Pokémon season 10: Diamond and Pearl — Ash lands in Sinnoh and meets Dawn

Season 10 is a complete reset. It opens cycle 3 of the anime, sends Ash to a region he has never set foot in and gives him a new traveling companion, Dawn, on the very first day of her journey. Over fifty-two episodes, the series rebuilds a team, a rival and a looming threat from almost nothing. It's the Pokémon anime's big spring cleaning.

Contents

• An opening season: cycle 3 begins
• Broadcast and episode count
• Sinnoh, a brand-new region
• The big change: Dawn replaces May and Max
• Sinnoh's first two badges
• Paul, the divisive rival
• The Pokémon that make up the new teams
• Hunter J, Team Galactic and Team Rocket
• The Hearthome City tag battle tournament and Chimchar's arrival
• What season 10 sets up
• Season 10 at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

An opening season: cycle 3 begins

Season 10 is the first season of cycle 3, the one the French version simply titles Diamant et Perle (Diamond and Pearl). It follows straight on from season 9, Battle Frontier, which had closed out the Advanced Generation series. In the continuous numbering of the series, it covers episodes 467 to 518, labeled DP001 to DP052. So it's a clear turning point: the previous season had broken up the group, and this one builds a new one.

As with every season in this series, it's worth remembering that this split is a Western convention. In Japan, the show airs continuously, with no break between the blocks we call seasons; the logos, theme songs and season titles were designed for American and European schedules. So a season's Japanese dates can never be worked out from its Western dates, and the reverse is just as true.

The start of this cycle also coincides with the start of a new generation of video games, and our feature on Pokémon Diamond and Pearl covers them in detail. The anime and the games don't tell the same story, but they share the region, the Pokémon roster and the criminal organization working in the background, which makes the two features complementary.

Broadcast and episode count

Season 10 has 52 episodes by the Japanese count, from DP001 to DP052. But there's an important nuance, and it often gets glossed over: episode DP048 never aired outside Japan. It was a recap episode, left out of both the American broadcast and the French-language broadcasts. The total actually seen in France therefore comes to 51 episodes, and that's the figure English-language sources go by.

The three calendars are, once again, far out of step. In Japan, the run lasted from September 28, 2006 to October 25, 2007. In the United States, the dub started on April 20, 2007 — with the first three episodes scheduled on the same day — and ended on February 1, 2008. In France, viewers had to wait until January 6, 2008 for the first episode and April 25, 2008 for the last one: the entire season aired in just under four months, at a much faster pace than in Japan.

The French broadcast aired on Jetix, starting on that January 6, 2008. As for physical releases, the complete season came out on DVD, in individual box sets, from Universal — a change of publisher from the previous season that goes hand in hand with the move from one cycle to the next. The French theme song, for its part, is titled Diamant et Perle and serves as both the opening and the closing theme.

Sinnoh, a brand-new region

The entire season takes place in the Sinnoh region, which the series discovers at the same time as its audience. It's a mountainous region, split down the middle by an imposing mountain range and dotted with lakes that will take on considerable importance later in the cycle. Its place in the franchise's geography is covered in our region overview.

The return to a classic structure is immediate: Ash is back on the badge hunt, eight in all, in the hope of competing in the regional League. After a full season spent on a parallel circuit, the series goes back to its original backbone. Dawn, meanwhile, is going after Contest ribbons, just like May before her — but their respective paths will have nothing in common.

Finally, the season introduces a local authority figure, Professor Rowan, an expert on evolution who is in charge of handing out the region's starter Pokémon. He's the one who gives Sinnoh's beginners their first partner, following the model described in our feature on Pokémon professors.

Sinnoh also brings an entirely new roster of Pokémon, which the season doles out over the episodes rather than showing it all at once. The region's three starter Pokémon, the rodents and birds of the first routes, then the rarer species encountered in the mountains: the series takes its time introducing this wildlife, and many episodes in the first half serve no other purpose. It's slow, and deliberately so — a new region is meant to be explored before it's crossed.

The big change: Dawn replaces May and Max

This is where the season's biggest shift takes place, and it's also the one that most often gets mixed up with the previous cycle. May and Max are not part of season 10. They left the group in the final episode of season 9: May set off for Johto, and Max went back home. Neither of them travels with Ash to Sinnoh. The cycle 2 cast stops dead at the end of cycle 2, and you shouldn't carry it over into this one.

So the season 10 trio is Ash, Brock and Dawn. Brock is the only thread of continuity: he joins Ash as early as the second episode, after leaving his Forretress and his Marshtomp at his family's Gym in Pewter City. He takes up his usual role as quartermaster, cook and adviser, this time with a young novice Coordinator to look after rather than an already seasoned one.

🍱 Brock leaves Forretress and Marshtomp at the Pewter City Gym but brings his role as the group's quartermaster and cook with him to Sinnoh, and our Pokémon lunch bags and snack boxes do the same job between your kitchen and your lunch break.

