japanese TV also showed the full version of Mewtwo Strikes Back on 3 May 2013. Pokémon Smash!, the Sunday companion show, began its third year on 7 October 2012 and ended in late September 2013, to be replaced by Pokémon Get TV.

Characters from the games, manga and specials

Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 were the current games, and the anime borrows their Unova: N, Ghetsis, Colress and Team Plasma appear in their Black 2 and White 2 designs, the flashback to N’s castle two years earlier mirrors the games’ two-year time skip (BW118), Cheren runs the new Aspertia Gym (BW111), and the group passes through Aspertia City, Floccesy Town, Virbank City and the ruins of the P2 Laboratory, where N finds a diagram of Genesect (BW110). Drayden’s hope that Iris will succeed him nods to Pokémon White, in which she is the Opelucid Gym Leader (BW101).
Pokémon X and Y, announced on 8 January 2013 and released worldwide on 12 October 2013, the day Cartoon Network aired The Journalist from Another Region! (BW134), reach the anime early: Alexa’s Helioptile and Gogoat are the first Generation VI Pokémon in an episode (BW134, Japan 18 July 2013) and her Noivern follows (BW137), the episode is the first to mention Kalos, and a Sylveon appears in the ending Let’s Join Hands. In Pallet Town Alexa reveals that her younger sister is a Gym Leader in Kalos, and Ash flies there with her (BW142), the last main-series episode before X and Y were released; XY001 and XY002 followed on Cartoon Network as a sneak preview on 19 October 2013.
Back in Kanto. The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion! (BW116) re-animates Ash’s Charmander-line history from EP011 to AG136 in the Black & White style, bringing back Primeape after 744 episodes, Misty after 310 and Tracey after 306 and redubbing the old scenes with the current cast — Michele Knotz voices Misty for the first time, and Stuart Zagnit, as Koga, is the only 4Kids actor to reprise a role. Professor Oak meets Iris and Cilan in person (BW128), Clair returns from Johto in her new look (BW136), and the finale brings back Delia, Mimey after 333 episodes, Bulbasaur and the Tauros herd and Jessie’s Wobbuffet (BW142); in the Japan-only BWS01 Cilan meets Brock.
The cancelled episodes live on. The shelved two-parter Rocket-dan VS Plasma-dan! of the first season resurfaces throughout: Liepard finally makes its TV debut (BW105), Stephan’s Liepard fires a Hyper Beam animated for the unaired BW024 (BW106), Team Plasma and Looker get the debut and return planned for the unaired BW023 (BW112), Be an Arrow! 2013 reuses its Team Plasma helicopter and Liepard shots, the Light Stone chamber of the White Ruins recalls its Relic Castle (BW120), and Ghetsis appears only in his Black 2 and White 2 design.
Movie Pokémon on TV. The Genesect Army debuts in BW119, almost four months before Genesect and the Legend Awakened; Zoroark, the star of Zoroark: Master of Illusions, makes its TV debut running a Pokémon Center (BW127); and Jirachi debuts in Searching for a Wish! (BW132), which borrows A Small Thing, the Japanese ending of Jirachi: Wish Maker, as its insert song. Virgil, the League’s champion, carries on into Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening.
Pop-culture nods. Virgil’s Team Eevee rescue is an homage to Thunderbirds (BW102); Freddy O’Martian’s skydiving entrance may reference the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony (BW103); the title To Catch a Rotom! may reference Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (BW128); the Pokémon pirates who turn coast guard echo the Squirtle Squad (BW129); and the Beheeyem town is an homage to Invasion of the Body Snatchers (BW133).

Opening & Ending Themes

Adventures in Unova and Beyond changed its Japanese opening and ending twice each, once for each of Japan’s three sub-series. Rica Matsumoto’s Be an Arrow! opened BW098 to BW108 and its Team Plasma remix, Be an Arrow! 2013, the whole of Episode N, before Daisuke’s Summerly Slope — the only Best Wishes opening not sung by Matsumoto — took over for Decolora Adventure! (BW123). Momoiro Clover Z’s Look Look☆Here ended the episodes to BW108, and the idol group Shiritsu Ebisu Chūgaku sang both of the others: Sakura Go-Round, devoted to N’s childhood, and Let’s Join Hands, whose closing circle gathers every main character of the anime. In English, Neal Coomer and Kathryn Raio’s “It’s Always You and Me” opened all 45 episodes, in three versions, and its instrumental played under the credits; as usual, the Japanese themes were never dubbed.

Opening 15 · Yajirushi ni Natte! (やじるしになって！ Be an Arrow!) — **Opening 15 · *Yajirushi ni Natte!* (やじるしになって！ Be an Arrow!)**Rica Matsumoto · BW098–BW108Lyrics by Akihito Toda, music and arrangement by Hirokazu Tanaka. Carried over from the previous season (BW085–BW108 in all), in the variant with Cameron and Riolu in place of Dawn and Piplup from BW094: Ash, Iris and Cilan run through arrows into a group pose, and Stephan, Trip and Bianca appear. It was also the opening of the fifteenth movie and is the first opening of a League arc not to show most of the known Legendary Pokémon.

