The newest Pocket Monsters anime series Best Wishes has been announced in Taiwan and it will begin airing in 2011. The official Pokémon Taiwanese site announced the series on December 24th and it will keep the 'Best Wishes' title that the Japanese original includes but also localizes it to Chāojí Yuànwàng (超級願望).

Also announced earlier in the month was the latest Diamond and Pearl DVD set, Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl III Suite (神奇寶貝鑽石與珍珠套裝BOX-III) and it picks up where the last set left off at DP106 and includes the episodes up to DP132. Like the previous sets, the DVD's are dual audio containing the original Japanese audio and a Mandarin Chinese track.

Source: http://www.my-cartoon.com.tw/pokemon/bw/

The Ruler of Illusions Zoroark (幻影の覇者 ゾロアーク) had the 10th highest box office sales in Japan for 2010. It grossed 4.16 billion yen (approx $51 million USD) in theaters across Japan. It debuted in second place in Japanese theaters during its first weekend of release as it was up against Toy Story 3 which also came out the same week. The DVD for the 13th Pocket Monsters movie, which was released last week in Japan, was 12th in overall animated DVD sales for its first week of sales with less than 10000 units sold.

Avatar had the highest grossing box office totals amassing 15.5 billion yen, followed by Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3. Movie 13 though was the 5th highest Japanese domestic film as The Borrowers (借りぐらしのアリエッティ) directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi was the highest domestic grossing film.

Sources: http://movie.goo.ne.jp/special/ranking/boxoffice.html & http://www.oricon.co.jp/

Pokémon Smash Episode 13, The Jungle Trio! Hot Spring Battle!! / Delivering Presents to Those who Sent in 'Cosplay Pictures' / AAA Perform the PokéSma ED Tune / Presents: Trade Pokémon with the PokéSma Members (ジャングルのさんびき！　おんせんバトル！！ / 「なりきり写真」を送ってくれた方にプレゼントを届ける / AAAがポケスマ！ED曲を披露 / プレゼント・ポケスマメンバーのポケモンと交換), aired today in Japan.

Todays's episode started with two walls of pictures featuring kids dressed up as Tsutarja, Pokabu and Mijumaru. Shoko-tan announces that the results for the Pokémon Library vote were in and that 91,823 votes were cast. The Pokémon Library vote allowed viewers to choose between two episodes. Golgo suggested viewers vote for Bivouac by Iwark (イワークでビバーク) which received 43,556 votes while Professor Red suggested The Jungle Trio! Hot Spring Battle!! (ジャングルのさんびき！おんせんバトル！！) and it received 48,267 votes.


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Since Professor Red one the vote for this weeks Pokémon Library episode, The Jungle Trio! Hot Spring Battle!! (ジャングルのさんびき！おんせんバトル！！) aired. The episode is from the original Japanese series. A full summary is available in the episode guide. Red said the go-to line 'OK! Pokémon Library!' to start the repeat episode.

After the repeat episode, the International division girls show up with another board of pictures. Everyone reviews the pictures that had been sent in and comments on them. 548 pictures in total were sent in. Golgo then introduces the Christmas Present Surprise Video Tape Recording.

At 5:45am, Golgo, Misaki, and Professor Red all dressed up in Santa outfits make their first stop at 6 year old Yuusaku Mukaida (向井田勇作) home, as he submitted a picture dressed up as a Tsutarja. He was sleeping when they arrived but then he got dressed up in his Tsutarja outfit to show them. They gave him a signed Pokémon Smash poster, a calendar and a Tsutarja plushie.


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At 6:00am, Robert also dressed up in Santa outfits make their first stop at 8 year old Saki Mukaiyama's (向山咲希) home, as she submitted a picture dressed up as a Mijumaru. She was also sleeping when they arrived. Her parents are also fans of Pokémon as their house has many goods related to the series throughout their home. Her mom has logged 101 hours on BW and her father has logged 193 hours on a separate　cart. True fans of the series! Saki got dressed up in her Mijumaru costume and sang Fanfare of the Heart, the first ending theme for Best Wishes. Robert gave her a Mijumaru plushie, as well as a signed Pokémon Smash poster and calendar.

Golgo, Misaki, and Professor Red head off to Kyūshū where they make their next stop at 8 year old Takuya Tsushima's (對間拓哉) home, as he submitted a picture dressed up as a Mijumaru. He comes home from school to see Golgo dressed up in a Santa outfit with his Futachimaru paper mache head on so he couldn't tell who it was. He takes off the head to see who it was and recognizes Golgo. Takuya gets full dressed up in his costume to show them and his brother also got dressed up as Mijumaru.

