Pokémon: Best Wishes (Black & White) · Best Wishes arc

BW001 · In the Shadow of Zekrom!

Name: In the Shadow of Zekrom!
Released: 2011-02-12

イッシュ地方へ！ゼクロムの影！！

US air. 2011-02-12 JP air. 2010-09-23 Season. Black & White (S14) Position. Episode 1 of 142 in Black & White

Why this episode matters

Key episode in Black & White

Pikachu depowered by Zekrom's lightning. Soft-reset establishes Unova as its own thing.

Signature episode for Iris

Iris's debut. Swinging from trees.

Synopsis

What happens.

Ash runs into his bedroom, grabs his backpack, and hurriedly runs out. As he returns to retrieve his hat, he expresses his excitement to Pikachu about their upcoming vacation.

Synopsis adapted from Bulbapedia's BW001 entry, used under CC-BY-NC-SA 2.5.

Story arc · BW001-BW048

Best Wishes.

Ash arrives in Unova; meets Iris in Cilan's Striaton restaurant; trio formed. Pikachu battles return after Zekrom's lightning depowers him in the premiere.

Read the full Black & White guide

Pokémon featured · 15

Who appears.

Linked entries open the species page on the Pokédex. Items without a sprite (alternate forms, regional variants, generic group references) fall back to a name pill.

Other episodes in Best Wishes.

Episode synopsis from Bulbapedia, CC-BY-NC-SA 2.5. Editorial context (arc affiliation, cultural moments, character signatures) hand-verified May 2026. Pokémon, character names, and series titles © Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc., The Pokémon Company, OLM Inc. This is an unofficial fan reference.