Opening 15 (2013 version) · Yajirushi ni Natte! 2013 (Be an Arrow! 2013) — **Opening 15 (2013 version) · *Yajirushi ni Natte! 2013* (Be an Arrow! 2013)**Rica Matsumoto · BW109–BW122Rearranged by Shuhei Naruse for *Episode N*. The only opening that focuses mainly on a villainous team, and the first Japanese opening built partly from clips of earlier episodes: N, a Team Plasma helicopter firing Hyper Beam, the Genesect Army, a battle on a bridge and Charizard deflecting Reshiram’s Blue Flare with Flamethrower; the helicopter and Liepard shots come from the unaired BW023 and BW024. It first came out on CD only in 2023.

Opening 16 · Natsumeku Sakamichi (夏めく坂道 Summerly Slope) — **Opening 16 · *Natsumeku Sakamichi* (夏めく坂道 Summerly Slope)**Daisuke · BW123–BW142Lyrics and music by Daisuke and Hidenori Tanaka, arranged by Hideyuki “Daichi” Suzuki. The only *Best Wishes* opening not sung by Rica Matsumoto; its 20-episode run ties with “Halo” as the shortest for an original song. Its animation changed three times, adding Professor Oak’s Rotom from BW129, Alexa, Gogoat and Helioptile in place of Professor Juniper and Accelgor from BW135, and Alexa’s Noivern from BW138. The single (Epic Records Japan, ESCL-4074) came out on 3 July 2013; the song also opens the sixteenth movie, and “V (Volt)” succeeded it.

Ending · Mite Mite☆Kotchitchi (みてみて☆こっちっち Look Look☆Here) — **Ending · *Mite Mite☆Kotchitchi* (みてみて☆こっちっち Look Look☆Here)**Momoiro Clover Z · BW098–BW108Lyrics by Akihito Toda, music and arrangement by Hirokazu Tanaka. Carried over from the previous season (BW079–BW108 in all): Pansage, Axew, Pikachu and Oshawott dance with Meloetta in its Pirouette Forme. A coupling track on the group’s single *Z Otome Sensō* (King Records), it was the first Japanese theme not published by Pikachu Records.

Ending · Sakura Gō Raundo (サクラ・ゴーラウンド Sakura Go-Round) — **Ending · *Sakura Gō Raundo* (サクラ・ゴーラウンド Sakura Go-Round)**Shiritsu Ebisu Chūgaku · BW109–BW122Lyrics by Akihito Toda, music and arrangement by Hirokazu Tanaka. The ending of *Episode N* is devoted to N: Pokémon sway on strings, then come stills of Ash’s group, of a young Anthea, Concordia and N at a castle and of an older N on a cliff and in a boat, ending with a cherry-blossom petal in N’s hand and his initial engraved on a closing door. The new themes were announced on 14 January 2013.

Ending · Te o Tsunagō (手をつなごう Let’s Join Hands) — **Ending · *Te o Tsunagō* (手をつなごう Let’s Join Hands)**Shiritsu Ebisu Chūgaku · BW123–BW142Lyrics by Tatsuki Yanagi, music and arrangement by Masa Takumi. Ash, Cilan, Iris, Bianca and others contact friends and rivals, and every main character ends up in a circle as the camera zooms out to the whole world — the largest gathering of animated-series characters to date and the only time all the *Black & White* rivals appear together, with a Sylveon among the Pokémon. On TV, BW127 to BW138 used a second version with live-action shots of the group cosplaying as Eevee and the Eeveelutions to promote *Eevee & Friends*; the DVDs keep the original. The single *Te o Tsunagō / Kindan no Karma* (Defstar Records, DFCL-2003) came out on 5 June 2013.

English opening · It’s Always You and Me — English opening · *It’s Always You and Me*Neal Coomer & Kathryn Raio · all 45 episodesLyrics and music by John Loeffler and David Wolfert, arranged by Loeffler and Manny Corallo. It has the most distinct versions of any dub opening: Version 1 (BW098–BW109) is built from *Be an Arrow!* footage, Version 2 (BW110–BW122) mostly from *Be an Arrow! 2013* and Version 3 (BW123–BW142) almost entirely from *Summerly Slope*. Several Decolore Islands episodes went out with Version 2 on Cartoon Network, in Australia and on the US and Australian DVDs, an error corrected on US Netflix. Its instrumental closes every episode, and a full-length version opens the sixteenth movie.

