EP135

Grin to Win! (Japanese: だいパニック！キマワリコンテスト！！ Big Panic! Contest!!) is the 135th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on February 17, 2000 and in the United States on February 10, 2001.

Blurb
''The annual Sunflora contest is only a day away and yet our hero's new friend and Sunflora Trainer is unable to convince her star Pokémon to compete. Complicating things further, Team Rocket enters under pseudonyms, planning to win by whatever means are required.''

Plot
On the way to Azalea Town, and  become increasingly thirsty. With their canteen empty, Ash and spot a nearby pipe to drink from, but a woman appears and begins to fix it. Before she fixes it, she fills their canteens at their request. She introduces herself as Sonrisa and escorts them to Bloomingvale, the nearest town.

At her home, she shows the trio her sprinkler system, which brings fresh water down from the mountains so she can raise her favorite,. Sonrisa explains that she waters them so they will be happy when the Sunflora Festival occurs, while many other Sunflora s go to great lengths to make their Sunflora the best. Two of her Sunflora seem exuberant, but one, nicknamed Sunny, seems gloomy. and try doing funny faces to cheer Sunny up, but to no avail. Sonrisa says that Sunny was the Sunflora she was planning on entering in the contest, but lately, it had been really depressed. Ash promises to help cheer the Sunflora up, but the sun begins to set, and the Sunflora retreat to the greenhouse for some rest. Ash and his friends find a Pokémon Center to rest at for the night.

Back at the greenhouse of Sonrisa's neighbor, picks the lock and take a look at all of the Sunflora. suggest that they take one Sunflora and enter it in the festival so they can win a year's supply of instant noodles. He then shines a torch over the sleeping Sunflora, causing them to wake up. As James examines each of the Sunflora, Meowth accidentally runs into an alarm button, which traps him in a net. Jessie and James escape, leaving Meowth entangled in the net.

Ash and his friends hear the alarm and run to investigate. Once they are there, Misty and her friends are surprised to see Meowth, but she gets an idea. She suggests to Cyrus that he let Meowth go since he didn't steal anything, which he agrees to do. Back at the Pokémon Center, Misty says that, in exchange for setting him free, Meowth has to translate for Sonrisa's depressed Sunflora to find out why it is depressed. Meowth agrees and accompanies the group to meet with Sonrisa. There, it is revealed that Sunny is depressed because of the absence of a Sunflora belonging to Cyrus that it used to play with. Just then, Meowth is lassoed by Jessie and James and saved. Sonrisa then goes looking for Sunny's friend, and Cyrus admits that he traded it to Nurse Joy. Ash, his friends, and Sonrisa go to the local Pokémon Center. There, the two Sunflora are reunited and Sunny becomes happy again.

Later, the Sunflora Festival begins, and Team Rocket is forced to dress up Meowth as one. As the judging commences, one judge likes Cyrus's Sunflora, Dorabelle; one prefers Sunny; and the last one is on the fence. As Meowth is being examined, appears and catches a glimpse at Meowth in the costume, but she suspects his real identity and bites down on his tail. Meowth jumps out of his costume, forcing Team Rocket to reveal themselves. Jessie pries Snubbull off of Mewoth's tail and throws it away.

The trio then activates mirrors that raise up all around the stadium and blinding the crowd with reflected light. However, the heads of the Sunflora begin to grow to enormous size before they collapse and are immobilized. Jessie sends out, while Ash calls out and Misty sends out. As they, James controls the Meowth balloon to pick up the instant noodles the trio craved for. Chikorita uses to cut the noodles down. James sends out his, but Ash commands to use  on it. Out of jealousy, Chikorita shoves Pikachu away, and his attack instead ricochets off Team Rocket's mirrors, breaking them, which mobilizes the Sunflora again. Sonrisa orders Sunny to use on Team Rocket, blasting them off. The judges, amazed by this display, crown Sunny as the winner of the festival. Afterwards, Sonrisa thanks Ash and his friends for helping her, and admits she would never have won the Sunflora of the Year award without them.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Nurse Joy
 * Sonrisa
 * Townspeople
 * Nurse Joy
 * Sonrisa
 * Townspeople
 * Townspeople

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


 * (townspeople's; multiple; debut)
 * (Sonrisa's; Sunny)
 * (Nurse Joy's; Gwendela)
 * ('s; Dorabelle)
 * (townspeople's; multiple; debut)
 * (Sonrisa's; Sunny)
 * (Nurse Joy's; Gwendela)
 * ('s; Dorabelle)
 * (townspeople's; multiple; debut)
 * (Sonrisa's; Sunny)
 * (Nurse Joy's; Gwendela)
 * ('s; Dorabelle)

Trivia

 * This is the first time disguises himself as a . He dresses up as a Sunflora six more times in the.
 * The book Prize Pokémon is based on this episode.
 * A rare case of a non-Pokémon animal can be seen as there is a stand selling fried chicken at the festival.
 * This episode's English name is a play on Spin to Win.
 * An instrumental version of Together Forever is used in the dub.
 * This is the first time a Pokémon named in this episode's Who's That Pokémon? segment ( in this case) does not give its cry in response.

Errors

 * In the scene where is caught by, Ash's gloves are colored completely dark green.

Dub edits

 * Pokémon Karaokémon: All We Wanna Do

In other languages
Sonnflora des Jahres EP137 EP135 EP135 無印編第135話 精灵宝可梦 第136集