Pokémon season 13: DP Sinnoh League Victors — 34 episodes to close out Sinnoh

Season 13 is the season where old scores get settled. Titled DP Sinnoh League Victors ("DP Les Vainqueurs de la Ligue de Sinnoh" in France), it closes out the Diamond & Pearl series in just 34 episodes, where the previous seasons ran to around fifty. Everything Ash and Dawn have built since arriving in Sinnoh is laid on the table: an eighth badge, a Grand Festival, a League, and a rivalry that finally comes to an end. It's also the last season in which Pikachu travels alongside Brock and Dawn.

Contents

• Where Season 13 Fits in the Series
• 34 Episodes and Three Different Schedules
• Sinnoh, the Home Stretch
• Ash, Brock and Dawn: The Trio to the Very End
• The Pokémon that define the season
• The Grand Festival, the Peak of Dawn's Journey
• The Sinnoh League and the Ash–Paul Showdown
• Rivals and Team Rocket
• Season 13 in France
• What Season 13 Leaves Behind
• Season 13 at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Where Season 13 Fits in the Series

Season 13 is the fourth and final season of cycle 3, the one known as Diamond and Pearl. It comes after season 10 (Diamond and Pearl), season 11 (DP Battle Dimension) and season 12 (DP Galactic Battles), and it precedes season 14, which will open an entirely new cycle with Black & White. Its role in the bigger picture is crystal clear: it launches nothing, it concludes. The story arcs left open for three years are closed one by one, and the final credits see the group split up for good.

Keep in mind that splitting the show into seasons is an international convention, not a Japanese one. In Japan, the episodes air continuously as part of a series called Diamond & Pearl, which doesn't line up with the Western season breakdown. So DP Sinnoh League Victors is a season title created for international broadcasts: it's neither a Japanese title nor the name of a series in Japan.

To place the main character within his overall journey, the feature dedicated to Ash traces every region he has visited and every League placing he has earned. Sinnoh holds a pivotal place in it — it's the region where he gets his best result in a long time, and the one that sets up the complete overhaul of the following season.

A word on the title itself, since it often causes confusion. The plural "Victors" doesn't refer to Ash: Ash does not win the Sinnoh League. The French title simply mirrors the English one, Sinnoh League Victors, and refers to the event more than to the hero. The season tells the story of a League and a Grand Festival that Ash and Dawn both come out of beaten, but stronger — a nuance worth keeping in mind so you don't go into the season with the wrong expectations.

34 Episodes and Three Different Schedules

The season has 34 episodes, coded DP158 to DP191, which are episodes 624 to 657 of the series in the continuous numbering. That's a noticeably shorter format than the neighboring seasons of the cycle, and you can feel it in the pacing: there's almost no filler, and every week moves either the Grand Festival or the League forward.

🧦 From DP158 to DP191, thirty-four episodes roll by with almost no filler: the kind of marathon you start on a Saturday morning, feet cozy in Pokémon socks, and finish without ever leaving the couch.

In Japan, these 34 episodes aired from January 7, 2010, with DP158, to September 9, 2010, with DP191. The Japanese schedule includes a few double airings: DP168 and DP169 both aired on March 18, 2010, and DP170 and DP171 both on the 1^st of April 2010.

The English-language broadcast, for its part, starts on June 5, 2010 with DP158 and ends on February 5, 2011 with DP191, in the United States, in Cartoon Network's Saturday morning lineup. One episode is the exception: DP169, the Pokémon Ranger crossover episode, aired in the United States on October 16, 2010, well after DP170 and DP171, even though they come after it in the numbering.

Finally, two Japanese special episodes tied to this period, which aired in Japan on February 3, 2011, never aired in France or in the United States. They're standalone specials: they don't count toward the season's 34 episodes, just like the movies, whose full catalog is detailed in the guide to the Pokémon movies.

Sinnoh, the Home Stretch

The whole season takes place in the Sinnoh region, the setting of the Diamond and Pearl games, whose geography and new features are covered in our Pokémon Diamond and Pearl feature. The cycle's main threat was already dealt with in season 12: Team Galactic is off the table, so season 13 opens on clear ground, with only one thing left to do — qualify.

This structure gives the season two parallel and perfectly symmetrical storylines. Dawn is chasing her fifth Ribbon, which will get her into the Sinnoh Grand Festival. Ash is chasing his eighth badge, which will get him into the Sinnoh League. Both goals are reached, both competitions fill the second half of the season, and both end in defeat — but not the same kind of defeat.

The setting takes on the coherence of a journey's end. You pass through familiar places, run into faces from earlier in the cycle, and the standalone episodes that remain almost all serve as training in disguise. To place Sinnoh among the franchise's other playgrounds, the overview of the regions of the Pokémon world lays out the whole map.

A few episodes do stray from this home stretch, though, and they're often the most memorable. DP168 puts Ash and his friends on the trail of a Shaymin in need of rescue, DP169 crosses over with the world of Pokémon Ranger around a Heatran, and DP181 kicks off a treasure hunt with Buck. These breathers are a reminder of what gave the cycle its charm before the race for tournaments took over entirely.