Japan’s background music mixes game themes and film scores: an arrangement of the Black and White games’ Village Bridge theme (BW100), cues from Arceus and the Jewel of Life and Zoroark: Master of Illusions (BW102) and from the fourteenth movies (BW115, BW127), and an instrumental of Best Wishes! (BW103). A Unova League Evolution! (BW108) closes with the full Be an Arrow! under Ash’s flashbacks, which the dub replaced with the movie version of “Rival Destinies”; Searching for a Wish! (BW132) uses A Small Thing, the Japanese ending of Jirachi: Wish Maker, as an insert song — the first music from a film earlier than Arceus and the Jewel of Life to be used in the series — replaced in English by an instrumental of “It’s All Inside of You”; and The Path That Leads to Goodbye! (BW131) has almost no background music in Japanese until three-quarters of the way through. Team Rocket’s motto music swings between eras: the dub replaced the Unova motto music with the Sinnoh one in BW122 and with dub-only music in BW141, where Japan used the original Unova arrangement of BW002–BW006, and the finale brings back the BW001–BW019 title jingle, the Unova motto music and Team Rocket’s undercover-mission music and has the trio sing part of “Face Forward Team Rocket” (BW142). In English, “Team Rocket Forever” was removed from BW109 and its Be an Arrow! replaced with a “Rival Destinies” instrumental, and BW142 is the last episode with John Loeffler and Manny Corallo’s background score.

It’s Always You and Me — Neal Coomer and Kathryn Raio’s English opening, used for all 45 episodes, begins a minute into this compilation of the Unova-era themes, where Bulbapedia’s page for the song cues it. Video: The Official Pokémon YouTube channel.

TV Broadcasts & Original Airing Dates

Japan. TV Tokyo broadcast the season on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m., starting with Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige! on 11 October 2012, a week after Unova’s Survival Crisis! closed the previous season. There was no new episode on 1 November 2012, when the slot carried the two-part Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity special; on 27 December 2012 and 3 January 2013, the year-end break; on 11 July 2013, given to a two-hour movie special with the TV premiere of Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice and the new Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening, two days before the sixteenth movie opened; on 8 August 2013, for the Meloetta short; and on 29 August 2013. Episode N opened on 17 January 2013 (BW109) and closed on 18 April (BW122), and Decolora Adventure! ran from 25 April (BW123) to the Best Wishes finale, The Dream Continues!, on 26 September 2013. BWS01 filled the slot on 3 October and Pokémon the Series: XY began on 17 October 2013, with BWS02 following on 27 March 2014. No per-episode ratings for the season have been found.

The US run. Cartoon Network premiered the season on Saturday 2 February 2013 with BW098, a week after the Rival Destinies finale, as Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova — the date was announced in December 2012 and a trailer posted on the official YouTube channel in late January — and new episodes followed on 45 consecutive Saturdays, in Japanese order and with nothing skipped, until The Dream Continues! on 7 December 2013. From Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures! on 27 July 2013 the season was advertised as Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova and Beyond. The Journalist from Another Region! (BW134) aired on 12 October 2013, the day X and Y were released worldwide, and Mystery on a Deserted Island! (BW135) on 19 October, the day the channel premiered Genesect and the Legend Awakened and showed XY001 and XY002 as a sneak preview; XY’s regular run began on 18 January 2014. Several Decolore Islands episodes went out with the second version of the opening instead of the third. No viewing figures for the US run have been found.

Elsewhere in English. In Canada, YTV’s Saturday slot had switched to the season by 23 March 2013, and the channel showed the sixteenth movie on 7 December 2013, the day of the US finale, with the sneak preview of XY001. In the UK, CITV premiered the season on 19 May 2013 and the sixteenth movie on 19 October 2013, the same day as the US, and the UK title card of BW115 reads “The Pokémon Harbour Patrol!”; Disney XD also carried the series, and BBC iPlayer added the season, with the fifteenth and sixteenth movies, on 18 February 2022. In Australia the season went out on Toasted TV on Eleven, which, like the Australian DVDs, used the second version of the opening for BW098 to BW109, and Hoyts showed the sixteenth movie in cinemas from 16 November 2013.

Other countries. Italy’s K2 stripped the season on weekdays in four blocks — BW098–BW109 from 2 to 17 May 2013, BW110–BW119 from 17 to 28 June, BW120–BW134 from 2 to 20 September and BW135–BW142 from 2 to 10 December — so Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry! (BW119) premiered there a day before the US, and BW131 to BW134 between four and 22 days before; Italy also showed the sixteenth movie and XY001–XY002 on 19 October 2013, and the Italian Prime Video release uses the second version of the opening throughout. Cartoon Network Latin America kept the first version of the opening until BW130 before switching to the third. Translated titles include Abenteuer in Einall (und Darüber Hinaus) in German, Aventures à Unys (et Au-Delà) in French, Avventure a Unima (e altrove) in Italian and Aventuras en Unova (y Más Allá) in Latin American Spanish.