Robert head off to their next location in Chiba where they make their next stop at 9 year old Yuuji Nakamura's (中村悠士) home, as he submitted a picture dressed up as Pokabu. Yuuji was out when Robert arrive but when he returned he was quite stunned to see Robert and the camera crew around his kitchen table. Akiyama and Yuuji come out dressed as Pokabu which gets a lot of laughs. They give him a Pokabu plushie.


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Golgo, Misaki, and Professor Red make a stop in Fukuoka to the Okamoto Family (岡本さん親子). The family dressed up as all three starter Pokémon. The did a quick show before they had to leave quickly. Each of them received a plushie.


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Osaka Pokémon Center

During Mijumaru's Tweet Corner, the Osaka Pokémon Center new location on the 13th floor of the Daimaru Umeda department store (大丸梅田店) was shown. It opened on November 26th, 2010 and features a Black and White theme throughout the store.

The new Osaka Pokémon Center carries over 2500 different Pokémon items as well as a few exclusive ones to commemorate the new location. There is also a Union Room where fans can meet and will also serve as an excellent location for Pokémon Card Game and Pokémon Video Game tournament events.


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AAA - Endless Fighters

Endless Fighters is the first ending theme for Pokémon Smash that plays during the ending credits. AAA was on set during the episode to perform the song and to promote the special PARADISE / Endless Fighters (Cover D) "Pokémon Smash!" (PARADISE / Endless Fighters (ジャケットD) 「ポケモンスマッシュ！」) CD which has a different cover compared to the other versions of the CD. It features Zoroark and Mijumaru on the Pokémon Smash set instead of AAA. Endless Fighters is also the first track on this CD instead of PARADISE which was the first track on every other variant of this CD release. AAA also signed a few CD's to give out as presents to viewers.

The Pokémon Smash crew is also giving out Pokémon as presents to a few lucky viewers. Below are the Pokémon that they will be giving out.


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Characters and Pictures from this episode have been added to the episode guide. You can also comment and discuss this episode on the forum. Also be sure to rate this and other episodes in the episode guide.

Pokémon Smash Episode 12, Pokémon the Movie! / The International Division and the Adventure Division's Pokémon Card Searching Showdown! / Director Shoko-tan's Pokémon Battle / Goods Present Project! (ポケモン・ザ・ムービー！ / インターナショナル部とアドベンチャー部がポケモンのカード探しで対決！／ポケモンバトルはしょこたん部長／グッズプレゼント企画), aired today in Japan.

The episode begins Shoko-tan holding a present and Zoroark and Mijumaru looking on. TIM and Robert walk in and notice that Shoko-tan is attempting to deliver a present. They ask her about the present and she says that she cooked it herself. This brings back bad memories of the previous food she has cooked.

Golgo decides to quickly change the topic of conversation and introduces this weeks rerun episode as part of the Pokémon Library and Yamamoto announces this weeks theme 'Put your mind to it!' （みんなちゃんと寝ろよ）. This weeks rerun episode was Pokémon the Movie! (ポケモン・ザ・ムービー！) from the original Japanese series. A full summary is available in the episode guide. Red said the go-to line 'Okay! Pokémon Library!' to start the repeat episode.


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After the repeat episode, the International girls show up and say 'PokéMorning!" to everyone. Shoko-tan had hidden the present and Misaki manages to find it behind the cardboard cutout of the President of Pokémon Enterprise. They open the present to find out that it is Carrot Jelly (にんじんぜりー). Misaki is the first to try it thinking that it would be good but she quickly realizes that it doesn't taste very good. Hana tries it and almost faints and says 'Oh my god!". As they take Hana back to her seat Yamamoto notices that Mijumaru got a present from Shoko and Yamamoto wanted to protect Mijumaru so he quickly took the present, opened it and began eating it so that Mijumaru would be spared. It turned out that it was a Wasabi Rolls (わさびたっぷり チュロス) and it caused Yamamoto to faint onto the floor.

Baba introduced the Video tape recording of the International and Adventure Division's Pokémon Card Searching Showdown. The two teams were sent into the house to find hidden cards from the newest Pokémon Card Game BW set. The cards were hidden throughout the house. The teams were trying to find cards that had a lot of hit points and were related to get double the points from the combined HP.


