Japanese Title: Satoshi and Serena's First Date!? The Tree of Promises and the Presents!!
Original Airdate: February 5, 2015
US Airdate: April 18, 2015
After Serena registers for the Coumarine City Showcase, she and Ash decide to take part in a traditional gift exchange. This means a shopping trip. Could it be that Ash and Serena have stumbled upon a date?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Call-Back: Grace has a surprise present for Serena, a Pimped-Out Dress for her upcoming Performance. Grace mentions that she picked the dress according to the opposite of her taste, much like when Serena asked for her opinion back in "A Battle of Aerial Mobility".
- Friendship Moment: It looks like, in spite of their scheme failing, Team Rocket still got into the spirit of the celebration, having prepared presents for their own Pokémon and Meowth. For a Mood Whiplash, the Pokémon are so touched by the gesture that they all decide to glomp Jesse and James, ignoring the fact that they're on a tree branch.
- Laugh of Love: When Ash asks Serena what gifts she's planning to get while she's thinking that the two of them are on a date, she quickly replies "I'm not sure yet!", while chuckling nervously.
- Mythology Gag: Some of the presents that Ash was offered to buy: the Macho Brace, Rocky Helmet, a Substitute Decoy doll and the Sprinklotad.
- Not a Date: Since she and Ash are travelling together to another city on their own, Serena imagines it as if they were actually going out on a date.
- Umpteenth Customer: On the return trip to Coumarine City, Ash becomes the 1 millionth customer to ride the monorail, and gets presented with a commemorative ribbon as a prize.
- You Mean X Mas: The festival in question takes its cues from gift giving (mostly humans giving their Pokémon) and putting fairy lights on a large tree.
- Interestingly enough, in Japan, Christmas is treated more like Valentine's Day. So at least in the original Japanese, it may also be part of the romantic tension between Ash and Serena.