The numbering. There are 45 episodes in Japan and 45 in English, numbered 1 to 45 on TV, DVD and streaming, with Bulbapedia codes BW098 to BW142 and alternate overall codes EP755 to EP799. English Wikipedia numbers the season 757–801 in Japan and 751–795 in English, the English count this site uses, and lists the two Japan-only specials separately. In Japan the episodes are numbers 14 to 24 of Best Wishes! Season 2, 1 to 14 of Episode N and 1 to 20 of Decolora Adventure! by Bulbapedia’s per-arc count, BWS01 and BWS02 being numbers 21 and 22, or 14 to 58 of Season 2 in Japanese Wikipedia’s continuous count.

Dub Edits

Changes in the English version

Nothing banned. All 45 episodes were dubbed by The Pokémon Company International at DuArt and shown on Cartoon Network in Japanese order, with none skipped or held back, and the visual edits are few. Only the specials of the period were treated differently: Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening was dubbed and released in January 2014, while BWS01 and BWS02 were never dubbed — Bill Rogers says BWS01 was “passed over in the transition to X&Y in the US”, and he has asked TPCi about dubbing it. Dogasu’s Backpack has no comparison pages for these episodes — its Best Wishes index stops at BW084 — so the changes below come from the “Dub edits” and trivia sections of Bulbapedia’s episode pages.

Who’s That Pokémon? and Dare da? Both versions had a quiz all season, and the answers differ in 22 episodes (BW098, BW103, BW105, BW106, BW109, BW111, BW112, BW117, BW119, BW120, BW121, BW123, BW125, BW126, BW133, BW134, BW135, BW136, BW138, BW140, BW141 and BW142). In BW109 Japan shows Team Rocket’s Meowth, which runs off screen when Ash shouts “Team Rocket!” — the first Black & White Dare da? Pokémon to move or leave the frame — and the dub Amoonguss; in BW133 it is the dub’s turn to show Meowth, because Beheeyem had already been an answer in BW045, making it the first international segment with a talking Pokémon (“That’s right!”) and the first with Meowth, whom the dub had previously replaced when Japan used him; in BW136 Japan shows a Shiny Druddigon and the dub Charizard; and Japan’s Zekrom in BW142 never appears in the episode. From BW125 the dub’s card carries the new Adventures in Unova and Beyond title, and in BW128 Professor Oak’s Rotom lecture, part of the episode, is kept as “Professor Oak’s Who’s That Pokémon”.

Music. The dub replaced Be an Arrow! under BW108’s closing flashbacks with the movie version of “Rival Destinies”, removed “Team Rocket Forever” from BW109 and swapped its Be an Arrow! for a “Rival Destinies” instrumental, used the Sinnoh motto music in BW122 and dub-only music in BW141 in place of the Unova motto music, replaced the insert song A Small Thing in BW132 with an instrumental of “It’s All Inside of You”, and in BW142 swapped the BW001–BW019 title-card jingle for the later one. BW142 is the last episode with John Loeffler and Manny Corallo’s background score, and its post-credits photo scene was cut, appearing instead on the official Pokémon Facebook and Twitter accounts. The Japanese themes, as always, have no English counterparts.

Team Rocket’s motto. The original motto returns in BW109 with three lines revised in English — “to unite all peoples” becomes “to unite the people”, “blast off” becomes “blasts off” and “Jessie! James!” becomes “It’s Jessie! And James!” — and from BW110 the dub adds “You know the drill” and “You’ll get your fill”; BW132 reverts to “all people”. BW128 has the first variant motto since Diamond and Pearl, and in BW141 Jessie recites James’s lines, for the first time since The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak; the dub has James audibly laughing although he is absent, where in Japanese Jessie imitates him.

Names. Shaga became Drayden, Bel Bianca, Shooty Trip, Kenyan Stephan, Kotetsu Cameron, Dent Cilan, Achroma Colress, Handsome Looker, Verbena and Helena Anthea and Concordia, Angie Aldith, Brad Barret, Parker Porter, Pansy Alexa and Ibuki Clair; the Higaki Conference became the Vertress Conference, the Hotachi King the Scalchop King and the Decolora Archipelago the Decolore Islands; and the Pokémon named in the Japanese titles, from Chillaccino and Tsutarja (BW098) to Crimgan (BW136) and Onvern (BW137), take their English names — Cinccino, Snivy, Druddigon and Noivern. Best Wishes Until We Meet Again! (BW141) alone keeps the series’ Japanese name in its English title.