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At the end of the searching, the International Division found 25 cards for a total of 3130 points with 8 pairs of cards. The Adventure Division found 23 cards for a total of 2400 points and 4 pairs of cards.

The next round, the two teams played the game Concentration with Pokémon Cards. The teams needed to match 3 evolution cards to collect them. The Adventure Division did quite well matching up the cards and increased their score to 3560 points whereas the International group only increased to 3140 points.

During Mijumaru's Tweet Corner, the ANA Darkrai was announced. Even though it's winter, the Phantom Pokémon Darkrai will be distributed as a special gift! Participating stores and shops which includes: Aeon Group Shopping Malls (Jusco, Aeon SuperCenter, Saty, Posful), Apita, Piago, Ito Yokado, Toys 'R US, Daiei, Al Plaza, and Heiwado will be distributing the Darkrai from December 27th, 2010 until January 11th, 2011.


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At the same time, Darkrai will also be distributed at Haneda Airport Terminal 2 to celebrate the renovation of the International terminal that opened at the end of October. This Darkrai is exactly the same as the one distributed at shops except for the OT name. The OT is (ＡＮＡ) for the Terminal 2 Darkrai and the shop Darkrai's OT is (ふゆやすみ) but both Darkrai's will have the ID No: 12270. The Darkrai are level 50 and it is stored in a Cherish Ball. They know the following moves: Ominous Wind, Dark Void, Faint Attack and Nightmare. The ANA Darkrai will be distributing from December 27th, 2010 until January 10th, 2011, one day less than the shop Darkrai.

During the Marketing Department segment, Director Shoko-tan had a Pokémon Battle with 9 year old Seiya Shishido. His parents and 8 siblings were in the audience to cheer him on. It was a 4-on-4 double battle. In the end, Seiya won against Shoko-tan and he traded his Muhland (ムーランド) for her Ononokus (オノノクス)


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Characters and Pictures from this episode have been added to the episode guide. You can also comment and discuss this episode on the forum. Also be sure to rate this and other episodes in the episode guide.

The latest episode of Pocket Monsters Best Wishes 14 - Shippo City! The Great Museum Adventure!! (シッポウシティー！博物館で大冒険！！) aired on Thursday in Japan.

The trio of Satoshi, Iris and Dent are traveling together and have finally arrived at Shippo City for Satoshi's second Gym Battle but today they have encountered Kidachi, a curator at the Shippo City Museum where he specializes in Egyptian like artifacts and archeology. Kidachi closed the Museum while he tried to investigate the reason for a mysterious poltergeist that had begun to scare him in the museum since the exhibit arrived. Will Iris and Dent be able to help him figure out what the mysterious poltergeist is?

Characters and Pictures from this episode have been added to the episode guide. You can also comment and discuss this episode on the forum. Also be sure to rate this and other episodes in the episode guide.

The official Pokémon website has announced the English dub of the 13th Pokémon movie. Zoroark: Master of Illusions will air on Cartoon Network on February 5th, 2011. To coincide with the release of the movie, the Raikou, Entei, Suicune Nintendo DS events will be available at participating GameStop stores. Below are the press releases.

Movie Synopsis

The Fury of Zoroark Has Been Unleashed! The Pokémon Baccer World Cup.

It is the most anticipated event of the year, and as hundreds flock to Crown City to watch the exciting competition unfold, Ash, Pikachu, and his friends encounter a mysterious new Pokémon they have never seen before.

But when the three Legendary Pokémon Raikou, Entei, and Suicune suddenly arrive and begin rampaging through the streets, it’s up to Ash and his companions, along with their new Pokémon friend Zorua, to uncover the secret behind the immense and powerful forces at work.

What strange and dangerous powers are afoot in Crown City? Why did Celebi suddenly return after vanishing for twenty years? And why is the mighty Zoroark unleashing its fury upon the town? The quest for these answers leads down an uncertain path filled with peril—can Ash and his companions find enough courage, strength, and friendship to unearth the mystery in time to save Crown City?

Raikou, Entei, Suicune Events

The Legendary Pokémon Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are as elusive as they are powerful, but now you can track down each one during a special character distribution event at participating GameStop stores!

Not only is each of these Pokémon Shiny - meaning it is a different color than usual - but each also knows movies it cannot normally learn! Raikou can take advantage of weather conditions with the Weather Ball move, Entei can engulf its foe in fire with Flare Blitz, Suicune can get a lucky on-hit Knock Out with Sheer Cold, and all three can learn ExtremeSpeed, to name just a few! This powerful arsenal will make these Pokémon ready for even your toughest battles!