Dawn, for her part, is a novice Trainer from Sinnoh, the daughter of a once-renowned Coordinator, and her ambition is to follow in her mother's footsteps. She leaves her hometown on the very day Ash arrives in the region. The three characters cross paths over the first few episodes and decide to travel together from the third one onward. This three-way setup — a Trainer, a Coordinator and a former Gym Leader — stays stable throughout cycle 3.

The first meeting between Ash and Dawn is also anything but a textbook encounter: Ash's Pikachu gets lost right after they arrive, and it's while searching for it that the characters finally cross paths. The series takes its time lining up three separate paths before merging them into one, which gives these early episodes a slightly unusual rhythm.

Sinnoh's first two badges

Over the whole season, Ash wins only two badges. That's not many, and it's deliberate: the season spends most of its time establishing its characters rather than growing the collection. The first is the Coal Badge, awarded by Roark, the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City, a Rock-type specialist. The second is the Forest Badge, handed over by Gardenia, Gym Leader of Eterna City and a Grass-type Pokémon enthusiast.

The first of these two battles is worth a closer look, because it starts with a defeat. Ash loses his first match against Roark, has to come back later, and only wins on his second try. That's no small thing in an opening season: the series signals from the start that this region won't be crossed lightly. How Gyms work in general is covered in our feature on Gym Leaders and the Elite Four.

🪨 Ash loses his first match against Roark and has to go back to the Oreburgh Gym to snatch the Coal Badge on his second try; as for you, the thing to slip on before heading back out into the cold is a Pokémon jacket.

Dawn, for her part, wins a first ribbon without managing to find her footing. She loses to her rival Zoey in her very first Contest, then wins the one in Floaroma Town by beating her childhood friend Kenny in the final — her only ribbon of the season — before sliding back into failure at the Contest in Hearthome City, where she doesn't even get past the Appeals round. This back-and-forth between one isolated win and repeated setbacks is the emotional engine of the season: the newcomer can't build any momentum, and the series cuts her no slack.

Paul, the divisive rival

The season's big new creation is Paul. A Trainer from Veilstone City, he appears as early as the second episode and, in the third, becomes Ash's rival. Their first battle, a three-on-three, ends in a draw — a start that sets up a balance without tipping it. But their opposition isn't primarily about power: it's about method.

Paul is a Trainer who treats his Pokémon like tools. He catches a lot of them, tests their raw power and releases the ones he deems not good enough without a second thought. Ash, at the exact opposite end, builds on the bond. This divergence is the real subject of cycle 3, and the series will take three seasons to see it through to the end. The two brothers, Paul and his older brother Reggie, a Pokémon Breeder based in Veilstone City, embody the two possible versions of the same starting point — although Reggie doesn't appear on screen until season 11.

Around them revolve several well-defined secondary rivals: Nando, a bard who decides to collect both badges and ribbons; Zoey, a Coordinator confident in her own style; and Kenny, Dawn's childhood friend. The season also gives a standout appearance to Cynthia, the Sinnoh League Champion, whom Paul battles in front of the group — an elegant way of showing the ceiling before the League is even within reach.

The Pokémon that make up the new teams

Ash arrives in Sinnoh with his Pikachu and his Aipom, the latter having followed him as a stowaway all the way from Kanto. He then catches a Starly in the second episode — it evolves into Staravia during the season — and then a Turtwig, the region's Grass-type starter Pokémon, presented alongside its counterparts in our feature on starters from every region.

Dawn, for her part, starts out with a Piplup with a difficult temperament, which she received from Professor Rowan in the very first episode. She adds a Buneary, a Pachirisu — caught, released and then caught again in the same episode, it's that unmanageable — and a Buizel. Four Pokémon with thoroughly contrary temperaments, which is obviously no coincidence for a Coordinator who has to learn harmony.

Brock, meanwhile, puts together an entirely new team. His Bonsly evolves into Sudowoodo, he catches a Croagunk whose specialty will be cutting him off every time he approaches a young woman, and he wins an Egg at a costume contest, which hatches into a Happiny. Over at Team Rocket, James is reunited in the second episode with a Carnivine he had owned for a long time, and decides to keep it.

Hunter J, Team Galactic and Team Rocket

The season introduces a new kind of antagonist for the series: Pokémon Hunter J. A professional poacher operating from an airship, she captures Pokémon to order and turns them to stone for transport. She has neither humor nor clumsiness, which sets her radically apart from the usual adversaries, and her appearance is treated as a genuine physical threat.

In the background, a far larger organization is only just beginning to show itself. Team Galactic first appears without being named, during the theft of an ancient artifact that the group foils without understanding what it has just thwarted. In the last third of the season, the series thus plants the first seeds of a plot that will take two more seasons to come to fruition — it is traced in our feature on Team Galactic.

As for Jessie, James and Meowth, they followed Ash to Sinnoh on their own initiative, as the end of season 9 had hinted. Their routine hasn't changed: chase Pikachu, fail, try again. Jessie also quietly starts a double life on the Contest circuit under an assumed identity, a thread that will grow in the seasons that follow. Their full story is detailed in our feature on Team Rocket.