Dialogue and slips. Iris’s reason for disguising the boys changes and Moira’s Japanese “-chan” becomes “-ette” (BW098); Russet’s father calls Inakano Town only “our little town”, so it has no English name (BW105); Iris had planned to catch a Charmander in Japanese but a Charizard in English (BW116); Jessie’s fourth-wall joke “But we’re the true main characters!” is among the lines changed (BW122); because Oak and the narrator have different English voices, Oak says the closing “…as the journey continues” himself (BW128); Team Rocket’s blast-off shouts for Frillish and Amoonguss are cut to their catchphrase (BW135); and Iris’s account of who runs the Striaton Gym, Morana’s “boy” (“children” in English) and a greeting Chili shouts only in English are changed (BW140). Errors include Ash calling Porter by his Japanese name, “Parker” (BW123), Cilan saying Iris will inherit the Opelucid “Academy” rather than the Gym (BW136), untranslated Japanese text in BW128 — the first since Go West Young Meowth — and the wrong opening version on the Region 1 DVD of BW098. Abroad, the Italian dub swaps Thunderbolt and Flamethrower between Emboar and Pikachu (BW103–BW104), the Brazilian Portuguese dub calls Drill Run “Hurricane” (BW101), and Cameron is “Carsten” in German and “Alexis” in French.

Episode titles explained

Several of this season’s English titles play on familiar phrases and films:

Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige! — Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, alliterated, for a battle of looks with an all-female theatre troupe
A Surface to Air Tag Battle Team! — a surface-to-air missile, for a Tag Battle team of the burrowing Drilbur and the flying Braviary
Strong Strategy Steals the Show! — “to steal the show”, alliterated, for the battle in which Krookodile’s surprise Aerial Ace beats Stephan
The Name’s N! — a spy-film self-introduction in the manner of “The name’s Bond”
There’s a New Gym Leader in Town! — “there’s a new sheriff in town”, for Aspertia City’s newly appointed Cheren
What Lies Beyond Truth and Ideals! — Reshiram’s truth and Zekrom’s ideals, the two halves of the Unova legend, as in the Japanese title
To Catch a Rotom! — probably Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 film To Catch a Thief
A Pokémon of a Different Color! — the idiom “a horse of a different color”, for a Shiny Druddigon
Go, Go Gogoat! — a cheer built on Gogoat’s own name, as in the Japanese “GoGo Gogoat!”
Best Wishes Until We Meet Again! — the Japanese title, which uses the series’ own name, Best Wishes, as a farewell to Iris and Cilan

DVD & Blu-ray / Streaming

Adventures in Unova and Beyond came out in North America from VIZ Media, distributed by Warner Home Video, as two sets in 2014 and 2015 that split at the change of title — Adventures in Unova (BW098–BW122) and …and Beyond (BW123–BW142) — followed by a six-disc Complete Season in 2023; all of them hold the same 45 episodes. Australia and New Zealand got two Collections from Beyond Home Entertainment, a six-disc DigiPack and a slimline repack. No UK DVD release of the season has been found. The fifteenth movie reached US DVD on 2 April 2013 and the sixteenth on 3 December 2013, both during the run.

North America (Region 1)

Release	Date	Contents
Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova Set 1 (VIZ Media, 4 discs)	23 September 2014	BW098–BW103, BW104–BW109, BW110–BW115 and BW116–BW122 (25 episodes); “more than 9 hours”, US $26.95 / CAN $31.98
Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond Set 2	24 March 2015	BW123–BW127, BW128–BW132, BW133–BW137 and BW138–BW142 (20 episodes; four discs per Bulbapedia’s list, whose text says three)
Pokémon the Series: Black & White – Adventures in Unova and Beyond, The Complete Season (6 DVDs in one case with a slipcover, 3000092292)	21 February 2023	All 45 episodes: BW098–BW105, BW106–BW113, BW114–BW121, BW122–BW129, BW130–BW136 and BW137–BW142

Australia & New Zealand (Region 4)

Release	Date	Notes
Adventures in Unova – Collection 1 (3 discs, BHE5182)	5 February 2014 (New Zealand 19 February 2014)	BW098–BW106, BW107–BW114 and BW115–BW122; no English captions
Adventures in Unova and Beyond – Collection 2 (3 discs, BHE5183)	2 April 2014 (New Zealand 4 April 2014)	BW123–BW129, BW130–BW135 and BW136–BW142
Pokémon Season 16 DigiPack (6 discs, BHE5184)	4 June 2014 (New Zealand 25 June 2014)	Discs 16.1–16.6 themed on Leavanny, Excadrill, Crustle, Audino, Golurk and Druddigon; JB Hi-Fi 20th-anniversary reissue on 14 July (online) and 21 September 2016
Slimline repack (BHE5987)	1 June 2015	The six-disc set with a new cover
Multi-season sets	—	The season is also in the Pokémon Unova Collection, the Heritage Collection II and the Seasons 1–19 Deluxe, 1–20 Ultra and 1–21 Mega box sets