Raikou, Entei, Suicune come in Cherish Balls, a feature of Pokémon that you obtain through special distributions. They will also appear with a Classic Ribbon, another mark of their unique stats in your Pokémon collection!

There's even more to these special shiny Pokémon: when you transfer them to your copy of Pokémon Black Version or Pokémon White Version, you'll get a chance to catch the elusive Pokémon Zoroark - a Pokémon you can't get through normal gameplay!

And don't forget you can see Zoroark in action, as well as watch the Shiny Raikou, Entei, and Suicune when they all appear in the upcoming Pokémon movie, Pokémon - Zoroark: Master of Illusions.

The distribution for these incredible Shiny Pokémon won't last long. This exciting opportunity begins in early January 2011 in participating GameStop stores wit the distribution of Raikou. The excitement continues in late January and early February, when you will have your chance to receive Entei and Suicune. You'll only be able to get each of these Pokémon once per game, and you must bring your copy of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, or SoulSilver Version games (as well as your Nintendo DS system!) to receive the Legendary Pokémon.


Raikou - January 3rd, 2011 to January 9th, 2011.
Entei - January 17th, 2011 to January 23rd, 2011.
Suicune - January 31st, 2011 to February 6th, 2011.
Source: http://www.pokemongoldsilver.com/us/#/news/trio/ and http://www.pokemon.com/us/movies/movie-pokemonzoroark-master-of-illusions-february-2011/

Voice Actor Takeshi Watabe (渡部猛) died on December 13th, 2010. He was 74 years old. He was undergoing medical treatment for lung cancer but caught pneumonia which caused complications with his treatment. He voiced a couple of roles in the Pocket Monsters anime series.

In Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Episode #65 he voiced Professor Jacuzzi (シャクジイ博士) and in the original series episode #41 he played the Village Elder.

Source: 81 Actor's Studio

The latest episode of Pocket Monsters Best Wishes 13 - Chillarmy is Tidy!? (チラーミィはきれいずき！？) aired on Thursday in Japan.

The trio of Satoshi, Iris and Dent are traveling together on route to Shippo City for Satoshi's second Gym Battle but today they have encountered Bel, a friend of Professor Araragi who was looking for Satoshi to deliver a badge case. Before she could deliver it to him a Chillarmy took the badge case because it was dirty. Will Satoshi get his badge case?

Characters and Pictures from this episode have been added to the episode guide. You can also comment and discuss this episode on the forum. Also be sure to rate this and other episodes in the episode guide.

Egg Events

To celebrate Satoshi receiving a Pokémon egg, a special Pokémon Mystery Egg event for Pokémon Black and White started today, December 17th, 2010 and will end on January 11th, 2011. Players can only receive one egg per game and the egg will hatch into one of three random Pokémon: Kibago, Mamepato, Yanappu. The event will be available via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, at Nintendo Zone locations (such as participating McDonalds), and DS Station locations in Japan.


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Below is a list of the random Pokémon available in the egg. Click on them for event information. Each of the Pokémon is based off a main characters Pokémon from Best Wishes: Satoshi's Mamepato, Iris' Kibago and Dent's Yanappu.

N#	Japanese	Romanized	Thumbnail
610	キバゴ	Kibago
519	マメパト	Mamepato
511	ヤナップ	Yanappu

Pokémon Smash Episode 11, Sing! Purin! / The Adventure Division Predict how the Main Pokémon of the Movie will be Used / The 3rd PokéSun Champion, Group Member Yamamoto, Participates in a Pokémon Battle! (うたって！　プリン！ / アドベンチャー部が映画で活躍するポケモンを勝手に予想 / ポケモンバトルに第３回ポケサン最強王者・山本隊員が登場！), aired today in Japan.

The episode begins with Robert walking in and saying 'PokéMorning!' to Red, Golgo and Shoko who are sitting at their desks. They see them writing and wonder what they are doing. Shoko tells them they are trying to think of what they should do for this years PokéSmash greeting card. They ask Robert for suggestions but Golgo just gets mad at Akiyama at the end for getting sidetracks by suggesting he should bake a cake.

Golgo introduces this weeks rerun episode as part of the Pokémon Library and Akiyama announces this weeks theme 'Everyone go to Sleep' （みんなちゃんと寝ろよ）. This weeks rerun episode was Sing! Purin! (うたって！　プリン！) from the original Japanese series. A full summary is available in the episode guide. Red said his original go-to line 'Let's Pokémon Library!' to start the repeat episode.

