Pokémon: Advanced Battle

Pokémon: Advanced Battle is the eighth season of the Pokémon anime series and the third season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation. It originally aired in Japan from September 9, 2004, to September 29, 2005, on TV Tokyo, and in the United States from September 17, 2005, to July 8, 2006, on Kids' WB.
This season follows Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu as they collect Gym Badges in the Hoenn region to compete in the Hoenn League. Along the way, they are joined by Brock, Pokémon Coordinator May, who participates in Pokémon Contests, and her younger brother Max. Later in the season, Ash, May, Brock, and Max travel to the Kanto region, where Ash competes in the Battle Frontier by earning Frontier Symbols, while May continues to participate in Pokémon Contests.
The episodes were directed by Masamitsu Hidaka and produced by the animation studio OLM. This was the last season of the series to dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment after their contract expired, and the last to air on Kids' WB before moving to Cartoon Network.

Episode list

Music

The Japanese opening songs are "Challenger!!" by Rica Matsumoto for 13 episodes, "Pokemon Symphonic Medley" by the Pokémon Symphonic Orchestra for 29 episodes, and "Battle Frontier " by Akina Takaya for 11 episodes. The ending songs are "Smile" by Toshiko Ezaki for 6 episodes, "GLORY DAY 〜That Shining Day〜" by GARDEN for 35 episodes, "Pokémon Counting Song" by Akiko Kanazawa for 11 episodes, and the English opening song is "Unbeatable" by David Rolfe, with a shortened version used in the end credits.

Home media releases

In the United States, the series was released on 10 DVD volumes by Viz Media, each containing 5 or 6 episodes each.
Viz Media and Warner Home Video later released Pokémon: Advanced Battle – The Complete Collection on DVD on June 12, 2018.