Japan

In Japan Media Factory and Shogakukan released the episodes on DVD volumes of three (two for the first volume of each sub-series): Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2 Vol. 5 (BW097–BW099) on 24 April 2013, Vols. 6–7 (BW100–BW105) on 22 May and Vol. 8 (BW106–BW108) on 26 June; Season 2: Episode N Vol. 1 (BW109–BW110) on 24 July, Vols. 2–3 (BW111–BW116) on 21 August and Vols. 4–5 (BW117–BW122) on 25 September 2013; and Season 2: Decolora Adventure! Vol. 1 (BW123–BW124) on 23 October 2013, Vols. 2–3 (BW125–BW130) on 27 November, Vols. 4–5 (BW131–BW136) on 22 January 2014 and Vols. 6–7 (BW137–BW142) on 26 February 2014. Bulbapedia’s list says BWS01 and BWS02 were not released on DVD, although BWS02’s own page describes a DVD-only opening. The fifteenth movie and Meloetta’s Moonlight Serenade came out on DVD on 19 December 2012, the sixteenth movie and Eevee & Friends on 18 December 2013 — with Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening in its Mewtwo box — and Pokémon Origins on 4 December 2013.

Streaming

Pokémon TV added the full 45-episode season on 1 June 2020; the service stopped new viewing on 8 January 2024 and closed on 28 March 2024. US Netflix also carried the season, with the Decolore episodes’ opening versions corrected (the dates have not been found), Italy’s Prime Video has it with the second version of the opening throughout, and in the UK BBC iPlayer has carried it since 18 February 2022. The Pokémon TV channel on YouTube, launched in December 2024, carries only Seasons 1 to 11 so far (as of October 2026), so this season is not on it. Check your local service, as availability changes often.

Covers

Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova Set 1 (Region 1, 2014)

Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond Set 2 (Region 1, 2015)

Where to Watch & Buy

Availability changes constantly, so treat this as a snapshot (October 2026) and check your local service. Links will be added here once we have settled on referral partners.

BBC iPlayer (UK)Has carried the season since 18 February 2022, with the fifteenth and sixteenth movies.
DVD – North AmericaPokémon the Series: Black & White – Adventures in Unova and Beyond, The Complete Season (VIZ Media, 6 discs, 2023) has all 45 episodes in one case.
DVD – Australia & New ZealandThe Season 16 DigiPack and its slimline repack, and several multi-season box sets.
Not on Pokémon TVThe Pokémon TV channel on YouTube carries only Seasons 1–11 (as of October 2026), and the Pokémon TV service closed in March 2024.

Trading Cards Released During the Season

Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond aired in the US during the trading card game’s Team Plasma sets, and four Black & White expansions came out while it was on Cartoon Network:

Plasma Storm — 6 February 2013 — four days after Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige! (BW098), with 138 cards from Japan’s Plasma Gale: the Supporters Colress and Team Plasma Grunt, Lucario, Liepard, Braviary, Scraggy, Leavanny, Druddigon and a secret Charizard
Plasma Freeze — 8 May 2013 — between There’s a New Gym Leader in Town! (BW111) and Team Plasma’s Pokémon Power Plot! (BW112), with 122 cards from Spiral Force and Thunder Knuckle: the Plasma Supporter Ghetsis, Team Plasma Ball and Team Plasma Badge, Reshiram, Zekrom, Hydreigon, Dragonite, Krookodile, Palpitoad, Zweilous, Eevee and all seven Eeveelutions
Plasma Blast — 14 August 2013 — between Cilan and the Case of the Purrloin Witness! (BW125) and Crowning the Scalchop King! (BW126), with 105 cards from Megalo Cannon: Genesect and Genesect-EX, Jirachi-EX, Haxorus, Druddigon, Golurk, Octillery, Ursaring, Abomasnow and Eelektrik
Legendary Treasures — 6 November 2013 — between Celebrating the Hero’s Comet! (BW137) and Go, Go Gogoat! (BW138), with 140 cards, 115 plus the 25-card Radiant Collection, from EX Battle Boost and Shiny Collection: Reshiram and Zekrom, the Unova first partners, Emolga, Stunfisk, Crustle, Leavanny, Palpitoad, Charizard, Lucario, Hydreigon, Zoroark, Meloetta, Genesect, Mewtwo-EX and Excadrill-EX

In Japan the cards had come out months earlier: Plasma Storm is the English version of Plasma Gale (14 September 2012), Plasma Freeze of Spiral Force and Thunder Knuckle (14 December 2012), Plasma Blast of Megalo Cannon (15 March 2013) and Legendary Treasures of EX Battle Boost (13 July 2013) and Shiny Collection (1 February 2013). The XY Kalos Starter Set followed on 8 November 2013, during the Decolore Islands episodes, and the first XY expansion on 5 February 2014, after the finale.

Our TCG section has a full card list, print variations and the most valuable cards for every one of them.