After the repeat episode, the International group girls show up and take a seat at their desk. Yamamoto reminds everyone that the title for the latest movie has been announced which Shoko-tan states is Victini and the Dark Hero (ビクティニと黒き英雄). The teaser trailer for the latest movie is then shown.

The Adventure Division then introduces their VTR on how the Main Pokémon of the Movie will be Used. Robert head off to a local pool where they all wore a big red 'V' on their forehead so show the audience they were trying to be Victini. Robert discussed that for their experiment they would need to find out who was fastest. They all recalled a previous outing from Pokémon Sunday #293. In that episode, Baba was able to run the 50m dash in 7.44 seconds, proving he could run fast. Akiyama and Yamamoto tied a rope to Baba and told Baba to run fast so he could be like Victini from the movie trailer and hover over the water. Baba started to run but quickly fell into the pool.

In Pokémon Sunday #187, Akiyama proved to be the best at crossing a water bridge during the Ninjutsu Challenge Quiz. A bridge was setup in the pool and Akiyama was able to make it across the pool. The clip of Akiyama played at the same time as the clip of Victini from the teaser trailer to show the similarity.


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During the next segment, Robert dressed up as Pokémon they thought should be in the next movie. Yamamoto dressed up as Mijumaru, Akiyama dressed up as Monmen and Baba dressed up as Meguroco and they had a foot race which Akiyama won.


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In the lastest movies, Satoshi and friends are each seen eating a food from the country or region that the movie is based off of. In the 13th movie, Satoshi ate Belgian Waffles. Akiyama decides that in Movie 14 they should eat favoured shaved ice (カキ氷). He explains that the topings that are dark and the ice that is white match the Black and White idea. Akiyama had put Molasses (brown sugar syrup 黒みつ) on Yamamoto's bowl and he put Soy Sauce (しょうゆ) on Baba's.

The first Pokémon Smash calendar was revealed and it featured Akiyama's successful attempted to cross the pool like Victini. 7 calendars featuring the Adventure Group will be revealed over the coming months to promote the release of the 14th movie. It was pointed out that the numbers on the calendar for the July 2011 calendar are actually Robert making different poses to make the numbers. The first calendar can be downloaded below or at the Smash official website.


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Also posted was a couple of Happy New Year posters that viewers can download and print out. The posters feature Pokémon Smash members.


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During Mijumaru's Tweet Corner, it was revealed that in a presentation held on November 18th, 2010 at the Meiji Dori, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan McDonald's location (マクドナルド 明治通り新宿), the Guinness Book of World Records awarded the 2010 McDonald's Pokémon calendar a certificate for "the most calendars sold in one year". Pikachu and Ronald McDonald were in attendance to receive the award. The calendar has been released yearly and features original pictures based on the latest Pocket Monsters animated series. The 2011 calendar is currently for sale for 300 yen.

Full certificate description: "The most calendars sold in one year is 1,476,442 and was achieved by McDonald's Japan in Japan on 5 November 2010."


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McDonalds will also be distributing monster balls as the toy present in the latest Happy Sets (Happy Meals) in Japan. Purchasers will receive one random monster ball in each meal set. There are 24 different ones to collect. The event starts on December 17th.


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During the in-studio battle, the 3rd PokéSun Champion, Group Member Yamamoto, participates in a Pokémon Battle against 8 year old Oguro Reina-chan (小黒玲奈ちゃん). She put up a good fight and was able to defeat Yamamoto. For defeating Yamamoto, she asked for his level 60 Mijumaru - Chibipero (チビペロ). Yamamoto received her Mijumaru in exchange though.

Characters and Pictures from this episode have been added to the episode guide. You can also comment and discuss this episode on the forum. Also be sure to rate this and other episodes in the episode guide.

Images from the latest CoroCoro have revealed that a new 1 hour special for Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl will air on February 3rd, 2011. The episodes will feature Takeshi and Hikari after they departed company with Satoshi.

World Hobby Fair Zoroark

CoroCoro also announced that a Zoroark will be distributed at the World Hobby Fair in Japan. This Zoroark is unique because it knows the move Bark Out (バークアウト). Currently no other Pokémon knows this move but when the Lock Capsule (ロックカプセル) event in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver is released, players will be able to transfer the Lock Capsule to Pokémon Black or White to get TM95 - Bark Out (バークアウト).


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