Pokémon
The Guardian's Challenge!
TV Flash files “The Guardian's Challenge!” as hour 940 of 1220 in the TV Flash guide — Pokémon (1998–present (U.S.)) on Kids' WB/Syndication, season 20, episode 2, aired 2016-11-17, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S20E02: listed hour 940 of 1220 in the Pokémon guide, hour 2 of 43 in season 20. It aired 2016-11-17 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Alola to New Adventure!” (S20E01). Next is “Loading the Dex!” (S20E03). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
On Ash's first day at Pokémon school, Professor Kukui and the other students host a surprise welcome party for him. Soon after Tapu Koko approaches Ash in order to battle Pikachu. Tapu Koko teaches Ash how to use the Z-Ring. Ash and Pikachu manage to unleash the Z-Move, Gigavolt Havoc, but the Z-Crystal shatters after Pikachu's immense release of power. In order to regain the power of Z-Moves, Ash decides to go through the island trials.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Guardian's Challenge! sit in the Pokémon guide?
S20E02 is listed hour 940 of 1220 — hour 2 of 43 in season 20, season 20 episode 2.
When did Pokémon S20E02 air?
The Guardian's Challenge! aired 2016-11-17 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I need the games first?
The TV series is one engine with the games and cards, not a homework prerequisite. U.S. breakthrough is 1998 anime syndication as childhood OS.
In the series
Why this series still plays
A ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, and a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Anime lands in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards — catch, train, argue about types. Kids’ TV as collection ritual, gym-badge serialization, and the rare cartoon that still prints money because the adventure never quite finishes.
The work, first: a young trainer, a yellow mouse, a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Based on Game Freak/Nintendo games, the anime's U.S. TV breakthrough in 1998 (Kids' WB and syndication) detonated a multi-platform kids' empire: games, cards, films, toys, one engine. Satoshi Tajiri and Kunihiko Yuyama's world turned anime into mainstream American children's programming. Rica Matsumoto and Veronica Taylor as Ash across languages; Ikue Otani's Pikachu. Catch, train, argue about…
Filed against
- Rica Matsumoto as Ash Ketchum (JP)
Rica Matsumoto voices Ash Ketchum on Pokémon — the ten-year-old whose globetrotting checklist became a childhood operating system in Japanese, then a syndication engine abroad. Catch, train, argue about types. TV Flash files her as 1990s…
- Veronica Taylor as Ash Ketchum (US early)
Veronica Taylor was early U.S. Ash Ketchum on Pokémon — a ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Anime landed in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards:…
- Ikue Otani as Pikachu
Ikue Otani voiced Pikachu as a childhood operating system — a ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, anime landing in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards. Catch, train, argue about types. TV Flash files her as 1990s kids-TV…