Cards with a link to the season

Three cards from those sets tie straight into the season:

Firsts & Lasts

First season in which Ash wins no Badge or Frontier Symbol.
First season whose English subtitle changed during its run: …and Beyond from BW123.
First and only win for Ash over Trip, and the first time Ash faces his main rival in a League Conference outside a Full Battle (BW104).
First League Conference winner introduced before his League arc: Virgil (BW102, BW108).
First encounter with Team Plasma and its scientist Colress (BW112), ten episodes before Looker arrests them and Ghetsis (BW122).
First Generation VI Pokémon in an episode, Helioptile and Gogoat, and the first mention of Kalos (BW134).
First Mega Evolution in the anime: Mega Mewtwo Y in Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening, the only dubbed Black & White special.
First Japanese opening centred on a villainous team, and the first built partly from earlier episodes: Be an Arrow! 2013 (BW109).
First talking Pokémon in the dub’s Who’s That Pokémon?, Meowth (BW133); first Generation III Pokémon in Dare da?, Seviper (BW114); first Dare da? Pokémon absent from its episode, Zekrom (BW142).
First Live Caster lecture to air internationally, in the first episode with two Live Casters (BW128).
First Team Rocket Pokémon to rejoin the party after leaving it: Wobbuffet (BW142).
First double evolution in one episode since Caterpie’s Big Dilemma: Caterpie into Metapod and Butterfree (BW130).
Only Best Wishes opening not sung by Rica Matsumoto, Summerly Slope, and the dub opening with the most versions, “It’s Always You and Me”, with three.
Last appearances of Cameron (BW108), of Looker in Pokémon the Series (BW122) and of Professor Juniper in the main series (BW123), the last to date of Don George and Freddy O’Martian (BW126), and the last episode scored by John Loeffler and Manny Corallo (BW142).

Trivia & Facts

A season that changes its name. Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova became …Adventures in Unova and Beyond from Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures! (BW123), when the story left Unova — the first season whose subtitle changed during its run — yet the episodes are still numbered 1 to 45.
No Badges. Ash came into the season with all eight Unova Badges, so this is the first season in which he earns neither a Badge nor a Frontier Symbol; the only Gym battles are Iris’s rematch with Drayden (BW101), Ash’s exhibition against Cheren (BW111) and Cilan’s defence of the Striaton Gym (BW140).
Three Japanese sub-series. The English season joins the last eleven episodes of Best Wishes! Season 2, all fourteen of Season 2: Episode N and the twenty regular episodes of Season 2: Decolora Adventure!, the fourth and last arc of the Best Wishes series, whose two further specials were never dubbed.
The unaired episodes’ long shadow. The cancelled two-parter Rocket-dan VS Plasma-dan! is quietly recycled: Liepard finally debuts (BW105), Stephan’s Liepard fires a Hyper Beam animated for the unaired BW024 (BW106), Team Plasma and Looker make their planned debut and return (BW112), Be an Arrow! 2013 reuses the Team Plasma helicopter and Liepard shots, the Light Stone chamber resembles the unaired BW023’s Relic Castle (BW120), and Ghetsis appears only in his Black 2 and White 2 design.
Trip, finally. Ash’s first-round win in Mission: Defeat Your Rival! (BW104) is his first and only victory over Trip, and the match is the earliest Ash has faced his main rival in a League Conference and the first time that battle was not a Full Battle.
A League that went backwards. Ash’s Top 8 at Vertress is the only one of his League results to drop from the one before; the winner, Virgil, is the first League Conference winner introduced before the League arc, and Cameron reached the quarter-final Full Battle believing it was five-on-five.
A villain-themed opening. Be an Arrow! 2013 (BW109–BW122) is the only opening that focuses mainly on a villainous team and the first Japanese opening built partly from clips of earlier episodes, and Episode N’s ending, Sakura Go-Round, is devoted to N’s childhood with Anthea and Concordia.
Charizard’s return. The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion! (BW116) re-animates Charmander-line flashbacks from EP011 to AG136, brings back Primeape after 744 episodes, Misty after 310 — voiced for the first time by Michele Knotz — and Tracey after 306, and is the last episode in which Unshō Ishizuka voices the Magikarp salesman.

Charizard rejoins the team in The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion! (BW116) — the episode that re-animates the Charmander flashbacks, brings back Primeape, Misty and Tracey, and sends Charizard on to the Decolore Islands for the rest of the journey. Screenshot: Pokémon anime, BW116 “The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!” · via Bulbapedia
Professor Oak in the field. In To Catch a Rotom! (BW128) Oak meets Iris and Cilan in person and catches a Rotom; it is the first episode with two Live Casters, the first in which an Oak lecture aired internationally and the first anime mention of gender-unknown Pokémon.
Generation VI arrives early. Alexa’s Helioptile and Gogoat (BW134, Japan 18 July 2013) are the first Generation VI Pokémon in an episode, and BW134 is the first mention of Kalos; its US airing fell on the worldwide release day of X and Y, 12 October 2013. The ending Let’s Join Hands had already shown a Sylveon from BW123.

