Pokémon: Advanced Battle is the eighth season of Pokémon and the third season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation (ポケットモンスター アドバンスジェネレーション, Poketto Monsutā Adobansu Jenerēshon). 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 The WB network as part of the Kids' WB! programming block. The first 38 episodes of the season are set in the fictional Hoenn region, and follows the adventures of the ten-year-old Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum, and his electric mouse partner Pikachu as they collect Gym Badges so they can compete in the Hoenn League competition. Along the way, they are joined by Brock, the leader of the Pewter City Gym, and the Pokémon coordinator May and her brother, Max, as May competes in Pokémon Contests with the aim of earning Ribbons so she can enter the Hoenn Grand Festival. In episodes 39 to 52 of the season Ash returns to the Kanto region to compete in the Battle Frontier by earning Frontier Symbols from Frontier Brains, while May continues competing to earn Contest Ribbons so she can enter the Kanto Grand Festival. The episodes were directed by Masamitsu Hidaka and produced by the animation studio OLM. The Japanese opening songs are "Challenger!!" (チャレンジャー!!, Charenjā!!) by Rika Matsumoto for 13 episodes, "Pokemon Symphonic Medley" (ポケモンシンフォニック メドレー, Pokémon Shinfonikku Medorē) by the Pokémon Symphonic Orchestra (Pokémon Choir) for 29 episodes, and "Battle Frontier (Japanese song)" (バトルフロンツア, Batoru Furontia) by Akina Takaya for 11 episodes. The ending songs are "Smile" (スマイル, Sumairu) by Toshiko Ezaki for 6 episodes, "GLORY DAY 〜That Shining Day〜" (GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜, GLORY DAY 〜Kagayaku Sono Hi〜) by GARDEN for 35 episodes, and "Pokemon Counting Song" (ポケモンかぞえうた, Pokémon Kazoe Uta) by Akiko Kanazawa for 11 episodes. The English opening song is "Unbeatable" by David Rolfe, with a shortened version used in the end credits.