Ash, Brock and Dawn: The Trio to the Very End

The traveling group in season 13 is the one from seasons 10 to 12, unchanged: Ash, Brock and Dawn. It's something you have to check season by season, because the show's cast changes often — but here, there's no replacement along the way and no surprise arrival. The trio goes through all 34 episodes together and only splits up in the very last one.

Dawn is the group's Coordinator, and this season belongs to her as much as to Ash: she wins her fifth Ribbon, qualifies, and makes it all the way to the Grand Festival final. Brock, for his part, steps out of his role as cook and peacemaker to make a decision that commits him: over the course of the episodes, he sets his sights on becoming a Pokémon Doctor, and his Happiny evolves into Chansey in DP190 to care for injured Pokémon.

🍱 Brock steps out of his role as the group's cook to pursue a career as a Pokémon Doctor: from then on, you're the one carrying lunch, in a Pokémon lunch bag.

The very last episode, DP191, makes the split official. Ash and Brock head back to Kanto, while Dawn stays in Sinnoh to keep entering Contests and go after the title of Top Coordinator. It's one of the clearest farewells in the entire series — Brock, present almost without a break since the first season, leaves the group here, and he won't travel with Ash again until much later, during the final episodes of Ultimate Journeys.

The Pokémon that define the season

Ash's team settles around six Pokémon: Pikachu, Staraptor, Torterra, Infernape, Buizel and Gible. Two evolutions shape this lineup — his Monferno becomes Infernape in DP163, just as it finally learns to control its Blaze Ability, and his Grotle becomes Torterra in DP166.

Ash also rotates through a much larger pool than his six regulars, calling Pokémon back from the lab for the tournaments. It's this rotation that produces one of the most talked-about moments of the season — called in as backup for the League, his Sceptile manages to beat Tobias's Darkrai in the semifinal. In DP182, on the eve of the tournament, his Cyndaquil evolves into Quilava during a clash with Team Rocket.

On Dawn's side, the team is built around Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, Mamoswine and her Cyndaquil. A sixth member arrives mid-season — in DP171, a princess entrusts her with a female Togekiss that immediately becomes a centerpiece of her Contest performances.

The looming presence of the season is Darkrai. Tobias's Pokémon single-handedly crushes the League bracket and stands as the final wall in Ash's path. Its presence gives the Sinnoh League a very distinctive feel, almost unreal, that none of the series' earlier tournaments ever had.

The Grand Festival, the Peak of Dawn's Journey

Dawn wins her fifth and final Ribbon at the Daybreak Town Contest, in episodes DP161 and DP162, which fulfills her entry requirement. The Sinnoh Grand Festival then takes up four episodes in a row, from DP174 to DP177, and it's handled like a real tournament: a performance stage, then a battle stage, with a bracket that shrinks with every episode.

DP174 knocks Kenny out in the performance stage, while Dawn, Zoey, Nando, Jessilina and Ursula advance to the battle stage. Dawn beats Ursula in DP175 and reaches the top 16. DP176 gets down to the final four: Zoey beats Nando, Dawn beats Jessilina. So the DP177 final pits Dawn against Zoey.

It's Zoey who wins and becomes Top Coordinator. Dawn falls just short, and the series does nothing to soften the blow: the defeat is clear-cut and fully owned, and that's exactly what makes the character believable. She doesn't give up, though, since the last episode sees her stay in Sinnoh to keep entering Contests.

A delicious detail in this arc: Jessie, under her Coordinator alias Jessilina, qualifies too. Her Ribbon comes from the Arrowroot Town Contest, in DP171, where she loses to Princess Salvia — who then gives her the Ribbon. So for once, Team Rocket finds itself in legitimate competition all the way to the semifinals.

The Sinnoh League and the Ash–Paul Showdown

The eighth badge is won in two stages. Ash shows up at the Sunyshore Gym to face Volkner, the Electric-type Gym Leader, but the battle is interrupted in DP166. It's not until DP179 that the match really takes place and Ash leaves with the badge that qualifies him. In the meantime, DP165 has him face Flint of the Elite Four, and DP170 hands him a loss against Bertha, another Elite Four member.

The Sinnoh League then runs from DP182 to DP189, with sixty-four competitors in the opening bracket. Ash beats Nando in the first round, then Conway in the third. Paul, for his part, eliminates Barry in the third round. The fourth-round draw finally puts Ash and Paul face to face.

👛 The eighth badge takes two tries at the Sunyshore Gym against Volkner: the battle is interrupted in DP166 and only won in DP179. Your cards and cash, on the other hand, fit right away into a Pokémon wallet.

This battle is the high point of the Diamond & Pearl series. It's a full six-on-six battle spread across three episodes, from DP186 to DP188 — a treatment the series reserves for very few showdowns. Ash wins, and the rivalry that had poisoned the pair since season 10 is finally resolved: the two Trainers settle their scores and put an end to their feud.

That leaves the semifinal, in DP189, against Tobias. Ash loses and finishes in the top 4, his best League placing at that point in his journey. Tobias then goes on to win the tournament. The consolation is a big one: Ash's Sceptile managed to take down the Darkrai that had swept aside every other opponent in the tournament.