Alexa introduces Helioptile and Gogoat in The Journalist from Another Region! (BW134) — the first Generation VI Pokémon to appear in an episode, three months before X and Y reached the shops. Screenshot: Pokémon anime, BW134 “The Journalist from Another Region!” · via Bulbapedia
Every Unova Pokémon accounted for. By BW119 every Generation V Pokémon had appeared in the anime or the films in at least one form, and Klang, by BW127 the only non-Legendary one not yet seen in the TV series, debuted in Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening, which also introduced Mega Evolution to the anime with Mega Mewtwo Y.
Genesect before its movie. N sees a diagram of Genesect in the P2 Laboratory in BW110, and the Genesect Army debuts in BW119 (Japan 28 March 2013), almost four months before Genesect and the Legend Awakened opened.
Two quizzes, 22 different answers. Both versions had a mid-episode quiz all season, but Japan and the dub showed different Pokémon in 22 of the 45 episodes; BW133’s dub segment was the first to feature Meowth, and a talking Pokémon, BW136’s Japanese one a Shiny Druddigon, and BW142’s Japanese Zekrom never appears in its episode.
The grand finale. The Dream Continues! (BW142) shows all of Ash’s Unova Pokémon together for the first time, brings back Wobbuffet after 142 episodes — the first time a Team Rocket Pokémon that left the party has rejoined it — and Mimey after 333, debuts Ash’s XY outfit and is the last series finale to end with “Next Time… A New Beginning!” in the dub.
The biggest ending. Let’s Join Hands holds the largest gathering of animated-series characters to date and is the only time all the Black & White rivals appear together.
Rare sights. Iris’s Dragonite is seen inside its Poké Ball (BW113), the first Pokémon shown that way since Misty’s Psyduck in Hypno’s Naptime, 743 episodes earlier; Team Rocket’s pitfall trap makes its only Black & White appearance, the first since DP103 (BW124); N’s face wound is a rare sight of blood (BW114); and a Caterpie evolves twice in one episode (BW130), the first double evolution since Caterpie’s Big Dilemma, 371 episodes earlier.
Team Rocket rewarded. After helping defeat Team Plasma the trio receive praise directly from Giovanni (BW123), likely for the first time, and in Team Rocket’s Shocking Recruit! (BW139) Jessie and James use all four of their Unova Pokémon together for the only time.
Japan-only codas. BWS01 has Cilan meet Brock without either learning that the other is Ash’s friend — they find out only in JN132 and JN139 — and BWS02 gives Iris a Gible, the first special in which a main character catches a wild Pokémon; neither was dubbed, while Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening is the only dubbed Black & White special.
Italy first. Italy’s K2 premiered Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry! (BW119) and BW131 to BW134 before Cartoon Network — The Journalist from Another Region! (BW134) by 22 days.
Games and cards. The trading card expansions released during the US run were Plasma Storm, Plasma Freeze, Plasma Blast and Legendary Treasures, from the Supporters Colress and Ghetsis to Genesect-EX and Jirachi-EX — see our TCG section.

Reception

Ratings. No viewing figures for the US run, and no per-episode Japanese ratings for BW098 to BW142, have been found. In Japan the special BWS01 drew an average household rating of 5.5% on 3 October 2013, ahead of Pokémon Origins’ 4.7% the night before, both in the week’s anime top ten, according to pocketmonsters.net’s report of Video Research figures. Genesect and the Legend Awakened opened second at the Japanese box office in July 2013 and was the tenth-highest-grossing film of the year in Japan, with about $30.9 million by 8 September.

Fan scores. MyAnimeList rates the three Japanese arcs separately: Best Wishes! Season 2 (BW085–BW108, so including the season’s first eleven episodes) 6.50, Season 2: Episode N 6.73 and Season 2: Decolora Adventure 6.37 (October 2026), making the Team Plasma story the highest-rated of the three. IMDb’s episode ratings could not be checked for this page.

Commentary. Dogasu’s Backpack, which compared the Japanese and English versions of earlier seasons, has no pages for these episodes, and no professional reviews of the episodes or of the VIZ Media sets have been found — Anime News Network’s encyclopedia lists Set 1 and the 2023 Complete Season without linked reviews. The sixteenth movie drew mixed notices: Anime News Network’s Rebecca Silverman gave the English dub a B, calling it “a very dark film in such a kid-friendly franchise” and praising its animation, while The Gamer’s Eric Switzer called it a “real mess of a movie”. The season won no known awards.

Continue the journey with Season 17: Pokémon the Series: XY, go back to Season 15: Pokémon BW Rival Destinies, or browse every season of the Pokémon anime.