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The girl reaching out to grab Pikachu with her friends
Challenge the World! (I Met You! in Japan) is an animated commercial promoting the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, taking place in Yokohama, Japan.
The commercial was released on the Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel on July 22, 2023, on the Western Pokémon YouTube channels a day later on July 23, 2023, and on the Asian Pokémon YouTube channels on July 28, 2023.
Plot[]
A girl holding a Pikachu plush toy flies into Yokohama, Japan to compete in the 2023 Pokémon World Championships. After making a video call to her friends and fellow players who are also attending the event, she enters the Pacifico Yokohama convention center with her friends awaiting her near the entrance.
Each of the girl's friends are competing in a different event at the 2023 Pokémon World Championships. The first to play is competing in the 2023 Pokémon GO World Championships. He begins the match with his Sky Form Shaymin and has it use a Grass-type attack against his opponent's Gholdengo, who retaliates with a Charged Attack just as Shaymin is swapped out for Melmetal who uses a Protect Shield to negate it. The opponent then switches out Gholdengo and brings in his Salamence, using its Charged Attack Draco Meteor against Melmetal just as it readies a Double Iron Bash.
The scene then cuts to the 2023 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships, where another one of the girl's friends is competing. After a Chansey coin is flipped to determine the players' turn order, she reveals her Lugia V card and we see the Pokémon cards come to life, with a cinematic battle then ensuing with her Lugia and Archeops against her opponent's Flaaffy and Miraidon. The layout for this section was drawn by Ryu Nakayama.
Lugia and Miraidon both attack each other head-on, with their powerful moves colliding before the scene cuts again to the 2023 Pokémon Unite World Championships. A 5v5 match is played with Mew, Comfey, Tsareena, Dodrio and Greninja against Hoopa, Sableye, Cinderace, Aegislash and Lucario, with the girl's next friend commanding Greninja. Mew charges up a green ball of energy that's then kicked by Tsareena, launching it into the opposing Aegislash. The opposing team's Cinderace and Lucario retaliate, working together to fire off a Pyro Ball and Aura Sphere at Greninja, who dodges both attacks and, with the support of Comfey, is able to ride a Waterburst Shuriken after having gathered enough Aeos energy to score in the opposing team's goal.
The scene cuts a final time to the 2023 Video Game World Championships, played in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. We see the girl send out her Meowscarada and Dragonite (housed in a Poké Ball and a Friend Ball respectively) as her opponent sends out his Iron Bundle and Dondozo (housed in a Dusk Ball and a Dive Ball respectively). Dondozo fires an attack at Meowscarada that it dodges, and the latter retaliates by using Flower Trick. Iron Bundle then uses Icy Wind, but the girl Terastallizes her Dragonite into a Normal-type, removing its weakness to Ice-type moves.
The girl wins the match and her friends arrive to congratulate her on the victory as she throws her Pikachu plush into the air in celebration. After the match, they arrive outside the convention center, just as a Pikachu falls from the sky. The girl reaches out to grab it, with her friends by her side.
Pokémon featured[]
- Tatsugiri (Curly Form)
- Fuecoco
- Quaxly
- Sprigatito
- Munchlax
- Pikachu
- Swablu
- Mime Jr.
- Wynaut
- Psyduck
- Onix
- Ditto
- Beautifly
- Magnemite
- Drifloon
- Dreepy
- Jigglypuff
- Zorua
- Charizard
- Eevee
- Slowpoke
- Yamper
- Kirlia
- Rotom
- Shaymin (Sky Form)
- Gholdengo
- Melmetal
- Salamence
- Chansey
- Lugia
- Archeops
- Flaaffy
- Miraidon
- Greninja
- Dodrio
- Tsareena
- Comfey
- Mew
- Lucario
- Aegislash
- Cinderace
- Sableye
- Hoopa (Confined)
- Meowscarada
- Dragonite
- Dondozo
- Iron Bundle
Cast[]
- Pikachu - Ikue Otani
- Girl - Maika Yoshida
External links[]
- Japanese website of the 2023 Pokémon World Championships
- English website of the 2023 Pokémon World Championships
- Challenge the World! at Bulbapedia, the Pokémon wiki.