These three levels of threat — the lone poacher, the organization lurking in the shadows and the comic trio — coexist without ever blurring together, and that's one of the season's structural successes. Where previous cycles pitted a single opposing force against the hero, this one stacks up adversaries of different kinds and scales. Viewers understand very quickly which ones are dangerous and which aren't, which lets the series switch tones from one episode to the next without losing clarity.

The Hearthome City tag battle tournament and Chimchar's arrival

The season's last three episodes are devoted to a tag battle tournament held in Hearthome City, where participants are paired at random. The draw is cruel and brilliant: Ash ends up paired with Paul, Dawn with another competitor, and Brock with a third. In other words, the series forces the two rivals to work together for three episodes, which throws their clash of methods into harsh light.

The Ash-Paul duo wins the tournament, knocking out Brock and then Dawn along with their respective partners. The prize, a pair of Soothe Bells, holds no interest for Paul, who leaves his to Ash. That detail says everything about the character: things that can be bought or won don't interest him; only the raw result counts.

🔔 The Hearthome City tournament prize, a pair of Soothe Bells, leaves Paul so indifferent that he hands his over to Ash, and our Pokémon necklaces take the opposite approach: a pendant you don't have to win and get to wear around your neck all day long.

But the most consequential event happens on the sidelines of the tournament. Paul releases his Chimchar, which he considers too weak and unable to reproduce at will the power it showed once. Ash, who witnesses the scene, invites the little monkey to join him. This handover is the narrative crux of all of cycle 3: the rest of Chimchar's journey will literally be the proof in action of Ash's philosophy against Paul's.

What season 10 sets up

Season 10 is a foundation-laying season, and it accepts the drawbacks that come with that. Only two badges, a single ribbon for Dawn, a criminal plot barely sketched out: on paper, the tally is thin. But everything that will carry the next three seasons is set up here — the trio, the rival, the looming threat and, above all, the clash of methods that runs through the entire cycle.

Above all, it pulls off a cast overhaul without a break in tone, which is far from a given. By keeping Brock and giving Dawn a path of repeated failures rather than an easy climb, the series avoids tracing over the previous cycle. Where this stage fits in the hero's career is laid out in our feature on Ash's complete journey.

Finally, this season shares its time frame with a feature film centered on the Legendary Pokémon of time and space, listed alongside the others in our complete guide to the Pokémon movies. The movies are not part of the seasons' continuity and shouldn't be counted as episodes: they are parallel productions, released in theaters, that accompany the cycle without being part of it.

Season 10 at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who travels with Ash in season 10 of Pokémon?
  Ash travels with Brock and Dawn. Brock joins him in the second episode, after leaving part of his team at his family's Gym in Pewter City. Dawn is a novice Trainer from Sinnoh who wants to become a Coordinator. May and Max, who traveled with Ash during the previous cycle, are not part of this season: they left the group in the final episode of season 9.
• How many episodes are in season 10?
  Season 10 has 52 episodes by the Japanese count, numbered DP001 to DP052, which are episodes 467 to 518 of the series. One of these episodes, DP048, was a recap episode and never aired outside Japan, either in the United States or in French-speaking countries. The number of episodes actually seen in France is therefore 51.
• When did season 10 air in France?
  Season 10 aired in France on Jetix from January 6 to April 25, 2008, in just under four months. That broadcast came more than a year after the Japanese run, which stretched from September 28, 2006 to October 25, 2007. The complete season was later released on DVD by Universal.
• How many badges does Ash win in season 10?
  Only two. The Coal Badge, earned from Roark, the Oreburgh City Gym Leader who specializes in Rock-type Pokémon, and the Forest Badge, earned from Gardenia, the Eterna City Gym Leader who specializes in Grass-type Pokémon. The first of these two battles initially ends in a defeat: Ash has to come back for a rematch before he wins.
• How does Ash get his Chimchar?
  Chimchar originally belonged to Paul, Ash's rival. During the tag battle tournament held in Hearthome City, in the final episodes of the season, Paul releases it because he considers it too weak and unable to reproduce at will the power it had shown once. Ash, who witnesses the scene, offers the Pokémon a place on his team. This handover becomes the emotional thread running through all of cycle 3.
• Who is Paul in the Pokémon anime?
  Paul is a Trainer from Veilstone City, in the Sinnoh region, glimpsed in the second episode of season 10 and fully introduced in the third. He immediately becomes Ash's rival, and their first battle ends in a draw. He stands out for a training method built on raw power: he catches a lot of Pokémon, tests them, and releases the ones he deems not good enough without hesitation. His older brother Reggie, a Pokémon Breeder, embodies the exact opposite approach.
• Does Team Galactic already appear in season 10?
  It appears only on the margins and without being identified as an organized threat. In the last third of the season, the group prevents the theft of an ancient artifact without knowing who is behind it. The organization only really grows in scope from the following season onward, and its plan only comes to a head during season 12. Season 10 simply lays the groundwork.

In short