The announcer introduced the show by saying: "Welcome back to Pokémon Entertainment show! We'll make special arrangement for the new game! It's time for Pokémon Smash!". A brief clip of Junichi Masuda was shown of him revealing the news on a card but it was covered over with a big question mark. The episode started with Akiyama and Baba checking out a cage that Yamamoto was in. The rest of the Smash crew then showed up and they wondered why Yamamoto was in a cage. Baba explained that today, February 26th was Escape Day(脱出の日). On February 26th, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Island of Elba. Maria then locked the cage and Yamamoto was locked inside it.

Baba then introduced this weeks rerun episode as part of the Pokémon Library. The theme for the episode was: We can learn a lot from looking into new worlds!(新しい世界にとびこんでみることが大事！). This weeks Pokémon Library rerun episode was The King of the Forbidden Forest! Fushigibana!! (禁断の森の王者！フシギバナ!!) from the Advanced Generation series. A full summary of that episode is available in the episode guide. Professor Red said his go-to line 'OK! Pokémon Library!' to start the repeat episode.


After the Pokémon Library episode, Shoko-tan then announced that Junichi Masuda's announcement would be near the end of the show. Professor Red then introduced the VTR for the week which was a special one as both Robert and the International Division participated in the Pokémon Quiz Caravan at Tsutsujigaoka Elementary School in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture (宮城県仙台市立榴岡小学校). A year before this episode was the Sendai earthquake and tsunami which devastated the area.


The Smash cast was greeted by 85 grade four students from the school who were eager to see them. Golgo, Baba and Maria went on team one while Professor Red, Akiyama and Hana went on group 2. The first segment of the quiz was the 'Black/White Quiz' (ブラックホワイトクイズ). While there was two main groups, everyone could choose to move to either the Black (X) or White (O) side when the questions were asked.

Below are the questions that were asked:

#	Question	Answer
1	Game - Gym Leader Arti gives out the Green Badge(ジムリーダーのアーティからはグリーンバッジをもらえる)	(X) No - Beetle Badge(ビートルバッジ) Spoiler: Click to show!
2	Anime - Iris was the winner of the Don Battle (ドンバトルの優勝者はアイリスである)	(O) - Yes Spoiler: Click to show!
3	Anime - The name of the professor that helps Rocket Gang is Geger (ロケット団を手助けしてる博士の名前はゲーゲルである)	(X) No - Seger (ゼーゲル) Spoiler: Click to show!
4	Card Game - The Raikou EX that comes in the Dark Rush expansion has 170 HP(拡張パック「ダークラッシュ」にはいっているライコウEXのHPは１７０である)	(O) - Yes Spoiler: Click to show!

The Cosplay Gesture Quiz (なりきりジェスチャークイズ) featured Golgo, Professor Red, Baba, Maria and Hana the dressing up as Pokémon and then playing Charades. Maria dressed up as Pikachu, Golgo dressed up as Gureggru and Baba dressed up as Goloog. The viewers and the team was then asked: What is the gesture being preformed?(なんのジェスチャーをしているでしょう？). The first groups gestures were: Piano (ピアノ), Flying (ひこうき), Golf (ゴルフ), Idol (アイドル), Violin (バイオリン), Boxing (ボクシング), Biking (自転車), Conducting (指揮者), Skipping (なわとび), Robot (ロボット), Driving (車). The first group got 110 points.

For for second round of the gesture quiz, Hana dressed up as Pikachu, Akiyama dressed up as Gureggru and Professor Red dressed up as Goloog. The second groups gestures were: Skiing (スキー), Eating Noodles (そば), Tennis (テニス), Baseball (野球), Drumming (たいこ) but he made noises, Frying Pan (フライパン) but then passed, Guitar (ギター), Camera (カメラ), Ransel (ランドセル). The second group got 80 points. The teams were tied at 110 points going into the next round.


The Victini's V-Generate Find the Differences Obstacle Course Quiz (ビクティニのＶジェネレート障害物まちがいさがしクイズ) was the next event. Participants would wear a helmet with a V-shaped container that had balls in them. They would have to go through the obstacle course while trying not to drop the balls. The first part was finding a candy ball in a flour pan, the second part was looking in a mirror to put balls in the V helmet, the third part was popping a balloon and the final part was group skipping. Two new parts were introduced for this quiz as well: Lifting up to eat flat bread and a four-legged race. For each ball that they had left at the end of the obstacle course, the team would get 1 second on the clock. Team one ended up with 22 balls and team 2 had only 5 balls. Team 1 ended up winning.

In the viewer battle, 11 year old Yuuma Akimoto battled against Baba but once again Baba proved to be a tough opponent and he ended up winning the battle without loosing a Pokémon.

During the marketing department segment after the viewer battle, Junichi Masuda finally showed up to make his big announcement. Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (ポケットモンスター ブラック2・ホワイト2) were announced by Masuda and that they are Nintendo DS games and they will be released in June 2012. This seems to indicate that they will not have 3DS features. The names of the new Pokémon or new formes were not announced but further details will be revealed on next weeks episode of Smash. They appear to be Kyurem (キュレム) formes mixed with Zekrom (ゼクロム) and Reshiram (レシラム).

News and Related events that Directly Occurred around airing of Pokémon Smash #73

Junichi Masuda confirmed that he'd be on this episode despite the previews or previously released information about the episode not even mentioning it at all.

HIDDEN POWER of masuda Director's Columns - No.221 (English)

IMPORTANT NEWS!! On this coming Sunday, Februrary 26, 2012, from 7:30 A.M, I, Masuda, will be appearing on TV TOKYO’s Show, “Pokémon Smash!”

Not only that. And there… I will be making a VERY important announcement, so be sure not to miss it!! Watch it live on TV!

And, for those of you who can’t watch television on live, I will announce the same information right after the show via twitter!! Everyone, I hope you all enjoy the show!! Ciao!

*TV program “Pokémon Smash!” can be seen only in Japan.

Source: http://www.gamefreak.co.jp/blog/dir_english/?p=497

Official Japanese Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (ポケットモンスター ブラック2・ホワイト2) Website Launched

Just after Smash finished airing, the official Japanese Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (ポケットモンスター ブラック2・ホワイト2) website launched. It announced the date for the games release as well as showed off the two new Pokémon.

Official English Pokémon Website Announces Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 Versions

Right after Smash aired, the English website also posted news about the games.

Pokémon fans, get excited for two incredible new adventures! Announcing Pokémon Black Version 2 and Pokémon White Version 2, coming soon for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems. The games can also be played in 2D on the Nintendo 3DS™ system.

Source: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-black-version-2-and-pokemon-white-version-2/

Masuda's Further Tweets

Shortly after the airing of the episode, Masuda announced on his Twitter account that the new Legendary Pokémon were named Black Kyurem (ブラックキュレム) and White Kyurem (ホワイトキュレム), hinting that these new powers were somehow related to Zekrom and Reshiram.

Source: http://twitter.com/#!/Junichi_Masuda/status/173573680125841410