Rivals and Team Rocket

The season is packed with intersecting rivalries. Dawn has to contend with Ursula, Zoey, Jessilina, Kenny and Nando — Ash, in turn, runs into Nando as well, then Conway, Paul and Barry. This economy of characters is deliberate: rather than introducing new faces, the season brings back the ones the cycle has already established and has them all converge on the two tournaments.

Nando is the only one who straddles both worlds, since he competes in both Contests and the League. Paul, meanwhile, remains to the very end Ash's polar opposite — a cold training method, a ruthless selection of his Pokémon, and open contempt for any emotional attachment. The fact that the series chooses to resolve this conflict rather than leave it hanging is what gives the cycle its real conclusion.

Team Rocket, for its part, plays an unusual role. Jessie, James and Meowth stick to their schemes, with Jessie's Yanmega and Seviper and James's Carnivine and Mime Jr., but the trio is also treated as a serious competitor through the character of Jessilina. DP178 even gives them an episode centered on Meowth. The long history of the organization and its boss is traced in the feature on Team Rocket.

Season 13 in France

In France, season 13 first aired starting February 9, 2011 on Disney XD. The pace was very brisk: the first wave ran several episodes a week in February, then the broadcast stretched out until May 8, 2011. So the gap with Japan is about a year at the start of the season, and eight months at the end.

The season's French theme song is "Ensemble nous vaincrons," used as the opening and brought back in an instrumental version over the ending credits. The season also features an original song, "C'est le grand moment," heard during the Grand Festival final in DP177, reused during the battle between Ash and Conway in DP185, then in an instrumental version in DP188.

One point is worth flagging for collectors: this season has never had a DVD release in France. So on the French market, it exists only through its TV broadcasts and online releases, unlike several other seasons of the same cycle.

What Season 13 Leaves Behind

Season 13 is a closing season, and it fully embraces that. It settles the Ash–Paul rivalry, takes Dawn to the end of her Coordinator ambitions, gives Brock a professional calling, and splits up the group. Nothing is left hanging for later: by the time the credits roll on DP191, the Diamond & Pearl series is completely wrapped up.

It also quietly sets up the shock of the following season. Season 14 starts from scratch — a new region, new companions, a new team for Ash, and a rewritten Team Rocket. Watching Brock leave in the last episode of season 13 already tells you the series is about to enter a new era, which it does from the very first episode of the Black & White cycle.

Finally, the movie tied to this period is "Zoroark: Master of Illusions," which showcases Zoroark and Zorua, two Pokémon from the next generation. It's the first visible sign of the shift toward Unova, slipped into the movies before the TV series had even made the leap.

Season 13 at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where does season 13 fit in the Pokémon series?
  Season 13, titled Pokémon: DP Sinnoh League Victors, is the fourth and final season of the Diamond & Pearl series. It follows season 12, DP Galactic Battles, and precedes season 14, Black & White, which opens an entirely new cycle. Its role is to close out the Sinnoh storylines rather than start new ones.
• How many episodes are in season 13, and when did they air?
  The season has 34 episodes, coded DP158 to DP191, which are episodes 624 to 657 of the series. In Japan, they aired from January 7, 2010 to September 9, 2010. The English-language broadcast ran from June 5, 2010 to February 5, 2011 on Cartoon Network in the United States. In France, the season aired starting February 9, 2011 on Disney XD, through May 8, 2011.
• Who travels with Ash in season 13?
  Ash travels with Brock and Dawn for all of season 13, with no change to the lineup along the way. It's the same trio as in seasons 10, 11 and 12. The group only splits up in the last episode, DP191: Ash and Brock head back to Kanto while Dawn stays in Sinnoh.
• How does the Sinnoh League end for Ash?
  Ash reaches the semifinals of the Sinnoh League and loses to Tobias in DP189, which places him in the tournament's top 4. Tobias then goes on to win the competition. Before that, Ash had beaten Nando in the first round, Conway in the third and, above all, his rival Paul in the fourth round, at the end of a full six-on-six battle spread across episodes DP186 to DP188.
• Who wins the Sinnoh Grand Festival in season 13?
  Zoey wins the Sinnoh Grand Festival and becomes Top Coordinator. She beats Dawn in the final in DP177. Dawn had qualified by earning her fifth Ribbon at the Daybreak Town Contest, in episodes DP161 and DP162, and had knocked out Ursula and then Jessilina before reaching the final.
• Which of Ash's Pokémon evolve in season 13?
  Three evolutions involve Ash's team. His Monferno becomes Infernape in DP163, just as it masters its Blaze Ability. His Grotle becomes Torterra in DP166. His Cyndaquil becomes Quilava in DP182. On Brock's side, his Happiny evolves into Chansey in DP190, as he sets his sights on becoming a Pokémon Doctor.
• Was season 13 released on DVD in France?
  No. Unlike other seasons of the same cycle, season 13 was never released on DVD in France. It only existed there through its TV broadcasts, starting February 9, 2011 on Disney XD, and through online releases.

In short